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diff --git a/59207-0.txt b/59207-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c78147 --- /dev/null +++ b/59207-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16200 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59207 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + +BROKEN TO HARNESS: + +A +Story of English Domestic Life. + + +BY EDMUND YATES, +AUTHOR OF "THE ROCK AHEAD," "BLACK SHEEP," ETC. ETC. + + +"Mit dem Gürtel, mit dem Schleier, +Reisst der schöner Wahn entzwei." + + + +_NEW EDITION_. + + + +LONDON: +TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8 CATHERINE ST., STRAND. +1873. + + + + + + +LONDON: +ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. + + + + + + +Inscribed + +TO +THE MARQUIS CLANRICARDE, K.P. + +IN REMEMBRANCE +OF +CONSTANT KINDNESS. + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAP. + + I. Mr. Churchill's Ideas are Monastic. + II. Down at Bissett. + III. Starting the Game. + IV. The Commissioner's Views are Matrimonial. + V. "There's Nothing half so sweet in Life." + VI. The Commissioner's Shell Explodes. + VII. Touching a Proposal. + VIII. Touching another Proposal. + IX. "A little proud, but full of Pity." + X. At the Tin-Tax Office, No. 120. + XI. With the Secretary. + XII. Where Mr. Pringle went to. + XIII. Mr. Prescott's Proceedings. + XIV. Miss Lexden on Matrimony. + XV. Mother and Son. + XV. "For better, for worse." + XVII. Mining Operations. + XVIII. The Schröders at Home. + XIX. The Old or the New? + XX. Churchill's at Home. + XXI. The Flybynights. + XXII. Mr. Simnel at the Den. + XXIII. Mr. Beresford in Pursuit. + XXIV. Barbara's first Lesson in the Manege. + XXV. A Garden-party at Uplands. + XXVI. Showing Who Were "Pigott and Wells." + XXVII. Weaving the Web. + XVIII. Tightening the Curb. + XXIX. Mr. Scadgers pays a Visit. + XXX. After the Storm. + XXXI. The Paper Bullet. + XXXII. Half-revealed. + XXXIII. The House of Mourning. + XXXIV. Et tu Brute! + XXXV. Balthazar. + XXXVI. "Be sure Your Sin will find you out." + XXXVII. Ministering Angels. + XXXVIII. Under Pressure. + XXXIX. "We kissed again with Tears." + XL. Going Home. + XLI. The Day after. + XLII. And last. + + + + + + +BROKEN TO HARNESS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +MR. CHURCHILL'S IDEAS ARE MONASTIC. + + +The office of the _Statesman_ daily journal was not popular with the +neighbours, although its existence unquestionably caused a diminution +of rent in its immediate proximity. It was very difficult to +find--which was an immense advantage to those connected with it, as no +one had any right there but the affiliated; and strangers burning to +express their views or to resent imaginary imputations cast upon them +had plenty of time to cool down while they wandered about the adjacent +lanes in vain quest of their object. If you had business there, and +were not thoroughly acquainted with the way, your best plan was to +take a sandwich in your pocket, to prepare for an afternoon's +campaign, and then to turn to the right out of Fleet Street, down any +street leading to the river, and to wander about until you quite +unexpectedly came upon your destination. There you found it, a queer, +dumpy, black-looking old building,--like a warehouse that had been sat +upon and compressed,--nestling down in a quaint little dreary square, +surrounded by the halls of Worshipful Companies which had never been +heard of save by their own Liverymen, and large churches with an +average congregation of nine, standing mildewed and blue-mouldy, with +damp voters'-notices peeling off their doors, and green streaks down +the stuccoed heads of the angels and cherubim supporting the dripping +arch over the porch, in little dank reeking churchyards, where the +rank grass overtopped the broken tombstones, and stuck nodding out +through the dilapidated railing. + +The windows were filthy with the stains of a thousand showers; the +paint had blistered and peeled off the heavy old door, and round the +gaping chasm of the letter-box; and in the daytime the place looked +woebegone and deserted. Nobody came there till about two in the +afternoon, when three or four quiet-looking gentlemen would drop in +one by one, and after remaining an hour or two, depart as they had +come. But at night the old house woke up with a roar; its windows +blazed with light; its old sides echoed to the creaking throes of a +huge steam-engine; its querulous bell was perpetually being tugged; +boys in paper caps and smeary faces and shirt-sleeves were perpetually +issuing from its portals, and returning, now with fluttering slips of +paper, now with bibulous refreshment. Messengers from the Electric +Telegraph Companies were there about every half-hour; and cabs that +had dashed up with a stout gentleman in spectacles dashed away with a +slim gentleman in a white hat, returning with a little man in a red +beard, and flying off with the stout gentleman again. Blinds were down +all round the neighbourhood; porters of the Worshipful Companies, +sextons of the congregationless churches, agents for printing-ink and +Cumberland black-lead, wood-engravers, box-block sellers, and the +proprietors of the Never-say-die or Health-restoring Drops, who held +the corner premises,--were all sleeping the sleep of the just, or at +least doing the best they could towards it, in spite of the +reverberation of the steam-engine at the office of the _Statesman_ +daily journal. + +On a hot night in September Mr. Churchill sat in a large room on the +first-floor of the _Statesman_ office. On the desk before him stood a +huge battered old despatch-box, overflowing with papers--some in +manuscript, neatly folded and docketed; others long printed slips, +scored and marked all over with ink-corrections. Immediately in front +of him hung an almanac and a packet of half-sheets of note-paper, +strung together on a large hook. A huge waste-paper basket by his side +was filled, while the floor was littered with envelopes of all sizes +and colours, fragments cut from newspapers, ink-splashes, and piles of +books in paper parcels waiting for review. A solemn old clock, +pointing to midnight, ticked gravely on the mantelpiece; a small +library of grim old books of reference, in solemn brown bindings, with +the flaming cover of the Post-Office Directory like a star in the +midst of them, was ranged against the wall; three or four speaking +tubes, with ivory mouthpieces, were curling round Mr. Churchill's +feet; and Mr. Churchill himself was reading the last number of the +_Revue de Deux Mondes_ by the light of a shaded lamp, when a heavy +hand was laid on his shoulder, and a cheery voice said, + +"Still at the mill, Churchill? still at the mill?" + +"Ah, Harding, my dear fellow, I'm delighted to see you!" + +"I should think you were," said Harding, laughing; "for my presence +here means a good deal to you,--bed, and rest, and country, eh? Well, +how have you been?--not knocked up? You've done capitally, my boy! +I've watched you carefully, and am more than content." (For Mr. +Harding was the editor of the _Statesman_, and Churchill, one of his +principal contributors, had been taking his place while he made +holiday.) + +"That's a relief," said Churchill. "I've been rather nervous about it; +but I thought that Tooby and I between us had managed to push the ship +along somehow. Tooby's a capital fellow!" + +"Yes, yes," said Mr. Harding, seating himself; "Tooby is a capital +fellow, and there's not a better 'sub' in London. But Tooby couldn't +have written that article on the Castle-Hedingham dinner, or shown up +the _Teaser's_ blunders in classical quotation, Master Frank. _Palman +qui meruit_. Who did the Bishops and the Crystal Palace?" + +"Oh, Slummer wrote those. Weren't they good?" + +"Very smart; very smart indeed. A thought too strong of Billingsgate, +though. That young man is a very hard hitter, but wants training. +Where's Hawker?" + +"Just gone. He's been very kind and very useful, so have Williams and +Burke, and all. And you--how have you enjoyed yourself?" + +"Never so much in my life. I've read nothing but the paper. I've done +nothing but lie upon the beach and play with the children." + +"And the children--are they all right? and Mrs. Harding?" + +"Splendid! I never saw the wife look so well for the last six years. +She sent all kind remembrances to you, and the usual inquiry." + +"What! if I was going to be married? No, no; you must take back my +usual answer. She must find me a wife, and it must be one after her +own pattern." + +"Seriously, Frank Churchill, it's time you began to look after a wife. +In our profession, especially, it's the greatest blessing to have +some one to care for and to be petted by in the intervals of +business-strife. There used to be a notion that a literary man +required to be perpetually 'seeing life,' which meant 'getting drunk, +and never going home;' but that's exploded, and I believe that our +best character-painters owe half their powers of delineation to their +wives' suggestions. Women,--by Jove, sir!--women read character +wonderfully." + +"Mrs. Harding has made a bad shot at mine, old friend," said +Churchill, laughing, "if she thinks that I am in any way desirous to +be married. No, no! So far as the seeing life is concerned, I began +early, and all that has been over long since. But I've got rather a +queer temper of my own. I'm not the most tolerant man in the world; +and I've had my own way so long, that any little missy fal-lals and +pettishness would jar upon me horribly. Besides, I've not got money +enough to marry upon. I like my comforts, and to be able to buy +occasional books and pictures, and to keep my horse, and my club, +and--" + +"Well, but a fellow like you might pick up a woman with money!" said +Harding. + +"That's the worst pick-up possible,--to have to be civil to your +wife's trustees, or listen to reproaches as to how 'poor papa's money' +is being spent. No, no, no! So long as my dear old mother lives, I +shall have a decent home; and afterwards--well, I shall go into +chambers, I suppose, and settle down into a club-haunting old fogey." + +"Stuff, Frank; don't talk such rubbish. Affectation of cynicism and +affectation of premature age are two of the most pernicious cants of +the day. Very likely now at the watering-place to which you're going +for your holiday, you'll meet some pretty girl who--" + +"Watering-place!" cried Frank, shouting with laughter; "I'm going to +my old godfather's country place for some partridge-shooting; and as +he's an old bachelor of very peculiar temper, there's not likely to be +much womankind about." + +"Ho, ho! A country place, eh? and partridge-shooting? Hum, hum! We're +coming out. Don't get your head turned with grand people, Frank." + +"Grand people!" echoed Churchill. "Don't I tell you the man's my +godfather? There will probably be half a dozen men staying in the +house, whose sole care about me will be that I carry my gun properly, +and don't hit them out in the stubble." + +"When do you go?" + +"To-morrow, by the midday express. I've some matters to settle in the +morning, and can't get down before dinner-time." + +"Well, then, get to bed at once. I've got to say a few words to Tooby; +and I'll see Marks when he comes up with the statement, and take care +that all's straight. You've seen your own proofs? Very well, then; God +bless you! and be off, and don't let us see your face for a month." + +They shook hands warmly; and as Churchill left the room, Harding +called after him, "Two things, Frank: look out for a nice wife, and +don't get your head turned with what are called 'swells.'" + +Throughout London town there breathed no simpler-minded man than +George Harding. At College, as in after-life, he had lived with a very +small set, entirely composed of men of his own degree in the world; +and of any other he had the vaguest possible notion. His intellectual +acquirements were great, and his reading was vast and catholic; but of +men and cities he had seen literally nothing; and as, except in his +annual vacation, when he could go down with his family and potter +about the quietest of watering-places, he never went any where save +from his home to the _Statesman_ office, and from the _Statesman_ +office to his home, he was not likely to enlarge his knowledge of +life. Occasionally, on a Saturday night in the season, he would get +the Opera-box from the musical critic, and would take Mrs. Harding to +Her Majesty's; but there his whole attention would be absorbed in +contemplating the appearance and manners of the "swells,"--the one +word not to be found in the dictionary which he sometimes indulged in. +Slightly Radical in his opinions was George Harding; and that he was +not much gratified by his observation of these specimens of the upper +ten thousand, was to be traced in certain little pungencies and +acerbities in his leading articles after these Opera visits. He +worshipped his calling, in his own honest, simple, steadfast way, and +resented, quietly but sturdily, any attempts at what he considered +patronage by those of higher social rank. The leaders of his political +party, recognisant of the good service done to them by Harding's pen, +had, on several occasions, essayed to prove their gratitude by +little set civilities: huge cards of invitation to Lady Helmsman's +Saturday-evening reunions had found their way to the _Statesman's_ +deep-mouthed letter-box; carriage-paid hampers of high-flavoured black +game sped thither from the Highland shooting-box, where the Foreign +Secretary was spending his hard-earned holiday; earliest intimation of +political changes, in "confidential" covers, were conveyed there by +Downing-Street messengers. But George Harding never appeared at +Protocol House; his name was never seen low down amongst those of the +Foreign-Office clerks and outer selvage of fashion, chronicled with +such urbanity by Mr. Henchman of the _High-Life Gazette_; and no +attention or flattery ever made him pander to a shuffle, or register a +lie. He had a very high opinion of Churchill's talents and honour; but +he knew him to be fond of praise, and, above all, greatly wanting in +discretion. Harding had seen so many men full of promise fall into the +dreary vortex of drink and debt and pot-house dissipation, that he had +hailed with delight the innate decency and gentlemanly feeling which +had kept Frank Churchill out of such dirty orgies; but now he feared +lest the disinfectant might prove even worse than the disease itself; +and lest the aristocratic notions, which his friend undoubtedly +possessed, might lead him into society where his manliness and proper +pride might be swallowed up in the effulgency of his surroundings. + +So mused George Harding, bending over the dingy old grate at the +_Statesman_ office, and gazing vacantly at the shavings with which it +was filled, while waiting for Mr. Marks, the head printer, to bring +him the "statement," showing the amount required to fill the paper. +Meanwhile Churchill, cigar in mouth, was striding through the deserted +streets, rejoicing in the thought of his coming holiday, and inwardly +chuckling over his friend's warnings. At last he stopped at a door in +a dull respectable street leading out of Brunswick Square, let himself +in with a latch-key, drank a tumbler of soda-water, and glanced at the +addresses of some letters in his little dining-room, exchanged his +boots for slippers at the bottom of the staircase, and crept slowly up +the stairs. As he arrived at the second floor, he paused for a minute, +and a voice said, "God bless you, Frank!" + +"God bless you, mother!" he replied; "good night, dear;" and passed +into his room. + +Then he sat himself on the side of his bed, and began leisurely to +undress himself, smiling meanwhile. + +"Bring back a wife, and beware of swells, eh? That is the essence of +Harding's advice. No, no my darling old mother; you and I get on too +well together to change our lives. An amusing time a wife would have +with me,--out half the night at the office, and she shivering in the +dining-room waiting my return. Wife, by Jove! Yes; and thick fat +chops, and sixteen-shilling trousers, and the knifeboard of the +omnibus instead of the cob to ride on! No; I think not. And as for +swells--that old republican, Harding, thinks every man with a handle +to his name is an enemy to Magna Charta. I should like to show him my +old godfather walking into an idiotic peer of the realm!" + +And, very much tickled at the idea, Churchill put out his candle and +turned in. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +DOWN AT BISSETT. + +At the very first sign of the season's breaking up, Sir Marmaduke +Wentworth was in the habit of leaving his town-house in Curzon Street, +and proceeding to his country-seat of Bissett Grange. Gumble, his +butler and body-servant, was the first person officially informed of +the intended flight; but long before his master spoke to him, that +far-seeing man had made up his mind, and arranged his plans +accordingly. "Flitherses gone to-day, eh!" he would say to himself, +as, in the calm, cool evening, he lounged against the jams of the +street-door (Gumble was never seen in the area) and looked up to the +opposite house. "Shutters up, and Flitherses hoff! Some German bath or +other, no doubt; elber-shakin' for the old man, and forrin' counts for +the young ladies. Lord Charles leff last week; he'll be takin' his +rubber at Spaw now as natural as at the Club. The old Berrin has been +sent away somewheres; and I'll bet a pound in two days my guv'nor says +Hoff!" And he would have won his bet. So soon as there was the +slightest appearance of a move among the people of his circle; so soon +as he found "shall have left town" given as an answer to an invite to +one of his cosey little dinners; before Goodwood afforded the +pleasantest excuse for the laziest of racing and the happiest of +lunching; while flannel-clad gentlemen yet perspired copiously at +Lord's, defending the wickets of Marylebone against the predatory +incursions of "Perambulators" or "Eccentrics;" when Finsburyites were +returning from their fortnight at Ramsgate, and while Dalstonians yet +lingered on the pier at Southend,--old Marmaduke Wentworth would give +his household brigade the order to retreat, and, at their head, would +march down upon Bissett Grange. + +And he was right; for there was not a nobler old house, nor prettier +grounds, in the broad county of Sussex, where it stood. Contrast is +the great thing, after all: tall men marry short women; the most +thickset nursery-maids struggle a-tiptoe to keep step with the +lengthiest members of the Foot-Guards; Plimnims the poet, who is of +the Sybarite-roseleaf order, sighs for Miss Crupper the _écuyère_, who +calls a horse an oss, and a donkey a hass; and so you, if you had been +staying at Brighton, and had gone on an excursion at half-a-crown an +hour into the inner country, would have fallen in love with Bissett +Grange. For, weary of the perpetual hoarse murmur of the sea, now +thundering its rage in tremendous waves, now shrieking its lamentation +in long hissing back currents; sick of the monotony of the +"long-backed bushless downs," so cold and bare and wind-swept, echoing +to the eternal plaint of the curlew, and shutting off the horizon with +a dreary never-ending shoulder-blade of blank turf,--you, if you were +lucky in your choice, and had a driver with a soul beyond the Steine +and aspirations exceeding the Lewes Road, would have come upon, at a +distance of some five miles from Brighton, a little one-storied +porter's lodge, nestling in ivy so deep that the dear parasite had it +in its embrace, chimneys and all. Big, heavy, and wooden were the +lodge-gates; none of your pretty, light, elegant Coalbrookdale +innovations. Gates, in Sir Marmaduke Wentworth's idea, were things to +keep impertinent prying people out; and as such they could not be made +too cumbrous or too opaque for his pleasure. They were very high as +well as very heavy; so, if you had come with your 'cute driver in your +fly excursion, you would have seen nothing but the quaint twisted +chimneys; and even for that view you must have mounted unto the box. +Save the friends of the owner, no one, in Marmaduke Wentworth's time, +had ever passed the lodge, or rather, I should say, reached the house. +Visitors to. Brighton and Worthing, dying of _ennui_, had besieged the +lodge' and implored permission to walk in the grounds; artists had +asked to be allowed to sketch the house; a "gentleman engaged upon the +press" had written to say that he was sure there must be a legend +connected with some chamber, if he might only be permitted to explore +the mansion; and one man, a photographer, bribed the lodge-keeper's +grand-daughter with a piece of elecampane, and, in the absence of the +legitimate portress passed the gate. He had proceeded about a couple +of hundred yards up the avenue, when he was met by Sir Marmaduke, who +had just turned out for his leisurely afternoon ride. The sight of the +itinerant professor with his travelling camera roused the old +gentleman in an instant; he set spurs to his cob, hurried off to the +intruder, and tapped him smartly on the back with his whip. One +instant's glance revealed to him the whole affair: it was _not_ a +travelling Punch, whom he would have sent into the kitchen; it was +_not_ a man from the Missionary Society, whom he would have had ducked +in the pond; it was--_tant soit peu_--an artist; and for art of any +kind, however humble, old Marmaduke had a regard. So when the +trembling man looked up, and, divided between a notion of "cheeking +the swell," or being impudent, and running away, or being cowardly, +hit upon a middle course, and, guarding his head, at which nothing had +been aimed, exclaimed, "Now, then! What are you at? Who's hurting +you?" all the old gentleman did was to bend from his saddle, to seize +the intruder by the lobe of his ear, to turn him completely round, +and, pointing to the gate, to utter in a hissing whisper the phrase +"Go away, man!" + +When the photographer attempted to explain, the ear-pressure was +intensified, and the "Go away, man!" uttered more loudly; at the third +repetition, the photographer wrung his ear from the old gentleman's +fingers, and ran away abjectly. + +"Collodion and Clumpsoles; or, the Homes of the British Aristocracy in +the Camera: being Reminiscences of a Peripatetic Photographer," +therefore, contained no view of Bissett Grange; which was to be +regretted, as neither The Hassocks, the Rector's residence, nor The +Radishes, the seat of Sir Hipson Hawes, the lord of the manor, both of +which figured extensively in the photographic publication, was to be +compared with Marmaduke Wentworth's ancestral mansion. The elm-avenue +extended from the lodge to the house,--nearly half a mile,--and +through the trees you saw the broad expanse of the park, covered with +that beautiful soft turf which is in the highest perfection in Sussex, +and which afforded pasture for hundreds of dappled deer, who would +raise their heads at the sound of approaching footsteps or +carriage-wheels, and, after peering forward earnestly with +outstretched necks at the intrusion, would wheel round and start off +at a peculiar sling trot, gradually merging into the most graceful of +gallops. + +Immediately in front of the porch, and only divided from it by the +carriage-sweep, was an enormous flower-bed, sloping towards the sides, +and culminating in the centre,--the pride of the head-gardener's soul. +Right and left of the house were two arches, exactly alike. Passing +through that to the left, you came upon the stables and coach-houses, +of which there is little to be said, save that they were +old-fashioned, and what the helpers called "ill-conwenient;" and that +the fine London grooms who came down with their master's hacks and +carriage-horses in the autumn--Sir Marmaduke was never at Bissett +during the hunting season--used to curse them freely as a set of +tumbledown old sheds, fit only for jobs and fly-'osses. And yet the +old quadrangle, environed by the stable-buildings, with their +red-tiled roofs and their slate-coloured half-hatch doors, each duly +bearing its horse-shoe and its hecatomb of mouse and stoat skeletons, +was picturesque, more especially of an evening, when the setting +sun gleamed on the quaint old clock-turret, ivy-covered and +swallow-haunted, and steeped in a rich crimson glow the pretty cottage +of old Martin, erst head-groom, now a superannuated pensioner Martin, +who was never so happy as when babbling of bygone days, and who +"minded the time" when the stables were full of blood horses, and when +Master Marmaduke (the present proprietor) rode Saucy Sally over all +the raspers in the county. + +Through the other arch you came upon the gardens of the Grange. +Immediately before you lay a broad expanse of lawn,--such smooth, soft +turf as is only met with in England, and only there in well-to-do +places. Short, crisp, and velvety was the grass, kept with the +greatest care, and rolled and mown with the most undeviating +punctuality; for Sir Marmaduke was proud of his lawn, and liked to sit +out there in his high-backed rustic seat on the hot August evenings, +placidly smoking his cigar, and occasionally raising his head to be +fanned by the soft sea-breeze which came blowing over the neighbouring +downs. He would as soon have thought of allowing a servant to take a +liberty with him as of permitting any one to drive a croquet-iron into +that lawn, or to attempt to play any game on it. Between the house and +the lawn ran a broad gravelled walk, passing down which you came upon +the orchard and upon the fig-garden, which was the glory of the +county, and was enclosed with an old red-brick wall, which itself +looked ripe and ruddy. To the right lay the kitchen-garden,--a fertile +slope of land in the highest state of cultivation, dotted every here +and there with huge lights and frames, and spread nets, and overgrown +cucumbers, and bursting marrows; for though Sir Marmaduke cared but +little for flowers, he was a great fruit-grower, and, next to seeing +his pines and melons on his own table (where, glowing on the old +ancestral Wentworth plate, they looked like a study for Lance), his +great gratification was to bear away with them the prizes from the +Horticultural Shows in the neighbourhood. Beyond the orchard was a +large field, known as the Paddock, whither thee croquet-players and +the archers were relegated, and where the turf was almost as smooth as +that of the sacred lawn itself. Over all,--house, lawn, orchard, +kitchen-garden, and paddock, and far away across the surrounding +downs--there was a delicious sense of calm and quiet; a feeling which +was heightened rather than lessened by the inhabitants of a rookery +established in the tall elm-trees bordering the Paddock, and who, as +they sailed over the grounds of the Grange, would express their +approbation by one single solemn caw. + +The house faced the avenue, and was a queer, odd, square block, by no +means picturesque, but quaintly ugly something like an old-fashioned +child, whose decidedly curious features, out of all drawing and +impossible to be admired, yet have something humorously lovable in +their expression. A staring red-brick house of Queen Anne's time, that +ought to have been formal, and perhaps had been at some period or +other, but which had undergone so many changes--had had so many gables +put on here, and windows let in there, and rooms added on wherever +they were wanted--as to lose all trace of its original design, and to +have become of a composite style of architecture which would have +driven Mr. Ruskin mad. It was the only gentleman's seat for miles +round which was built of red brick, and not that gray stone which +always looks weather-beaten and time-worn; instead of which, the +Grange had a jolly, cheery, comic expression, and when the sun gleamed +on its little diamond-shaped, leaden-casemented windows, they seemed +to twinkle like the eyes of a genial red-faced old gentleman at some +good joke or pleasant dish. A comfortable old house in every sense of +the word, with an enormous number of rooms, large airy spacious +chambers, queer little nooks and snuggeries, long passages with +pannelled partitions dividing them from other passages, partitions +with occasional square windows or round eyelet-holes cut in them, wide +straggling staircases with broad steps and broad balustrades, which +no boy had ever yet been known to pass without sliding down them on +his stomach. A couple of queer turreted chambers, like the place where +the yard-measure lives in old-fashioned work-boxes, and a set of +attics, low-roofed, and rather worm-eaten and mouldy-smelling. These +were not inhabited, for the servants had their own quarters in the +western wing; a bit of eccentric building, which had been thrown out +long after the original structure, and gave to the old mansion, from +the back view, a comical lopsided appearance; and when the rest of the +house was filled, the bachelors were sent to what was known as the +Barracks, or the Kennel, a series of jolly little rooms shut out from +the respectable portion of the building by a long passage, where they +kept up their own fun till a very late hour of the night, where there +was always an overhanging smell of tobacco, and whence, in the early +mornings, there came such a roaring and clanging of shower-baths, and +such a sound of hissing and sluicing and splashing, that you might +have fancied yourself in the vicinity of an army of Tritons. + +Two o'clock on a hot afternoon at the end of September; and, with the +exception of a few sportsmen, who are now reclining under a high hedge +and lighting pipes, after a succulent repast of game-pie, cold +partridge, and bitter beer, all the party at the Grange is assembled +round the luncheon-table in the dining-room. That is Marmaduke +Wentworth, the tall old man standing on the hearthrug, with his back +towards the empty fire-grate. His head is perfectly bald and shining, +and has but a fringe of crisp white hair; his features are what is +called "aristocratic," well-shaped, and comely; his eyes are cold, +clear, gray; his lips slightly full, and his teeth sound and regular. +He is in his invariable morning dress,--a blue coat with brass +buttons, a buff waistcoat, and gray trousers with gaping dog's-eared +pockets, into which his hands are always plunged. Looking at him now, +you would scarcely recognise the _roué_ of George the Fourth's time, +the Poins to the wild Prince, the hero of a hundred intrigues and +escapades. In heat and turmoil, in drinking, dicing, and dancing, +Marmaduke Wentworth passed his early youth; and from this debauchery +he was rescued by the single passion of his life. The object of that +passion--his cousin, a lovely girl, whose innocence won the dissipated +roisterer from his evil ways, and gave him new notions and new +hopes--died within three months of their engagement; and from that day +Wentworth became another man. He went abroad, and for ten years led a +solitary studious life; returning to England, he brought with him his +bookworm tastes; and it was long before he emerged from the seclusion +of Bissett Grange, which he had inherited, and returned once more to +London life. Even then, he sought his society in a very different set +to that in which he had previously shone. George the Great was dead; +sailor King William had followed him to the grave; and the new men +fluttering round the court of the new Queen, setting fashions and +issuing social ordinances, had been cradled children when Marmaduke +Wentworth had copied Brummel's cravats, or listened to Alvanley's +_bons mots_. Even had he continued a "dandy," he would have been +displeased with the "swells" to whom the dandies had given place; and +now, changed as he was into a disappointed elderly gentleman, with a +bitter tongue and an intolerant spirit, his unsocial cynicism bored +the new men, while their slangy flippancy disgusted him. So, in the +phrase of the day, he "went in for a new excitement;" and, though his +name and his appearance were as well known in London as those of the +Duke of Wellington, there were but few people of his own status or +time of life who were retained on an intimate footing. Some few old +friends, who themselves had suffered heart-shipwreck, or seen their +argosies of early feelings go down in sight of port, claimed +companionship with the querulous, crotchety companion of their youth, +and had their claims allowed. His odd, quaint savagery, his utter +contempt for the recognised laws of politeness, his free speaking, and +his general eccentricity, had a great charm for young people of both +sexes; and if they had any thing in them to elevate them above the +ordinary run of yea-and-nay young persons, they invariably found their +advances responded to. Then there was a great attraction for young +people in the society which they met at one of Marmaduke's +dinners--men whose names were before the world; an occasional +cabinet-minister sweetening the severities of office with a little +pleasant relaxation in company where he might take the mask from his +face and the gag from his mouth; authors of note; rising artists; +occasionally an actor or two,--all these were to be found round +Wentworth's table. The old gentleman was in London from January to +July. During that time he gave four dinner-parties a week (one of +them, I regret to say, and generally the pleasantest, on a Sunday), +and during the other three days dined out. He was a member of the +True-Blue and the Minerva Clubs, but seldom went to either; he was +admissible by the hall-porter of every theatre in London, and +sometimes strayed behind the scenes and took possession of the +green-room hearthrug, whence he vented remarkably free and +discriminating criticisms on the actors and actresses surrounding him. +He had one special butt, an old German baron of fabulous age, who was +supposed to have been a page to Frederick the Great, who had been for +thirty years in England, and had only acquired the very smallest +knowledge of its language, and whose power of placidly enduring savage +attacks was only equalled by the vigour of his appetite. The Baron was +never brought down to Bissett; but, as we have heard from Gumble, was +sent off to some seaside place to recruit his digestion; whence he +invariably turned up again in Curzon Street in January, with the same +wig, the same dyed beard, the same broken English, and an appetite, if +any thing, improved by his marine sojourn. + +There is a strange medley now collected at the Grange. That tall girl, +seated at the far end of the table, with her chin leaning on her hand, +is Barbara Lexden. Three years ago, when, at nineteen, she was +presented, she created a _furore_; and even now, though her first +freshness is gone, she is even more beautiful--has rounded +and ripened, and holds her own with the best in town. More +_distingué_-looking than beautiful, though, is Barbara. Het face is a +little too long for perfect oval; her nose is very slightly aquiline, +with delicately curved, thin, transparent nostrils; her forehead +marked with two deep lines, from a curious trick of elevating her +eyebrows when surprised, and shaded with broad thick masses of +dark-brown hair, bound tightly round her head, taken off behind her +ears,--small, and glistening like pink shells,--and terminating in a +thick plaited clump; sleepy, greenish-gray eyes, with long drooping +lashes; a tall, undulating, pear-shaped figure, always seen to best +advantage in a tight-fitting dress, with a neat little collar and +nun-like simple linen cuffs; a swimming walk; feet and ankles beyond +compare; and hands--ah, such hands!--not plump, slender, with long +fingers, and rosy filbert nails; such hands as Ninon de l'Enclos might +have had, but such as, save on Barbara, I have only seen in wax, on +black velvet, under a glass case, modelled from Lady Blessington's, +and purchased at the Gore-House Sale. Blue was her favourite colour, +violet her favourite perfume, admiration the longing of her soul. She +was never happy until every one with whom she was brought into contact +had given in their submission to her. No matter of what age or in what +condition of life, all must bow. Once, during a Commemoration Week at +Oxford, she completely turned various hoary heads of houses, and +caused the wife of an eminent Church dignitary, after thirty years of +happy marriage, to bedew her pillow with tears of bitter jealousy at +seeing how completely the courteous old dean was fascinated by the +lovely visitor; and she would laugh with saucy triumph as she heard +the blunt, outspoken admiration of working-men as she sat well forward +in the carriage blocked up in St. James's Street on a Drawing-room +day, or slowly creeping along the line of vehicles which were "setting +down" at the Horticultural-Gardens gates. + +With the exception of flirtation, in which she would have taken the +highest honours, her accomplishments were neither more nor less than +those of most women of her position. She played brilliantly, with a +firm, dashing touch, and sang, perhaps not artistically, but with an +amount of feeling thrown into her deep contralto that did frightful +execution; her French was very good; her German passable, grammatical, +and well phrased, but lacking the real rough accent and guttural +smack. At all events, she had made the most of what schooling she had +had, for it was desultory enough. Her father, the youngest son of a +good family, ran away with the black-eyed, ruddy-cheeked daughter of +the Herefordshire parson with whom he went to read during the Long +Vacation; was immediately disinherited by his father; left the +University, and by the influence of his family got into a Government +office; where, by his own exertions, he got into bad company, into +debt, and into prison. On his deathbed he commended his wife and +daughter to the care of his elder sister, who had never married, but +lived very comfortably on the property which ought to have been his. +Miss Lexden came once to see her brother's widow and orphan in the +lodgings which they had taken in Lambeth to be near the King's Bench +Prison. But years of trouble had not changed the poor mother for the +better, and her stately sister-in-law regarded her with horror. In +truth, the colour had faded from her rosy cheeks, and the light died +out of her black eyes long ago, and had left her a dowdy, silly, fussy +little woman, with nothing to say. So Miss Lexden thought she could +best fulfil her brother's charge with least trouble to herself by +allowing the bereaved ones fifty pounds a year; and on this, and what +she could make by working for the Berlin-wool and fancy-stationery +shops, the widow supported herself and her child for some twelve +years, when she died. Miss Lexden then took the child to the dull, +stately old house in Gloucester Place, Portman Square; where, with the +aid of a toady, the daily visit of a smug physician, an airing in a +roomy old carriage drawn by a couple of fat horses, a great deal of +good eating and drinking, and a tolerable amount of society, she +managed to lead a jolly godless old life. She found her niece, then +fourteen years old, less ignorant and more presentable than she had +imagined; for Barbara had received from her mother a sound English +education, and had, on the pea-and-pigeon principle, picked lip a +little French and the rudiments of music. She looked and moved like a +lady, and moreover had an insolence of manner, a _de haut en bas_ +treatment of nearly every body, which the old lady hailed as a true +Lexden characteristic, and rejoiced over greatly. So Barbara was sent +to Paris for three years, and came back at seventeen finished in +education, ripened in beauty, and a thorough coquette at heart. Of +course she had already had several _affaires_: several with the +professors attached to the Champs-Elysées _pension_; one with an +Italian count, who bribed the ladies'-maid to convey notes, and who +was subsequently thrashed and instructed in the _savate_ by the +Auvergnat porter of the establishment; and one with an English +gentleman coming over from Boulogne; and her aunt used to encourage +her to tell of these, and would laugh at them until the tears came +into her eyes. + +At nineteen she was presented, made her _coup_, and now for two +seasons had been a reigning belle. Offers she had had in +plenty,--youthful peers with slender incomes; middle-aged commoners, +solemn, wealthy, and dull; smug widowers, hoping to renew the sweets +of matrimony, and trusting to bygone experience to keep clear of its +bitters. But Barbara refused them all; played with them, landed +them,--giving them all the time the most pleasurable sensations of +encouragement, as old Izaak used to tickle trout,--and then flung them +back, bruised and gasping, into that muddy stream the world. She told +her aunt she was playing for a high stake; that she did not care for +any of these men; that she did not think she ever should care for any +one; under which circumstances she had better make the best bargain of +herself, and go at a high price. There are plenty of women like this. +We rave against cruel parents and sordid Mammon-matches; but very +often the parents are merely passive in the matter. There are plenty +of girls who have walnuts, or peach stones, or something equally +impressible, where their hearts should be, who have never experienced +the smallest glimmer of love, and who look upon the possession of a +carriage and an Opera-box, and admission into high society, as the +acme of human enjoyment. + +Sitting next to Barbara is Fred Lyster, a slim, dark man, with small +regular features and a splendid flowing black beard. He was educated +at Addiscombe, and was out in India under Gough and Outram; did good +service, was highly thought of, and was thoroughly happy; when his old +godfather died, and left him heir to a property of three thousand a +year. He returned at once to England, and became the most idle, +purposeless, dreamiest of men. He had tried every thing, and found it +all hollow. He had travelled on the Continent, been on the turf, +gambled in stocks and railways, kept a yacht, and was bored by each +and all. He had thought of going into Parliament, and went for two +nights into the Speaker's Gallery; but did not pursue the idea, +because he found that "the fellows talked so much." His plaintive +moans against life were sources of intense amusement to his friends; +and when he discovered this--which he did at once, being a very long +way from a fool--he was not in the least annoyed, but rather lent +himself to the idea, and heightened his expressions of _ennui_ and +despondency. He liked to be with Sir Marmaduke; for the old +gentleman's brusque manners and general intolerance afforded him real +amusement, and he laid himself open to attack by always being more +than ever drawling and inane when in his company. The baronet, who had +a quick perception of character, knew Lyster's real worth, and often +talked to him seriously about having some purpose in life; and when he +only got vague and dreamy replies, he would burst out into a torrent +of invective, in the middle of which Lyster would run, shrieking with +laughter, from the room. + +Next to Captain Lyster sits Miss Lexden, Barbara's aunt; a fat, +placid-looking old lady, in a flaxen front, which, with a cap covered +with ribbons and flowers, seemed skewered on to her skull by a couple +of large pins, the knobs of which presented themselves like bosses on +her temples. She was a cousin of Sir Marmaduke's, and the elder sister +of the old man's one love, so that there was a great link of +confidence between them; and she liked coming to Bissett, where the +living was always so good, and where she met people who amused her. +That pretty girl talking to her is Miss Townshend,--a delicious +creature in a country-house, who can ride across country, and play +croquet and billiards, and sing little French _chansons_, and dance, +and who even has been known on occasions to drive a dog-cart and smoke +a cigarette. To secure her, entails inviting her father, an intensely +respectable, dreary old gentleman--that is he, in the starched check +cravat and the high coat-collar; a City magnate, who confines his +reading to the City article, and has to be promptly extinguished when +he attempts to talk about the "policy of Rooshia." He is endeavouring +just now to strike up a conversation with his neighbour Mr. Vincent, +the member for Wessex, and Chairman of the Dinner-Committee of the +House of Commons; but Mr. Vincent is deep in the discussion of a +cheese-omelette, and is telegraphing recommendation thereof to Mrs. +Vincent, a merry, red-faced looking little woman, who, with her +husband, passed her whole life in thinking about good eating. Sir +Marmaduke's solicitor, Mr. Russell, a quiet old gentleman, clad in +professional black, who was always trying to hide his soft wrinkled +hands under his ample coat-cuffs; and Sir Marmaduke's factotum, +Major Stone, otherwise Twenty Stone, a big, broad-chested, jovial, +bushy-whiskered, moneyless freelance,--completed the party. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +STARTING THE GAME. + + +"Halloa!" suddenly shouted Sir Marmaduke from his vantage-ground on +the rug. + +Every body looked up. + +"Halloo!" shouted the old gentleman again, plunging his hands over the +wrists in his trousers-pockets, and bringing to the surface a couple +of letters. "By Jove! I forgot to tell Mrs. Mason or any of them that +more people were coming down! Here, Stone--somebody--just ring that +bell, will you? Here are two men coming down to-day--be here by +dinner, they say; and I forgot to order rooms and things for them!" + +"Who are they, Sir Marmaduke?" asked Lyster languidly. + +"What the deuce is that to you, sir?" roared the old gentleman. +"Friends of mine, sir! That's enough, isn't it? Have you finished +lunch." + +"I haven't had any," said Lyster. "I never eat it. I hate lunch." + +"Great mistake that," said Mr. Vincent, wiping his mouth. "Ought +always to eat whenever you can. 'Gad, for such an omelette as that I'd +get up in the middle of the night." + +"Perhaps, Lyster," said Major Stone, coming back from ringing the +bell, "you're of the opinion of the man who said that lunch was an +insult to your breakfast and an injury to your dinner?" + +"He was a confounded fool, whoever he was," broke in Sir Marmaduke. "I +hate those fellows who talk epigrams. Halloa, Gumble, is that you? +Tell Mrs. Mason two gentlemen are coming down to stop. She must get +rooms ready for them, and that sort of thing." + +"Yes, Sir Marmaduke," said Gumble. "In the Barracks, Sir Marmaduke?" + +"God bless my soul, sir! how should I know?" said his master testily. +"What do I keep a housekeeper for, and a pack of lazy servants, who do +nothing but eat, if I'm to be worried about things like this? Tell +Mrs. Mason, sir! Do as you're told!" + +And exit Gumble, whose admirable training and long experience only +prevented him from bursting into a guffaw. + +"Though you refused Captain Lyster, I don't think you'll mind telling +me who these gentlemen are, Sir Marmaduke?" said Barbara, leaving the +table, and advancing to the rug. + +"No, my dear; I'll tell you any thing. Besides, they'll be here +to-night. One is Mr. Beresford, and the other a learned professor. +There, I've thrown them among you to worry their reputations before +they arrive; and now I'll be off to my study. And don't any of you +come and bother me; do you hear? If you want any thing, ask Stone for +it. Come, Russell." + +And, followed by the lawyer, the old gentleman left the room, after +patting Barbara's head with one hand, and shaking his clenched fist, +in a serio-comic manner, at the rest of the company. + +"What very strange people my cousin does get hold of!" said Miss +Lexden, commencing the onslaught directly the door was closed. "Which +Mr. Beresford is it, do you suppose?" + +The question was general, but Mr. Townshend answered it, by saying +pompously, + +"Perhaps it's Mr. Beresford, one of the Directors of the Bank of +England, who--" + +"God forbid!" broke in Lyster, suddenly. + +"Amen to that sweet prayer," said Barbara, in a low voice. Then +louder: "Oh, dear, let's hope it's not an old gentleman from the +City." + +"No, no; don't fear," said Major Stone, laughing. "You all know him. +It's Charley Beresford, from the Tin-Tax Office." + +"What! the Commissioner?" exclaimed little Miss Townshend, clapping +her hands. "Oh, I _am_ so glad! He is _such_ fun!" + +"Oh, every body knows Mr. Beresford," said Vincent; "capital judge of +cooking; on the committee of the Beauclerk." + +"I'm afraid I'm nobody, then," said old Miss Lexden; "what age is he?" + +"Oh, same age as every body else," drawled Lyster. "I find every +body's the same age,--seven-and-twenty. Nobody ever goes beyond that." + +"You know Mr. Beresford, aunt," said Barbara. "He's a favourite horror +of yours. You recollect him at Hawley last year?" + +"Oh, the odious man who carried on so shamefully with that rich +woman,--the grocer's widow!" said the old lady. "Well, wasn't it a +grocer?--merchant, then, if you like,--something to do with the City +and the West Indies, I know. Oh, a dreadful person!" + +"Charley Beresford's not a bad fellow, though," said Lyster. "Who did +Sir Marmaduke say the other man was? Professor something." + +"Perhaps Major Stone knows him," chimed in Mrs. Townshend. + +"Who's the Professor that's coming down, Stone?" asked Lyster. + +"I _don't_ know. I only know two professors: Jackman the +conjuror,--Jacquinto he calls himself,--and Holloway the ointment-man; +and it's neither of them. This is some scientific or literary great +gun that Sir Marmaduke was introduced to lately." + +"Oh, dear!" said Barbara, plaintively, "what a dreadful idea! Probably +an old gentleman, with gold spectacles and a bald head, covered all +over with the dust of the British Museum, and carrying dead beetles +and things in his pockets!" + +"A professor!" said Miss Townshend; "we had one at Gimp +House--a French one! I'm sure he'll take snuff and have silk +pocket-handkerchiefs." + +"And choke at his meals," added Barbara. "This is too horrible." + +"I trust he won't come from any low neighbourhood," said Mrs. Vincent; +"the small-pox is very bad in some districts in London." + +"The deuce! I hope he won't bring it down here," drawled Lyster. + +"There's not the slightest fear of infection, if you've been +vaccinated," said Mr. Townshend. + +"Oh, but I haven't," replied Lyster. "I wouldn't be--at least without +chloroform; it hurts one so." + +"What nonsense, Captain Lyster!" laughed Barbara. "Why, I was +vaccinated, and it didn't hurt me the least." + +"Did it hurt as much as sitting for your photograph?" asked the +Captain, rising. "Because I'll never sit for my photograph again, +except under chloroform." + +"Well, small-pox or not, you'll see the old gentleman at dinner," said +Stone; "and you mustn't chaff him, mind, Lyster; for he's a favourite +of Sir Marmaduke's." + +And so the luncheon-party broke up. Old Miss Lexden and Miss Townshend +drove out in a pony-phaeton, with the intention of falling in with the +shooting party; Mrs. Vincent retired to her room, to allow the process +of digestion to take place during her afternoon nap; Mr. Vincent +walked leisurely across the fields to the neighbouring village, and +had an interview with a fisherman's wife, who had a new method of +dressing mackerel; Mr. Townshend took out a pamphlet on the Bank +Charter, and, having placed it before him, went straight off to sleep; +Major Stone mounted his sure-footed cob and rode round the farm, +looking after broken fences, and dropping hints as to the expediency +of all being ready with the Michaelmas rent; and Barbara and Captain +Lyster wandered into the Paddock, with the intention of playing +croquet. + +But they had played only very few strokes, when Lyster, leaning on his +mallet, looked across at his companion, and said gravely, + +"I assure you, Miss Lexden, I pity you from the bottom of my soul." + +As she stood there, her complexion heightened by the exercise, the +little round hat admirably suiting the classic shape of her head, and +the neatest little foot tapping the mallet, she didn't look much to be +pitied; and she tossed her head rather disdainfully, as she asked, + +"Pity me, Captain Lyster! and why?" + +"Because you are so horribly bored here! I've been such a terrible +sufferer from _ennui_ myself, that I know every expression on those +who have it; and you're very far advanced indeed. _I_ know what it is +that beats you, and I can't help you." + +"And what is it, pray?" + +"You know what Cleopatra says in the _Dream of Fair Women_: 'I have no +men to govern in this wood!' Pardon me; I'm a singular person; not +clever, you know, but always saying what I think, and that sort of +thing; and you're dying for a flirtation." + +"Surely _you_ have no cause to complain. I've never tried to make you +my 'Hercules, my Roman Antony,' Captain Lyster." + +"No; you've been good enough to spare me. You've known me too long, +and think of me, rightly enough perhaps, as the 'dull, cold-blooded +Cæsar;' and there's no one here that's at all available except Stone, +and his berth with Sir Marmaduke is like a college-fellowship--he'd +have to resign all income if he married. It's an awful position for +you! Oh, by Jove, I forgot the two men coming! I'm afraid Charley +Beresford's no go; but you might make great running with the +Professor." + +"_Que d'honneur!_" said Barbara, laughing at his serious face. "That +is a compliment, especially after our notions of what he will be +like;" and then, after a minute's reflection, she added, with a proud +gesture, "It would be a new field, at all events, and not a bad +triumph, to win a steady sage from his books and--" + +"Vivien over again, by Jove!" said Lyster, in the nearest approach +he had ever made to a shout; "Vivien divested of all impropriety; +only look out that Merlin does not get you into the charm. +They've no end of talk, these clever fellows. I knew a professor at +Addiscombe--deuced ugly bird too--who ran off with an earl's daughter, +all through his gab--I beg pardon, his tongue." + +"_Gare aux corbeaux!_ I flatter myself I can hold my own with the old +crows," said Barbara; "however, this is mere nonsense. No more +croquet, thank you, Captain Lyster. I must go in and reflect on your +words of wisdom." + +And dropping him a little curtsey of mock humility, she moved off +towards the house. + +"I'd lay long odds she follows up the idea," said Lyster to himself, +as he sat down on the twisted roots of an old elm and lit a cheroot. +"She's a fine creature," he added, looking after her; "something in +the Cheetah line,--fine and swervy and supple, and as clever as--as +old boots. How awfully old I'm growing! I should have gone mad after +such a girl as that once; and now--she doesn't cause me the slightest +emotion. There's that little Townshend, now,--ah, that's quite another +matter!" + +Had Barbara really any notion of following out Lyster's sportive +notion, and of playing Vivien to an aged Merlin? of winning from his +goddess Study a man whose whole life had been passed at her shrine, +and of lighting with as much fire as yet remained to him eyes dimmed +with midnight researches? I know not. But I do know that she spent +more time that evening over her toilet than she had done during her +stay at the Grange, and that she never looked lovelier than in her +rich blue dinner-dress, trimmed with black lace, and with a piece of +velvet passing through her hair, and coquettishly fastened at one side +by a single splendid turquoise. Perhaps some thought of her +conversation with Lyster flitted across her brain; for she smiled +saucily as she stepped down the wide old staircase, and she had +hardly composed her countenance by the time she had passed into the +drawing-room, where the party was assembled. The room was lighted only +by the flickering blaze of a wood-fire (for the evenings were already +chilly), and she could only indistinctly make out that the gentleman +whom Sir Marmaduke introduced as "Professor Churchill," and who was to +take her in to dinner, was tall, had no spectacles, and was apparently +not so old as she had anticipated. But when she looked at him in the +full light of the dining-room, she nearly uttered an exclamation of +surprise when she saw, as the embodiment of her intended Merlin, +a man of six feet in height, about thirty years of age, with short +wavy brown hair, hazel eyes, a crisp dark beard, and a genial, +good-humoured, sensible expression. All this she took in in covert +glances; and so astonished was she, that after a few commonplaces she +could not resist saying, + +"And are you really a professor, Mr. Churchill?" + +He laughed heartily--a clear, ringing, jolly laugh--as he replied, +"Well, I am,--at least I stand so honoured on the books of old Leipzig +University, and our good host here always will insist on dubbing me +with my full title. But I don't generally sport it. I always think of +dancing, or calisthenics, or deportment,--Turveydrop, you know,--in +connexion with the professorship. I can't help noticing that you look +astonished, Miss Lexden; I trust I haven't rudely put to flight any +preconceived notions of yours as to my dignity?" + +"No--at least--well, I will frankly own my notions were different." + +"There, you see, I had the advantage; with the exception of flatly +contradicting the late Mr. Campbell in his assertion about distance +lending enchantment, &c., my ideas of you are thoroughly realised. +But--I had seen you before." + +"You had!" said Barbara, feeling a pleasurable glow pass over her +cheek at something in his tone. + +"Oh, yes; several times. The first time ten years ago, when I saw you +in company with your father--" + +"My father! Where?" interrupted Barbara. + +"Where? oh, at an hotel,--Burdon's Hotel. You won't remember it, of +course." (Barbara never knew why Major Stone, who was sitting near +them, grinned broadly when Mr. Churchill said this.) "You were a +little child then. And recently I have seen you at the Opera, and +ridden past you in the Row." + +At this juncture Sir Marmaduke called out to Churchill from the other +end of the table, and the conversation became general. Barbara watched +Mr. Churchill as he took a leading part in it, his earnest face lit +up, and all listening attentively to his remarks. What a clever, +sensible face it was! And he went to the Opera, and rode in the Park! +What about Vivien and Merlin now? + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +THE COMMISSIONER'S VIEWS ARE MATRIMONIAL. + + +Mr. Charles Beresford, Junior Commissioner of the Tin-Tax Office, who +was expected down at Bissett, did not leave London, as he had +intended, on the day which witnessed Mr. Churchill's arrival at that +hospitable mansion. His portmanteau and gun-case had been taken by his +servant to the Club, where he was to call for them on his way to the +station; and he had arranged with one of his brother-commissioners to +undertake his work of placing his initials in the corner of various +documents submitted to him. He had stayed in town longer than his +wont; and as he looked out into the dreary quadrangle of Rutland +House, in a block of which the Tin-Tax Office was situate, and gazed +upon the blazing flags, and the dull _commissionnaires_ sitting on +their bench outside the principal entrance and winking in the heat, +and upon the open windows opposite,--whereat two clerks were +concocting an effervescent drink in a tumbler, and stirring it round +with a paper-knife,--he cursed the dulness, and expressed his delight +that he was about to rusticate for a lengthened period. + +Nobody heard this speech; or if indeed, the words fell upon the ear of +the soft-shod messenger who at that moment entered the room, he was +far too dexterous and too old an official to let his face betray it. +He glided softly to Mr. Beresford's elbow, as that gentleman still +remained at the window, vacantly watching the powder-mixing clerks, +and murmured, + +"Letter, sir." + +"Put it down," aid Beresford, without turning round. "Official, eh?" + +"No, sir, private. Brought just now by a groom. No answer, sir." + +"Give it here," said Beresford, stretching out his hand. "Ah, no +answer! That'll do, Stubbs." + +And Stubbs went his way to a glass-case, in which, in the company of +four other messengers and twenty bells, his official days were passed, +and gave himself up to bemoaning his stupidity in having taken his +fortnight's leave of absence in the past wet July instead of the +present sultry season. + +Mr. Beresford looked at the address of the letter, and frowned +slightly. It was a small note, pink paper, with a couchant dog and an +utterly illegible monogram on the seal, and the superscription was +written in a long scrawly hand. There was an odour of patchouli, too, +about it which roused Beresford's ire, and he muttered as he opened +it, "Confounded stuff! Who on earth is she copying now, with her +scents and crests and humbug? I thought she'd more sense than that!" +And he ran his eye over the note. It was very short. + + +"Dear Charley,--What has become of you? Why do you never come near The +Den? It is nearly three weeks since you were here. I'm off to +Scarborough on Tuesday; a lot of my pupils are there and want me, so I +can carry on my little game of money-making, get some fresh air, and +perhaps pick up some fresh nags to sell before the hunting season, all +'under vun hat,' as Tom Orme fasechous--facesh (I don't know how to +spell it)--says. Come up and dine to-night at seven. There are two or +three good fellows coming, and I want to talk to you and to look at +your old phiz again, and see how much older you've grown during your +absence, and how much _balder_; for, you know, you're growing _bald_, +Charley, and that will be awful hard lines to such a _swell_ as you. +Seven sharp, mind. + + "Always yours, + + "K. M. + +"P.S. Charley, if you don't come, I shall think you've grown _proud_; +and it'll be a great shame, and I shall never speak to you again. + +"K.M." + +Now lest, after a perusal of this letter, any one should think ill of +its writer, I take leave to announce at once that Kate Mellon was a +virtuous woman; pure in heart, though any thing but simple; without +fear, but not without as much reproach as could possibly be heaped +upon her by all of her own sex who envied her good looks, her high +spirits, and her success. There are, I take it, plenty of novels in +which one can read the doings, either openly described or broadly +hinted at, of the daughters of Shame under many a pretty alias; and it +is because one of these aliases describes the calling of which Kate +Mellon was the most successful follower, that I am so desirous of +clearing her good name, and immediately vindicating her position with +my readers. Kate Mellon was a horsebreaker, a _bonâ-fide_ +horsebreaker; one who curbed colts, and "took it out of" kickers and +rearers, and taught wild Irish horses and four-year-olds fresh from +Yorkshire spinneys to curvet and caper prettily in the Park. She +taught riding, too; and half the Amazons in the Row owed their +tightness of seat and lightness of hand to her judicious training. She +hunted occasionally with the Queen's hounds and with the Pytchley, and +no one rode straighter or with more _nonchalance_ than she. Give her a +lead, that was all she wanted; and when she got it, as she invariably +did from the boldest horseman in the field, she would settle herself +in her saddle, left hand well down, right hand jauntily on her hip, +and fly over timber, water, no matter what, like a bird. In social +life her great pride was that there "was no nonsense" about her; she +was not more civil to the great ladies who sent their horses to her +establishment to be broke, and who would occasionally come up and +inspect the process, than she was to the stable-helpers' wives and +children, who all worshipped her for her openhanded generosity. Tommy +Orme who was popularly supposed to be a hundred and fifty years old, +but who lived with the youth of the Household Brigade and the Foreign +Office and the _coryphées_, and who knew every body remarkable in any +one way, never was tired of telling how Kate, teaching the Dowager +Lady Wylminster to drive a pair of spirited dun ponies, had, in the +grand lady's idea, intrenched upon her prerogative, and was told that +she was a presuming person, and desired to remember her place. + +"Person, indeed!" said Kate; "person yourself, ma'am! My place isn't +by you after that, and now get the duns home the best way you can;" +with which she sprang from the low phaeton, struck off across the +fields, and left the wretched representative of aristocracy "with a +couple of plunging brutes that soon spilt the old woman into the +hedge, broke the trap all to pieces, and rushed away home with the +splinter-bar at their heels--give you my word!" as Tommy used to +narrate it. + +Her manner with men was perfectly frank and open, equally devoid of +reticence or coquetry. She called them all by their Christian names if +they were commoners, by their titles if they were lords. She answered +at once when addressed as "Kitty," or "Old Lady," or "Stunner;" by all +of which appellations she was known. She would lay her whip lightly +across the shoulders of any particular friend as a token of +recognition at the meet; would smoke a cigarette on her way home after +the kill; and always carried sherry and sandwiches in a silver +combination of flask and box. Her grammar was shaky, and her aspirate +occasionally misplaced; she never read any thing but _Bell's Life_ and +books on farriery, and she laughed a loud, ringing, resonant shout; +but her speech was always free from bad words, and no man ever tried a +_double entendre_ or a blasphemy twice in her presence. Living the odd +strange life she did, defiant of all society's prejudices, it was yet +strange that even London slander had left her unassailed. They did say +that she was very much taken by Bob Mayo's sabre-scar when he returned +from the Crimea, and that Barker, the steeple-chase rider, half +gentleman, half jock, was engaged to her; but nothing came of either +of these two reports. Early in her London career, very soon after she +came to town, and when men were first beginning to inquire who was the +dashing horsewoman who rode such splendid cattle with such pluck and +skill, De Blague, the Queen's messenger, assumed to know all about +her, and at Limmer's, one night, threw out certain hints by no means +uncomplimentary to himself, and eked out with many nods and winks; but +two days after that, as De Blague, with two other Foreign-Office men, +was leaning over the rails in the Row, Miss Mellon rode up, and +denouncing him as a "bragging hound," slashed him with her by no means +light riding-whip severely over the head and shoulders. After that day +no one cared to say much against Kate Mellon. + +Who was she, and where did she come from? that no one positively knew. +When The Den at Ealing (she so christened it; it was called Myrtle +Farm before) was to let, the neighbours thought the landlord would +stand out of his rent for many years. The house was a little, long, +one-storied building, cut up into small rooms; old, dilapidated, and +damp. The stables were rotting with decay; the barns untiled and +tumbling down; the twenty or thirty acres of land attached were swampy +and unproductive. The place stood untenanted for half a year. Then, +one morning, an old gentleman arrived in a four-wheeled cab, went all +over the premises, had an interview with the proprietor, announced +himself as Mr. Powker, of the firm of Powker and Beak, of Lincoln's +Inn, and within a fortnight the lease was assigned to Miss Kate +Mellon, spinster. The house was papered and painted, and put in order; +the stables were entirely altered and renovated, and fitted with +enamel mangers, and tesselated pavements, and bronze devices for +holding the pillar-reins, and all the newest equine upholstery; some +of the barns were converted into carriage-houses, and one of the +largest into a tan-strewn riding-school; the land was thoroughly +drained and laid out in paddocks, where there were tan-rides and all +kinds of jumps, and an artificial brook, and every thing for a horse's +proper tuition. Miss Mellon did not receive visits from the +neighbouring gentry, principally lawyers and merchants, who went +regularly to business, and always stared hard at her when their wives +were not with them; nor did she attend the parish-church; but she gave +largely to all the parochial charities, and in the winter had a +private soup-kitchen of her own. I believe that occasionally gin was +dispensed in small glasses to the soup-recipients; but all was done +under the superintendence of Freeman, the staid stud-groom, who had +followed her from Yorkshire, where she said "her people" lived. But +she never said any thing more about them; and you would as soon have +got a comic song out of an oyster as a word from Freeman. And she +prospered wonderfully. She had to make large additions to the stables, +and to build rooms for an increased force of grooms; and even then +there were always half a score of horses waiting on her list for +admission, either for training or cure. She made money rapidly, and +kept it: no better woman of business ever breathed; in a big ledger +she scrawled her own accounts, and, as she boasted, could always tell +to a farthing "how she stood." With all this she was generous and +hospitable; paid her grooms good wages, and gave frequent +dinner-parties to her friends,--dinner-parties which scandalised her +solemnly pompous neighbours, who would look aghast at the flashing +lamps of the carriages dashing up the little carriage-drive to fetch +away the company at the small hours, or would listen from beneath +their virtuous bedclothes to the shouts of mirth and snatches of +melody which came booming over the hushed fields. + +One of these dinner-parties--that to which she had invited +Beresford--is just over. The French windows in the long, low +dining-room are open; the table is covered with the remains of +dessert, and some of the guests have already lighted cigars. Kate +Mellon heads her table still; she never leaves the room to the +gentlemen,--"It's slow," he says; "women alone fight or bore;" so she +remains. You can catch a good glimpse of her now under that shaded +swinging moderator-lamp; a little woman, with a closely-knit figure, +long violet eyes, and red-gold hair, taken off over her ears, twisted +in a thick lump at the back of her head, and secured with a pink coral +comb of horse-shoe shape. She is dressed in white spotted muslin, +fastened at the throat and waist with coral brooch and clasps. Her +nose is a little too thick for beauty; her lips full; her mouth large, +with strong white teeth; her hands are white, but large and sinewy; +and the tones of her voice are sharp and clear. She is shouting with +laughter at a song which a jolly-looking young man, sitting at the +little cottage-piano at the end of the room, has just finished; and +her laugh makes the old rafters ring again. + +"I always yell at that song, Tom," she says. "I haven't heard it since +last winter, the day that 'Punch' Croker dined here, and we gave him +an olive to taste for the first time." + +"He's tremendous fun, is Punch," said the singer. "Why didn't he dine +here to-day? Is he out of town?" + +"He's got a moor with Penkridge," said Beresford, who was sitting next +the hostess. "By Jove, how bored Penkridge will be before he's done +with him!" + +"Punch has not got much to say for himself," said a tall man, in a +dark beard. "I've had him down to dine with me when I've been on guard +at the Bank, and, 'pon my soul, he's never said a word the whole +night!" + +"He was at Baden with us last year," said Beresford; "and when we used +to sit and smoke our weeds after dinner in front of the Kursaal, he +used to bore us so with staring at us and saying nothing, that we used +to pay him to go away. Subscribe five francs, or thalers--according to +our means, you know--and send him to play at the tables to get rid of +him." + +"He's not a bad fellow, though, Punch Croker," said Kate. "And what I +like in him is, he never lets out that he don't know every thing!" + +"No, that's just it!" said the tall guardsman. "Just after the Derby, +I was confoundedly seedy, and my doctor told me I wanted more ozone." + +"What's that, Jack?" asked the man at the piano. + +"Well, it's some air or stuff that you don't get by sitting up all +night, and lying in bed till three. From the doctor's I went to the +Rag, and found Meaburn there; and we'd just agreed to dine together, +when Punch Croker came in. I told Meaburn to hold on, and we'd get a +rise out of Punch. He asked us if we were going to dine, and we said +yes, and that he might dine too, if he liked. And I told him I'd got +some ozone, and asked him his opinion, as a sort of fellow who knew +those things, how it should be cooked. He thought for one moment, and +then said, perfectly quietly, 'Well, if you have it before the cheese, +it should be broiled.' Never let on that he didn't know what it was; +never changed a muscle of his face,--give you my word!" + +They all laughed at this, and then the tall guardsman said, "It's a +great bore, though, to get a reputation for stupidity. It's as bad as +being supposed to be funny. People are always expecting you to say +stupid things, and sometimes it's deuced hard to do." + +"Poor old Charleville!" said Beresford; "we all sympathise with you, +old fellow, though no one can imagine you ever found any difficulty in +being stupid. Comes natural, don't it, old boy?" + +Captain Charleville didn't seem to relish this remark, and was about +to reply angrily, when Tom Burton, the man who had been singing, +struck in hastily with, "Well, it's better to be or to seem stupid, +than to be stupid and have the credit of being clever. Now there's +Northaw, only said one decent thing in his life; and because that has +been told about, fellows say that he's a deuced clever fellow, and +that there's more in him than you'd think." + +"What was the one good thing he did say?" asked Kate. + +"Well, it was one day when he was out with the Queen's last season. +Stradwicke was there, and Pattan, and Bellairs, and a lot of men; and +Northaw was in a horrid bad temper,--had got up too soon, or +something, and was as rusty as Old Boots; so while he was fretting and +fuming about, and blackguarding the weather, and his stirrup-leathers, +and every thing else, Tom Winch rode up to him. You know Tom Winch, +son of great contractor, timber-man, builds bridges, and that sort of +thing. 'Morning, my lord!' says Tom Winch. 'Morning,' says Northaw, as +sulky as a bear. 'What do you think of my new horse, my lord?' +says Tom Winch. 'Ugly brute,' says Northaw, looking up; 'ugly, +wooden-legged brute; _looks as if he'd been made at home_." + +Burton rose during the laugh that followed his story, and rang the +bell. "I must be off," he said; "I've rung to have the phaeton round, +Kitty. Charleville, you'll come with me? I can find room for you, +Beresford." + +"No; thanks," said Beresford; "I rode down. Oh, tell them to bring my +horse round too," he added to the servant. + +"Wait five minutes, Charley," said Kate Mellon in an undertone; "let +us have a quiet talk after they're gone. I've got something to say to +you." + +"Well, good night, Kate; good night, old lady. If you pick up any +thing good in Yorkshire, let's how, there's a Stunner! I've promised +to mount my sister next season, and she sha'n't ride any thing you +don't warrant. Good night, Beresford; good night, old lady;" and with +hearty hand-shakes to Kate, and nods to Beresford, Captain Charleville +and Tom Burton took themselves off. + +"Now, Charley," said Kate, leaning forward on the table while +Beresford lit a fresh cigar and threw himself back in his +chair,--"now, Charley, tell us all about it." + +"About what?" asked Beresford, rolling the leaf of his cigar round +with his finger. "That is good, by Jove! You say you want to talk to +me, and you begin by asking me to tell you all about it!" + +"I mean about yourself. You're horribly low, and dull, and slow, and +wretched. You've scarcely spoken all the evening, and you ate no +dinner, and you drank a great deal of wine." + +"You're a pretty hostess, Kitty! You've checked off my dinner like the +keeper of a _table-d'hôte_." + +"Well, you know you might drink the cellar dry, if you liked. But +you're all out of sorts, Charley; tell me all about it, I say!" + +"You certainly are a strange specimen, Stunner," said Beresford, still +calmly occupied with his cigar-leaf; "but there's a wonderful deal of +good in you, and I don't mind telling you what I wouldn't say to any +one else. I'm done up, Kitty; run the wrong side of the post; +distanced, old lady. I've been hit frightfully hard all this year; my +book for the Leger looks awful; I owe pots of money, and I am very +nearly done." + +"My poor Charley!" said the girl, bending forward, with deep interest +in her face. "That certainly is a blue look-out," she continued,--for +however earnest was her purpose, she could not but express herself in +her slang metaphor. "Is there nothing to fall back upon?" + +"Nothing; no resource, save one--and that I'm going to look after at +once--marriage!" + +"Marriage!" + +"Yes; if I could pick up a woman with money, I'd settle down into a +regular quiet humdrum life. I'd cut the turf, and ride a bishop's cob, +and give good dinners, and go to church, and be regularly respectable, +by Jove! I should make a good husband, too; I think I should; +only--the worst of it is, that these women with money, by some +dispensation of nature, are generally so frightfully hideous." + +"Yes," said the girl, who had pushed her hands through her hair, and +then clenched them tightly in front of her, and who was looking at him +with staring, earnest eyes. "I can't fancy you married, Charley; +that's quite a new view of matters; and, as you say, the rich women +are not generally pretty. You can't have every thing, Charley?" + +"No," said Beresford, gloomily. "I know that; and it would be deuced +hard lines to have to take a Gorgon about with you, and to have to +glare at a plain-headed woman sitting opposite you for the rest of +your life. But need must--what am I to do?" + +"Charley," said the girl, suddenly tilting her chair on to its front +legs, and drumming with her right hand upon the table; "look here. You +can't have every thing, you know, and it's better to make the running +over open ground, no matter how heavy, than to dash at a thick hedge +where there may be water and Lord knows what on the other side. Don't +hurry it so, Charley; you'll get pounded without knowing it, and then +there'll be nothing to pull you through. You can't expect every thing +in a wife, you know, Charley. If you got money, you couldn't look for +rank, you know, eh?" + +"Why, how you do talk about it, old lady!" said Beresford, flicking +the ash off his cigar. "No; I'm not exacting. I wouldn't care about +her pedigree, so long as she was well weighted." + +"That's right; of course not, Charley! I should think you'd find some +one, Charley; not grand, you know, but good and honest, and all that. +Not very beautiful either, perhaps, but not ugly, you know; and one +who'd love you, Charley, and be true to you, and take care of you, and +make you a good wife." + +"Yes, I know, and all that sort of thing; but where is she to come +from?" + +"You might find such a one, Charley, where you never looked for it, +perhaps; one who could bring you a little fortune, all honest money, +and who could tell you of her past life, which you never dreamed of, +and need not be ashamed of. There might be such a one, Charley!" + +She had slid from her chair to the ground, and knelt, with her hands +on his knees, looking eagerly into his face. Her eyes gleamed with +excitement she had pushed her hair back from her forehead, and her +lips were parted in eager anticipation of his words. They came at +length, very slowly. At first he turned pale, and caught his breath +for an instant; then gently lifted her hands, and muttered between his +teeth, "It's impossible, Kate; it can't be!" + +"Impossible!" + +"It can't be, I tell you. What would--there, you don't understand +these things, and I can't explain. It's impossible! I was a fool to +start the subject. Now I must go. Good-by, child; write me a line +from Scarborough; they'll forward it from the office. Won't you say +good-by?" + +He gripped her cold, passive hand, and two minutes afterwards she +heard the sound of his departing horse's feet on the carriage-drive. + +For a while Kate Mellon stood motionless, then stamped her foot +violently, and sank into a chair, covering her face with her hands, +through which the tears welled slowly. Rousing herself at length, +she hurried to a writing-table, pulled out a gaudily-decorated +_papier-mâché_ blotting-book, and commenced scrawling a letter. She +wrote hurriedly, passionately, until she had covered the sheet, +running her gold pen-holder through the tangled mass of hair at the +back of her head, and twisting a stick of sealing-wax with her teeth +the while. The letter finished, she skimmed through it hastily, put it +in an envelope, and directed it to "F. Churchill, Esq., _Statesman_ +Office, E.C." + + + + +CHAPTER V. +"THERE'S NOTHING HALF SO SWEET IN LIFE." + + +Four days had slipped away since Churchill's first arrival at Bissett +Grange, and he had begun to acknowledge to himself that they had +passed more pleasantly than any previous time in his recollection. The +mere fact of getting out of business was a great relief to him; he +revelled in the knowledge that he had nothing to do; and, in odd times +and seasons,--as he lay in bed of nights, for instance,--he would +chuckle at the thought that the coming morrow had for him no work and +no responsibilities in store; and when he went up to dress himself for +dinner, he would settle down into an easy-chair, or hang out of the +open window, and delight in the prospect of a good dinner and +delightful society, of music and conversation, from which no horrid +clock-striking would tear him away, and send him forth to dreary rooms +and brain-racking until the small hours of the morning. Society, +music, and conversation! It is true that he enjoyed them all; and yet, +when he came to analyse his happiness, he was fain to admit that they +all meant Barbara Lexden. As in a glass darkly, that tall majestic +figure moved through every thought, and sinuously wound itself round +every impulse of his heart. At first he laughed at his own weakness, +and tried to exorcise the spirit, to whose spells he found himself +succumbing, by rough usage and hard exercise. There is probably +nothing more serviceable in getting rid of a sharp attack of what is +commonly known as "spooniness"--when it is accidental, be it +remembered, not innate--than the eager pursuit of some healthy sport. +Men try wine and cards; both of which are instantaneous but fleeting +remedies, and which leave them in a state of reaction, when they are +doubly vulnerable; but shooting or hunting, properly pursued, are +thoroughly engrossing while they last, and when they are over +necessitate an immediate recourse to slumber from the fatigue which +they have induced. In the morning, even should opportunity offer, the +"spoony" stage is at its lowest ebb; it is rarely possible to work +oneself up to the proper pitch of silliness immediately after +breakfast, and then some farther sporting expedition is started, which +takes one out of harm's way. But in Churchill's case even this remedy +failed; he was not much of a sportsman; not that he shot badly, but +that he was perpetually _distrait_, and when reminded of his +delinquencies by a sharp, "Your bird, sir!" from one of his +companions, would fire so quickly, and with so much effect, as to +mollify the speaker, and lead him to believe that it was +shortsightedness, and not being a "Cockney"--that worst of imputations +amongst sportsmen--that led the stranger to miss marking the rise of +the covey. And yet Churchill displayed no lack of keen vision in +making out the exact whereabouts of a striped petticoat and a pair of +high-heeled Balmoral boots which crossed a stile a little in advance +of the servants bringing the luncheon; but these once seen, and their +wearer once talked to, sport was over with him for the day, and he +strolled back with Miss Lexden, at a convenient distance behind Miss +Townshend and Captain Lyster, who led the way. + +"You are soon tired of your sport, Mr. Churchill," said Barbara; "I +should have thought that you would have followed ardently any pursuit +on which you entered." + +"You do me a great deal too much honour, Miss Lexden," replied +Churchill, laughing; "my pursuits are of a very desultory nature, and +in all of them I observe Talleyrand's caution,--_Point de zèle_." + +"And you carry that out in every thing?" + +"In most things. Mine is a very easy-going, uneventful, unexcitable +life; I live thoroughly quietly; _da capo_--all over again; and it is +seldom that any thing breaks in upon the routine of my humdrum +existence." + +"Then," said Barbara, looking saucily up at him from under her +hat--"then you do not follow the advice which your favourite +Talleyrand gave to the ambassadors whom he was despatching, _tenez +bonne table, et soignez les femmes_." + +Churchill looked up, and for an instant caught her glance; then he +laughed lightly, and said, + +"Well, not exactly; though the dinners at the club, even the modest +joint and the table-beer, are not by any means to be despised; and as +for the rest of it, not being a diplomatist, Miss Lexden, I have no +occasion to play the agreeable to any one save in my own house, and, +being a bachelor, the only woman I have to see to as properly +_soignée_ is my old mother, and I _do_ like her to have the best of +every thing." + +"Your mother lives with you?" + +"Yes, and will, so far as I can see, until the end of the chapter." + +"She--you must be very fond of her!" said Barbara, as by a sudden +impulse, looking up at his kindling eyes and earnest face. + +"I am very proud of her," he replied; "she is more like my sister than +my mother; enters into all my hopes and fears, shares all my +aspirations, and consoles me in all my doubts." + +"More like your wife, then," said Barbara, with a slight sneer. "You +have in her a rare combination of virtues." + +"No," said Churchill; "not rare, I am disposed to think. I don't +suppose that, in your class,--where maternity means nothing in +particular to sons, and merely chaperonage, or the part of buffer, to +ward off paternal anger for bills incurred, to daughters,--such +characters flourish; but in mine they are common enough."--("A little +touch of old Harding's Radicalism in that speech, by Jove!" thought he +to himself.) + +"I don't exactly fallow your reference to my class as distinct from +your own. I suppose we mix amongst pretty much the same people, though +as individuals we have not met before. But," added Barbara, with a +smile, "now that that great occurrence has taken place, I don't think +we need enter into lengthy disquisitions as to the charms and duties +of maternity; indeed, we will not, for I shall ask you to observe the +only conditions which I require from my friends." + +"And they are--?" asked Churchill. + +"_Qu'on exécute mes orders_, as Louis Napoleon said when asked what +should be done on the Second of December. So long as my commands are +obeyed, I am amiability itself." + +"And suppose they were disobeyed?" asked Churchill again. + +"Then--but I won't tell you what would happen! I don't think you'll +ever have the chance of knowing; do you think you shall? Not that I +like amiable people generally--do you? Your blue-eyed girls, with +colourless hair like blotting-paper, and--but I forgot I was talking +to an author. I suppose you're making fun of all I say?" + +"On the contrary," said Churchill, struggling to keep his gravity, and +producing a small memorandum-book, "I purpose making a note of that +description for use on a future occasion. There is a spiteful +simplicity in that phrase about 'blotting-paper hair' which is really +worth embalming in a leader." + +"Now I know you're laughing, and I hate to be laughed at--" + +"By no means; I subscribe the roll. I am now one of the _âmes +damnées_, sworn to obey the spell of the sorceress; and the spell +is--?" + +"Nothing. Never mind. You will know easily enough when it is once +uttered. Now they're coming back to us, and I've lost my glove. Have +you seen it? How very absurd!" + +As she spoke, they came up with Lyster and Miss Townshend, who were +waiting for them at a gate leading into the Grange lands. + +"How slowly you walk, Miss Lexden!" said Lyster; "Miss Townshend +thought you never would come up with us." + +Miss Townshend, with much curl-tossing and laughter, declared she had +never said any thing of the kind. + +"Quite otherwise," replied Barbara; "from the earnest manner in which +you were carrying on the conversation, there could be no doubt that it +was you who were going ahead." + +"I?--I give you my word I was merely talking of scenery, and telling +Miss Townshend how much I should like to show her Rome." + +"And promising, when there, to enter into the spirit of the proverb, +and do as the Romans--eh, Captain Lyster?" + +"Oh, ah,--yes! I see what you mean. That's not so bad, eh, Mr. +Churchill? You might use that in some of your thingummies, eh? Though +I don't know that there's much difference between Rome and any other +place, after all. It's rather like London, I think." + +"Is it?" said Churchill. "I confess my short sojourn there gave me a +very different idea." + +"Well, I don't know; it's mouldier and more tumbledown, certainly, but +there are some parts of it that are uncommonly like the unfinished +streets in the new part of Belgravia. And people walk about, and eat +and drink, and flirt, you know, just as they do in town. There's a +Colosseum at Rome, too, as well as in London, only the one in Rome +isn't in such good repair." + +This was said in perfect good faith; and the others shouted with +laughter at it, in the midst of which they came to a stile, joining +upon the Paddock, and here they parted into couples again, only this +time Churchill and Barbara took the lead. + +"I think she's made another _coup_," said Lyster, looking at them, as +they immediately fell into earnest conversation. "She certainly is +wonderful,--never misses fire!" + +"If I were Barbara, I should be careful about any flirtation with Mr. +Churchill. They're dreadful people, these poets, you know,--at least +so I've always heard; and if you give them any encouragement, and then +won't marry them, they cry out, and abuse you terribly in books and +newspapers." + +"That would be awful!" said Lyster; "as bad as having your letters +read out in a breach-of-promise case, by Jove! Never could understand +how fellows wrote such spoony letters to women,--never could fancy how +they thought of all the things they said." + +And yet I think, if Captain Lyster had been rigorously cross-examined, +he must needs have confessed that he himself had never, throughout the +whole course of his previous life, gone through so much actual +thinking as since he knew Miss Townshend. There was, perhaps, no +species of flirtation in which he was not an adept, for he had +sufficient brains to do what he called the "talkee-talkee;" while his +natural idleness enabled him to carry on a silent _solitude à deux_, +and to make great play with an occasional elevation of the eyebrow or +touch of the hand. He had run through a thorough course of garrison +hacks, and had seen all the best produce of the export Indian market; +he had met the beauties of the season at London balls and in country +houses, and his listlessness and languor had hitherto carried him +through scot-free. But now he was certainly "fetched," as his friends +would call it, and began to feel an interest in Miss Townshend which +he had never felt for any other person. There had been a two days' +flirtation between him and Barbara Lexden; but they were so utterly +unsuited, that, at the end of that time, they, as it were, showed +their hands to each other, and then, with a laugh, threw up their +cards. The flirtation was never renewed; but a curious, strange +friendship,--exhibited in the conversation about the coming +professor,--and always half raillery on both sides, existed between +them. But "this little Townshend girl," as he thought of her in his +dreamy reveries, was quite another matter; she was so jolly and +good-tempered, and so approachable, and never gave herself any airs, +and never wanted talking to or that sort of thing, but could amuse +herself always, as chirpy as a bird, by Jove! And these attributes had +an immense amount of weight with taciturn Fred Lyster, who, moreover, +had recently discovered a bald spot about the size of a sixpence at +the top of his back-parting, and who immediately perceived imminent +age, determined on marriage, and even thought of making his will. And +little Miss Townshend walks by his side, and prattles away, and +laughs, saucily tossing her curls in the air, and is as merry as +possible; save when, stealing an occasional glance from under her hat, +she detects her companion's eyes very earnestly fixed upon her, and +then a serious expression will settle on her face for an instant, and +something like a sigh escape her. + +We are a strange race! Here are two couples engaged in the same +pursuit, and yet how different is the process! While Lyster is +strolling idly by Miss Townshend's side, and listening to her little +nonsense, Churchill and Barbara are stepping ahead, thoroughly +engrossed in their conversation. He is talking now, telling her of a +German adventure of his; how, with some other students, he made the +descent of the Rhine on one of the timber-rafts; how they came to +grief just below the Lôrely, and were all nearly drowned. He tells +this with great animation and with many gestures, acting out his +story, as is his wont; and throughout all he has a sensation of +pleasure as he catches glimpses of her upturned earnest face, lighting +up at the special bits of the narrative, always eager and attentive. +His earnestness seems infectious. She has dropped all her society +drawl, all her society tricks and byplay, and shows more of the real +woman than she has for many a day. They talk of Germany and its +literature, of Goethe and Schiller and Heine; and he tells her some of +those stories of Hoffmann which are such special favourites with +_Bürschen_. Thus they pass on to our home poets; and here Barbara is +the talker, Churchill listening and occasionally commenting. Barbara +has read much, and talks well. It is an utter mistake to suppose that +women nowadays have what we have been accustomed, as a term of +reproach, to call "miss-ish" taste in books or art. Five minutes' +survey of that room which Barbara called her own in her aunt's house +in Gloucester Place would have served to dispel any such idea. On the +walls were proofs of Leonardo's "Last Supper" and Landseers "Shoeing +the Horse;" a print of Delaroche's "Execution of Lady Jane Grey;" a +large framed photograph of Gerome's "Death of Cæsar;" an old-fashioned +pencil-sketch of Barbara's father, taken in the old days by D'Orsay +long before he ever thought of turning that pencil to actual use; and +a coloured photograph--a recent acquisition--of a girl sitting over a +wood-fire in a dreamy attitude, burning her love-letters, called +"L' Auto da Fé." On the bookshelves you would have found Milton, +Thomas à-Kempis, _David Copperfield_, _The Christmas Carol_, a +much-used Tennyson, Keats, George Herbert's Poems, Quarles' _Emblems_, +_The Christian Year_, Carlyle's _French Revolution_, Dante, Schiller, +_Faust_, Tupper (of course! "and it is merely envy that makes you +laugh at him," she always said), _The Newcomes_, and a quarto +Shakespeare. No French novels, I am glad to say; but a fat little +Béranger, and a yellow-covered Alfred de Musset are on the +mantelpiece, while a brass-cross-bearing red-edged Prayer-Book lies +on the table by the bed. Barbara's books were not show-books; they all +bore more or less the signs of use; but she had read them in a +desultory manner, and had never thoroughly appreciated the pleasure to +be derived from them. She had never lived in a reading set; for when +old Miss Lexden had mastered the police intelligence and the +fashionable news from the _Post_, her intellectual exercises were at +an end for the day; and her friends were very much of the same +calibre. So now for the first time Barbara heard literature talked of +by one who had hitherto made it his worship, and who spoke of it with +mingled love and reverence--spoke without lecturing, leading his +companion into her fair share of the talk, mingling apt quotation with +caustic comment or enthusiastic eulogy, until they found themselves, +to Barbara's surprise, at the hall-door. + +I am glad that it is my province as historian to discourse to my +readers of the thoughts, impulses, and motives influencing the +characters in this story, else it would be difficult for me to convey +so much of their inner life as I wish to be known, and which yet would +not crop out in the course of the action. In writing a full-flavoured +romance of the sensational order, it is not, perhaps, very difficult +to imbue your readers with a proper notion of your characters' +character. The gentleman who hires two masked assassins to waylay his +brother at the foot of the bridge has evidently no undue veneration +for the Sixth Commandment; while the marchioness who, after having +only once seen the young artist in black velvet, gives him the gold +key leading to her secret apartments, and makes an assignation with +him at midnight, is palpably not the style of person whom you would +prefer as governess for your daughters. But in a commonplace story of +every-day life, touching upon such ordinary topics as walks and +dinners and butchers' meat, marrying and giving in marriage, running +into debt, and riding horses in Rotten Row,--where (at least; so far +as my experience serves) you find no such marked outlines of +character, you must bring to your aid all that quality of work which +in the sister art is known by the title pre-Raphaelitic, and show +virtue in the cut of a coat and vice in the adjustment of a cravat. +Moreover, we pen-and-ink workers have, in such cases, an advantage +over our brethren of the pencil, inasmuch as we can take our readers +by the button-hole, and lead them out of the main current of the +story, showing them our heroes and heroines in _déshabille_, and, +through the medium of that window which Vulcan wished had been fixed +in the human breast--and which really is there, for the novelist's +inspection--making them acquainted with the inmost thoughts and +feelings of the puppets moving before them. + +When Barbara went to her room that night and surrendered herself to +Parker and the hair-brushes, that pattern of ladies'-maids thought +that she had never seen her mistress so preoccupied since Karl von +Knitzler, an _attaché_ of the Austrian Embassy,--who ran for a whole +season in the ruck of the Lexden's admirers, and at last thought he +had strength for the first flight,--had received his _coup de grâce_. +In her wonderment Parker gave two or three hardish tugs at the hair +which she was manipulating, but received no reproof; for the inside of +that little head was so busy as to render it almost insensible to the +outside friction. Barbara was thinking of Mr. Churchill--as yet she +had not even thought of him by his Christian name, scarcely perhaps +knew it--and of the strange interest which he seemed to have aroused +in her. The tones of his voice yet seemed ringing in her ears; she +remembered his warm, earnest manner when speaking from himself, and +the light way in which he fell into her tone of jesting badinage. +Then, with something like a jar, she recollected his suppressed sneer +at the difference in their "class," and her foot tapped angrily on the +floor as the recollection rose in her mind. Mingled strangely with +these were reminiscences of his comely head, white shapely hands, +strong figure, and well-made boots; of the way in which he sat and +walked; of--and then, with a start which nearly hurled one of the +brushes out of Parker's hand, she gathered herself together as she +felt the whole truth rush upon her, and knew that she was thinking too +much of the man and determined that she would so think no more. Who +was he, living away in some obscure region in London among a set of +people whom no one knew, leading a life which would not be tolerated +by any of her friends, to engross _her_ thoughts? Between them rolled +a gulf, wide and impassable, on the brink of which they might indeed +stand for a few minutes interchanging casual nothings in the course of +life's journey, but which rendered closer contact impossible. And +yet--but Barbara determined there should be no "and yet;" and with +this determination full upon her, she dismissed Parker and fell +asleep. + +And Churchill--what of him? Alas, regardless of his doom, that little +victim played! When old Marmaduke gave the signal for retiring, +Churchill would not, on this night, follow the other men into +the smoking-room. The politics, the ribaldry, the scandal, the +horsey-doggy talk, would be all more intolerable than ever; he wanted +to be alone, to go through that process, so familiar to him on all +difficult occasions, of "thinking it out;" so he told Gumble to take a +bottle of claret to his room, and, arrived there, he lit his old +meerschaum, and leant out of the window gazing over the distant +moonlit park. But this time the "thinking it out" failed dismally; +amid the white smoke-wreaths curling before him rose a tall, slight +grateful figure; in his ear yet lingered the sound of a clear low +voice; his hand yet retained the thrill which ran through him as she +touched it in wishing him "good night." He thought of _her_ as he had +never thought of woman before, and he gloried in the thought: he was +no love-sick boy, to waste in fond despair, and sicken in his longing; +he was a strong, healthy man, with a faultless digestion, an earnest +will, a clear conscience, and a heart thinking no guile. There was the +difference in the rank, certainly--and in connexion with this +reflection a grim smile crossed his face as he remembered Harding, and +his caution about "swells"--but what of that? Did not good education, +and a life that would bear scrutiny, lift a man to any rank? and would +not she--and then he drew from his pocket a dainty, pearl-gray glove +(Jouvin's two-buttoned, letter B), and pressed it to his lips. It +_was_ silly, ladies and gentlemen, I admit; but then, you know, it +never happened to any of _us_; and though "the court, the camp, the +grove" suffer, we have the pleasure of thinking that the senate, the +bar, the commerce of England, and the public press, always escape +scot-free. + + +Breakfast at Bissett Grange lasted from nine--at the striking of which +hour old Sir Marmaduke entered the room, and immediately rang the bell +for a huge smoking bowl of oatmeal porridge, his invariable matutinal +meal--until twelve; by which time the laziest of the guests had +generally progressed from Yorkshire-pie, through bacon, eggs, and +Finnan haddies, down to toast and marmalade, and were sufficiently +refected. Barbara was always one of the last; she was specially late +on the morning after the talk just described; and on her arrival in +the breakfast-room found only Mr. and Mrs. Vincent, who always +lingered fondly over their meals, and who, so long as the cloth +remained on the table, sat pecking and nibbling, like a couple of old +sparrows, at the dishes within reach of them; Captain Lyster, who +between his sips of coffee was dipping into _Bell's Life_; and Sir +Marmaduke himself, who had returned from a brisk walk round the +grounds and the stables and the farm, and was deep in the columns of +the _Times_. But, to her astonishment, the place at table next hers +had evidently not yet been occupied. The solid white breakfast-set was +unused, the knives and forks were unsoiled; and yet Mr. Churchill, who +had hitherto occupied that place, had usually finished his meal and +departed before Barbara arrived. This morning, however, was clearly an +exception; he had not yet breakfasted, for by his plate lay three +unopened letters addressed to him. Barbara noticed this--noticed +moreover that the top letter, in a long shiny pink envelope, was +addressed in a scrawly, unmistakably female hand, and had been +redirected in a larger, bolder writing. As she seated herself, with +her eyes, it must be confessed, on this dainty missive, the door +opened, and Churchill entered. After a general salutation, he was +beginning a half-laughing apology for his lateness as he sat down, +when his eye lit on the pink envelope. He changed colour slightly; +then, before commencing his breakfast, took up his letters and placed +them in the breast-pocket of his shooting-coat. + +"This is horrible, Miss Lexden," he said, "bringing these dreadful +hours into the country; here--where you should enjoy the breezy call +of incense-breathing morn, the cock's shrill clarion, and all the rest +of it--to come down to your breakfast just when the bucolic mind is +pondering on the immediate advent of its dinner." + +"Be good enough to include yourself in this sweeping censure, Mr. +Churchill," said Barbara. "I was down before you; but I accepted my +position, nor, however late I might have been, should I have +attempted--" + +"I congratulate you, sir," interrupted Mr. Vincent, dallying with a +lump of marmalade on a wedge of toast,--"I congratulate you, Mr. +Churchill, on a prudence which but few men of your age possess." + +"You are very good, but I scarcely follow you." + +"I saw you--I saw you put away your letters until after breakfast. A +great stroke that! Men generally are so eager to get at their letters, +that they plunge into them at once, before meals little thinking that +the contents may have horrible influence on their digestion." + +"I am sorry to say that I was influenced by no such sanitary +precautions. My correspondence will keep; and I have yet to learn that +to read letters in the presence of ladies is--" + +"Pray, make no apologies, as far as I am concerned," said Barbara, +with a curl of her lip and an expansion of nostril; "if you have any +wish to read your doubtless important correspondence--" + +"I have no such wish, Miss Lexden. _Litera scripta manet_; which, +being interpreted, means, my letters will keep. And now, Mr. Vincent, +I'll trouble you for a skilful help of that game-pie." + +Churchill remained firm; he was still at breakfast, and his letters +remained unopened in his pocket, when Barbara left the room to prepare +for a drive with Miss Townshend. As they reëntered the avenue after a +two hours' turn round the Downs, they met Captain Lyster in a +dog-cart. + +"I have been over to Brighton," he explained; "drove Churchill to the +station. He got some news this morning, and is obliged to run up to +town for a day or two. But he's coming back, Miss Lexden." + +"Is he, indeed!" said Barbara. "What splendid intelligence! I should +think, Captain Lyster, that, since the announcement of the fall of +Sebastopol, England has scarcely heard such glorious news as that Mr. +Churchill is coming back to Bissett." And, with a clear, ringing +laugh, she pulled the ponies short up at the hall-door, jumped from +the carriage, and passed to her room. + +"She don't like his going, all the same,--give you my word," said +Lyster, simply, to Miss Townshend. + +And she did not. She coupled his sudden departure with the receipt of +that pink envelope and the address in the feminine scrawl. Who was the +writer of that letter? What could the business be to take him away so +hastily? With her head leaning on her hand, she sits before her +dressing-table pondering these things. It certainly _was_ a woman's +writing. Is this quiet, sedate, self-possessed man a flirt? Does he +carry on a correspondence with-- And if he does, what is it to her? +She is nothing to him--and yet--who _can_ it be? It was a woman's +hand! She wonders where he is at that moment; she would like to see +him just for an instant. + +If she could have had her wish, she would have seen him by himself in +a railway-carriage, an unheeded _Times_ lying across his knee, and in +his hand a little pearl-gray kid-glove. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +THE COMMISSIONER'S SHELL EXPLODES. + + +When the party assembled for dinner on the day of Mr. Churchill's +hurried departure from the Grange, they found they had an addition in +the person of Mr. Commissioner Beresford, who arrived late in the +afternoon, and did not make his appearance until dinner-time. A man of +middle height and dapper figure, always faultlessly dressed; slightly +bald, but with his light-coloured hair well arranged over his large +forehead; with deep-sunk, small, stony-gray eyes, a nose with the +nostrils scarcely sufficiently covered, and a large mouth, with long +white teeth. He had small white--dead-white--hands, with filbert +nails, and very small feet. There was in the normal and ordinary +expression of his face something sour and mordant, which, so far as +his eyes were concerned, occasionally faded out in conversation, +giving place to a quaint, comic look; but the mouth never changed; it +was always fox-like, cruel, and bad. There was no better-known man in +London; high and low, rich and poor, gentle and simple, all had heard +of Charley Beresford. Citizen of the world, where was he out of place? +When there was a tight wedge on the staircase of Protocol House on the +Saturday nights when Lady Helmsman received; when at a foot-pace the +fashionable world endured hours of martyrdom in procession to the +shrine which, once reached, was passed in an instant, according as +sole trophy the reminiscence of a bow,--Mr. Beresford was to be seen +leaning over the stoutest of dowagers, and looking fresh and +undrooping even when pressed upon by the pursiest of diplomatists. +When the noble souls of the Body Guards were dismayed within the huge +carcasses which contained them because it was whispered that the 180th +Hussars intended to wear white hats on their drag to the Derby, and to +deck their persons and their horses with blue rosettes--both which +insignia had hitherto been distinctive of the Body Guards--it was +Charley Beresford who was applied to on the emergency; and who, on the +Derby morning, turned the tables completely by bringing the Body +Guards from Limmer's straw-thatched and amber-rosetted to a man. The +180th and their blue were nowhere; and "Go it, yaller!" and "Brayvo, +Dunstable!" were the cries all down the road. When Mr. Peter +Plethoric, the humorous comedian of the Nonpareil Theatre, wanted some +special patronage for his benefit, "Charley, dear boy!" was his +connecting link with that aristocracy whose suffrages he sought. He +went into every phase of society: he had an aunt the widow of a +cabinet minister, who lived in Eaton Square; and an uncle a bishop, +who lived in Seamore Place; and he dined with them regularly two or +three times in the season, lighting his cigar within a few yards of +the house, and quietly strolling down to the Argyll Rooms, or to the +green-room of the theatre, or to the parlour of a sporting-public +to get the latest odds on a forthcoming fight. He turned up his +coat-collar of late when he visited these last-named places, and the +pugilistic landlords had orders never to pronounce his name, but to +call him "Guv'nor;" it would not do for an official high in her +Majesty's service to be recognised in such quarters. Before his +aristocratic friends obtained for him his commissionership, his name +was one of the most common current amongst the Fancy; but since then +he had eschewed actual presence at the ring, as he had blue bird's-eye +handkerchiefs, cigars in the daylight, and nodding acquaintance with +broughams in the park. "_Il faut se ranger_," he used to say; "it +would never do for those young fellows down at the Office to think +that I was or ever had been a fast lot; and those confounded Radical +papers, they made row enough about the appointment, and they'll always +be on the look-out to catch me tripping." He little knew that his fame +had preceded him to the Tin-Tax Office; that all the old clerks were +prepared to receive him with something between fear and disgust, all +the young ones with unmingled admiration; that daily bulletins of his +dress and manners were circulated amongst the juniors, and that those +who could afford it dressed at him to a man. + +He was four-and-thirty when he got his appointment, and he had held it +about two years. There was even betting that the promotion would "go +in the office;" that Mr. Simnel, the secretary, a very clever man, +would get it; that the vacancy would not be filled up; and various +other rumours. But the Chancellor of the Exchequer felt that Mr. +Simnel had been going a little too much ahead lately, acting on his +own responsibility; and as the widow of the cabinet minister (who +owned a borough in Devonshire) and the bishop concurrently attacked +the Premier, that nobleman gave way, and Charles Beresford exchanged +the dreariness of Bruges, in which dull Belgian city of refuge he had +been for some months located, for a seat in the board-room at Rutland +House. His uncle and aunt, through their respective solicitors, bought +up his outstanding debts, and settled them at a comparatively low rate +(his Oxford ticks had been settled years ago out of his mother's +income); and he came into a thousand a year, paid quarterly, free and +unencumbered. A thousand a year, in four cheques on the Bank of +England in January, April, July, and October, ought to be a +sufficiency for an unmarried man; but with Charles Beresford, as with +a good many of us, the mere fact of the possession of money gave rise +to a wild desire for rushing into unlimited expense. To belong to +three clubs--the Beauclerk in Pall Mall, aristocratic and exclusive; +the Minerva (proposed thereat by the bishop), literary and solemn; the +Haresfoot, late and theatrical;--to have capital rooms in South Audley +Street; to keep a mail-phaeton and pair, with a saddle-horse and a +hunter during the season; to give and join in Greenwich and Richmond +dinners; to be generous in the matter of kid-gloves and jewelry; to +have a taste (and to gratify it) in choice wines; to make a yearly +excursion to Baden, and when there to worship extensively at the +shrine of M. Benazet; to be a connoisseur in art, and a buyer of +proofs before letters, and statuary, and tapestry, and antiques; to be +miserable without the possession of an Opera-stall; all these +vagaries, though pleasant, are undeniably expensive; and at the end of +his second year of office Charles Beresford found that he had spent +every farthing of his income, and owed, in addition, between three and +four thousand pounds. + +He could not compound with his creditors; he dared not go through the +Court, for "those rascally papers" would then have been down on him at +once, and his official appointment might have been sacrificed. The +Government just then had two or three black sheep, about whom people +had talked, among their subordinates; and Beresford might have been +the Jonah, sacrificed to allay the storm of virtuous public +indignation. Besides, though his great soul might have been won over +to include in his schedule Messrs. Sams and Mitchell, Mr. Stecknadel, +the tailor of Conduit Street, and Hocks, with whom his horses stood at +livery, he could not inscribe the names of the Irrevocable Insurance +Company, to whom for the money borrowed he had given the names of two +substantial friends as sureties; or of Mr. Parkinson, solicitor, of +Thavies Inn, who "did his paper," but required another signature on +the back. So Mr. Charles Beresford was forced to confess himself "done +up," "cornered," and "tree'd;" and only saw one way out of his +difficulties--a good marriage. There was no reason why his final +chance should not succeed, for he was a very pleasant, agreeable +fellow when he chose; had a capital tenor voice, and sang French and +German songs with sparkling effect and irreproachable accent; acted +well in charade; talked all sorts of styles,--could be earnest, +profound, sentimental, flippant, literary, or ribald, as occasion +presented; waltzed with a gliding, long, swinging step, which was the +envy of all the men who saw him; was sufficiently good-looking, and +had something like a position to offer. + +Behold him, then, seated at Sir Marmaduke's table next to Miss +Townshend, and with Barbara Lexden immediately opposite to him. He has +been rattling on pleasantly enough during dinner, but has never +forgotten the object of his life; he is aware that Barbara for him is +not an available _parti_, with position certainly, but without money, +and with extravagant notions; but he has some recollection of having +heard that Mr. Townshend was something approaching to a +_millionnaire_, and he determined to satisfy himself upon the point +without delay. + +"Not at all," he says, referring to something that has gone before; +"not at all. It's all very well for you, Sir Marmaduke, whose lines +have been cast in pleasant places, to talk so; but for us poor fellows +who have to work for our living, this rest is something delightful." + +"Work for your living!" growls out the old gentleman. "A pack of lazy +placemen. Egad! the fellow talks as though stone-breaking were his +occupation, and he'd just straightened his back for five minutes. Work +for your living! Do you call sticking your initial to the corner of a +lot of figures that you've never read, work? Do you call scrawling +your signature at the bottom of some nonsensical document, to prove +that you're the 'obedient, humble servant,' of some idiot whom you've +never seen, work? Do you call reading the--" + +"Now stop, Sir Marmaduke," said Beresford, laughing; "I bar you there. +You mustn't repeat that _rococo_ old rubbish about reading the +newspaper and poking the fire as the sole work in a Government office. +That _is_ slander." + +"I am bound to say," said Mr. Townshend pompously, "that when, in my +capacity either as one of the directors of the East-India Company, or +Prime Warden of the Bottle Blowers' Company, I have ever had occasion +to transact business with any of the Government establishments, I have +always found myself well treated." + +"I am delighted to hear such testimony from you, sir," said Beresford, +with some apparent deference, and inwardly thinking that the two +positions named looked healthy as regards money. + +"God bless my soul!" bawled Sir Marmaduke. "Here's a man drives up in +a big carriage, with a powdered-headed jackass to let down the steps, +and then he 'testifies' that he gets a messenger to take in his name +and that he isn't insulted by the clerks. I wish with all my heart, +Townshend, that you were a poor man with a patent to bring out, or a +grievance to complain of, or an inquiry to make, and you'd devilish +soon see the reception you'd get." + +"I hear," said Mr. Vincent, with a mind to turn the conversation +"that a new system of refreshment-supply has recently been +introduced into some of our public departments. I have a nephew in the +Draft-and-Docket Office, whom I called upon about one o'clock the +other day, and I found him engaged upon some very excellent +_cotelettes à la Soubise_, which he told me were prepared in the +establishment. That appears to me a most admirable arrangement." + +"Very admirable," growled Sir Marmaduke "for the public, who are +paying the young ruffians for eating their Frenchified rubbish. By +heavens! a clerk at ninety pounds a year, and a made-dish for lunch!" + +"Quite right, Mr. Townshend," said Stone; "they feed stunningly now, +and don't drink badly either. By the way, Beresford, I'm agent for +Goupil's house at Bordeaux, and I could put in a capital cheap claret +into your place, just the thing for your fellows in the hot weather. +The tenders are out now, and a word from you would serve me." + +"But, surely," said Barbara, laughing, "if, as Sir Marmaduke says, you +don't work now, Mr. Beresford, you'll be less inclined than ever after +M. Goupil's claret." + +"Sir Marmaduke is an infidel, Miss Lexden," said Charley. "Send in +your tender, Stone, and Goupil's Medoc shall be a fresh incentive to +the virtuous Civil Servants!" + +"Let him rave, my dear!" said Sir Marmaduke; "let him rave, +as your idol Mr. Tennyson says. What he calls work, I call +make-believe humbug. What I call work, is what my godson--what's his +name---Churchill (what the deuce has he gone away for?) does, night +after night, grinding his headpiece--that sort of thing." + +"What Churchill is that, sir?" asked Charley. + +"Mr. Churchill is a literary man, I believe," said Miss Townshend; +"wonderfully clever--writes, you know, and all that." + +"Oh, Frank Churchill! I know him," replied Beresford. "Has he been +down here?" + +"Yes; he only left this morning." + +"He seems a very good sort of fellow," said Lyster generously, for he +didn't quite like the tone of Beresford's voice, and did not at all +like the manner in which the Commissioner was paying quiet attention +to Miss Townshend. "He's made himself a general favourite in a very +short time." + +"Yes, that he has," said Miss Townshend; "he's very clever, and not at +all conceited, and--oh! he's so nice." + +Barbara said nothing. + +"I had a few words with him about the money-article yesterday," said +Mr. Townshend; "but I must say his views were scarcely so defined as I +could have wished." + +Beresford had listened attentively to these remarks. He thought he +perceived a certain _tendresse_ in Miss Townshend's manner of speaking +of Churchill, which did not at all accord with his present views. So +he said, + +"No, Mr. Townshend; that's not Churchill's peculiar line. He's a poor +man, though, as you say, Miss Townshend, a clever one. And he has some +object in working hard, for he's going to be married." + +"To be married?" exclaimed Miss Townshend, looking across at Barbara. + +"To be married?" exclaimed Barbara, flushing scarlet. The next instant +she turned deadly cold, and could have bitten her tongue out for +having spoken. + +"Well, well!" said old Miss Lexden, who up to this time had been +engaged in a confidential culinary chat with Mrs. Vincent; "that's +always the way. Poor thing: I pity the young woman. These sort of +persons always stay out all night, and ill-treat their wives, and all +that kind of thing." + +"Dear, dear!" said Mrs. Vincent; "leg-of-mutton _ménage_ and +batter-pudding, perhaps; no soup or fish. Dear, dear! what unwholesome +things these love-marriages are!" + +"But nobody said that it is a love match," said Miss Townshend. +"Perhaps the lady is an heiress, whom Mr. Churchill has captivated by +his talent." + +"Yes," growled Sir Marmaduke, with a sardonic grin; "an heiress who +has been struck with his articles on the Reformatory question, or has +become completely dazzled by the lucidity of his views on the Maynooth +Grant. A leader-writer in a daily newspaper is just the romantic youth +that heiresses fall in love with." + +"Now do be quiet, Sir Marmaduke, with your horrid sarcasm, and let us +hear what the lady is like. Do tell us, Mr. Beresford," said Miss +Townshend. + +"Oh, I have no idea of her personal appearance," replied Beresford. +"Every body says she's very nice, and that the marriage is coming off +at once--that's all I know." + +"Your curiosity will soon be gratified, with a very little trouble," +interrupted Lyster. "You can ask Mr. Churchill himself--he's coming +back to-morrow." + +"Coming back!" exclaimed Beresford. + +"Yes, to-morrow," replied Lyster, and added, between his teeth, "your +little plot will soon be spoilt, my boy." + +Shortly afterwards, when the ladies left the table, Barbara did not +accompany the rest, but went straight to her own room. There she +seated herself at the open window, which looked out upon the lawn and +upon the high downs beyond, over which the yellow-faced moon was +rising in solemn beauty. And Barbara nestled into the great +easy-chair, which she had pulled forward, and rested her chin on her +hand, and looked upon the grand picture of varied light and shade with +eyes that saw nothing of the beauty, and with a heart that +comprehended it not. Down in the hollow lay a little farm, gray and +cold and stony, as are such buildings in Sussex, and containing at +that time a sleeping, snoring family; for the farmer, a thrifty man, +had to be up betimes, and candlelight might as well be spared, and +hard-working folk must rest. He did not think much about the moon, +this Sussex farmer, nor did his hinds, two of whom were then snoring +in the red-tiled barn just on the shoulder of you hill; but the +glorious lamp of night was as much in their thoughts as she was in +those of Barbara Lexden, who had copied out "The moon is up, by +Heaven! a lovely eve," from _Childe Harold_, and knew Alfred de +Musset's wild lines on the same subject by heart, and had gone in for +the romantic business about it, and done some very effective bits of +flirtation, in which the goddess Luna was made good use of. But the +moon was nothing now to Barbara, whose mind was full of a far more +worldly object, and whose foot was tapping impatiently on the floor. +Going to be married? Then it was all accounted for--that letter with +the feminine _griffe_, which he had pocketed immediately and read +apart, and his hurried departure for town. Going to be married! What +business had he, then, to come down there, and talk and act as though +no engagement fettered him--to talk, indeed, as though no notion of +matrimony had ever crossed his mind? Could he--? No; that was +impossible. He could not have been playing with her--making a fool of +her? What was that he had said about difference of class in marriage? +Ay, that settled the question; the _fiancée_ was probably some dowdy +woman, who could make a pie, and mend his clothes, and keep their +maid-of-all-work in order. Well, the man was nothing to her--but she +hoped he might be happy. It was getting very dull at Bissett, and she +should suggest their departure to her aunt. They had invitations for +several nice houses; and General Mainwaring's was not far off, and +Boyce Combe was there, and Harvey Grenville; so that she should be +sure of plenty of fun. She had not seen Boyce Combe since the last +Woolwich ball, and then he had been so horribly absurd, and had talked +such ridiculous nonsense. He was so amusing, Major Combe; and--and +then Major Combe's handsome, vacuous, simpering countenance, which for +a moment had risen in Barbara's mind, faded again, and in its place +there came a genial, clever, sensible face, with merry eyes and +laughing mouth, and Major Combe's "ridiculous nonsense" seemed +wretched balderdash as contrasted with Frank Churchill's pleasant +talk. + +A knock at the door, following which promptly little Miss Townshend +glides into the room. A nice little girl, as I have remarked; a +charming little being, bright and winning, but not the sort of person +for a companion when one is in that state so well described as "out of +sorts." Who, I wonder, is pleasant company for us in a real or fancied +trouble? Certainly not the enthusiastic gusher who flings his or +herself upon our necks, and insists upon sharing our sorrow,--which is +a thorough impossibility. Certainly not the pseudo-moralist who tells +us that all is for the best, and quotes Scripture, and suggests that, +though we have had to retire from Palace Gardens and live in Bedford +Row, there are many outcasts then sleeping on the steps of Whitechapel +Church; and that, though our darling's life may be trembling in the +balance, there are fever-courts and pestilence-alleys, in no house of +which "there is not one dead." Certainly not the lively friend who +thinks that "rallying" is the best course for binding the broken heart +and setting at rest the perturbed spirit, and who accordingly indulges +in one perpetual effervescence of mild sarcasm and feeble teasing. +Miss Townshend belonged to this latter class; and entered the room +with a little skip and a long slide, which brought her to Barbara's +side. + +"Oh, ho! and so we're annoyed, are we, and won't come among our +friends? We sit and sulk by ourselves, do we?" + +"I cannot possibly imagine what you mean, Alice," said Barbara coldly. +"Take care, please; you're standing on my dress." + +"Oh, of course not, poor darling, she can't imagine! But, without any +joking, Barbara, it _is_ too bad." + +"What is too bad, Alice?" asked Barbara, without moving a muscle. She +had a tremendous power over her face, and, when she chose, looked as +impassible as the Sphynx, "staring straight on with calm eternal +eyes." + +"Now, don't be silly, Barbara dear," exclaimed Miss Townshend, who was +getting rather annoyed because her friend had not gone off into +hysterics. "You know well enough what I mean; and it is a shame, a +horrible shame! Who would have thought that that learned clever man +could have been such an incorrigible flirt? There now," putting up her +hands, "you know perfectly well who I mean. And he did carry on with +you in the most shameful manner--and going to be married all the time! +Not that I'm sure you're not rightly served, Barbara. It's just the +sort of thing you've been doing all your life, you know; but, still, +one doesn't expect it in a man, does one, dear? I wonder--" + +"_I_ wonder when you'll have common sense, Alice. It's time, if what +you told me this morning be true." + +"O Barbara darling! O Barbara! don't remind me of it. Oh, how +miserable you've made me! And you--you don't care one pin, when you +know I'm so wretched." And putting her handkerchief to her eyes, +little Miss Townshend hurried out of the room. + +And what of the girl who "didn't care one pin"? who had just been +rallied upon having been made a fool of by a man--a man, moreover, for +whom every hour of her life proved to her that she cared? Pride, love, +vexation, doubt,--all these had influence on that throbbing heart; and +she flung herself on her bed in a flood of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +TOUCHING A PROPOSAL. + + +When Captain Lyster rose on the following morning, he had made up his +mind to the commission of a very serious deed. A long course of +reflection as he lay awake in the watches of the night, and the +discovery, real or imaginary, of a further diminution of hair on the +crown of his head, had determined him upon asking Miss Townshend to +become his wife without any further delay. There was something in her +fresh, cheery, pleasant manner that specially appealed to this _blasé_ +cynic; she was so unlike the women he had been accustomed to mix with +in society, who were generally weak imitations of Barbara Lexden, or +opinionless misses, who held "yea" and "nay" to be the sole +ingredients necessary in their conversation; in fact, this chattering +girl, who said every thing uppermost in her mind, who had capital +spirits perennially flowing, and who was natural without being either +arrogant or "miss-ish," had completely enslaved him. He might have +pottered on in silent admiration for some time longer, but that he had +been greatly annoyed by Beresford's manner to Miss Townshend on the +preceding evening; there was something in the Commissioner's easy +familiarity, both during dinner and afterwards, which signally raised +Lyster's wrath. He had towards Beresford that singular feeling, that +compound of distrust, detestation, contempt, and fear, which we +experience instinctively for any rival; and his love for this girl was +far too serious a matter to permit any tampering with his plans. A +good fellow, Fred Lyster; a kind-hearted, straightforward, honourable +man, with very little guile; lazy, to a certain extent selfish, and +considerably spoilt; but with an innate sense of right carrying him +through many difficulties, and with a stout heart and a clear brain to +support him under any trials. + +He loved this girl, and he wanted to know whether his love was +returned. To get at this information he saw but one way--a proposal. I +have before said that he knew every trick and turn of flirtation; but +this was something of far deeper import than a flirtation; means which +he had previously used to ascertain "how he stood" with the temporary +object of his affections, and which had elicited the satisfactory +glance, hand-pressure, or word, he would have now deemed degrading +both to himself and to her. His regard for her had been growing +throughout the past season, and was rapidly culminating. He had +watched her attentively, and studied all her movements, with a +satisfactory result. He felt that she was a little fast, certainly; +but that fastness he was convinced resulted from the mere overflow of +animal spirits, and not from any desire to please in men's eyes by +affectation of men's ways. That she was an heiress he didn't care one +bit about--he had plenty for both; and if she came to him, any thing +that she had should be settled on herself. But how to ask her? Ah, how +long did that pair of hair-brushes remain suspended over his head, +while he gazed vacantly into the dressing-glass before him as this +question rose in his mind! How often did he fling himself on the +ottoman, nursing his foot and biting his lip in a perplexity of doubt! +He could not go down on his knees, and offer his hand and heart, as +they did on the stage; he could not write to her, either formally or +spasmodically--he had a wholesome horror of committing himself on +paper; he could not arrive at the knowledge he required through any +third person; in fact (here the hair-brushes went to work again), +there was no way but to take advantage of an opportunity, and propose. +He must know his position, too, at once. He could not bear to see that +fellow Beresford hanging about her as he had been the previous night. +He'd do it that very day. His whole frame, which had been pleasantly +cooled by his shower-bath, tingled again at the mere thought; and a +faint empty feeling, something like that which he experienced when +insulted in the Engineers' mess-room at Salem by Poker Cassidy, came +over him. Would he get as well out of this as out of that encounter? +Then he held his own; and Cassidy, neatly drilled by a pistol-bullet +through his ankle, limps with a crutch to this day. But this was a +very different matter. + +It was a dull breakfast that morning. Barbara sent down intelligence +of a headache, and remained in her room; Miss Townshend had red rims +to her pretty eyes, had no smile for any one, looked miserable, and +sat silent; her papa had donned his very stiffest check cravat, and +was, if possible, more pompous than usual; Sir Marmaduke had had his +porridge early, had gone out, and not returned; old Miss Lexden always +breakfasted in bed; and Mr. and Mrs. Vincent were utterly upset by a +burnt omelette, about which they conveyed dismay to each other by +eyebrow telegraph across the table. Only Major Stone was himself; and +he bustled about, and made tea, and passed dishes, and joked and +rallied in a way that ought to have been of service, but which +signally failed. When Mr. Beresford entered the room, which was not +until nearly all the others had finished their meal, he seemed for a +few moments staggered by the gravity of the assemblage; but gliding +into a vacant seat by Miss Townshend's side, he soon recovered his +spirits, and commenced a conversation in his accustomed bantering +tone. His neighbour seemed to brighten at once, and responded in her +usual cheery manner, greatly to the disgust of poor Fred Lyster, +sitting opposite, who, over his cold partridge, was still hard at work +on the same problem which had occupied him when over his hair-brushes, +and who knew as little how to attain his end as ever. He was glad when +he heard Beresford say that business would require him to ride into +Brighton before luncheon, and that he must afterwards go round to the +stables and see whether his hack was all right after her journey down. +His joy toned down a little when Miss Townshend asked if said hack had +ever carried a lady, but rose again when Beresford declared that he +should be sorry to see any female friend of his on Gulnare's back. + +"It isn't that she's vicious," he explained; "there's not an ounce of +vice in her. But there are so many things she can't bear--dirty +children, and puddles, and stone heaps in the road; and when she sees +any of these she stands bolt upright for two minutes on her hind-legs, +and then starts off with her head between her forelegs, and nearly +pulls your arms out of their sockets." + +So Miss Townshend declared with much laughter, and with many +shoulder-shrugs and exclamations of fright, that she could never think +of mounting "any thing so dreadful;" and Lyster, to his immense +delight, saw Beresford leave the room, light a big cigar on the steps, +and clear off in the direction of the stables. Stone had already +departed on his various errands; Mrs. Vincent had fetched a +cookery-book from the library, and with her husband had retired to +study it in the embrasure of the window; and Miss Townshend, left the +last at table, was playing with a fragment of toast. Lyster knew her +habits--knew that she was in the habit of skimming the _Post_ to learn +the whereabouts of her friends; and accordingly retreated quietly to +the library. + +Such a pleasant room, this! Not a bit of the wall to be seen for the +dark oak bookshelves, which, crammed with books, extended from floor +to ceiling on every side. A capital collection of books, in sober calf +bindings (Sir Marmaduke once said that brilliant bindings and glazed +book-cases always reminded him of a man with his hair parted down the +middle, and could not understand what Barbara meant by asking hi +Mrs. Nickleby had been a Wentworth): theology, politics, books of +reference, poetry, drama, and history, all regularly ranged and +properly catalogued. Fiction had a very moderate compartment allotted +to it; but the round table in the middle of the room, and the ottoman +at the far end, were liberally strewn with volumes bearing the +omnipresent yellow ticket of Mudie. Immediately in front of the big +bow-window, which was shaded by a sun-blind, and through which you +gazed over a lovely expanse of down, stood a huge writing-table, on +which was an inkstand that might have held half a pint, a large +blotting-pad, an oxydised-silver owl with ruby eyes erect on a +paperweight, and a bundle of quill pens, half split up, and all very +much bitten at the tops; for Sir Marmaduke, who was the principle +occupant of the cane writing-chair, was apt to get very energetic in +his correspondence. Here, too, the old gentleman indulged in the one +literary occupation of his life--certain translations of Horace, which +he altered and polished year after year, intending some time or other +to show them to an old college friend, and then have a gorgeous +edition printed on toned paper for private circulation. Here, in a +huge iron safe, were kept big ledgers, and account-books of rents, +rates, and expenditure on the estates which gave three days' solemn +investigation every quarter to Sir Marmaduke and Major Stone; whereat +there was much head-rubbing, many appealing looks to the ceiling, and +much secret checking of fingers under the table, and reference to a +ready-reckoner on the part of both gentlemen. And here in a secret +draw of the writing-table, lay a little packet, which the old man +would take out occasionally, would open, and sit gazing for half an +hour together at the contents. They were not much,--a faded blue +ribbon, once worn, with a little locket attached to it, round the +throat of his old love at the Bath Assemblies, where he first met her; +a curl of hair, cut from her head after death; and an ivory miniature, +by Stump, of a dark girl, with big brown eyes, and her hair banded +tight to her forehead, and gathered into a large bow at the top of the +head. After an inspection of this drawer the old gentleman would walk +to the looking-glass, and glaring at his own reflection therein, would +shake his head in a very solemn manner; he would be very mild and +quiet, and, as Gumble noticed, would drink an extra bottle of claret +during the evening. + +When Lyster entered the room, he was annoyed to see that it was +occupied. Old Mr. Russell, the lawyer, was at the writing-table; and +Mr. Townshend was seated in an easy-chair close by, listening to the +narration of some thick parchment deed which the lawyer was going +through. Their business was apparently at an end, though; for Mr. +Townshend said, "Then it's satisfactory, Mr. Russell?" to which the +old gentleman, with nothing but his finger-tips visible below his +cuffs, replied, "I think we may assume so;" and both gentlemen rose +and left the room. Being in a highly nervous state, Lyster did not +like these proceedings a bit. He wondered what that portentous-looking +parchment was about--whether it had any reference to old Townshend's +testamentary disposition; whether it had any thing to do with Miss +Townshend. He thought he rather hated that old Russell, though he had +not much idea why. His time was coming on now; he wondered how much +longer before Miss Townshend would fetch the _Post_. Here it was, on +the round table, with the other papers. He took one up and looked at +it; but the type all ran together before his eyes, so he laid it down +again, and walked up to the mantelshelf, and glared at the big black +clock in the middle, and pulled the spear through the perforated fist +of the bronze Diana on the top, and pushed it backwards and forwards; +and then walking to the writing-table, lit a Vesta-match and blew it +out. He plunged his hands into his pockets, and looked down at his +boots, apparently intently scrutinising their make, in reality not +seeing them in the least; then he took up a hare's-foot-handled +paper-knife and tapped his teeth with it, threw it down, and commenced +a Polar-bear-like promenade of the room. + +The clock ticked solemnly on, and Captain Lyster was still pacing up +and down, when the door opened and Miss Townshend entered. She seemed +surprised to see any one in the room, and declared that she would not +remain a minute, and that she would take the greatest care not to +disturb the Captain, who, she said with a smile, was evidently, from +his perturbed expression, engaged upon the composition of an epic poem +or other intense literary effort. At this remark the Captain grinned +feebly, and besought the young lady not to mind his eccentricities, as +he was full of them, though he was bound to confess he had never been +mad enough to contemplate writing a poem. And then Miss Townshend +smiled again, and seated herself at the round table, and taking up the +_Post_ turned to the "Fashionable intelligence," and was at once +engrossed in the study of who was where, and at what country seats +"select circles" were being "hospitably entertained." Lyster went to +the writing-table, and began ornamenting the blotting pad with many +spirited sketches, wondering all the time whether he should get any +better chance for his contemplated announcement, or whether he should +plunge into it at once. At last he thought he had an opportunity. Miss +Townshend suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, Captain Lyster, here's news for +you! You recollect Mary Considine? Yes, I should think you did. Those +private theatricals at the Fenton's, where you and she--oh, I haven't +forgotten it. Well, there's something about her here; listen: 'We +understand that a matrimonial alliance will shortly take place between +the Honourable Mary Considine, youngest daughter of Lord Torraghmore, +and Major Burt, of the Life Guards.' That's Harry Burt, the +straw-coloured one, isn't it? Poor Captain Lyster! doomed to wear the +willow." + +The chance, the chance at last! + +"Surely, Miss Townshend," he commenced, "you cannot imagine that I +ever seriously entertained any regard for Miss Considine. A very +pleasant young lady, full of spirits, and highly amusing, but not +possessing the qualities which one would look for in a wife. And +you--can you imagine that in a house where _you_ were--where I was in +the habit of seeing _you_--. Done, by Jove!" + +The last sentence, uttered under his breath, was evoked by the opening +of the door, and the entrance of Mr. Townshend, who looked more like +the Ace of Clubs than ever when he saw the couple in apparently close +conversation. He at once approached his daughter, and asked her if she +had "written that letter?" She said, with some tremulousness, "No." +Mr. Townshend then raised his voice, and said he must beg--and with +him "beg" sounded marvellously like "insist"--that she would do it at +once. So the young lady, albeit with tears in her eyes, went dutifully +off to obey her father's behests; the old gentleman sat down to the +_Times_, while Lyster glared at him from behind a book, and wondered +whether one could possibly call a man to account for interrupting +one's conversation with his daughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +TOUCHING ANOTHER PROPOSAL. + + +Mr. Beresford meanwhile had strolled round to the stables, ascertained +that, with the exception of the loss of a little hair from her +off-hock, Gulnare seemed none the worse for her journey (horses never +travel by rail without a something), ordered his groom to bring her +round in half an hour's time, and made a cursory inspection of the +other horses while finishing his cigar. At the time appointed he +mounted and rode away into Brighton, starting at first over the Downs +in a brisk canter, but gradually subsiding into a checked walk, which +ill suited Gulnare's fiery disposition, and made her rider break the +current of his thoughts by several behests of "Steady now!" "Quiet, +old lady;" and such like. Indeed, Mr. Beresford had quite enough +subject-matter for reflection. He, too, had been turning over in his +mind the expediency of proposing to Miss Townshend, and had almost +determined upon its being the right thing to do. The objection which +he had urged in his discussion with Kate Mellon, that money and +ugliness generally went together, would not hold good here. Miss +Townshend was pretty and presentable; she was not clever, certainly; +but so long as she was able to talk about Shakespeare and the musical +glasses, that was all which the world would require of her in the way +of conversation, and that sort of jargon would be easily picked up. +She knew passably sufficient of the accomplishments of society, and +was, as times went, in a very good set. Her people belonged to the +plutocracy; but Beresford liked that rather than otherwise, +recollecting how far pleasanter than the sham state and starveling +magnificence of some of his aristocratic friends were the town-houses +and country places of City magnates and merchant princes, where every +thing, from the sleek porter in the hall to the new and massive +salt-spoons on the table, spoke of wealth. To ascertain whether his +venture was a safe one was the object of Beresford's visit to +Brighton. He had known so many mushroom magnates, who, after a couple +of seasons of full-blown pride, had collapsed and tumbled into the mud +from which they sprung, that he took no man's monetary position on +hearsay. He had met Mr. Townshend at capital houses, and had seen his +name in many apparently excellent City ventures; but, then, had he not +met at the Duke of Banffshire's Mr. Poyntz, the great railway +contractor, who two months afterwards smashed for a million and a +half? and did not half the peerage welcome as a friend and respect as +a banker the great Mr. Shoddy, who was at that moment engaged in +oakum-picking in expiation of his fraudulent practices? There must be +no mistake on this head; it would be a pretty thing if he, Charles +Beresford, were not merely to find himself after a year or two with a +penniless wife upon his hands, but were also to have the world talking +about his _mésalliance_. As to the idea of rejection, that had +scarcely entered his head. He was generally liked by women, and +thought Miss Townshend no exception to the rule. Her father perhaps +might look for money, and then he should have to square him as best he +could. But Beresford argued to himself: these _nouveaux riches_ +generally look for position; and if they cannot get rank for their +girls, they like a good official connexion. Did not Petter marry the +daughter of old Dunkel, the West-India merchant (by the by, she was a +little woolly, though), simply through his being Secretary to +the Lakes and Fisheries Department? And a Commissioner at the +Tin-Tax ranked higher than that. Walbrook delighted to talk of +"my son-in-law's connexion with the Government;" and Dowgate Hill +rejoiced in seeing a fourth-rate Cabinet Minister or occasional +Secretaries of Foreign Legations, much beribboned, at his daughter's +drums. As to whether he cared for the girl, it scarcely entered into +his mind to inquire; they would get on well enough; he would let her +have her own way, so long as she did not interfere with him; he should +keep up his hunting, but cut play of every kind; and if he got at all +bored, why then he would go into Parliament. Fortunately, he thought, +he was not like most men: he could get married without its interfering +with any body; there was no "establishment" to break up; no inhabitant +of a Brompton villa to tear her hair and use strong language until a +liberal settlement was made; no jealous girls to upbraid and-- As the +thought of Kate Mellon and the recollection of his last interview with +her flashed into Beresford's mind, he started involuntarily, and +touched the mare with his spur. Gulnare jumped into the air, and +started off like an arrow. By the time he pulled her up, he was at the +top of St. James's Street, Brighton; and as he leisurely rode down the +hill, he revolved in his mind the means of arriving at an immediate +knowledge of his intended father-in-law's stability. + +He was not long in arriving at his determination. Of all the men he +knew, Simnel, the secretary at the Tin-Tax Office, was the most +knowing; and he and Beresford were on the most intimate terms. Had +Beresford been in town, he would have consulted Simnel personally +about this marriage business; as it was, he thought that the secretary +was the likeliest man to get for him the information he required. This +information must be had at once; as, once satisfied, he would not give +another evening's chance to Lyster or that man Churchill, in whose +wheel he had put so neat a spoke, but would commence immediately to +clear the course on which he hoped to win. So he turned into the Old +Steine, and leisurely dismounting at the door of the telegraph-office, +resigned Gulnare into the hands of a passing boy, to whom he was so +intent on giving instructions as to walking her gently up and down, +that he did not observe "that man Churchill" pass him in an open fly, +the driver of which must have been stimulated by the prospect of a +large reward, as his horse was proceeding at a pace very rarely +undertaken by Brighton fly-cattle. But perfectly ignorant of the +propinquity of the gentleman with whose family history he had recently +manifested so intimate an acquaintance, Mr. Beresford entered the +telegraph-office, and taking up one of the printed slips, wrote the +following message: + + +"_C. B., Brighton to Robert Simnel, Tin-Tax Office, + Rutland House, London_. + +"_Non olet pecunia_. Whether a round game with Townshend of Queensbury +Gardens would repay the necessary illumination. Reply; figures, if +possible." + + +The clerk counted the words and grinned. When Beresford, after saying +that he would call for the answer, paid and walked out, the clerk +carried the paper into the inner room where the manipulator was busy +with his ever-clicking needles, and read the message out to him, +grinning again; whereupon they both expressed opinion that it was a +"rum start," and another of those "games" which supplied the +interesting youths employed by the Electric Telegraph Company with so +many topics of conversation. + +Mr. Beresford put up his horse at a livery-stable, and then walked +down towards the sea to while away the time until the answer should +arrive. He knew Brighton thoroughly. He was a regular visitor from +Saturday till Tuesday during November and December, when he stayed at +the Bedford, and generally dined at the cavalry mess; but he had never +seen the place in its autumnal aspect. Those who only know Brighton in +the winter would scarcely recognise her in September, when she has +more the aspect of Ramsgate or Margate. In place of the dashing +carriages, flys at half-a-crown an hour crawl up and down the King's +Road, the horses, perfectly accustomed to the dreary job, ambling +along at their own sleepy pace; the riding-masters are still to the +fore, but for pupils, instead of the brilliant _écuyères_, they have +heavy, clumsy girls in hired habits and hideous hats. All the officers +of the cavalry regiment who can get leave, take it; and those who +cannot, devote themselves to tobacco in the solitude of their +barrack-rooms. The Esplanade is thronged with fat people from the +metropolitan suburbs, gorgeous Hebrews with their families from the +Minories, and lawyers' clerks with a week's holiday. The beach is +covered with children stone-digging and feet-wetting; with girls who +have just bathed, with their hair down their backs, and girls who are +waiting for machines; with men selling shell-toys, and women imploring +purchase of crochet-dolls; with hilarious men throwing sticks for +their dogs to swim after; with contemplative men reading books, and +gazing off them vacantly across the sea; with drowsy men, supine, with +their hats shading their faces from the sun. The whole place is +changed; the rich hotel and shopkeepers have gone inland (Tunbridge +Wells is a favourite place of theirs) for relaxation, and their +substitutes, goaded into madness by the unchanging blue sky and +burning brick pavement, are bearish and morose; men wear plaid +shooting-coats of vivid patterns in the afternoon, and women, in +flapping hats with draggled feathers, promenade in the Pavilion; +Brill's swimming-bath shuts up for painting and decoration; and there +are people seen walking on the Chain Pier. + +In this abnormal state of affairs Mr. Beresford found himself any +thing but happy. He went to Mutton's and had some soup, and to +Folthorp's and read the papers; he strolled down the King's Road, and +inspected the evolutions of various young ladies who were disporting +in the waves, and indulging the passers-by with the gambols of +Bloomsbury-super-Mare. Then he put his legs up on a bench on the +Esplanade, and smoked a cigar, and stared at the passers-by; and +then, after the lapse of a couple of hours, he walked back to the +telegraph-office, where he found a reply waiting for him. It was from +Mr. Simnel, and merely said: + + +"_Olet_. Three stars in Leadenhall Street and Director of L. B. and S. +C. meaning ten thou. Plated heavily. If with good hand, play game." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +"A LITTLE PROUD, BUT FULL OF PITY.*" +(*Ben Jonson.) + + +Although only twenty-four hours absent from Bissett, Frank Churchill +during that short period had undergone more mental conflict than is +often suffered by many men in a course of years. He had had full time +for reflection, and had availed himself of it to the utmost. While +within the charmed circle he was necessarily under fascination; but +now, although the witch was any thing but exorcised, he felt +sufficiently himself to collect his thoughts, and he saw the absolute +necessity of coming to some fixed determination as to his future +conduct before he returned. Often before had he had occasion to weigh +matters almost as important as this, though of course of a different +character; and he was not the man to blink one jot of the attendant +difficulties, or to over-persuade himself as to the feasibility of his +designs simply because he wished them carried out. He was in love with +this girl, then; he supposed that must be granted? at all events, by +analysis and comparison, that was easily ascertained. Though, as +the world goes, his life had been tolerably pure, he had in his +student-days, and in the time immediately subsequent, had his +_amourettes_ and flirtations like the rest; but when he remembered +what had been his feelings for Gretchen, the fat and fair daughter of +Anton Schütz, the beery saddler; for Ernestine, the sentimental +heiress of the Graf von Triebenfeld; for Eugénie and Olympe, vestals +of the Quartier Latin; or for any of the half-hundred young ladies +with whom during the earlier portion of his London career he +had gone through the usual bouquet-sending, cotillon-dancing, +Botanical-Fête-meeting flirtation,--he recognised at once that this +was a very different matter. Breakers ahead and all round! As for +Barbara, he felt conscious of no vanity in avowing to himself his +perception of having excited her interest, but whether sufficiently to +induce her to listen to an offer he could not imagine. Possibly, +probably, she looked to making a brilliant marriage: her beauty and +accomplishments were her capital, and should be turned to good +purpose; and yet, as this idea passed through his mind, he had an +instinctive feeling that Barbara's proud spirit would revolt from any +such match, however much it might be pressed on her by her relations. +Her relations! ay, even granting the girl's acquiescence, _there_ +would be one of the grand sources of difficulty: old Miss Lexden, +rich, selfish, and narrow-minded, would doubtless oppose such a +marriage in every possible way; and how would Sir Marmaduke look upon +him, having come an invited and a welcome guest, and then brought this +discord into the family? And even suppose it arranged somehow, she +consenting and her friends satisfied, what was to be done with his +mother, with whom and in whose house he then resided? how and where +was the rest of her life to be passed? He could not live far from the +office, where, thrice a week always, and occasionally more frequently, +he was engaged till past midnight; and how would the brilliant beauty +of the West be able to exist in the dreary fastnesses of Great Adullam +Street, or the arid desert of Tiglath-Pileser Square? And then the +narrow income--competence for one, a bare sufficiency for two! His +horse must be given up, but that he would not so much mind; his Club +(the Retrenchment) must be kept on, for business purposes, though he +should of course never spend any money there; and he must take to +sixteen-shilling trousers, and that sort of thing; all easy enough. +But for her?--no brougham (and fancy those tiny high-heeled _bottines_ +over the villanous Mesopotamian pavement!), only an occasional +Opera-box obtained from the _Statesman_ (situation high, surroundings +queer, _claqueurs_ and _amis des artistes_), two or three balls +in the season, and perhaps one dinner-party at home, with the +inevitable side-dishes and attendant carpet-beater. Ay, and worse +beyond!--children born and reared in that dingy atmosphere, further +expenditure to be met, perhaps sickness to be struggled through, and +all the household gods dependent on him,--on the soundness of his +health and the clearness of his brain, which failing, what had they to +look to? _Aïe de me!_ that last thought settled the question. Let it +fade out, pleasant dream that it was; or rather let him crush it for +ever! It was impossible, and so let it pass. Down go the Spanish +castles, away melt the aerial estates; Duty's foot kicks away +Alnaschar's basket, and there is the hard, dry, unsympathetic, +work-a-day world before him! He will go back to Bissett, but only for +a day, just to get his traps together and to make some plausible +excuse, and then will start off. This first week of his holiday has +been any thing but rest, and rest he requires. He will go to +Scarborough--no! not there, for reasons; but to some watering-place, +and pitch pebbles into the sea and lie fallow until he is compelled to +return to work. Yes, that is the right course--he determines on it +finally as the train nears the Brighton station; hopes must be +crushed, and Duty must be obeyed. Duty has won the day for once--and +where is the pearl-gray glove now? At his lips, of course! Frank +Churchill has resolved upon doing his duty, and, like the drunkard in +the old story, is "treating resolution." + +Anxiety to test his newly-farmed determination must be strong, for he +ordered the flyman to drive as hard as he could to Bissett; but, +cooling a little, dismissed the man at the lodge-gates, and strolled +through the avenue towards the house. The leaves yet held their own; +scarcely the slightest autumnal tint had fallen on them; and the grand +old avenue looked magnificent. The weather was splendid; the sun shone +brightly, while the air was clear and bracing; deer bounded in the +brushwood; and as Churchill stood rejoicing in the lovely view, a cart +laden with game, and driven by little Joe Lubbock, the head-keeper's +boy, emerged from the Home Copse, and made a pleasant feature in the +landscape. All around told of wealth and peace and English comfort; +and as Churchill surveyed the scene, he felt (as he had often felt) +how great were the enjoyments of those born to such heritage, and (as +he had never felt) how well-disposed he should be for the sake of +those enjoyments to undertake the necessary responsibilities. His +Radicalism was of the very mildest nature; the free and independent +electors of Brighton or of Southwark would have scorned the feebleness +of his ideas as to the requirements of the people; he had no wish to +alter the laws of primogeniture, nor to see the furniture designed by +Gillow or Holland emblazoned with the "swart mechanic's bloody +thumbs;"--indeed, it must be confessed that he thought the "swart +mechanic," when out of his place and wrong-headed through false +leading, a very objectionable person. But he was in love, and wanted +money and position to enable him to forward his suit; and as the +thought of some who had both and did good with neither flitted across +him, he stamped impatiently on the gravel, and the fair view and all +the sweet excellence of nature faded out before his eyes. + +He walked hurriedly on for a few paces, and then bethought him that +somewhere close in the neighbourhood was the gate leading to the +fir-plantation in which he had recently walked with Barbara on their +return from the shooting-party. He had the whole afternoon to do +nothing in, and it would be pleasant to renew the remembrance of that +happy jesting talk. Memory, he thought rather bitterly, was a luxury +which it did not require either rank or riches to enjoy. He struck +across the dry crisp turf, and arrived at the gate; it opened on a +short gravelled walk, with low palings on either side, terminating in +a rustic stile, on the other side of which lay the fir-plantation. As +Churchill entered the path he saw a figure seated on the stile at the +other end, and in an instant knew it to be Barbara Lexden. Her head +was bent, and she was leaning forward, idly tracing figures on the +turf with the point of her parasol. Churchill advanced with a strange +fluttering of his usually regular-beating heart; but she did not +appear to hear his footstep until he was close behind her, when she +suddenly turned round, and their eyes met. It was a trying time for +both, but Barbara was the first to speak. + +"So soon back, Mr. Churchill? We--that is, Sir Marmaduke was led to +believe that you would not return until the end of the week." + +"Fortunately, Miss Lexden, my business in town was soon finished" +("Question of settlement with the lawyer, or naming the day with the +lady," thought Barbara), "and I got back as quickly as I could. How +lovely this place looks! Perhaps it seems doubly beautiful after +twenty-four hours in London; but it appears to me even fresher, +calmer, and more peaceful than when I left it." + +"That, I suspect, is your poetic imagination, Mr. Churchill. You were +praising Dryden the other night, and can now quote him to your own +purposes. You know he says: + + + 'Winds murmured through the leaves his short delay, + And fountains o'er their pebbles chid his stay; + But, with his presence cheered, they cease to mourn, + And walks seem fresher green at his return.'" + + +"Aptly quoted, though the lines were addressed to a lady, and for +'his' read 'your.' I don't think that even the fountains in Trafalgar +Square would be weak enough to 'chide my stay.' But, apropos of poetic +imagination, I am afraid I disturbed you from some deep reverie." + +"You never were more mistaken," said Barbara, with a short laugh. +"I--I came out on a much more unromantic expedition. I lost a glove a +day or two ago, and--and fancied I might have dropped it somewhere +here." + +"Is this it?" asked Churchill suddenly, taking from his pocket a +morocco-leather case, and producing from it the much-prized +pearl-gray. + +"Yes," said Barbara, glancing quickly at him from under her drooping +eyelids; "that is it. How very fortunate!" + +"I picked it up," said Churchill, "as we returned from the +shooting-party the other day, and intended restoring it sooner, but +forgot it. I am glad to be able to do so now." He handed her the +glove, looked her straight in the face, and walked on silently by her +side. + +"We have had a new arrival here since you left," said Barbara, after a +pause, swinging the glove slowly to and fro; "a Mr. Beresford. You +know him?" + +"Beresford? Oh, of the Tin-Tax Office! I have met him." + +"You are on intimate terms?" + +"I--I have not that honour. Mr. Beresford moves in a different set to +mine." + +"That question of 'sets' seems to be one of paramount importance with +you, Mr. Churchill. How frequently you harp upon it!" + +"It is a question which we must necessarily bear in mind, Miss +Lexden," said Churchill, with emphasis; then smiling, added,--"_Suum +cuique_, which is Latin, and unintelligible; 'the cobbler and his +last,' which is English and vernacular. But why did you ask?" + +"Simply because he seems amusing, and likely to be popular here. I am +sorry we shall not have the opportunity of profiting by his high +spirits, as aunt and I will probably be leaving on Thursday." + +One quick glance told her that this shot, if intended for mischief, +had signally failed. With perfect calmness Churchill replied, + +"And I also must manage to survive the loss of Mr. Beresford's +conversation, as I go to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!" exclaimed Barbara; then, in her ordinary tone, "Ah, to be +sure, you have of course so much to do." + +"Well," said Churchill, smiling, "for a month I hope to do little +beyond mooning on the beach and throwing pebbles into the sea." + +"Yes," said Barbara quickly; "that is, I believe, the usual thing +under the circumstances. And the place? the Isle of Wight, or +Devonshire, of course?" + +"Under the circumstances!" he echoed. "I beg your pardon, Miss Lexden, +but I fear we are at cross purposes. Under what circumstances?" + +("He braves it out to the last," thought Barbara; "who would have +thought that he could have stooped to a shuffle, or degrade the woman +he was engaged to, by tacitly ignoring the fact?") Then she said, +curling her lip, and tossing the glove with a lightly contemptuous +gesture, + +"Good news travels fast, Mr. Churchill. The fact of your forthcoming +marriage is known at Bissett." + +"_My_ forthcoming marriage? It's a joke, Miss Lexden?" + +"We have heard it as a fact." + +"And _you_ believed it?" said Churchill, turning white, while his lip +trembled visibly as he spoke. + +"Why should I not?" After a pause, and in a low voice, "Then you are +not going to be married?" + +"Married, no! Miss Lexden, you must now listen patiently to what I +should otherwise have kept secret, knowing the folly I have been +guilty of. If ever I marry, Barbara Lexden will be my wife!" + +She started, and seemed about to speak. + +"One moment more," said he. "You know how completely I understand the +difference in our position?" (An impatient gesture from Barbara.) "My +sensitiveness, pride--call it what you will--would have kept me +silent. Now I have spoken, and--Barbara--you must not keep me in +suspense. Could it ever be possible?" + +Perfectly colourless, she leant against the stile, but said nothing. + +"Miss Lexden, you _must_ end this doubt." + +Silently she placed the little glove in his hand. + +"Barbara! _my_ Barbara!" and she was folded to his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +AT THE TIN-TAX OFFICE, No. 120. + + +The Tin-Tax Office, as I have before had occasion to remark, is +situated in a wing of Rutland House; that noble building so well known +to most Englishmen, whence are issued those concise documents relating +to unpaid arrears of public imposts, and where the mulcting of the +nation is carried on. The Tin-Tax is by no means a bad office, as +times go; though it is rather looked down upon by the men in the Check +and Counter-Check Department, and the Navigation Board, who have +offices in the same building. It used to be a great point of humour +with the wits of twenty years since to say that the appointments in +the Tin-Tax Office were given to sons of the faithful butlers of +patriotic peers, and to those eager constituents for whose placing-out +in life the Members for Irish boroughs are always petitioning with +energy and perseverance worthy of the horse-leech's daughters. And, +indeed, the manners and customs of some of the middle-aged clerks bear +testimony to the truth of this report. They were good enough fellows +in their day--blundered on at their offices from ten till four; dined +cheaply at Short's, or Berthollini's, or the Cock; went half-price to +the Adelphi; occasionally supped at the Coal-Hole or the Cider +Cellars; and went home to their garrets in Islington with the perfect +idea that they were roystering dogs, and that the world did not +contain many men who had drained pleasure's goblet more thoroughly to +the dregs than themselves. Most of them married betimes--occasionally +the landlady of their lodgings; more frequently the pallid daughter of +some fellow-clerk, after a flirtation begun over a round game or "a +little music;" most frequently some buxom lass met at seaside +boarding-house, or in the old paternal home, where they spent their +leave of absence. But we have changed all that; and junior clerks of +the present day are thoroughly and entirely different from their +predecessors: the establishment of the Civil-Service Commission, and +the ordination of promotion by merit, have sent quite a different +class of men into the public service, and the subordinate appointments +of the Tin-Tax Office are held by men who have taken their degrees at +Oxford; who can turn "Vilikins and his Dinah" into Greek iambics; who +can tell you where Montenegro is, and what it wants; who have +thoroughly mastered the Schleswig-Holstein question; who are well up +in the theory of thermo-dynamics; and who dip into Jean Paul Richter +for a little light reading;--all excellent accomplishments, and +thoroughly useful in the Tin-Tax Office. + +It is half-past twelve on a fine Saturday morning in the beginning of +October, and the six occupants of room No. 120 are all assembled, and +all at work; that is to say, four of them are writing, one is looking +vacantly out of the window, and one is reading the _Times_. No. 120 is +at the top of the building; a pleasant room when you reach it, looking +on to the river, but up four flights of steep stone stairs. No. 120 +has always its regular number of occupants; for when the chief clerk +learns that a young gentleman has an undue number of friends calling +upon him during official hours, he causes the popular man to be +removed to No. 120, and after two trials of the stairs the visitors +prefer meeting their friend in the evening at some less Alpine +retreat. So also, when a young gentleman is in the habit of being +perpetually waited upon by duns, he makes interest to get moved into +No. 120, and finds that his creditors simultaneously urge their +demands not in person, but through the medium of the Post-Office. The +head of the room is Mr. Kinchenton, that tall man with the rounded +shoulders, and grizzled head ever bent over his desk. Hard work has +bowed Mr. Kinchenton's back and silvered his hair; for he has been in +the Tin-Tax Office since he was sixteen years old, and though promoted +under the old system of seniority and length of service, no one could +ever say that he had not fairly won every step he got. Before he was +sixteen, he was the hope and pride--the prize scholar--of the +Heckmondike Grammar-School, his father being head-keeper to Lord +Heckmondike, who placed the boy on the foundation of the school, and, +finding him apt and studious, obtained for him his appointment from +the Government of the day. No Adelphi at half-price, no Cider Cellars +or Coal-Hole, for young Kinchenton, who had a little bedroom in a +little terrace close by Kennington Common, where he was to be +found every night, book in hand, and happy as a prince. A poor +little bedroom enough!--a wretched little bedroom, with a +white-dimity-covered tester-bed, two rush-bottomed chairs, a painted +chest of drawers, a rickety washhand-stand, and a maddening square of +looking-glass hanging against the wall. But to that garret came Sancho +Panza and the gaunt Don his master; came Gil Blas, and the beggar with +his arquebuse, and the Archbishop of Grenada; came cringing Tartuffe, +and preposterous Sganarelle; came wandering Rasselas and sage Imlac; +came Ferdinand Count Fathom, swearing Tom Pipes, and decorous Mr. +Blifil. There the hard-working clerk laughed over Falstaff's lovemaking +and Malvolio's disgrace, or wept over Sterne's dead ass and Le Fevre's +regained sword; while his comrades Mace and Flukes were ruining each +other at billiards, and Potter and Piper were hiccuping noisy applause +to indecent songs. + +When Mr. Kinchenton was forty years old, his income had reached the +bewildering amount of four hundred a year, and he thought he might +indulge in the luxury of a wife; so he took to himself a pretty little +soft-eyed girl, the daughter of an old gentleman who was a traveller, +in the straw-bonnet line, and who, when he was not driving about in a +very high four-wheeled trap which did its best to look like a +mail-phaeton and signally failed in the attempt, lived in the little +terrace next door to Kinchenton's lodgings. After his daughter's +marriage, the old gentleman, who was a widower, gave up travelling, +retired upon his savings, and went to live with his son-in-law in a +little house which Kinchenton had taken in Camden Town, where the +birth of a son crowned Kinchenton's happiness. His adoration of this +child was his weakest point: he was always narrating its wonderful +deeds to every body; and the men in the office, with whom the little +fellow was really a favourite, knew they could always get late +attendance overlooked or half-holiday granted if they asked after +little Percy, and sent him some trifling present. + +It is well for the junior clerks of No. 120 that Mr. Kinchenton is the +head of the room; for the next in seniority, Mr. Dibb, is by no means +a pleasant person. Harsh, stiff, sectarian bigotry lurks in his +coarse, close-cropped black hair, and in the plaited folds of his huge +white neckcloth; he invariably wears a black dress coat, waistcoat, +and trousers, creaking boots, and damp cloth gloves. He is always +ailing, and invariably changing his medical system: now vaunting the +virtues of blue-pill, now swearing by homoeopathy; he has been rubbed +and cracked and shampooed and galvanised; and once he tried +hydropathy, but came back in a week from Malvern no better, and +apparently no cleaner, than before his visit to Dr. Gully. He was one +of the first-fruits of the noble system of promotion by merit, having +been transferred to Rutland House from some provincial stronghold of +the Tin-Tax Office, and report said that he had originally been a +schoolmaster in Bilston. He was hated by nearly all his juniors, but +respected by the heads for his conscientiousness and power of work; +and he was located in No. 120 to neutralise, to some extent, Mr. +Kinchenton's excess of good nature. The rank and file of No. 120 +consisted of Mr. Prescott and Mr. Pringle, junior clerks; Mr. Boppy, +an old gentleman with a bald head and a double eyeglass, who had +arrived, through dint of long service, at a good income, who was +utterly useless, and who had no characteristic save his intense dread +of his wife; and Mr. Crump, who had been for twenty years an extra +clerk, and who, owing to an invincible stutter, had never been able to +interest any one sufficiently to procure him an appointment. + +"Devilish hot!" said Mr. Pringle, a short, good-humoured-looking young +man, laying down his _Times_ and opening his waistcoat; "devilish hot! +Crump, there's a good fellow, open the door." + +Mr. Crump looked up from his work, and said appealingly, "I've got a +st--a st--a st--" he would have said "stiff neck;" but long before he +could reach the word, Pringle interrupted him-- + +"Strong hand; you've got a strong hand, I know, and the door sticks; +that's why I asked you. Boppy, my boy, I've not yet had time to ask +you how you are." + +"Well, Pm well in health, thank you, Mr. Pringle," said Mr. Boppy, +depositing his pen on the desk, and rubbing his bald forehead; "but +I'm rather worried in my mind." + +"What troubles my Boppy? Has the Bank reduced its rate of discount, so +that my Boppy's ingots are not worth quite so much per cent as they +were yesterday; or is it love that is sending him to grief? Has my +Boppy been sporting with Amaryllis in the shady side of Brompton Row, +and has Mrs. B. found it out? Oh, Bop!" + +"Nonsense, Mr. Pringle! I--" + +"I must say that such remarks as those," interrupted Mr. Dibb, "appear +to me to be very bad jokes." + +"Very likely, Mr. Dibb," retorted Pringle; "but that's because you're +the quintessence of humour yourself. We can't all hope to make +ourselves as thoroughly genial and pleasant as you--can we, Crump?" + +"I d--decline to s--to s--to say--" + +"To say ditto to Dibb! Of course: you're my friend, and I knew you'd +never desert me. Now, Boppy, you were about to say something when you +were interrupted in that gentlemanly manner by our friend J. Miller; +what was it?" + +"Oh, I was merely thinking that I'd try and take that dog home this +afternoon, and I'm rather doubtful as to how my wife will receive it, +You see, I bought him a week ago, and Simmons, the hall-porter here, +has kept him for me in the coal-cellar since then. He's a white +Pomeranian dog, and the coal-cellar don't suit him somehow; but I +daren't take him to Putney until I'd somewhat prepared Mrs. B.'s mind. +So last night I read her several anecdotes of dogs, where they were +all faithful and friendly and clean, you know; and this afternoon I +shall take Spitz home, and--and say you gave him to me, I think, Mr. +Pringle, if you've no objection." + +"Certainly, if you like it, I don't mind; any thing you please, Boppy, +my boy. Dogs as many as you like, and things of that sort; only, if +Mrs. B. ever finds white-kid gloves, or locks of hair, or +patchouli-scented pink notes, don't say they come from me--you +understand? By the way, that reminds me. Prescott! p'st! Prescott!" + +A tall, good-looking man of two or three-and-twenty, who was leaning +his head on one hand and staring out of the window, turned round and +said dreamily, "What?" + +"What an amusing companion you are!" said Mr. Pringle; "what a +charming remark that was when you last spoke, an hour and twenty +minutes ago! What was it?" + +"Don't be an idiot, Pringle!" + +"No, it wasn't that; to be told to avoid an impossibility would have +struck me as novel. Never mind; I was going to ask who that was I saw +you speaking to at the King's Cross Terminus yesterday." + +"At King's Cross?" said Prescott, colouring; "oh, that was a friend of +mine, a clergyman." + +"Ah!" said Pringle, quietly, "I thought so. He had on a blue bonnet +and a black-lace shawl. Neat foot he's got; those parsons are always +so particular about their stockings!" + +"Don't be an ass, George!" growled Prescott, in an undertone. + +"All right, old boy!" said Pringle, in the same key. "Forgot we +weren't alone. Nobody heard, I think; but I'll soon change the +subject;" and he commenced whistling _Il Bacio_, loud and shrill. + +"Mr. Pringle! Mr. Pringle!" screamed Mr. Dibb. + +Mr. Pringle held up his hand as if deprecating interruption until he +had come to the end of the bar, when he said, with mock politeness, +"Sir to you!" + +"How often have I begged you, sir, not to whistle during official +hours? It is impossible for me to write my minutes while you're +whistling." + +"Write your minutes!" said Mr. Pringle. "Sir, we have the authority of +A. Tennyson, Esquire, the Poet of the Age, if my honourable friend in +the Isle of Wight will so permit me to call him, for saying that + + + 'Lightlier move the minutes fledged with music.' + + +Though that even my whistling could make your minutes move lightly, +with due respect to Alfred, I doubt." + +"Mr. Kinchenton," cried Mr. Dibb, now a dirty white with rage, "I must +request you, as head of this room, to call upon Mr. Pringle not to +forget himself." + +"My dear sir," said Pringle, "there's no one I think of so much." + +"George," said Mr. Kinchenton quietly, "pray be quiet!" + +"Certainly, Padre; I'm dumb! Thank Heaven and the Early Closing +Association, to-day's a half holiday, and we cut it at two." + +"Ah, to be sure!" said Kinchenton, anxious to atone for even the +slight show of authority which his previous words might have +suggested; "there are grand doings this afternoon at the Eyres', at +Hampstead. I'm going to take my Percy there. Athletic sports, running, +leaping, and all the rest of it." + +"Ha! ha!" said Pringle; "at the Eyres', eh? + + 'The merry brown Eyres come leaping,' + +as Kingsley has it. What a pity they haven't asked me!" + +"You're going, Prescott, I suppose?" asked Kinchenton. "The Eyres are +friends of yours--you're going to their fête?" + +"I! no, Padre," was the reply; "I'm not going." + +"Oh, he's very bad!" said Pringle, in a whisper, "He's got it awfully, +but he'll get better." + + +'Now he has turned himself wholly to love and follows a damsel, + Caring no more for honour, or glory, or Pallas Athené.' + + +Kingsley again--hem!" + +"I wonder, Mr. Pringle," said Mr. Dibb, "that you do not attempt to +form some more permanent style of reading than the mere poetry, scraps +of which you are always quoting. For my own part, I consider poetry +the flimsiest kind of writing extant." + +"I'm surprised at that, now," said Pringle placidly. "I should have +thought that you would have been a great appreciator of the gloomy and +Byronic verse. To understand that properly, you must have lost all +digestive power; and you know, Mr. Dibb, that your liver is horribly +out of order." + +A general laugh followed this remark, in which even Mr. Kinchenton +joined, and at which Mr. Dibb looked more savage than ever. In the +midst of it the clock struck two, and at the last sound Mr. Crump +closed his blotting-book, put on his hat, and vanished, saying +"G-good" as he passed through the door; two minutes afterwards, +fragments of the word "d-day" were heard reverberating in the passage. +Simultaneously Mr. Boppy struck work and went to look after his dog, +Mr. Dibb started off without a word, and Mr. Prescott took off his +coat to wash his hands previous to departure. When he emerged from the +washing cupboard, he found Pringle waiting for him: both the young men +shook hands with their chief, sent their loves to Mrs. Kinchenton and +the boy, and turned out into the Strand. + +They had not gone far when Pringle asked his companion whither he was +bound. Prescott was too absorbed to hear the question, but, on its +repetition, muttered something about an "engagement out Kensington +way." + +"Ah!" said Pringle, with the nearest approach to a sigh, "ride a cock +horse, eh? the old game! Look here, Jim, old fellow. I'm not clever, +you know, but I know how many blue beans make five; and I'm not +strait-laced or pious or any thing of that sort, but I'm very fond of +you, and I tell you this won't do!" + +"What won't do?" asked Prescott, with a flaming face. + +"Why, this Kate Mellon business, Jim. It's on hot and strong, I know. +You've been down in the mouth all the time she was away; you met her +at the station yesterday, and probably you're going up to her place +to-day. Now you know, Jim, I've seen more of life than you, and I tell +you this is all wrong." + +"Why, you don't imagine that there's any thing--?" + +"I don't imagine any thing at all. I haven't got any imagination, I +think. I'm the most matter-of-fact beggar that ever walked; but I know +you're confoundedly spooney and hard hit, and in a wrong quarter. Now, +Jim, pull yourself together, old man, and cut it." + +"I can't, George," groaned Prescott, raising his hat and tossing the +hair back from his forehead; "I can't. You don't know how I love that +woman, old fellow. I'd die for her; I'd go out and be shot at once, if +it would save her a pang. I hate any one to come near her, and I'm +always thinking of her, and longing to be with her." + +"I felt just like that once for a female tobacconist in Briggate, at +Leeds," said Mr. Pringle after a pause. "Deuced nice girl she was too, +and what thundering bad cigars she sold! I'm very glad I didn't die +for her, though. I got my appointment just in time, and came up to +town without asking her to fly with me to distant climes. She wouldn't +have known what 'climes' meant, I think. Now, look here, Jim; you'd +better do something of the same sort. Apply for sick-leave (Glauber +will give you a certificate), and go home and have some shooting, and +stay with your people, and you'll come back cured. Only cut it at +once. Don't go there to-day; come with me. I've got a little business +to do that won't take half an hour, and then I'm going to spar with +Bob Travers, and you shall see me polish him off with a new 'Mendoza +tip' that I learnt last night. Now, you'll come, won't you, Jim?" + +"Not to-day, George. I know you're right in every word you say; and +yet I can't give it up yet--at all events to-day. I must see her, +I've got something special to say to her, and the time's getting on. +Good-by, old fellow; I know you mean well; and I'll come out all right +yet. God bless you, old boy! Hi! Hansom!" and Mr. Prescott jumped into +a cab, murmured an inaudible address to the driver, and was whirled +away. + +Mr. Pringle remained on the kerb-stone, shaking his head and looking +after the departing Hansom. "James Prescott is in for it," said he to +himself; "is decidedly in for it. So, by the way, is George Pringle. +If I don't pay Wilkins that twenty pounds to-night, I shall be +County-Courted, as safe as houses. I never have put my hand to any +bill before; but needs must, I suppose. So I'll just step up and see +old Scadgers." And Mr. Pringle struck across the Strand, in a +northerly direction. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +WITH THE SECRETARY. + + +If, instead of ascending the broad staircase immediately on entering +the Tin-Tax Office, you were to proceed straight forward, you would +come to the messengers' lobby, which is the outpost, protecting the +penetralia where the Commissioners and the Secretary are enshrined. +The principal duty of these messengers, besides answering bells and +carrying about official papers, was to protect the august personages +just referred to from being intruded upon by "the public;" and as one +learnt from his Scripture History that the term "Gentiles" meant "all +nations except the Jews," so, after a very little official experience, +one became aware that "the public" meant every body who did not hold +an appointment in the Tin-Tax Office. The duties incumbent upon +certain emissaries of the Office, in regard to the collection of +revenue, made the head-quarters at Rutland House a grand resort of the +"public," who generally came here with very belligerent intentions, +and who either referred to printed documents in their hands and wished +to see Mr. Simnel the Secretary (whose name appeared attached to the +documents) or occasionally even demanded an interview with the Chief +Commissioner, the great Sir Hickory Maddox, himself. It is needless to +say that these wishes were never gratified: the messengers of the +Tin-Tax Office were men to whom, in the discharge of his favourite +accomplishment, Ananias could not have held a candle; men with +imperturbable faces and ready tongues, who took the "public's" measure +in an instant, and sent him to whatsoever clerk they thought would +most readily dispose of his grievance. "I wish to see the Chief +Commissioner," would exclaim a Briton, red in face, dripping in head, +and bursting with indignation. To him calm, majestic Mr. Potts, the +chief messenger, a fat man with a big forehead, a large stomach, flat +feet in low shoes, and a general butlerish appearance--"Sir 'Ickry is +with the Chanclr of Schequer, sir, on most important bisness." "The +Secretary, then." "The Seckittary have gone with Sir 'Ickry, +sir;--what is your bisness, sir?" "Why, I've been overcharged--" "Ah, +thought so, sir! Rebate on prop'ty dooty. Walker, show the gentleman +to number 15,"--and away down the loud-resounding passages, or up the +mountainous stairs, would the unfortunate "public" be hurried. + +The superior rooms lay up a little passage to the right of the +messengers' lobby, and were three in number. First came the +Board-room, a large and solemn salmon-coloured apartment, where the +Commissioners sat when for despatch of business assembled. A big, +dull-faced clock ticked on the mantelshelf; solemn green maps of +distant countries, from year's end to year's end undisturbed, curled +themselves round in dusty layers on the walls; and a large red-leather +sofa, on which Mr. Beresford, in the absence of the other +Commissioners, and after a hard night's waltzing, had enjoyed hours of +pleasant repose, filled up a recess. In the centre of the room stood a +heavy writing-table, with pads of blotting-paper, pools of black ink, +and bundles of quill-pens distributed at regular intervals. At the +head of this table always stood a red-leather arm-chair, and this +arm-chair always on business occasions contained the sacred person of +the Chief Commissioner, Sir Hickory Maddox. A little man, Sir Hickory, +with a parchment face, a blue eye like a bit out of a china plate, +stiff gray hair brushed into a point on the top of his head, and +formal little gray whiskers: always dressed in a little black +frock-coat, and little gray waistcoat and trousers; wearing too a +heavy gold-set cornelian seal, and a cumbrous old-fashioned watch-key, +just projecting from his fob,--buoys to show whereabouts his thick +gold chronometer was sunk, in some unknown depths. A kind-hearted, +fussy, hard-working man, whose family had been for generations in the +public service, who had himself worked for years in the Draft and +Docket Office, had risen and distinguished himself there, and had +finally been rewarded with the Chief-Commissionership of the Tin-Tax, +and with being created a K.C.B. His official position he esteemed one +of the most enviable in the kingdom; he thought of nothing but +official matters; and when, being of a hospitable turn, he had solemn +dinners at his house in Wimpole Street, all the guests were magnates +of other offices or--for he was a kind chief in that respect--juniors +of the Tin-Tax. And invariably, just as the cloth was drawn, the +butler would appear at his master's elbow, bearing a salver, on which +lay an enormous red-leather official despatch-pouch. The little man +would smile feebly at his guests, would shrug his shoulders, and +saying, "Our labours follow us even here," would unlock the pouch, +glance at its contents (probably the _Globe_, and private note), and +relocking it, say, "Lay it on the library-table, Benson. I must go +into the matter before I sleep. However, _nunc vino pellite curas!_ +Port, sherry, madeira, and claret!" + +Between Sir Hickory Maddox the senior, and Mr. Beresford the junior, +there were two other Commissioners. One was the Honourable Morris +Peck, who had been a Gentleman Usher at Court,--at whose name years +ago young ladies used to blush, and matrons to gather themselves +together in brood-hen fashion for the protection of their chicks,--a +roysterer at Crockford's, a friend of Pea-Green Payne and the Golden +Hall and that lot,--a "devil of a fellow, sir!" but who was now merely +a hook-nosed old gentleman in a high coat-collar and a curly-brimmed +hat; wearing false teeth, dyed hair, and blacked eyebrows; who always +slept peacefully until his signature was required, when he gave it in +a very shaky schoolboy scrawl. The other was Mr. Miles O'Scardon, an +Irish gentleman of ancient family, but limited means, who had +represented Ballyhogue in Parliament for years, and who had obtained +his appointment for the fidelity with which he had always obeyed the +summons of the ministerial whip. Beyond the Board-room lay the sanctum +of the Chief-Commissioner's private secretary, a young man always +chosen for his good looks, his good clothes, and his gentlemanly +bearing, who was envied by his brother juniors, but who had to answer +Sir Hickory's bell, and was consequently taunted by the epithet +"Jeames." And beyond that, though unconnected with it, lay the +Secretary's room. + +A large, light, airy room, far away from the noise and bustle, and +looking on to the river. Round the walls are huge oak-presses, filled +with tied-up bundles of confidential papers, secret reports of the +out-door agents of the Tin-Tax Office, which, if published, would have +astonished the world by throwing quite a new light on the incomes of +several of its idols. Maps were there too, and framed tables of +statistics, and the Stationers' Almanac; and over the mantelpiece hung +a proof-before-letters engraving of the portrait of Sir Hickory +Maddox, after Grant, with an exact likeness of that great official's +favourite inkstand and quill-pen, and with a correctness in the fit of +the trousers such as was never achieved by the great original. There +was a round table in the middle of the room, divided into two equal +portions by a line of books of reference--Guide-books, M'Culloch's +Commercial Dictionary, Haydn's Dates, the Post-Office Directory, +Bradshaw, and other light reading: one side of the line of demarcation +was bare (save at one o'clock, when it bore the little tray containing +the Secretary's light luncheon); on the other lay the Secretary's +blotting-book, pen-stand, and paper-case. + +About the time when the conversation recorded in the last chapter was +going on between his clerks, Mr. Simnel, the Secretary, sat in his +official room, signing his name to printed papers, which he took one +by one from a large heap at his right hand, and, after signing, +dropped at his feet. It was plain that his thoughts were otherwise +absorbed; for as the sheets fell from his hand and fluttered to the +ground, he never looked after them, but would occasionally pause in +his occupation, lay down his pen, nurse his right leg with both hands, +and rock himself quietly to and fro. As he moved here and there in the +sunlight, you might have perceived that his limbs were long and +ungainly; that he had big broad hands with thick corrugated veins, and +finger-nails strong, hard, and cut to a point; that he was very bald, +and that such fringe of hair as remained was of a dull red; that he +had a large sensual face, big projecting brown eyes, thick clumsy +nose, full scarlet underlip, heavy jowl, and large massive chin. You +could have noticed, too, that, in certain lights, this face was worn +and jaded and almost haggard, traversed here and there with deep +furrowed lines, marked with crow's-feet and wrinkles and deep +indentations. As you gazed, perhaps, all this faded away, the face +beamed forth happy, jolly, sensual as ever; but you felt that the +wrinkles were there, and that so soon as the flicker passed away, they +would be seen again. + +Not in the discharge of his easy labours at the Tin-Tax Office had Mr. +Simnel acquired these lines and wrinkles. The calm direction of that +engine of the State had only come upon him of late years, and never +had caused him any trouble. But Mr. Simnel had compressed a great many +years' experience into forty years of life, and the crow's-feet and +indentations were the result of brain-labour, worry, and anxiety. Mr. +Simnel's first recollection of any thing found him a little boy, in a +skeleton-suit, at the grammar-school of Combcardingham,--a city which +every body save the envious inhabitants of its rival Dockborough +allowed to be the metropolis of the north. Little Bob Simnel did not +know whose son he was, or how his schooling was paid for; all he knew +was, that he boarded with an old lady, the widow of a tax-collector, +who was very kind to him, and that he soon found out the best thing he +could do was to stick to his book. To his book he stuck manfully; +walked through all the classes of the grammar-school, one by one, +until he became junior boy of the sixth form, until he became senior +boy of the sixth form, until the visiting examiner, the Bishop of +Latakia, New Zealand, declared that he had the greatest pleasure +in naming Mr. Robert Simnel as the gainer of the exhibition of +seventy-five pounds a year; and added, as he shook hands with said +Robert, that whichever University he might prefer would be honoured by +his choice. Young Mr. Simnel, however, did not go to either Oxford or +Cambridge: after a lengthened interview with the head-master, the Rev. +Dr. Barker, Mr. Simnel gracefully resigned the exhibition in favour of +Swetter, _major_, who "proxime accessit," and entered as the articled +clerk of Messrs. Banner and Blair, accounted the sharpest lawyers in +Combcardingham, and known through all the county as great +electioneering agents for the Liberal party. A few years passed on; +Mr. Simnel had finished his articles had become the junior partner of +Messrs. Banner and Blair, and was working steadily and well, when an +event happened which insured his success for life. + +It was this: Combcardingham, for the three last general elections, had +returned the same two members--Sir Thomas Prodd and Mr. Shuttler; both +local magnates, employing hundreds of hands, supporting local +charities, known throughout the county, and Liberal to the backbone. +One morning news sped to London that Mr. Shuttler was dead; and that +evening a tall, thin gentleman, with a hare-lip, arrived by afternoon +express in Combcardingham, and engaged the Waterloo Hotel as the +head-quarters of Mr. Farquhar, the Conservative candidate. Blue bills +on a dead-wall unpleasantly proclaimed this fact to M. Simnel as he +was shaving himself the next morning; and he perceived that young +Woofham, the hope of the Liberal party, would not be brought in +without a struggle. So he, metaphorically, took off his coat and set +to work; canvassed, intrigued, cajoled, went through all the dirty +round of electioneering tactics, but found he did not make much way; +found, in truth, that the hare-lipped man seemed to have Fortunatus's +purse somewhere about him, and that young Woofham was a miserly young +hunks, who did not see the borough as a proper investment for his +ingots. What was to be done? To lose the borough would be a tremendous +blow to the Government, who had always looked upon it as their own, +and to whom it was always supposed to owe allegiance. But the money? +The night before the nomination, Mr. Simnel, with his face muffled in +a huge handkerchief, despatched the following telegraphic message to +Mr. Weal, the Government whip, at the Retrenchment Club: "No. 104 is +putting on the steam at Combcardingham. If No. 102 does not do +likewise, up goes the sponge." While No. 102 Mall-Pall is the +Retrenchment Club, No. 104 is, it is needless to say, the No Surrender +(familiarly known as the Wig and Whiskers), the head-quarters of the +Conservative party. By the early morning express a messenger, with a +letter from Mr. Weal, arrived at Mr. Simnel's office, and during the +day the doubts under which many of the electors suffered were +satisfactorily explained away, and at the close of the poll Mr. +Woofham's name stood well ahead of his rival. Mr. Weal and his party +did not forget their telegraphing friend at Combcardingham. After the +election was over, Mr. Simnel was summoned to London, had an interview +with certain of the _Dii majors_, and at the end of six months was +inducted into the Secretaryship of the Tin-Tax Office, then vacant. + +They did not like him at first at the Tin-Tax; they thought Bingham +ought to have succeeded to the berth; and Bingham--who was a very +gouty old gentleman, who took a great deal of snuff, and swore a great +deal, and kept a pocket-dictionary in the right-hand top-drawer of his +desk wherewith to correct his orthography--thought so too. But Sir +Hickory Maddox, who was not merely very popular, but very much +respected by his men, showed such thorough appreciation of Mr. +Simnel's talents, and so thoroughly endorsed all the Secretary's acts, +that the men began to waver in their allegiance to the Bingham +faction; to think that Bingham was little better than an old idiot; +that "new blood" in the secretariat might probably not only improve +the status of the Tin-Tax Office, but get a new and improved scale for +the clerks; and when they found that, after a couple of years, the new +Secretary actually did accomplish this feat, the new Secretary was +popular for ever. Popular officially, not privately. The juniors at +the Tin-Tax had been in the habit of chaffing their late lamented +secretary; of bribing him, by gifts of game and hothouse fruits, to +grant them odd days and even weeks of leave of absence; of chatting +with him familiarly on current events. Mr. Simnel's manners +effectually checked all that kind of thing. With the Commissioners he +might unbend; with the juniors he was adamant. But if he met one of +his men in society, in the Opera lobby, or at a Botanical Fête, he +would make a point of shaking hands with him as though they hadn't +seen each other for ages, and of talking with him of every subject +possible--except the Tin-Tax Office. + +The pile of papers for signature had melted to one solitary document, +the floor was strewn with the evidences of Mr. Simnel's handiwork, and +Mr. Simnel himself sat nursing his leg and swaying himself gently to +and fro in meditation. Occasionally he would pass his disengaged hand +through his fringe of hair, and smile quietly to himself, then make a +few figures on his blotting-pad, add them, and set-to rocking again. +In the midst of this occupation he heard his door open, and looking +up, saw Mr. Beresford. + +"Why, what the deuce does this mean?" he exclaimed, in surprise. "I +thought you were on Tom Tiddler's ground, picking up unlimited gold +and silver, wooing heiresses, and settling a Belgravian ménage; and +you turn up in this dingy old barrack. Is it all over?--has the lady +succumbed? and do you want me to help you to choose fire-irons and +window-curtains?" + +Mr. Beresford did not reply for a minute; then he said, shortly and +decisively, "I've been sold!" + +Mr. Simnel gave one short, loud whistle, and said interrogatively, +"Wouldn't?" + +Mr. Beresford, seating himself on the edge of the table, looked up at +Mr. Simnel, who had taken up his position on the rug, with his back to +the empty fireplace, and said, "No chance; booked beforehand!" + +Whereupon Mr. Simnel gave a louder whistle, and said, "Tell!" + +"You know how I stand, Simnel, well enough," said Mr. Beresford; "and +this looked a very safe _coup_, I thought, specially after I got your +telegram. There were two or three fellows staying down at Bissett who +I thought were on, too. Man named Lyster; do you know him?--tall man, +dark beard, yaw-haw beast, from Indian army." + +"I know him!" was all Mr. Simnel's reply to this flattering sketch. + +"And another man, newspaper man, belongs to the 'Retrenchment' and the +'Fly-by-night;' Churchill, you know." + +"_I_ know Churchill. Was he going in for an heiress?" + +"No, not exactly; at least I thought so, but it turned out not. But I +didn't like these fellows hanging about; specially Lyster--romantic +party, sigh and that sort of business. So, when I found from you it +was all right, I made up my mind to see where I was." + +"Well; and Miss Townshend wouldn't have it?" + +"Not at all! We were sitting after dinner, when the women had gone to +the drawing-room, the very day I got your telegram, and old Wentworth +told us there was a man coming down the next day,--Schrötter, or +Schröder, a German merchant in Mincing Lane--" + +"I know him," interrupted Simnel: "Gustav Schröder; elderly man. What +took him to Bissett?" + +"Love, sir--love! he's engaged to be married to Miss Townshend!" + +"Whew!" said Mr. Simnel, with his longest and shrillest whistle. "The +deuce he is! That _is_ news! How does the young lady like it?" + +"Well, not much. She couldn't, of course, be expected to feel very +enthusiastic about a short, stout, gray-headed German, who talks the +most infernal jargon, and hasn't got a sound tooth in his head. Took +him out shooting once, but he made the most awful mess of it; devilish +near shot the beaters, and sprained his ankle leaping a half-foot +ditch. The girl seemed horribly ashamed of him, and of his clumsy +compliments and elephantine gambols; but she's evidently booked--her +father takes care of that." + +"Ah, ha!" said Mr. Simnel, nursing his knee, rocking himself to and +fro, and rapidly going off into an absent fit; "ah, ha!" + +"I hate to hear you say 'ah, ha,' Simnel!" said Mr. Beresford, with +some asperity. "You're always up to some plottings and plans when you +utter those seemingly benevolent grunts. I suppose you suspect old +Townshend of some grand _diablerie_ in this affair. I never could make +out what it is that you know about that old gentleman." + +"Know about him?" said Simnel, rousing himself with a laugh; "that he +gives capital dinners and has plenty of money; that he's about to +marry his daughter to one of the richest men in the City. What more +need one know about a man? I don't know what church he goes to, or +what peculiar shade of religion he affects; whether he's a good father +or a bad one; whether he rules his daughter, or is ruled by her. But I +_do_ know that he drinks Tod-Heatly's champagne, and banks at the +London and Westminster. This news looks fishy for your business, +Beresford!" + +"Simply a case of stump," said Mr. Beresford, rising from the table, +plunging his hands into his trousers-pockets, and striding up and down +the room. + +"What do you mean to do?" + +"Borrow two hundred pounds more of you," exclaimed Beresford, stopping +short on the edge of the rug, and confronting Mr. Simnel. + +"And then?" asked the latter gentleman, smiling calmly. + +"God knows!" said Beresford, with something like a shudder. "Something +must turn up; the Bishop must die or Lady Lowndes, and there'd be a +safe something from them; or there'll be some girl--" + +"Ye-es," interrupted Mr. Simnel drily, seating himself at his desk, +and unlocking a draw therein. "You're the most marvellously sanguine +fellow, perfectly Micawberish in your notions of something turning up, +and your making a _coup_. But--suppose t'other! suppose it didn't come +off! Now you owe me,"--looking at a paper which he took from the +drawer,--"six hundred pounds already, and I've only got insurance +policies for security." + +"You get your interest," growled Beresford. + +"A mild six;" said Mr. Simnel, with a shrug of his shoulders and his +pleasant smile. "A mild six; just what I should get in Bombay +Preference, or Great Luxembourg Centrals, or a dozen other safe +investments. However, you shall have this two hundred; but I should be +glad to see your way in the future. Is there no girl with money whom +you think you could propose to speedily?" + +"Not one," said Beresford, stopping in his walk and reseating himself +on the table. "Oh, by Jove, I forgot to tell you that." + +"What?" + +"About Kate Mellon,--tremendous scene just before I left;" and Mr. +Beresford proceeded to recount the dialogue between him and Kate +Mellon, which was recorded in the fourth chapter of this story. He +told the tale honestly throughout, and when he had finished he looked +up in Mr. Simnel's face, and said, "Deuced awkward position, wasn't +it?" + +Mr. Simnel had not lost one word of the story; on the contrary, he had +listened to it with the greatest eagerness and interest, but he did +not answer Mr. Beresford's final query. He had fallen into his old, +leg-nursing attitude, and was rocking himself silently to and fro. + +"Devilish unpleasant, wasn't it?" reiterated Mr. Beresford. + +"Eh!" said Mr. Simnel in a loud high key. "Yes, most unpleasant, of +course. We'll talk more about that; but you must be off now. To-day's +only half a day, you know; and I've got all sorts of things to do +before I go. You shall have that two hundred on Monday, all right. +Good-by! see you on Monday," and the Secretary shook hands with the +Commissioner until the latter was fairly outside the door. + +Then Mr. Simnel returned to his desk, and took up his leg again. + +"It seems to be coming on now," he said to himself, "and all together +too. The old man always meant little Alice for a Duke, and now to let +her go to such carrion as old Schröder; that looks like smash. He +holds heavily in Pernambucos, in Cotopaxis, and other stuff that's run +down like water lately; and he must have dropped at least ten thousand +in that blessed Bird-in-the-Hand insurance. I think the time has come +to put the screw on, and I don't think"--turning to a drawer and +taking from an envelope a paper yellow with age--"that he'll dishonour +this. What an awful time ago it seems! There,"--replacing the +paper,--"go back till you're wanted. You've kept so long that--Ah, by +Jove! the other business! To be married, eh? To be married, Kate?" +releasing his leg and plucking at his lips. "To be married to Master +Charley Beresford! not while I live, my child! not while I live, and +have power to turn a screw on in your direction too!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +WHERE MR. PRINGLE WENT TO. + + +It has been notified in a previous chapter that Mr. Pringle was in +some mental anxiety touching the acquisition of a certain twenty +pounds which he required for immediate disbursement. This position he +held in common with many of his colleagues at the Tin-Tax Office, and +indeed with most junior clerks in the Civil Service. "The truth is," +says Captain Smoke, in Douglas Jerrold's comedy, _The Bubbles of the +Day_, "I want a thousand pounds." "My dear Smoke," says his friend, +"there never was a man yet that did _not_ want a thousand pounds." The +truth of the axiom is undeniable; only in the Civil Service the amount +is much diminished. Twenty pounds, familiarly known as a "twentyer," +is generally the much-desiderated sum among the junior slaves of the +Crown; and it was for a "twentyer" that Mr. Pringle now pined. A +hosier who some two years before had sued for Mr. Pringle's custom, +nor sued in vain,--who had supplied him with under-linen of fine +texture and high price, with shirts of brilliant and variegated +patterns, with boating jerseys and socks so vivid in stripe that his +legs resembled those of the functionary in the opening of the +pantomime who by the boys in the gallery is prematurely recognised as +the future clown, owing to the resplendent beauty of his ankles,--at +length, after repeated transmissions of his "little account," and +after mystic hints that he had not yet seen the colour of Mr. +Pringle's money, brought into action the terrible engines of the law, +and summoned his debtor to the County Court. + +It was at the very latter end of the quarter when this legal ukase was +placed in Mr. Pringle's hands, and that gentleman, examining his +capital, found it consist of thirty-seven shillings, a silver +threepence, and a penny,--which sums were to provide his dinners, +cigars, and general pleasures for a fortnight. Clearly, then, out of +this no compromise could be effected; he could not even go through +that performance so dear to the hard-pressed debtor, which is +temporarily so soothing and in the end so futile, known as paying +"something on account." A five-pound note has the same effect on a +tradesman to whom twenty pounds are owing as a wet brush on a very bad +hat,--it creates a temporary gleam of comfort, _but nothing more_. Mr. +Pringle had not even this resource: if he were summoned to the County +Court, and if the investigation were reported, as it was sure to be, +in _The Dalston Dreadnought and De Beauvoir Town Looker-on_, he should +get horribly chaffed by his comrades, perhaps pitched into by the +Board, and it would bring all his other creditors down on him. So +something must be done, and cash must be raised at once. Mr. Pringle +did not know where to turn: he had never been a borrower, and hated +the idea of asking money favours from his friends; moreover, in real +truth, he would not have known whom to turn to, had he been so +minded. Prescott, his Pylades, was by no means overburdened with +money--indeed, Kinchenton's income only sufficed for the keeping up of +his modest establishment and for the schooling of Percy; while Dibb, +Crump, Boppy, or any of the other office men, were utterly +impracticable in such a case. Finally, he determined that he must "do +a bill;" an act of which he had hitherto been innocent, and towards +the proper accomplishment of which he thought it best to take the +advice of Mr. Rittman. + +In nearly every Government office there is one impecunious black +sheep,--one clerk who is always hovering on the edge of the precipice +of insolvency, over which he finally tumbles, to creep out with life +indeed, but with scars and bruises which last him during the remainder +of his official existence. This character was in the Tin-Tax Office +played by Mr. Rittman, who for years had been "in difficulties," and +was thoroughly versed in every species of money-borrowing, were it the +loan-simple from a friend, the loan-complex on a bill with a friend's +name, the life-insurance facile, the loan-office ruinous, the bill of +sale advertised, or the pawnbroker low. As yet no learned Commissioner +had sat in judgment on Mr. Rittman's pecuniary transactions, but he +had been in sponging-houses, in Whitecross Street, and in the Queen's +Bench; and though his end was rapidly approaching (for he had a couple +of sons verging on manhood, and apparently inheriting all their +father's frailties), he was never despondent, but maintained a +creditable appearance and a cheerful manner. To him Mr. Pringle had +gone, on the day before that on which we first made his acquaintance; +and Mr. Rittman, from the young man's manner on entering the room, at +once guessed the object of his visit. + +"How do, Rittman?" commenced Mr. Pringle. + +"Good morning, my dear sir--good morning!" said the gentleman +addressed, laying down his pen and bowing pleasantly. He had on a +voluminous white waistcoat, a great show of shirt-wristband, and +before him, in a tumbler, stood some choice flowers. "Seldom you +come down to this part of the building; keep to the more aristocratic +end--eh?" and Mr. Rittman smiled, and showed a good set of teeth. + +"No! I don't know--the truth is--I want some advice, and I think +you're the man to give it to me." + +"My dear sir, I shall be delighted. What is it?" (this thrown off at a +tangent to a messenger who appeared in the doorway, saying, "Ere's +Brown's man agen, Mr. Rittman"). "Ah! Brown's man; well, you'd +better say I've not yet returned from Jersey, but you expect me on +Tuesday.--And now, my dear sir; you were saying--some advice?" + +"Well, the fact is, Rittman, I'm hard up, and I want to borrow some +money; and I thought you could--" + +"Not lend you any? that would be almost too delicious, my dear sir. +You didn't think I could lend you any?" and Mr. Rittman screamed with +laughter at the absurdity of the idea. + +"No, no, of course not; but I thought you might tell me where I could +get it." + +"Oh, that's a totally different thing; of course I can. I rather pique +myself upon knowing more about such matters than most men. Of course I +can. Now, let me see--what security can you give?" + +"Eh?" asked Mr. Pringle. + +"Security for the repayment? If you borrow from the Rainy. Day or +Amicable Nest-Eggs Insurance Office, you must give two sureties, +householders, and insure for double the amount of the loan. If you go +to the Helping Hand or the Leg-up Loan Office, you must give three +sureties, householders, and pay a lot for office-fees and inquiries, +which are made by a dirty-faced man at a pound a week. If you give a +bill of sale on your furniture--" + +"My good sir," said Pringle testily, "I've got no furniture. And +surely all this bother can't be necessary for the sum I want--only +twenty pounds." + +"Twenty pounds! twenty pounds! a fleabite, a mere fleabite!" said Mr. +Rittman (he had three and sevenpence in his pocket at the moment, and +did not know in the least where to turn for more). "I hoped you were +going to call my generalship into play; for I may say, without +boasting, that when it's not for myself, I am fertile in resources. +But--twenty pounds--I'll give you the address of a man who'll let you +have it at once." + +"There won't be any names wanted, or any thing of that sort, will +there?" asked Pringle, rather doubtful of this promptitude. + +"Nothing of the kind; merely your acknowledgment. Here's the +address--Scadgers, Newman Street. You'll find Mr. Scadgers a curious +man, but very pleasant; and when you say you come from me, he'll be +very polite. And, Mr. Pringle, let me give you one word of advice--Be +firm in the matter of Madeira." + +"In the matter of Madeira?" + +"Yes, awful; you can't stand it. Ostades are bad enough, or a +Stradivarius fiddle; and perhaps, as you're a single man in +apartments, a key-bugle mightn't do, as likely to be objected to by +the other lodgers--but any of them rather than the Madeira." + +In the middle of Newman Street stands a paintless door, in the centre +of which gleams a brass-plate, bearing the word "Scadgers," in fat +Roman capitals. Nothing else. No "Mr.;" no description of Scadgers' +profession; nothing to break the charm. "Scadgers" stands an oasis of +shining brass in a desert of lustreless deal, and winks knowingly at +the double-faced portrait, one half dirty, the other half clean, at +the picture-restorer's over the way. Scadgers' door differed from its +fellows in having but one bell-handle; for Scadgers had quite enough +business to occupy the whole house, and to demand ramifications in the +neighbourhood. All we have to do, in the course of this story, is to +deal with Scadgers as Scadgers; but my private belief is that Scadgers +was the Universal Philanthropic Man's a Man for a' that Loan Office, +held at the Blue Pig and Toothache in Wells Street; that he was "Cash +promptly advanced on furniture without removal, freehold and leasehold +property, legacies, reversions, warrants, and all other securities. +Sheriffs' executions and rent-distraint immediately paid out" (_vide_ +advertisement);--that he was "Methuselah's Muffin-Powder, or Never say +Die" patent medicine, and proprietor-in-chief of "The Hob," a domestic +Miscellany, which commenced with weak romance, and failed, but has +since achieved an enormous success for itself, and a fortune for its +spirited proprietor, by the publication of "Baby Clarence; or, My Life +at Brompton." Certainly you could not have guessed Scadgers' +occupation from the outside of his residence, which looked like a +dirty lodging-house, like a third-rate boarding-house, like those +melancholy houses occupied by those most melancholy people on earth, +third-rate piano-sellers; like a house let in rooms to people who +lithograph fashion-plates; like any thing but what it was--a house +where more money was made than in nine-tenths of the houses in London. + +When Mr. Pringle arrived on the Scadgerian steps, he looked for a +knocker, and finding none, he pulled the Scadgerian bell. A responsive +click and the partial unlatching of the door invited him to push; the +door yielded, and he found himself in a large and empty hall, on one +side of which was a glass door, with the word "Office" in faded gilt +letters on a white ground. This glass-door being open, Mr. Pringle +walked straight through, and found himself in the "office." He had +seen a good many offices in his time, but never one like this. He had +never seen an office with musical instruments in it before; and here +were four or five pianos standing ranged against the wall, to say +nothing of harps in leather cases leaning drunkenly in corners, and a +few cornets-à-piston in green boxes, and a guitar or two with blue +ribbons to hang them round your neck by, just as if they had come +fresh from the necks of Spanish _donnas_. And there were +slack-baked-looking old pictures in heavy Dutch-metal frames--fine +specimens of old masters--saints with skulls and Bibles in front of +them, and very ascetic cheek-bones and great phrenological development +of talent and courage; Dutch boors standing on one leg and drinking +glasses of ale, and yawning youths with an effect of shaded +candlelight on their faces. There were modern pictures, too, +of lakes and Thames scenery, and girls with fair hair, which, when +compared with the old ones, looked as if they had been painted in +milk-and-water; and there were three driving-whips in one corner, a +set of harness across a chair, and the leather cushions of a brougham +under it. There was a bronze umbrella-stand, formed by a dog holding a +whip in his mouth, a big French clock, and a couple of chemist's +bottles, red and green; and in the midst of all this confusion stood a +little shrivelled old man, with very white hair and a very red face--a +dirty little old man dressed in a rusty suit of black, who addressed +Mr. Pringle in a rusty creaking voice, and wanted to know "his +pleasure." + +"I--I wish to speak to Mr. Scadgers," said Mr. Pringle, with a modesty +and hesitation altogether strange to him. + +"Ah!" said the little old man; "deary me! yes!" and then he seated +himself on the edge of a wine-hamper, and began to count his fingers +with great interest, as though not quite sure of the number he really +possessed. + +"Mr. Scadgers!" said Pringle, after a minute or two. + +"Ah, yes! I'll call him," said the little old man, and rang a bell +which lurked in the corner of the chimney-piece. + +A great creaking of uncarpeted stairs under heavy boots followed this +bell-ringing, and presently Mr. Scadgers entered the room. Mr. +Scadgers' appearance partook of the charming amenities of the +prize-fighter and the undertaker: his hair was black and +close-cropped, his face white, his nose red, one eye was considerably +larger than the other, and one corner of his mouth had a peculiar +upward twist. He was dressed in black, with a pair of dull leather +boots reaching half-way up his thighs; and as he came through the +door, he took a red silk pocket-handkerchief from the crown of his +hat, and mopped his head. + +"Servant, sir!" said Mr. Scadgers, surveying Mr. Pringle with his +gleaming black eyes, and reckoning him up in a moment. "What may you +want?" + +"Well," said Mr. Pringle, "I wanted a few minutes' conversation; but +private, if you please--" + +"Oh!" interrupted Mr. Scadgers, "don't mind Jinks; he's safe +enough--knows all my affairs--thoroughly to be trusted." + +"Well, then," said Mr. Pringle, hesitating; then, with a desperate +rush, "look here!--fact is--want money!" + +"Ah!" said Mr. Scadgers, with something like admiration in his tone, +"got it out with a rush, didn't you? That's the only way! Who told you +to come to me?" + +"Mr. Rittman, of the--" + +"I know--Tin-tax Office. Do you belong to it? Thought so. Wretched +office; lost a mint of money in that office. What salary do you get?" + +Mr. Pringle mentioned that he was in the receipt of ninety pounds +a-year. + +"Ah! twenty-one eighteen and nine on the 5th of every third month--I +know all about it! Now" mopping his head, "how much do you want?" + +"Twenty pounds." + +"Lor' bless me! and when do you want it?" + +"At once!" + +"Can't be done, sir! can't be done!" Violent mopping. "Haven't got any +money in the house. Can't you look in next week, and I might let you +have ten?" + +Mr. Pringle roundly asserted that this would not do at all, and turned +round towards the door. + +"Stop, sir!" shouted Mr. Scadgers, making tremendous play with +the red-silk handkerchief. "What a hasty young man you are! Look +here,"--taking out his purse,--"here's a ten-pound note that I +promised to young Stephens of the Wafer Office; he was to have been +here by two; now its getting on for three, and he's not come. I might +let you have that!" + +"But that's only ten!" said Mr. Pringle. + +"_Only_ ten! what a way to speak of money! Wait, sir, wait; let us see +what we can do. Any one likely to look in this afternoon to pay any +interest, Jinks?" + +"Too late now!" said Jinks, with brevity. + +"Ah! too late--I dessay! Just look in the cash-box, Jinks, and see +what's there; though I'm afraid it's not much. I should say there +wasn't more than three pounds, Jinks!" + +Mr. Jinks peered into a little cash-box on the desk before him, and +answered, "Just three pound!" + +"Ah! bring 'em out, Jinks; give 'em here. Let's see--ten and three's +thirteen; and that only leaves me seven-and-six to go on with till +Monday! Never mind: you could have thirteen, Mr.--" + +"But I want twenty!" + +"Ah, so you do! Pity you don't want some wine! I've got some Madeiry +as would--but wine ain't money, is it? There's a splendid picture, +now--a Murillo: you might take that." + +"Pictures are not more money than wine; are they?" + +"Ain't they? That Murillo's worth ten pound, and any one would give +you that for it. Ain't there no one you could sell it to? You see +you're in such a hurry for the money, or you might offer it to the +National Gallery, or some swell collecting of pictures might buy it, +but you're so pressed. Tell you what you might do, though," said Mr. +Scadgers, as though struck by a sudden inspiration: "you might pawn +it." + +"How the deuce could I go lugging that picture about the streets to +pawn it?" said Pringle testily. + +"No, to be sure! Stay, look here! I dare say Jinks wouldn't mind +pawning it for you. Jinks, look here; just run with this round the +corner, will you? Get as much as you can, you know." And without more +ado, Mr. Jinks put on a reddish-black napless hat, tucked the picture +under his arm, and started off. + +While he was gone, Mr. Scadgers asked Mr. Pringle what his name was, +how long he had been in the office, where he lodged, and other +home-thrusting questions; and presently Mr. Jinks returned without the +picture, but with three sovereigns and a printed ticket, which he +delivered to his master, saying, "Wouldn't do no more than three." + +"Three!" said Mr. Scadgers. "Well, that's nearer to twenty than we +was, isn't it? Now, Mr. Pringle,"--taking a slip of stamped paper from +his pocketbook--"just you sign your name at the bottom here. All +correct, you see. Fifth of next month,--promise to pay,--value +received,--and all the rest of it; and I'll hand you over sixteen +pounds and the ticket; and when you get that picture out, you'll have +a treasure." + +"Oh, curse the picture!" said Pringle ruefully. + +"Ah," said Mr. Scadgers, grinning, "that's what they all says. Cuss +the picture! Well, if that ticket ain't any use to you, I don't mind +giving you half a pound for it." + +"I thought you had only seven-and-sixpence left?" + +"No more I have, myself; but I might borrow half a pound from Jinks. +What do you say? Ah, I thought so. Here, Jinks, put this little +dockyment along with your other valuables. Here's the half pound, sir. +Now let's look at your signature. George Townshend Pringle! Very nice. +No relation to Mr. Townshend, of Austin Friars--the great Townshend?" + +"He's my uncle," said Pringle. "I'm named after him." + +"Indeed! named after him A very capital connexion. Good morning, sir! +good morning! I'll look in upon you on the fifth." + +But after Mr. Pringle had gone, Mr. Scadgers still stood with the bill +fluttering between his fingers, muttering to himself: "Sing'ler that! +very sing'ler! For years I hadn't seen the Runner until yesterday, +when I came across him in Cheapside; and now to-day I hear of him +again. I wonder," added Mr. Scadgers, with a very sinister smile, +"whether that little account between me and the Runner will ever be +wound up? I've owed him one this many a year." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +MR. PRESCOTT'S PROCEEDINGS. + + +The Hansom cab conveying Mr. Prescott went at a rapid pace along the +Strand, through the Pall-Mall district, and by divers short cuts into +Piccadilly. There was nothing to stop it; there were no blocks or +stoppages; and as it was the dead season of the year, and every one +was out of town, the Commissioners of Sewers were good enough to leave +the roads alone; reserving until the traffic was in full play their +right to erect gigantic, hideous hoardings in the most crowded +thoroughfares. The streets were deserted, the public buildings shut +up, dust and straw and dirty paper whirled about in the eddying gusts +of the autumnal wind, and the entire appearance of London was dull and +wretched. People had evidently been in doubt what to do about dress; +and while some were in the faded gaiety of the just-departed summer, +others were putting on an even shadier appearance in the creased and +awkward garments of the previous winter. The doctors' carriages and +the hack-cabs had the thoroughfares to themselves; the occupants of +the former, always on the watch for the recognition of some favoured +patient, sat back in their vehicles, engaged either in the perusal of +some medical work, or in happy day-dreams of increased practice, studs +of wearied horses, noble introductions, enormous fees,--all +culminating, perhaps, in baronetcies and appointments at Court. + +Of the hack-cabs seen about, but few were Hansoms; for at that season +men who want to go quickly, and don't mind paying a shilling a mile, +are at a discount. Now and then a sun-tanned swell, whose portmanteau +atop nearly obstructed the driver's sight, and who himself was but +dimly visible among gun-cases, hat-boxes, and railway-rugs, might have +been encountered, passing from one terminus to another; but the +"reg'lar riders,"--the lawyer's clerk, with the tape-tied bundle of +papers, who charges his cab to "the office;" the lounging swell; the +M.P. dashing down to the House; the smug-faced capitalist, whose brain +is full of calculation, and who sits the whole way to the City smiling +at all and seeing none; the impecunious speculator, who rides in a cab +because he cannot afford to be seen in an omnibus,--all these were away +from London. And the four-wheelers, though laden, had but dreary +burdens: the fortnight at Margate is over; no more morning dips, no +more afternoon rambles on the sands, no donkey-backs, no +pleasure-boats, no Pegwell Bay now! Paterfamilias is once more Hobbs +and Motchkin's out-door at thirty shillings a week; the eight-roomed +house in Navarino Terrace, Camden Town, resumes its wonted appearance; +the children return to the "curriculum" of education at Miss Gimp's in +the Crescent; and save the sand-covered little wooden spades which hang +from the hat-pegs in the passage, naught remains of their maritime +excursion. + +Dreary, dreary, every where! Dreary down in old country mansions, +where, while the men are pheasant-shooting in the woods, the ladies +look dismally on what was lately the croquet-ground, where the +gardeners are now busy sweeping up the leaves, and pressing them into +huge barrows, and wheeling them away; where the trees stand out gaunt +and brown, and where the evergreens bordering the pleasant walks +rustle with the autumnal winds; where the cracks, and flaws, and +dampnesses of old country mansions begin to make themselves +unpleasantly conspicuous; and where the servants, town-bred, commence +to be colded, sniffy, to have shivers and "creeps." Dreary at the +seaside, where the storm-soaked, worm-eaten jetty, lately echoing to +the pattering feet of children, or the sturdy tread of the visitor +taking his constitutional, is now given over to its normal +frequenters--tarry-trousered men in blue jerseys and oilskin +sou'-wester hats, who are always looking out for some boat that never +arrives, or some storm which always comes when they do not expect it; +bills are stuck on the pleasant plate-glass bow windows so lately +filled with pretty girls, rosy children, and parents who dined at two +o'clock, and enjoyed their nuts and port-wine "looking over the sea;" +and the proprietors of the lodging-houses, who have lived in damp +back-kitchens since June, are once more seen above-ground. Dreary in +Continental towns, where home-returning English are finding out that +they have spent too much money on their trip, and bewailing the +Napoleons left as a tribute to the managers of the Homburgh Bank; +where the discomforts of the return sea-passage first assert +themselves, and where couriers and innkeepers are going in for their +last grand turn of robbery and swindle. Dreary, dreary, every where! +but specially dreary in Hyde Park, at the Piccadilly gates, at which +Mr. Prescott leaves his Hansom, and strolls into Rotten Row. + +A blank desert of posts and rails and dry dusty gravel; a long strip +of iron-enclosed sand and grit, with half a dozen figures in the +three-quarter mile range to break the dull monotony. As Prescott +mooned drearily along, at five-minute intervals he would hear the +sound of a horse's hoofs, and turning rapidly, would find some +easy-going steed doing its quiet sanitary business for its owner, a +man who, either from circumstances or disposition, never quitted +London, but was to be seen at some time or other of the day in the +Row, no matter what might be the time of year. Interspersed with these +were grooms, riding in that groomy undress of wide-awake hat, short, +stiff shirt-collar, and tight-fitting, yellow-clay-coloured trousers, +trying the wind and bottom of some that were meant to be flyers in the +approaching hunting-season; beasts with heavy, strong quarters, long +backs, short, sharp heads, and rolling eyes, with a preponderance of +white always showing. Country-bred Mr. Prescott, and cannot therefore +divest himself of a certain canniness in the matter of horseflesh: now +and then he leans over the rail to follow the progress of a horseman +flying past, with his hands well down, and every muscle of his steed +brought into splendid play; or the healthy gymnastics of a +valetudinarian, who had learned exactly the utmost amount of exercise +to be derived from his horse as compared with the least amount of +discomfort to be endured by himself. But these do not rivet his +attention; and he passes on until he is nearly abreast of the +Serpentine, when, looking back, he sees a blue skirt fluttering in the +wind, and in an instant recognising its wearer, pulls up by the rails +and waits her advent. + +It does not take long for that chestnut mare to cover the distance, +albeit she is being ridden from side to side, and is evidently +receiving her "finishing" in the elegancies of the _manège_ In less +than two minutes she is pulled up short by the rails where Prescott is +standing, and her rider, Kate Mellon, with the colour flushing in her +cheeks, with her eyes aglow, with her hair a trifle dishevelled from +the exercise, is sitting bolt upright, and with the handle of her +riding-whip giving the young gentleman a mock salute. + +"Servant, colonel!" says she. + +"How do you do, Kate?" says Prescott, leaning forward and touching the +neat little white cuff on her wrist; "I thought I should find you +here." + +"More than I thought of you!" says the lady. "Why ain't you counting +up those figures, and adding and subtracting, and all the rest of it +you do in your office, eh?" + +"To-day's a half-holiday, Kitty--Saturday, you know," says Prescott, +with rather a grim smile; for he does not like that rough description +of his official duties. + +"Oh, ah!" says the lady, with great simplicity; "Saturday, ah! +Confounded nuisance sometimes! Lost my net veil one Saturday afternoon +here in the Row; went to Marshall and Snelgrove's on my way home; all +shut up tight as wax!" + +"You're better than you were yesterday, at the station?" + +"Oh, yes; I'm all right; I shall do well enough! Wo-ho! steady, old +lady!" (this to the mare). "I'm always better in town. Don't let's +stand here; I can't hold this mare quiet, and that's the truth; she +frets on the curb most awful." + +"Most awfully, Kitty, not most awful. I've told you of that a hundred +times." + +"Well, most awfully, if you like it better. Steady, Poll! Walk along +by my side. Who are you, I should like to know, to pull me up about my +talking? What right have you to lecture me about my grammar and that?" + +"What right?" asks Prescott, suddenly turning white; "none, save the +fact of my loving you, Kitty. You know it well enough, though I've +never told you in so many words. You know that I _do_ love you! You +can't have seen me hanging about you during the last season, making +excuses to come to your place, first there and last to go, hating +every man who had more chances of talking to you than I had,--you +can't have seen all this without knowing that I loved you, Kitty!" + +The mare is pulled suddenly up; there is no one near them in the blank +desert of the Row; and her rider says, "And suppose I _did_ know +it,--what then?" + +Prescott shrugs his shoulders and looks upon the ground, but does not +reply. + +"Have you ever had one word of encouragement from me? Have you ever +seen a look of mine which has led you on? Can you say that, suppose I +tell you to let me hear no more of this,--as I do tell you at once and +for ever,--I have deceived or thrown you over in any one way?" + +"Never!" + +"Thank God for that!" says the girl, with some bitterness; "for that's +a chalk in my favour, at least. Now look here! I know you, James +Prescott; and I know that you're too good a man--too well brought up +and fond of home and that sort of thing--to hint any thing but what's +right towards me." + +"Kitty!" + +"There--I know it. Don't break a blood-vessel with your emotion," she +added, gently tapping him on the shoulder with her riding-whip. "All +right. Well, suppose we were married, you'd feel very jolly, wouldn't +you, while you were down at your office doing your sums and things, +which you got so riled when I spoke of just now, to think that Tom +Orme, and Claverhouse, and De Bonnet, and a whole lot of fellows, were +mooning about this place with me?" + +"I'd wring all their necks!" says honest Jim Prescott, looking +excessively wobegone. + +"Exactly. But you see, if you wrung their necks, they would not send +their wives and sisters and daughters to be taught riding at The Den; +they would not commission me to look out for ladies' hacks, to break +them, and bring them into order; and my trade would be gone. And we +couldn't live on the twopence-halfpenny a-year you get from your +office, Jim, old fellow." + +"I know that, Kitty," said poor Prescott; "I know all that; but--" + +"Hold on half a second!" interrupted Kate; "let us look the thing +straight in the face, and have it out, Jim, now and for ever. I know +you--know you're a thoroughgoing good fellow, straight as an arrow, +and know that if you married me, you'd stick to me till you dropped. +But you'd have a hard time, Jim--an awful hard time!" + +"I should not mind that, Kitty. I'd work for you--" + +"Oh, it isn't in that way I mean. But how would you stand having to +break off with your own people for your wife's sake? How could you +take me down to your governor's parsonage, and introduce me there? How +would my manners and my talk please your mother and sisters? It's +madness, Jim,--it's worse than madness,--to talk of such a scheme. +Shake hands, and let's be always good friends--the best of friends. If +you ever want a good turn that I can do, you know where I'm to be +found. God bless you, old boy; but never mention this subject again!" + +James Prescott gave a great gulp at a lump which was rising in his +throat, and warmly grasped Kate Mellon's proffered hand. As she raised +her eyes he noticed her colour fade, and saw a troubled expression in +her face. + +"Good by, Jim," the said hurriedly. "Just strike down that path, will +you? Get away quickly; here's some one coming; and--and I don't want +to be seen talking to you. Quick! there's a good fellow. Good by." + +She touched her horse with her slight whip, and cantered off at once. +Prescott looked in the direction she had indicated, and saw Mr. +Simnel, mounted on a handsome thoroughbred, calmly curveting up the +Row. + +What could there be between Kate Mellon and Robert Simnel? + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +MISS LEXDEN ON MATRIMONY. + + +After that episode at the stile, which, as it happened, formed such a +crisis in their destinies, Barbara Lexden and Frank Churchill did not +move towards the house, but quietly turned into that fir plantation +through which they had strolled some days previously on their return +from the shooting party. At first neither spoke; Barbara walked with +her eyes downcast, and Churchill strolled idly by her side; then, +after a few paces, he took her unresisting hand and placed it in his +arm. She looked, up into his face with calm, earnest, trustful eyes, +and he bowed his head until, for the first time in his life, his lips +touched hers, and as he withdrew them he murmured, "My darling! my own +darling! thank God for this!" His arm stole round her waist, and for +an instant he held her tightly clasped; then gently releasing her, he +again passed her hand through his arm, covered it with his other hand, +and walked on quietly by her side. There was no need of speech; it was +all known, all settled, all arranged; that restored glove, that one +fervent sentence, that one look in which each seemed to read the +secrets of the other's soul, had done it all. This was first love, +undisturbed by the fact that on either side there had probably been +some half-dozen attacks of that spurious article, that saccharine +bliss, that state of pleasant torture which reveals itself in +sheep-like glances and deep-drawn sighs, in a tendency to wear tight +boots and to increase the already over-swollen tailor's bill, to groan +and be poetical, and to shrink from butchers' meat. Although the +existent state of Barbara and Churchill had none of these +characteristics, it was still first love. + +Marvellous, marvellous time! so short in its duration, but leaving +such an indelible impress on the memory! A charming period, a +_hasheesh_-dream impossible ever to be renewed, a prolonged +intoxication scarcely capable of realisation in one's sober moments. A +thing of once, which gone never comes again, but leaves behind it +remembrances which, while they cause the lips to curl at their past +folly, yet give the heart a twinge in the reflection that the +earnestness which outbalanced the folly, the power of entering into +and being swayed by them, the youth--that is it, after all; confess +it!--the youth is vanished for ever and aye. What and where was the +glamour, the power of which you dimly remember but cannot recall? Put +aside the claret-jug, and, with your feet on the fender, as you sit +alone, try and analyse that bygone time. The form comes clearly out of +the mist: the dark-brown banded hair, the quiet earnest eyes the +slight lissome figure and delicate hands; and with them a floating +reminiscence of a violet perfume, a subtle, delicate essence, which +made your heart beat with extra vigour even before your eyes rested on +what they longed for. Kisses and hand-clasps and ardent glances were +the current coin of those days; one of either of the former missed, +say at parting for the night, for instance, made you wretched; one of +the latter shot in a different direction sent you to toss sleepless +all night on your bed, and to rise with the face of a murderer, and +with something not very different from the mind of one. There were +heartaches in those days, real, dead, dull pains, sickening longings, +spasms of hope and fear; dim dread of missing the prize on the +attainment of which the whole of life was set, a psychical state which +would be as impossible to your mind now as would the early infantile +freshness to your lined cheek, or the curling locks of boyhood to your +grizzled pate. It is gone, clean gone. Perhaps it snapped off short +with a wrench, leaving its victim with a gaping wound which the +searing-iron of time has completely cicatrised; perhaps it mellowed +down into calm, peaceful, conjugal, and subsequently paternal +affection. But tell me not, O hard-hearted and worldly-minded +bachelor, intent on the sublimation of self, and cynically enough +disposed to all that is innocent and tender,--tell me not, O husband, +however devoted to your wife, however proud of your offspring,--tell +me not that a regret for that vanished time does not sometimes cross +your mind, that the sense of having lost the power of enjoying such +twopenny happiness, ay, and such petty misery, does not cost you an +occasional pang. It still goes on, that tragi-comedy, the same as +ever, though the actors be different, though our places are now in the +cushioned gallery among the spectators instead of on the stage, and we +witness the performance, not with envy, not with admiration, but with +a strange feeling of bewilderment that such things once were with +us,--that the dalliance of the puppets, and the liquid jargon which +they speak, once were our delight, and that we once had the pass-key +to that blissful world whose pleasures and whose sorrows now alike +fail to interest us. + +So in the thorough enjoyment of this new-found happiness, in all +tranquillity and repose, as in a calm haven after tempest, three or +four days passed over Barbara and Churchill. Their secret was their +own, and was doubly dear for being known but to themselves. No one +suspected it. Churchill joined the shooting-party on two occasions; +but as he had previously been in the habit of detaching himself after +luncheon, no one remarked his doing so now, and no one knew that the +remainder of the day until dinner-time was spent with Barbara alone. +After dinner Barbara would sometimes sing, and then Churchill would +hover round the piano, perhaps with more _empressement_ than he had +previously shown (because, though fond, as every man of any +sensitiveness must be, of music, he was by no means an enthusiast, and +was racked wofully with smothered yawns during the performance of any +elaborate piece), yet by no means noticeably. And during all the time +each had the inward satisfaction of knowing that their words and +actions were appreciated by the other, and that the "little look +across the crowd," as Owen Meredith says, was full of meaning to and +thoroughly understood by the person it was intended to reach. At +length, about the fourth day after the proceedings at the stile, their +conversation took a more practical turn. They had been wandering +slowly along, and had at length stopped to rest on a grass-covered +bank which was screened from the sight of the distant house by a thick +belt of evergreens, while far away in front of them stretched a +glorious prospect of field and woodland. As sometimes happens in +October, the sun seemed to have recovered his old July force, and +blazed so fiercely that they were glad to sit under the friendly +shade. Barbara had removed the glove from her right hand, and sat +looking down at her lover, who lay by her side, idly tracing the +course of one of the violet veins in the little hand which rested in +his own broad palm. Suddenly he looked up and said: + +"Darling, this lotus-eating is rapidly coming to an end. It would be +sweet enough, thus 'propped on beds of amaranth and moly,' to remain +and dream away the time together; but there's the big world before us, +and my holiday is nearly finished." + +"And you must go back to town?" and the little fingers tightened round +his, and the shapely head was bent towards his face. + +"Yes, pet; must. But what of that? When I go, it is but to prepare for +thee, my heart's darling; but to set things straight for your +reception. You're determined, child, to share my lot at once? You've +reflected on what I said the other night, about waiting a year to see +whether--" + +"No, Frank, no! those long engagements are utterly hateful. There will +you be, I suppose" (and she glanced slyly at him), "moping by +yourself, and there shall I be with another round of that horrible +season before me, thinking of you, longing for you, and yet having to +undergo all the detestable nonsense of balls and parties and _fêtes_, +which I so thoroughly despise--for what? At the end to find ourselves +a year older, and you perhaps a few pounds richer. As though riches +made happiness!" said poor Barbara, who, since she had come to what +are called years of discretion, had never known what it was to have a +whim unindulged. + +Churchill raised himself on his elbow, and smiled as he smoothed her +glossy hair. + +"My child," said he, "have you never heard of the philosopher who, +when told that poverty was no crime, rejoined, 'No; no crime; but it's +deuced inconvenient'? Recollect, furnished lodgings in Mesopotamia, +hack cabs to ride in, no Parker to dress your hair, no Rotten Row--by +Jove, when I think of it, I feel almost inclined to rush off and never +see you again, so horrible is the change to which holding to me must +lead you!" and a dark shadow passed across his face. + +"Do you?" asked Barbara, bending so closely over him that he felt her +warm breath on his cheek; "do you?" she repeated with such a dash of +earnest in her jesting tone that Churchill thought it necessary to +slip his arm round her, and press his lips to her forehead in +reassurance. "Why, you silly boy, you forget that when I was a child +at home with papa, I knew what poverty was; such poverty as would make +what you speak of wealth by comparison. Besides, shall we not be +together to share it? And you'll buy me a--what do they call it?--a +cookery book, and I'll learn all kinds of housekeeping ways. I can do +some things already; Guérin, the Morrisons' _chef_--who was a little +struck with me, I think, sir--showed Clara Morrison and me how to make +an omelette; and Maurice Gladstone--my cousin Maurice, you know; when +we were staying at Sandgate, he was quartered at Shorncliffe--taught +me to do bashawed lobster, and he says my bashawed lobster is as good +as Sergeant Pheeny's. And you know all the Guards are mad to get asked +to sup with Sergeant Pheeny, who's a lawyer, you know, and not a +soldier-sergeant." + +And she stopped quite out of breath. + +"'You know' and 'you know,'" said Churchill, mocking her; "I do know +Sergeant Pheeny, as it happens, and his bashawed lobster, and that +dish and omelettes will doubtless be our staple food; and you shall +cook it, and clean the saucepans afterwards, you little goose. +However, I tell you candidly, darling, though it sounds selfish, I +_dare not_ run the risk of losing you, even with all these +difficulties before us. As you say, we shall share them together, +and--" + +"Now, not another word!" said Barbara, placing her hand upon his lips; +"there are to be no difficulties, and all is to be arranged at once. +And I think the first thing to be done is for me to speak to my aunt." + +"Ay," said Churchill, with rather a dolorous expression of face; "I am +afraid that will be what your friend Captain Lyster would call a +'teaser.' Talking about no difficulties--we shall find one there!" + +"I do not think so. I am sure, Frank, my aunt has shown special +politeness to _you_." + +"Yes, darling, politeness of a certain kind to people in my position. +Don't frown; I have long since dropped that distinction as between +ourselves. But I mean so far as the outer world is concerned, to +people in my position--authors, artists, and 'professional people' of +all kinds--mixing in society, there are always two distinct varieties +of politeness. One, which seems to say, 'You are not belonging to +_nous autres_; you are not a man of family and position; but you bring +something which is a distinction in its way, and which, so far as this +kind of acquaintance goes, entitles you to a proper reception at our +hands.' The other, which says as plainly, 'You don't eat peas with your +knife, or wipe your lips with the back of your hand; you're decently +dressed, and will pass muster; while at the same time you're odd, +quaint, amusing, out of the common run, and you present at my house a +sort of appanage to my position.' I think Miss Lexden belongs to the +latter class, Barbara." + +"I am afraid that old feeling of class-prejudice is a monomania with +you," said Barbara, a little coldly: "however, I will see my aunt, and +bring matters to an issue there at once." + +"All luck go with you, child! There is one chance for us. The old +proverb says, '_Femme savante est toujours galante_.' Miss Lexden is a +clever woman; perhaps has had her own love-affairs, and will feel pity +for ours. But, Barbara, in case she should be antagonistic--violently, +I mean--you will not--" + +"_Monsieur_," said Barbara, with a little inflated _moue_, "_la garde +meurt, mais ne se rend pas_, as Cambronne did _not_ say. No, no; trust +in me. And now give me your arm, and let us go home." + +It was a point of honour with old Miss Lexden to have the best room in +every house where she visited; and so good was her system of tactics, +that she generally succeeded. Far away in northern castles, where +accommodation was by no means on a par with the rank of their owners, +duchesses had been worse lodged and infinitely worse attended to than +this old commoner, whose bitter tongue and incapacity for reticence +did her yeoman's service on all possible occasions; not that she was +ever rude, or even impolite, or said any thing approaching to actual +savagery; but she had a knack of dropping hints, of firing from behind +a masked battery of complacency, and of roughly rubbing "raws," which +was more effective than the most studied attacks. As spent balls, when +rolling calmly along, as innocuous, apparently, as those "twisters" of +Hillyer's, which evade the dexterous "dip" of the longstop on the +smooth short sward of the Oval, have been known, when attempted to be +stopped, to take off a foot, so did old Miss Lexden's apparently +casual remarks, after to all appearance missing their aim, tear and +wound and send limping to the rear any one who rashly chanced to +answer or gainsay her. Women, with that strange blundering upon the +right so often seen among them, seemed to guess the diabolical power +of the old lady's missiles, and avoided them with graceful ease, +making gentle _détours_, which led them out of harm's way, or cowering +for shelter in elegant attitudes under projecting platitudes; but men, +in their conscious self-strength, would often stand up to bear the +brunt of an argument, and always came away worsted from the fight. So +that old Miss Lexden generally had her own way amongst her +acquaintance, and one important part of her own way was the +acquisition of the greatest comfort wherever she stayed. + +Of course, in an easy, regulated household like that of Sir Marmaduke +Wentworth, there was no need of special strategy. Years ago, on her +first visit, she had selected her apartments, and had had them +reserved for her ever since. Pleasant apartments they were, large, +airy, and with a glorious look-out across the garden over the +surrounding downs. When the windows were open, as they always were +when practicable during Miss Lexden's tenancy,--for the old lady was a +great lover of fresh air,--the rooms were filled with the perfume of +the flowers, occasionally mixed with fresh, healthy sea-smell. These +had been the state-rooms in the Grange, in bygone times; and when Miss +Lexden first came there, there was a huge bed, with nodding plumes at +the foot, and a great canopy, and high-backed solemn chairs, and a big +wardrobe like a family mausoleum but the old lady had all these +cleared away, and persuaded Sir Marmaduke to refurnish the rooms with +a suite of light maple and moss-rosebud chintz, with looking-glass let +into the panels of the wardrobe, and snug little low chairs scattered +about; and then with a chintz paper, and water-colour drawings in +light frames, the place was so changed that the old housekeeper, who +had been in the family for years, scarcely knew it again, and was loud +in her lamentations over the desecration. + +Miss Lexden was a lazy old lady, who always breakfasted in bed, and +when staying on a visit at a country house generally remained the +greater portion of the day in her room. She was accustomed to say with +great freedom that she did not amuse the young people and they +certainly did not amuse her, and that she hated all old people except +herself. She was a great correspondent of all kinds of people, wrote +lengthy epistles in very excellent French to all kinds of refugees, +who were perpetually turning up in different parts of Europe, and +working the oracle for their own purposes; wrote lengthy epistles to +American statesmen on the slavery question, to English lecturers on +subjects of political economy, and to her special friends on all +points of domestic scandal. I fear that, with the exception of the +last, her correspondence was not much regarded, as she never sent to +refugees any thing but her blessing and her prayers; and these, even +though coming from an English _miladi_, were not discountable at any +_Geld-wechsel Comptoir_ on the Continent. But her _Chronique +Scandaleuse_ was delicious; it was bold in invention, full in detail, +and always written in the most pointed and epigrammatic style. There +were people who obtained autumn invitations, on the sheer strength of +their being recipients of Miss Lexden's correspondence. Extracts from +her letters were read publicly at the breakfast-table, and created the +greatest delight. "Good as a book, by Jove!" was a frequent comment on +them; "full of humour, and that kind of thing; sort of thing that +fellow writes and people pay money for, by Jove! ought to send it to +_Punch_, that she ought." (For it is a thing to be noted, that if the +aristocracy of this great country ever permit themselves to be amused, +they invariably think that the thing which amused them, no matter of +what kind it be, ought to be sent to _Punch_.) Miss Lexden also was a +great reader of French novels; she subscribed regularly to Rolandi's, +and devoured all that sound sense, morality, philosophy, and extensive +knowledge of the world, which yearly issued from the Parisian +publishers. In bygone times she had laughed heartily over the farcical +humour of M. Paul de Kock; now that her palate had somewhat dulled. +Fortune had sent her the titillating works of M. Gustave Flaubert, M. +Xavier de Montepin, M. Ernest Feydeau, and others of that modern +school which delights in calling a spade a spade, with the broad +theories of M. Proudhon to be her political guide, and the casuistries +of M. Renan for her Sunday reading. She read all, but liked the novels +best; and had been seen to weep over a yellow-covered volume in +which an elegant marquis, all soul and black eyes, a _membre du +Jockei-Club_, and altogether an adorable person, had to give +satisfaction to a brute of a husband who objected to being +dishonoured. + +With one of these yellow-covered volumes on her lap, Miss Lexden was +sitting placidly in the easiest of chairs at the open window on the +afternoon when Barbara and Churchill held the conversation just +narrated. She was a pleasant-looking old lady, with a fat, +wrinkleless, full face, like an old child, with a shiny pink-and-white +complexion, and with hair which defied you to tell whether it had been +wonderfully well preserved, or admirably dyed, arranged under a +becoming cap. She was dressed in a rich brown moiré-antique silk, and +with a black-lace shawl thrown over her ample shoulders; her fat, +pudgy little hands, covered with valuable rings, were crossed over the +book on her lap; and she was just on the point of dropping off into a +placid slumber, when there came a knock at the door, immediately upon +which Barbara entered the room. + +"Well, Barbara," said the old lady, stifling a yawn; "is it time to +dress? I've done nothing since luncheon but read this ridiculous book, +and I was very nearly dropping asleep, and I've no notion of the time; +and Withers is always gadding about in this house with that steward, +and never comes near me till the last moment." + +"It is quite early, aunt; scarcely six o'clock yet; and I came up to +you on purpose to have a quiet _cause_ with you before you dressed. I +think I have news which will keep you awake. You've not asked me of my +flirtations lately." + +"My dear child, why should I ask? I interested myself about Lord +Hinchenbrook because he was the _parti_ of the season, and because to +have carried him off from that odious doll, that Miss Musters, as you +could easily, would have been a triumph to us both; but you refused. I +interested myself about young Chaldecott because our families had long +been intimate, and the largest property in Yorkshire is worth +interesting oneself about; but you refused. You know your own mind +best, Barbara, and _I_ know that you have too much good sense and real +notion of what is right to do a foolish thing; so I leave you to +yourself, and don't worry you with any questions." + +"Thanks, aunt, for your good opinion," said Barbara, playing with a +sprig of scarlet geranium which she had taken from a vase on the +table; "but I shall give you no further trouble. I am going to be +married." + +"Sir Charles Chaldecott has written?" said the old lady, putting aside +the book, and sitting upright in her chair; "has written; and you--?" +and in her anxiety Miss Lexden smiled so unguardedly that, for the +first time in her life, the gold-settings of her false teeth were seen +by a looker-on. + +"I--we shall not hear any more of Sir Charles Chaldecott, aunt," said +Barbara hesitatingly; "no; I am going to be married to a gentleman now +staying in this house." + +Miss Lexden's face fell; the gold teeth-settings disappeared from view +entirely; and she shrugged her shoulders as she said, "Very well, my +dear; I feared something of the sort. If you like to settle on three +thousand a year, and to take a man whose constitution is ruined by the +Indian climate, I can only say--it is your affair." + +Barbara bit her lips to avoid betraying a smile as she replied, "You +are wrong again, aunt. Captain Lyster has never done me the honour of +an offer." Then seriously, "I am going to be married to Mr. +Churchill." + +"_What?_" shrieked the old lady, surprised out of all decorum; "what?" +Then, after an instant's pause, "I beg your pardon, Barbara; did I not +understand you to say that you were going to be married to Mr. +Churchill, the--the gentleman now staying in this house?" + +"You did so understand me, aunt, and it is the fact." + +"Then," said Miss Lexden, in rather a low, flat key, "I'll trouble you +to ring the bell for Withers. It must be time for me to dress for +dinner." + +Barbara looked astonished, and would have spoken; but her aunt had +risen from her chair and turned her back on her, moving towards the +dressing-table. So she mechanically rang the bell, and left the room. + +With the result of this conversation Churchill was made acquainted +as he and Barbara bent together over a large stereoscope in the +drawing-room before dinner. In a few hurried words, interspersed with +ejaculations of admiration at the views, uttered in a much louder +tone, Barbara conveyed to her lover that their project would meet with +no assistance from her aunt, even if that old lady did not actively +and violently oppose it. Churchill shrugged his shoulders on hearing +this, and looked somewhat serious and annoyed; but as she rose to go +in to dinner, Barbara pressed his hand, and looking into her face, he +saw her eyes brighten and her lip curl with an expression of triumph, +and he recognised in an instant that her energy had risen at the +prospect of opposition, and that her determination to have her own way +had strengthened rather than lessened from her aunt's treatment. + +There was an accession to the dinner-table that day in the person of +Mr. Schröder, a German long resident in England, and partner in the +great house of Schröder, Stutterheim, Hinterhaus, and Company, bankers +and brokers, which had branches and ramifications in all the principal +cities of the world. No one would have judged Gustav Schröder to have +been a keen financier and a consummate master of his business from his +personal appearance. He was between fifty-five and sixty years old, +heavy and dull-looking, with short, stubbly, iron-gray hair, dull +boiled eyes, and thin dry lips, which he was constantly sucking. He +was clumsy in his movements, and very taciturn; but though he spoke +little, even to Miss Townshend, by whom he was seated, he seemed to +derive intense satisfaction in gazing at her with a proprietorial kind +of air, which nearly goaded Lyster, sitting directly opposite to them, +to desperation. Upon his evidently uncomfortable state Captain Lyster +was rallied with great humour by old Miss Lexden, who, however much +she may have been inwardly annoyed, showed no signs of trouble. She +opined that Captain Lyster must be in love; that some shepherdess on +the neighbouring downs, some Brighton _poissarde_, must have +captivated him, and she was delighted at it, and it would do him good; +and in spite of Lyster's protestations--which, however, he soon gave +up when he found he had the trouble of repeating them--the old lady +launched out into a very unusual tirade on her part in favour of early +marriages, of love-matches made for love's sake alone, which +frequently turned out the happiest, "didn't they, Mr. Churchill?" At +which question, Churchill, who was dreamily looking across the table, +and thinking how artistically Barbara's head was posed on her neck, +and what a lovely ear she had, stammered an inarticulate and +inappropriate reply. + +But when dinner was over, and the post-prandial drink finished, and +the coffee consumed in the drawing-room, and the "little music" +played, and the ladies had retired to rest (Barbara, in her good night +to Churchill, giving one reassuring hand-pressure, and looking as +saucily triumphant as before), and the men had exchanged their +dress coats for comfortable velvet lounging-jackets, and had, in most +cases, dispensed with their white cravats; when Sir Marmaduke had +nodded his farewell for the night, Churchill, instead of joining the +party in the smoke-room, made his way to the old gentleman's quarters, +and knocked at the dressing-room door. Bidden to come in, he found Sir +Marmaduke in his dressing-gown and slippers, seated before a fire (for +the evenings were beginning to be chilly), with a glass of cold +brandy-and-water on a little table at his right hand, and the evening +paper on his knee. + +"Holloa!" was the old gentleman's salutation; "what's in the wind now? +There must be something the matter when a young fellow like you, +instead of joining in the nonsense downstairs, comes to hunt out an +old fogey like me. What is it?" + +"Business, Sir Marmaduke," commenced Churchill; "I want five minutes' +business talk with you." + +"God bless my soul!" growled Sir Marmaduke; "business at this time of +night, and with _me!_ You can't talk without something to drink, you +know. Here, Gumble; another tumbler and the brandy for Mr. Churchill. +Why don't you talk to Stone, my dear fellow? he manages all my +business, you know." + +"Yes, yes, Sir Marmaduke; but this is for you, and you alone. I came +to tell you that I am going to be married." + +"Ay, ay! no news to me, though you think it is. What's his name, +Beresford, told us all about it. Well, well, deuced risky business; +wish you well through it, and all that kind of thing. Don't +congratulate you, because that's all humbug. But why specially +announce it to _me?_" + +"Simply because it is your due. I met the lady in this house, and the +first introduction was through you. I don't know what nonsense Mr. +Beresford may have been spreading, but the real fact is that I am +going to be married to Barbara Lexden. Now you see my motive." + +"I'm obliged to you, sir," said the old man, rising from his chair, +and extending his hand; "you've acted like a gentleman, by Jove! like +a gentleman and a man of honour. God bless my soul! how I recollect +your father, Frank, and how like you are to him! And so you're going +to marry little Barbara! not little Barbara now, though. How time +flies! A good girl, sir; and a deuced fine girl, too, for the matter +of that. What does her aunt say to that? She meant her for much higher +game than you, young fellow. What does her aunt say? Does she know of +it?--Does Miss Lexden know of it? I'll wager there'll be 'wigs upon +the green,' as poor Dick Burke used to say, when she hears of it." + +"Miss Lexden has heard of it, sir," said Churchill, smiling; "and I'm +afraid she did not receive the news very auspiciously; but we shall +endeavour to gain her consent, and if we fail--well, we must do +without it. And now I won't keep you from your paper any longer. I +thought it my duty to tell you, and having done so, I'll say good +night." + +"One minute, Frank Churchill; wait one minute. I'm a queer, useless +old fellow--an old brute, I often think, for I'm not unconscious of +the strange life I lead, and the odd--but, however, that's neither +here nor there. Your father and I were boon companions--a wild, +harum-scarum chap he was--and _such_ company--and I've a regard for +you, which is strengthened by your conduct to-night. My old cousin, +Miss Lexden--well, she's an old lady, you know, and she meant Barbara +for a marquis, at least; and then old women hate to be disappointed, +you know, and she'll be savage, I've no doubt. But when you're once +married, she won't be difficult to deal with, and so far as I can help +you, I will. And now, God bless you, and good night; and--give Barbara +a kiss for me in the morning." + + +About the same time, another conversation on the same great topic was +going on under the same roof. Barbara had scarcely been five minutes +in her room, and had been leaning thoughtfully, with her arms upon the +window-sill, gazing out into the moonlit park, and utterly oblivious +of Parker, who was preparing the instrument of torture for her +mistress's hair, when Withers arrived with a message that Miss Lexden +wished to speak to her niece. Obedient to the summons, Barbara crossed +the landing, and found the old lady, resplendent in a dark-blue +cashmere dressing-gown, seated before her fire. Withers dismissed _pro +tem._, Miss Lexden said: + +"I'll not detain you long, Barbara. I merely wished to know whether +what you said this evening about your intended marriage with Mr. +Churchill was jest or earnest." + +"Thorough earnest," replied Barbara, regarding her stedfastly. + +"As to marriage, I mean?" asked the old lady; "not as to a temporary +flirtation, which, _faute de mieux_, with a pleasant man in a dull +country house, is well enough, and not likely to tell against one's +interests. But as to marriage?" + +"What I said before, aunt," said Barbara slowly, never dropping her +eyes, "I repeat. Mr. Churchill has done me the honour to ask me to +become his wife. I have consented, and I mean to keep my word." + +"Very well," said Miss Lexden, drawing a long breath; "I only wished +to know. You are your own mistress, and control your own actions, of +course. You have made your choice, and will abide by it. I don't seek +to influence you one jot. But, recollect one thing: if I were to see +you with broken health, with broken spirits, ill-used, deserted, +starving--as is likely enough, for I know these people--I would not +lift one finger to help you, after your degradation of me. I have said +it, and you know I keep my word. That is all; we will have no quarrel, +and give no occasion for shoulder-shrugs and scandal. The sooner your +arrangements permit of your quitting my house, the better pleased I +shall be. Now, good night. Withers, I am ready now. See Miss Lexden to +her room. Good night, dear." + +The old lady proffered her enamelled cheek, against which Barbara laid +the tip of her nose. And so the aunt and niece separated for the +night. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +MOTHER AND SON. + + +At the drawing-room window of a house in Great Adullam Street, +Macpelah Square, in that district of London whilom known as +"Mesopotamia," a lady had been sitting from an early hour in the +afternoon until now, when twilight falls upon the neighbourhood. This, +I am aware, does not particularly fix the hour, because twilight falls +upon the Mesopotamian neighbourhood earlier than on any other with +which I am acquainted. You leave Oxford Street in a blaze of sunlight, +which bit by bit decreases as you progress through the dingy streets +and the dull, vast, second-rate squares, until when you enter upon the +confines of Great Adullam Street you find the glory of the day +departed, a yellow fog settling gloomily down, and the general aspect +suicidal. At the time of which I am speaking, the twilight had been a +settled thing for at least an hour,--it was approaching six o'clock. +The lamps were lighted, and the inhabitants of the neighbouring houses +had pulled their blinds down and settled in for the night; but still +at No. 57 the lady sat in the drawing-room window, staring out into +the yellow fog. The street lamp flickering on her showed her to be a +woman of about sixty years old, with clean-cut regular features, +intelligent but sweet expression, and with gray hair--almost +white--arranged in broad bands on either side her face. Her dress was +black silk, with a soft white-muslin cape pinned across her breast, +and on her head she wore a plain white-muslin cap with a little +crimped border. On her hands she had black-lace mittens, and she wore +a few old-fashioned but valuable rings. A glance at her would have +proclaimed her a lady to the most casual observer, a woman of taste +and refinement and sensibility to the physiognomist; and a further +study would have shown the latter deeply-indented traces of mental +anxiety and suffering. + +Indeed, Eleanor Churchill's life had not been a particularly happy +one. Daughter of a country clergyman near Bath, she lost both her +parents before she was eighteen, and remained in the school where she +was being "finished" after their death, giving her services as teacher +for her board and lodging. Here she was seen and admired by Vance +Churchill, who attended the school as drawing-master; a wild young +fellow, full of talent, who worked (at intervals) like a horse, and +whose splendid method of touching-up the pupils' drawings, so as to +make them look all their own, redeemed many of his shortcomings, and +caused him to be continued in favour at Minerva House. But when he +fell in love with the pretty teacher, and muttered love to her as he +was sharpening pencil-points, and was seen by the writing-master--an +old person of seventy, who was jealous of his young _confrère_--to +hand her a note in a copy of the _Laws of Perspective_, and on being +taxed with his crime acknowledged it and gloried in it, it became +impossible for the Miss Inderwicks, as the girls called them, or the +Misses Inderwick, as they called themselves, to stand it any longer. +So both the delinquents were discharged; and having nothing to live +upon, they at once got married, and came up to London. Once there, +Vance Churchill set to work with a will: he drew on wood, he +lithographed, he drew languishing heads for the music-shops, and +caricatures political and social; he finished several elaborate +sketches in water-colour and in oil; but he sold scarcely any thing. +There was not that demand for art in those days there is now, and +consequently not that chance of livelihood for its possessors; and +Vance Churchill and his young wife were very near to starvation +indeed, and had buried one little girl-baby, who, had luxuries been +provided for her, might have lived, when a small picture of Lady +Macbeth, which had found a place in the Somerset-House Exhibition, was +seen and purchased by Sir Jasper Wentworth, our old friend Sir +Marmaduke's uncle and his predecessor in the baronetcy. From that time +Vance Churchill's fortune was looked upon as made; for Sir Jasper, who +had a nice eye for art, took him up, introduced him right and left, +and got him commissions without end. Young Marmaduke, a free-spoken, +jolly young man, coeval with the artist, took an immense fancy to him, +and was never happy save in his society; money was, if not plentiful, +always to be had,--and Eleanor Churchill was more wretched than she +had ever been in the days of her direst poverty. + +For though Vance Churchill could struggle against poverty, neglect, +and hardship, he could not withstand ease, comparative wealth, and the +attractions of society. He was eminently a "social" man; a big, jolly +jovial fellow, with bright blue eyes, large brown whiskers, and a +splendid set of teeth. He had capital lungs, and sang a capital song +in a deep baritone voice, and he had nice feeling in his singing, +which so seldom accompanies correct musical execution; but when Vance +Churchill sang "Farewell, my trim-built Wherry," or "Tom Bowling," all +the female portion of his audience was in tears, while the men felt +husky and uncomfortable. He became the rage in a certain set of fast +young men about town, and in that pleasant Upper Bohemia wherein so +many literary men, artists, and actors of that day used to spend their +time; not a Bohemia of taprooms and sanded floors, of long clay-pipes +and spittoons and twopennyworths of gin, nor of Haymarket night-houses +and drunken trulls, nor of blind-hooky and _vingt-et-un_ parties in +dingy chambers; but a Bohemia of green-rooms and _coulisses_, of +sparkling little suppers afterwards at Vauxhall, where wit would flow +as fast as the champagne, where jokes would be more telling than the +hot punch, and whence the mad party would not unfrequently dash away +in their carriages to breakfast at the Star and Garter at Richmond, or +to drink fresh milk and eat fresh butter in a Hampstead farmhouse. A +Bohemia, the denizens of which always would have good clothes and fine +linen on their backs, gold watches in their pockets, and guineas in +their purses, let who would pay for it; and who roared with laughter +at the astonishment of the world at their vagaries, increasing their +eccentricities, and saying of the world as Balzac's actress said, +"_Qu'importe? donne leur des grimaces pour leur argent, et vivons +heureux!_" + +Petted and fêted by the style of society in which he revelled, Vance +Churchill had yet the grace not to attempt to force his wife to join +it; indeed he had good reason for keeping her away. For the ladies +liked Vance Churchill vastly, and Vance returned the compliment, and +behaved just as though there were no moral and legal ties binding him +to any one in particular. He loved his wife sincerely all the time, +and in his quiet moments would tear his hair, and stamp upon the +ground, and curse his own weakness and folly, and his treatment of +that angel who sat patiently at home attending to and teaching their +little boy, and who never reproached him save by her pale face and +broken spirit; and then, as evening came round, Marmaduke Wentworth +would call for him, or the servant would bring him a dainty little +note, written in a very scrawly hand, which she would hold in the +corner of her dingy apron, and which Vance would seize from her, and +after reading it he would sally out, and commence his vagaries _da +capo_. + +Preaching before Mary Queen of Scots and her maids of honour, old John +Knox is reported to have said: "Oh, how beautiful, how charming, how +pleasurable would be this life, _if it would only last!_" These were +Mr. Vance Churchill's sentiments, but he soon found that it would not +last. What the writers of those ghastly impositions, bacchanalian +ditties, call "wine and women," or "beauty and the bowl," don't agree +with hard work; and if you go to bed at five a.m. after orgies, you +will not be able to paint your pictures next day, or to write your +book, or mould your clay, or study your part. It is astonishing how +slow people are to believe this, and how, year after year, we see +friends and acquaintances still determined, not merely upon burning +the candle at both ends, but lighting any bit of wick that may +protrude in the middle, and quite astonished when they see the +flame flicker and feel the whole affair about to collapse. Vance +Churchill had plenty of commissions for pictures from first-rate +people,--noblemen, connoisseurs, and patrons of art,--but he did not +give himself the chances of painting them: his brain was never clear +enough for conception, his hand never steady enough for execution; and +the result was, that his financial affairs became desperate. His noble +patrons never dreamed of parting with their money until the work was +done--and in truth not often then; and there were in those days no +middle-men, no bland picture-dealers, to advance large sums on +untouched canvases; and even if there had been, they would have been +far too wise to let Vance Churchill have any money on the strength of +"working it out." So the money dwindled and dwindled, and then Vance +began borrowing of his friends until he found averted faces and +buttoned pockets, and then he faded straight away out of his grand +society, and took lodgings at Chelsea, and tried once again to work +for his livelihood. He painted one picture, which showed but few +traces of his old force and promise. It was plain that the mischief +was done; and then Vance Churchill, after steadily drinking for four +days, was found one morning with an empty laudanum-phial in his +clenched fingers, and a heartbreaking letter to his wife by his side. + +Then Eleanor Churchill--who, while perfectly conscious of her +husband's frailties and imperfections, had never ceased worshipping +him--fairly broke down; and had she not been attended by a skilful +physician, and perseveringly nursed night and day by the girl who had +been "scrub" at Miss Inderwick's school, and had left when Eleanor +left to follow her fortunes, little Frank would have been motherless +as well as fatherless. As it was, she recovered, and went away, as +soon as she was able to move, to a little fishing-village in Devon, of +which an old friend of her father's was vicar. Her income was a mere +pittance; contributions from old friends of her husband's family and +her own grudgingly yielded; but her expenses were trifling, and the +old parson took the boy's education under his own charge, and gave him +an excellent classical groundwork. The vicar died when Frank was about +fifteen, and left the whole of his little savings--some seven hundred +pounds--to Eleanor Churchill, "for the furtherance of her son's +education;" and then the widow carried out her long-cherished plan of +sending her son to some foreign university, where, in addition to his +Classics, he could perfect himself in some of the modern languages. +Frank was absent at Leipzig nearly four years, during which period he +paid two flying visits to England, at the second of which he was +introduced to his godfather, Sir Marmaduke Wentworth, who had +succeeded to the family title on his uncle's death. Frank little +thought that one of Sir Marmaduke's first acts on coming into his +property had been to settle two hundred a year on Mrs. Churchill for +her life; he would hear of no refusal. "It is merely an act of +reparation," said he; "and but a scanty one. It was my folly, my bad +example, that led poor Vance astray; and I should never rest if I +thought that those he left behind him were in want, while I had +means." But one condition was attached to this gift, and that was that +Frank should never know of it. "I recollect Vance's spirit in his best +days," Marmaduke said; "and if the boy is like him, he'd fling my +money at my head." + +After taking his degree, Frank was fortunate enough to render himself +so agreeable to young Fortinbrass, the son of the great Indian +pale-ale brewer, that that young plutocrat insisted on taking him with +him as half-secretary, half-bear-leader, in his tour through Europe +and the East; and as they stopped at every place where there was any +thing to be done, and a good many at which there was nothing to be +done, and as they had the usual share of quarantine, and as +Fortinbrass took ill at Smyrna and had to lay up for four months, it +was, full three years before Frank returned to England. Then he +determined to settle down and get to work in earnest; and after a few +rebuffs and discouragements, philosophically encountered, he made his +mark in the press world, and obtained constant and fairly remunerative +employment. Then the house in Great Adullam Street was taken, as handy +to the _Statesman_ office, Frank's head-quarters, and furnished partly +with the best of the Devonshire furniture, and partly with odds and +ends bought cheap at sales, for the joint income was but small, and +Eleanor had a wholesome horror of debt. And then the full tide of +Eleanor Churchill's happiness flowed in: she had loved her husband; +she had worshipped his memory in her holy of holies; she had preserved +his image, and had bowed down before it; with his death vanished all +his shortcomings, but his better qualities--the early affection, +kindness, and chivalry--were remembered. But now that her son was with +her, the old image faded and rapidly paled. Here was one uniting the +excellences of his father with virtues which his father never +possessed, tempering high spirits and ardent affection with +earnestness, industry, and honour; no mawkish sentimentalist, no +prudish Pharisee; a man of passions and impulse, yet a Christian and a +gentleman, and above all--her own boy. That was the touchstone; that +was the grand secret. He had his flirtations, of course; his +intrigues, perhaps; but he was her son, her companion, and she was his +honoured mother, but she was also his trusted friend. All his hopes +and fears, all the fun and gossip of the day, were brought by him to +her; he talked to her on books and art and social questions; he read +to her and with her; he advised her on her own reading, and he brought +home with him men of European fame and name, and introduced her to +them, and made much of her before them. _If it would only last!_ +Beware of that, Eleanor Churchill! Some one must reign after you, and +with her uprising must be your downsetting. It was ever so. Ask not +why tarry the wheels of his chariot, for the news that he brings with +him will wring and torture your fond, trusting heart. + +The old lady's face, which had grown somewhat worn and rigid in +watching, brightened as she heard the sound of wheels in the distance, +and as she saw a hansom cab come plunging and rattling over the uneven +stones, to be finally pulled up with a jerk before the door. + +As Frank Churchill sprang out, he looked up to the window and waved +his hand. In a minute he had run upstairs and was in his mother's +arms. + +"Why, my boy, how late you are!" said Mrs. Churchill, as she relaxed +her embrace. "You must be famished for your dinner, my poor fellow!" + +"Excursion-trains, mother, your favourite doctrine of health and +change for your old _protégé_ the working-man, you know, have +contributed to your anxiety and my delay. We were stopped at Forest +Hill for a train full of people, with drooping hats and feathers and +banners and bands and general tomfoolery, who had been having a day at +the Crystal Palace." + +"Well, so long as you're here and all safe, that's all the old +mother cares about, Frank. Dinner, Lucy, now, at once; Mr. Frank's +half-starved. Let me look at you, my boy, and see whether the trip's +done you any good. Eh, you're certainly tanned, and a little stouter, +Frank, I think." + +"Perhaps so, mother, though I've been taking more exercise than usual +too. Any news? I saw a pile of letters on the study-table as I rushed +past, but I didn't stop to look at them. Any body been?" + +"Mr. Harding was here yesterday, to see if you had returned from among +the 'swells,' as he called them. I think he's a little envious of your +going into such society; eh, Frank?" + +"Not a bit of it, mother; nothing would take old George Harding beyond +his own set. But he's afraid of my getting my head turned." + +"No fear of that in my boy," said Mrs. Churchill somewhat gravely; +"there is the difference between you and your poor father, Frank. And +now, how is Sir Marmaduke? and what sort of people were staying there? +and was he kind and friendly to you? and how did you enjoy yourself?" + +As Mrs. Churchill finished speaking, Lucy the old servant entered the +room and announced dinner. She was a tall gaunt woman, with a hard +unpleasant face, which did not soften much when Churchill, looking up, +said, "Well, Lucy, back at home, once again, you see." + +"Yes, I see, Master Frank," the woman replied coldly. "We've been +waiting dinner until we must be faint, I should think." + +"Bat it wasn't Mr. Frank's fault, Lucy," said Mrs. Churchill; "the +train was late. Now, my boy, come; you must be starved in earnest;" +and they went downstairs. + +"We've not got such a dinner for you as you've been having lately, +maybe," said Lucy, as she uncovered the dishes. "But you can't be +always among lords and ladies, Master Frank." + +"Lucy, you silly thing!" said Mrs. Churchill, half-laughing, but +looking half-ashamed. + +"I've not been among them at all, Lucy, for the matter of that," said +Churchill good-humouredly, though his brow began to cloud. + +"Well," said the woman, leisurely handing the dishes, "it's not for +the want of wishing. Here we are, left at home, in the hot autumn +weather; while you--" + +"Lucy!" exclaimed Mrs. Churchill. + +"Be good enough to leave the room," said Churchill; "this minute!" he +said, bringing his hand heavily down on the table, as the woman +lingered, looking towards her mistress. "Why, mother darling, what is +this?" he asked, when they were alone; "that woman's tongue was always +free, and her manner always familiar; but this is quite a new +experience." + +"It is, my child," said poor Mrs. Churchill; "I don't know how to +excuse her, except that it is all done out of excess of affection for +me, and--" + +"That's quite enough excuse for me, mother," said Churchill, rising, +and kissing her. "There, now we'll change the conversation;" and they +talked merrily enough on indifferent topics throughout dinner. + +When the cloth was removed, and after Frank had produced his old +meerschaum, and had drawn up his chair to the newly-lighted bit of +fire, he said to his mother, "I've some news to tell you, mum." + +"Tell it, my boy!" said the old lady, settling her gold-rimmed glasses +on her nose, and beginning to make play with a portentous piece of +knitting; "what is it, Frank?" + +"Well, it's news that concerns both of us," said Churchill, slowly +puffing at his pipe, "but me more especially. The fact is, mum--I'm +going to be married." + +It had come at last! that news which she had dreaded so many years +past, that news which spoke to her of separation from all she loved, +which heralded to her the commencement of a new existence--had come at +last! Her heart seemed to give one great bound within her breast as +the words fell upon her ears, and her eyes were for an instant dimmed; +then recovering herself, she smiled and said, "To be married? that is +news indeed, my boy!" + +"Ay, mother, my turn has come at last. I thought I had settled down +into a regular old bachelor, but I believe that is just the state of +mind in which one is most liable to infection. However that may be, I +have caught it, and am in for it, as badly as any young lad of +twenty." + +Mrs. Churchill had risen from her seat, and crossed the room to Frank. +Putting her hand lightly on his head, she then flung her arms round +him and kissed him warmly, saying, "God bless you, my darling boy, and +grant you happiness! God bless you, my son, my own son!" and she +fairly broke down, and the tears coursed down her cheeks. + +"Why, mum!" said Churchill, gently caressing her; "why, mum!" +continued he, stroking her soft gray hair with one hand, while the +other was wound round her. "You must not do this, mum. And here's a +mother for you! I declare she has never yet asked who or what the lady +is!" + +"That will come presently, darling; just now I am only thinking +of you--thinking how different it--how, after so long--how +strange--there, come now, and tell me all about it;" and with one +great effort Mrs. Churchill composed herself, and sat down by her +son's side to hear his story. + + +That story lasted far into the night. Frank told of all his +hesitation; of his determination not to propose; of the accident that +brought about the great result of his happiness; and of the manner in +which the affair was viewed by old Miss Lexden. He then said that he +and Barbara were determined upon getting married at once, and that he +had come up to town principally with the view of looking out some +lodgings which he could take in the neighbourhood for them to return +to after their honeymoon. His mother listened patiently throughout, +with her calm, earnest eyes fixed upon his face, and only now and then +commenting in a low tone; but when he finished, she laid her hand on +his and said quietly: + +"You will bring your bride _here_, Frank, and I will go into the +lodgings. Henceforth this house is yours, my boy! You are the head of +our family now, and I--so long as I'm near you and can see you from +time to time, what more do I want? So long as you are happy, I am +happy, and--" + +"But you don't imagine, mother, I'm going to turn you out, and--" + +"There's no turning out in the case, my darling. Lucy and I could not +occupy the house by ourselves, and we shall be much better in +lodgings. Besides, we won't have any one say that you had not a house +of your own to bring your wife to. I shall see her soon, Frank? Do you +think she'll like me, my darling? When she knows how I love you, I am +sure she will; and yet I am not certain of that. You'll come and see +me often, won't you, Frank? and--oh, my boy, my own darling boy!" and +she fell on his neck and wept bitterly. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +"FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE." + + +When Churchill returned to Bissett, he found that a considerable +change had taken place in the aspect of affairs there. Beresford and +Lyster had departed, and old Miss Lexden was on the point of starting +that very afternoon, her natty boxes in their leather cases lining the +hall; for the old lady was calmly implacable, and never altered one +jot of her original determination. After his talk with Frank +Churchill, Sir Marmaduke had determined on using his best efforts +towards restoring peace, and setting affairs on an amicable footing; +so the next morning, when he was closeted with Major Stone discussing +various points of business, the old gentleman gradually wore round to +the matter perplexing him, took Stone into his confidence, and +finished by commanding the major immediately to seek a conference with +Miss Lexden, to inform her of Sir Marmaduke's views, and use his best +efforts to bring her at least to a compromise. The gallant warrior +received the commission with a very ill grace. He hinted that to look +after his friend's rents and tenants, farm and live-stock, servants +and money-matters, was all well enough; but to have to collogue with a +parcel of old cats who--however, since it was to be done, he supposed +he must do it; and he would "tackle" the old lady at once. But the old +lady carried far too many guns for this blundering half-pay Major, and +before he had been in her company five minutes made him feel +exceedingly sorry that he had asked for the interview. Miss Lexden +received him in the pleasantest manner, talked lightly of the weather, +praised in the highest terms Major Stone's admirable management of Sir +Marmaduke's estate, could not imagine how Sir Marmaduke would get on +without his "other self;" and then, when Stone's flattered vanity led +him to disclose the real object of his visit, Miss Lexden pulled up +short, and in her most dignified and icy manner declared that "these +were family matters, which allowed of no intervention by a third +person, especially one entirely unconnected with either side, and +therefore incapable of appreciating the delicacies of the position; +what, for instance, would Sir Marmaduke have thought of her if she had +sent Withers to enter into negotiations!" and thus having completely +upset the Major, Miss Lexden summarily dismissed him. + +When he returned to his principal, and gave him a full account of his +treatment, the old gentleman was very wrath, and took a speedy +opportunity of waiting personally upon Miss Lexden. + +After exchanging ordinary civilities, their conversation was short and +sharp. + +"Susan! you're behaving sillily, worse than sillily, in this matter of +Barbara and Frank Churchill; and I've come to tell you of it!" + +"It's not the first time, Marmaduke, that you have come to me on a +fool's errand." + +First blood to Miss Lexden the old man thought of the days of his +courtship, when he owed but little to Susan Lexden's assistance, and +winced. + +"Thank you! You're kind and generous as ever! But it was not to talk +of bygone times that I came here. Take my word, Susan, you're wrong in +your treatment of this business." + +"As how, pray?" + +"You've played for a big stake with Barbara, and she won't have it! +She's fallen in love, in real desperate love; no make-believe humbug, +but regular love!" + +Miss Lexden shrugged her shoulders, raised her eyebrows, and tattooed +impatiently with her foot. + +"God knows she's to be envied," said the old gentleman; "how many +girls are there, do you think, who are booked for marriage before next +spring, who would give their ears to feel to their future husbands as +Barbara does to hers? It's not about her I'm come to preach, it's +about you. You're behaving like an idiot, Susan,--worse than an +idiot,--in thus refusing your countenance to the match." + +"You're growing horribly coarse in your language, Marmaduke, and unfit +for me to listen to. But since you've broached the topic, hear me: I +shall leave Bissett at once; and once gone, I shall never see Barbara +again. I shall not give her one sixpence for her _trousseau_, or make +one addition to her wardrobe. I will not allow her a penny, and I will +strive to forget that I ever knew there was such a person on earth. +She has grievously disappointed me, and been selfish and ungrateful; +but I shall not cast her off, or do any thing melodramatic or +nonsensical; I shall simply ignore her existence, and live on as +though she had never been." + +Sir Marmaduke retired, boiling over with rage. An hour afterwards he +sent for Barbara to the library and placing a cheque for 100_l_. in +her hands, told her he had arranged with Mrs. Vincent to accompany her +to town and get the requisite articles for her _trousseau_ at once. +Her aunt was about to leave, he said; but Mrs. Vincent had promised to +stop and act _chaperon_, and Miss Townshend would be bridesmaid. Let +the wedding take place at once, since both the young people wished it, +and let it be from Bissett. There would be no fuss, no tomfoolery; but +no one should be able to say in future that there was any thing +underhand or secret about her marriage, or that it was not properly +countenanced by some of the family. If her aunt chose to be an old +fool, that was her look-out, not his. And then the old gentleman +kissed her on the forehead, and told her that while he lived she and +Frank should never want a friend. + +Miss Lexden left on the evening of the day on which Churchill +returned, without seeing him or taking farewell of any of the +household. Mr. Townshend would have liked to go too, but his daughter +strongly objected, determining to remain with Barbara; a determination +in which she was well supported by Mr. Schröder, who had taken great +interest in Barbara's "love-affair" ever since it had been made +public--as apparently seeing therein an excess of romance which might +cast a halo over his own somewhat meagre and prosaic wooing. Mrs. +Vincent, too, entered into the affair with great spirit, principally +incited thereto by her hatred of old Miss Lexden, who had been +particularly rude about Mr. Vincent's little gastronomical tastes; and +Sir Marmaduke seemed for a time to have eschewed his eccentricity, and +to have become perfectly humanised. Of course Major Stone was in great +force, rallying the lovers with much subtle humour, and looking after +all the preparations for the wedding with as much interest as though +he were a person principally concerned. + +The day arrived, and the weather did its very noblest for the young +people. The sky was cloudless, and the sun brilliant, if not warm. +Barbara was in the finest health and spirits, and never looked more +lovely than in her plain white silk dress and Brussels lace--the +latter an old family relic. The wedding took place at the little +parish-church, where three bells rang a somewhat abbreviated but merry +peal, while the villagers thronged the churchyard and did proper +obeisance and gratulation to a party coming from "the Grange." +Afterwards there was a breakfast, at which no one save the clergyman +and the house-inmates were present, where there was only one speech of +four words,--"God bless them both!" from Sir Marmaduke; and then, +kisses and hand-shakings done, they departed. As Churchill shook hands +with the old gentleman, the latter left an envelope in his godson's +hands, which, on opening, he found to contain a banknote for fifty +pounds, with the words "For the honeymoon" in the envelope. Nor had +Barbara been without her presents. On the previous evening she had +received a packet containing a necklace of ivy-leaves in dead +deep-coloured gold, with earrings to match, and in the case Captain +Lyster's card, with "With all good wishes" written on it; while a +splendid enamel and diamond bracelet came to her as the joint gift of +Mr. Schröder and Alice Townshend. + + +While the happy couple were honeymooning it in the north of Devon, +unconsciously standing as capital models of posed figures to several +artists who had lingered beyond most of their fraternity in those +pleasant quarters, old Mrs. Churchill, having engaged a tolerably neat +lodging not far from her old abode, devoted herself and some of her +savings to the embellishment of the house in Great Adullam Street, +which was newly painted outside, and revived within to the extent of +new carpeting and a general polishing of the furniture. Intelligence +of these triumphs had been duly conveyed in letters to Frank, who in +return, thanked his mother, and sent a postscript by Barbara, who, +addressing her as "her dear mother," begged her not to over-fatigue +herself in their service; which little message, signed "Your +affectionate daughter, B. C.," brought tears of delight into the old +lady's eyes, and had the effect of causing her to redouble her +exertions. At last the day for their return arrived, and the rain, +which had been threatening for nearly a week past, broke through the +yellow canopy of fog hanging over London, and came down heroically. It +was not favourable weather in which to make one's first acquaintance +with Great Adullam Street, which required a good deal of sunlight to +do away with its normal ghastliness; and as the evening twilight, +drear and dim, came rolling up, Eleanor Churchill, sitting at the +window of her lodgings on the look-out for the cab, which must pass +her door, felt her heart sink within her with a strange, indefinable +sensation of dread. Her delicacy had prevented her being present on +her new daughter's first arrival at her home; but she now almost +regretted that she had not gone round to welcome her among her new and +strange surroundings. Great Adullam Street very seldom had a cab +rattling over its ill-set stones; there was a large gate at one end +(as is frequently the case in the neighbourhood), where every public +vehicle was stopped, and sent by a different route, at the mandate of +a very sullen gate-keeper, unless it happened to be bound to some +house in the street. So that when Mrs. Churchill heard the creaking +gates open, followed by the noise of wheels, she knew that her +children had arrived, and looking out, saw by the lamplight Barbara's +handsome face at the cab-window. "Handsome, very handsome and +patrician-looking," thought the ow lady; "but what a strange look of +bewilderment on it!" + +The cab stopped, and Churchill jumped out and handed Barbara into the +house. Lucy, old Mrs. Churchill's servant, stood within the door, and +gave a very grim bow as Barbara passed; the two newly-hired servants +were smirking in the passage. Frank hurried past them, and led Barbara +into the little dining-room. She was very tired with her journey, and +at once sat down. + +"Who was that horrid person, Frank, at the door,--with the strange +sour look, I mean?" + +"Oh, my mother's servant, old Lucy; been with her since her girlhood. +She has not prepossessing manners, but she's a faithful creature. +You'll make much of her, dearest." + +"Nothing, I should hope; she's too horrible! What a disagreeable +colour this paper is, and what a horribly prim carpet! I'll take off +my things, Frank, at once, and come down to dinner; I'm rather faint." + +Churchill lit a candle, and preceded her up the stairs--at the carpet +on which Barbara made a despairing shrug--to the best bedroom, erst +his mother's, where stood the heavy four-post bed, the old-fashioned +mahogany wardrobe, the dingy pictures of sacred subjects--all the +furniture just as he recollected it for years. It was rather a ghastly +room, certainly; and when Frank had left her, to go down and pay the +cabman and see about the luggage, she glanced nervously round, and +burying her face in her hands, burst into a flood of tears. + +Thus her husband found her when he returned. He a once rushed up to +her, and asked her what was the matter; but she replied that she was a +little over-fatigued, and would be better after the dinner and rest. + +"That's well," said Frank cheerfully; "you must not give way now, +darling; recollect you're _at home_." + +At which words, strange though it may appear, Barbara's sobs were +redoubled. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +MINING OPERATIONS. + + +No sooner was the Churchills' wedding safely over than all further +reason for keeping on the establishment at Bissett Grange was at an +end, and the party broke up at once. Sir Marmaduke went straight +to Paris, and took up his quarters at Meurice's, according to his +annual custom, to the disgust of Gumble, who detested all things +"forring" with that pious horror always to be found in the British +serving-class. The old gentleman knew Paris better perhaps than he +knew London, and was thoroughly well known in the best circles of +Parisian society; his eccentricity, _quelque chose bizarre_, which +distinguished him from the ordinary run of English visitors, made him +popular with the young people, while his perfectly polished manner to +women, the unmistakable not-to-be-acquired high-breeding of the true +gentleman, combined with his ready wit and biting sarcasm, both +expressed in perfect French, rendered him a favourite with his +coevals. To the Faubourg and its inhabitants, however, his visits were +principally confined; he had never yielded allegiance to the Imperial +Court, and used to speak of it and its august head in a very +disparaging manner. "Gad, sir!" he would say in the smoke-room of +Meurice's, after his return from the Français or from some grand +reception,--"Gad, sir! I've a very low opinion of your what d'ye call +him?--your Emperor! met him often when he was in England,--at Gore +House, and two or three other places; always found him a silent, +moody, stupid fellow--that's it! a stupid fellow, by Jove!--tries to +make out that he holds his tongue to think the more; like the monkey, +you know. My belief is, that he's so deuced quiet because he's got +nothing to say. And his surroundings, my dear fellow! his +surroundings, awful! De Rossignol, who was a billiard-marker or a +singer at a _café chantant_, or something of that kind; Oltenhaus, the +financier, who is a Polish Jew, of the worst stamp; and O'Malley, the +Marshal, a mere Irish adventurer! That is not the sort of stuff for +Courts, sir!--the sweepings of the Boulevard theatres, the Juden-Gasse +at Frankfort, and the long-sword, saddle, bridle, whack-fol-de-rol, +and all the rest of it, of the bold dragoon! _Vieille école bonne +école_ is a good maxim, by Jove! They mayn't be clever; but they're +gentle-people at least, and that's not saying a little for them!" + +So the old gentleman growled to the little select circle round him, +enjoying himself meanwhile in the highest degree. Perhaps one of the +most gratifying results of his sojourn in Paris he could not have +explained, though at the same time he was, however unconsciously, +keenly sensible of it; it was that he had Gumble at his mercy. So +desolate, so bored, so completely used up was that great man, that he +looked forward to the time of his master's retiring for the night, and +getting up in the morning, as the only two happy periods in his +Parisian existence. All the toilet-ceremonies, before held by him in +deep disgust, were now lingered over with the utmost fondness, and +every scrap of gossip was brought forward in the chance of its +provoking a discussion, and protracting the period when the valet +should be again relegated to the company of the French and German +waiters and pert ladies'-maids, who scoffed at Gumble's old-fashioned +ways and stories. Of course there were other gentlemen's gentlemen +installed with their masters at Meurice's; but they were all much +younger than Gumble; and when their "governors" were not expected home +till late, beguiled the weary hours with pleasant dances at the Salle +Valentino, or suchlike resorts. But Gumble was a little too old, and +a great deal too insular, to enjoy these recreations. Once indeed he +had been persuaded into attending one of these public balls; but the +sight of his deep white choker, straight-brushed whiskers aid solemn +old mug, had such an effect on the dancers,--Jules utterly missing his +great bound in the _cavalier seul_, and Eulalie failing to touch her +_vis-à-vis_ shoulder with her toe in the _en avant deux_,--that he was +requested to confine his _tristesse_ to some other place; and as he +was really not amused, he willingly consented. So, after that, he +remained at Meurice's, generally sitting solitary in a crowd of +chattering French servants, beguiling the time sometimes by +speculating how long his master would live, and what he would leave +him at his death; whether a greengrocer's or a public-house would be +the most profitable business to undertake with Sir Marmaduke's legacy; +whether he could get any thing for the recipe of some wonderful +boot-varnish which he alone possessed; sometimes by reading a shilling +novel of fashionable life, or nodding dreamily over the _Times_ of the +previous day. One night, as he was attending his master to bed, he +brought forth a special bit of news which he had reserved. + +"House full here, sir," said he, as he was mixing the old gentleman's +evening draught. + +"Ah!" growled Sir Marmaduke. "God bless my soul, pack of people come +over by the rail devilish cheap, and all that sort of thing. Poor dear +old diligences kept the place dear; that was one comfort. Full, eh? +Any body I know?" + +"Capting Currer, from the Forring Office, come in to-night, sir; saw +he had a white shammy-leather bag with him, sir--" + +"Ah! Queen's messenger off to-morrow morning to Smyrna or Kamschatka, +or some infernal place. Any body else?" + +"Miss Lexden come, sir; but we was full here, just full; so she have +gone next door to the Windsor, sir. Only Withers with her, sir; no one +else. Must miss Miss Barbara, sir--Mrs. Churchill, sir--I shouldn't +think, sir." + +"What the devil business is it of yours? What right have you to think +about it? There now; be off! Good night." + +"Bless my soul!" said the old gentleman, when he was left alone. "I'm +deuced glad Susan didn't get in here, or she'd have led me a pretty +life. I suppose I must call on her to-morrow morning. Deuced +unpleasant 'talk there'll be--Barbara, and all the rest of it. Poor +girl! Susan--too hard--come round at last;" and musing in this way Sir +Marmaduke fell asleep. + +When, in the course of the next day, he called upon Miss Lexden, he +found that lady in the highest spirits. "I knew you were here, Sir +Marmaduke," said she. "I've had Cabanel here;--you recollect little +Cabanel? Spanish-looking little fellow with black eyes; was an attaché +when the Walewskis were in London; and he saw you at the duchess's +last week. You're going there to-morrow of course? How well you look! +that's the climate, you know, and the style of life; so much better +than in that wretched old island of ours." + +"What news do you bring from that wretched old island of ours?" asked +the old gentleman. + +"News? none; not a scrap, positively not a scrap; nobody in town, not +a soul. I didn't wait there above a day, but came through at once." + +"You did not stop long enough to see the Churchills, I suppose?" + +"The--eh? I beg your pardon, I did not catch the name." + +"The Churchills." + +"Churchills!" echoed Miss Lexden, with the greatest deliberation; +"Churchills! I have not the least idea who you mean." + +"Ah!" said Sir Marmaduke, through his closed teeth. "No, of course +not; you don't recollect your own brother's child, even when there's +no one in town. If it had been in the season, I could not have +attempted to suggest any thing so horribly low; but I thought perhaps, +that when there was not a soul in town, as you said, you might have +thought of the girl who is of your blood, and who has been, as it +were, your daughter for ten years." And the old gentleman stamped his +stick on the floor, and looked fiercely across at his cousin. + +"O--h!" said Miss Lexden, perfectly calmly. "I didn't follow you at +first; now I see. It seems strange to me that a man with your +knowledge of the world, Marmaduke Wentworth,--more especially with +your knowledge of me, derived in times past, when you had full +opportunity of making yourself acquainted with my character,--should +have imagined that I should for an instant have altered in my purpose +as regards my niece Barbara. What is there to induce me to swerve one +atom from--" + +"What?" interrupted Sir Marmaduke; "What? Old age, Susan Lexden! You +and I are two old people, who ought to be thankful to have been left +here so long; and not to bear malice and all sorts of miserable hatred +in our old age, more especially to our own kindred. You're vexed with +Barbara, not unnaturally, as you'd set your heart upon seeing her +married to a rich man; but that's over now, and so make the best of +it. Her husband's a good fellow and a gentleman; so what more do you +want?" + +"What more!" exclaimed the old lady; "what more! Freedom from this +style of conversation; permission to go my own way without comment or +impertinent suggestion. I use the adjective advisedly; I claim my +right to visit those whom I like, to ignore those whom I dislike, +without such remarks from those who I distinctly say have no right to +make them. And, however old I may be, I am not yet sufficiently in my +dotage to show affection, kindness, no, nor even recognition, to those +who have wilfully disregarded my desires." + +So Sir Marmaduke retired worsted from the conflict, and contented +himself with writing a letter to Major Stone, bidding that worthy: +take the first opportunity of a visit to town to ascertain how +Churchill and Barbara were getting on. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Beresford, after leaving Bissett, went for a short visit to a +bachelor friend with a shooting-box in Norfolk; and after enjoying +some excellent sport, and nearly boring himself to death, in the +company of his host and a few hard-drinking sporting squires of the +neighbourhood, returned to town--to his lodgings in South Audley +Street, and to his daily routine of life. He did not at all dislike +London in the autumn, when he had no calls to make; when he could wear +out his old clothes; could smoke in the streets at any hour without +loss of dignity; could get a little quiet reading and a little quiet +play-going; and need not fear the admonitory missives of duns, who +concluded that all their customers were, or ought to be, out of town +at that dull season. Moreover, he had not spent all of the last two +hundred pounds he had borrowed, and had received his October quarter's +salary; so that, on the whole, he was in very good case, and came +smiling radiantly into Simnel's room on the first morning after his +return. Mr. Simnel, as usual, had a pile of papers before him; but he +pushed them aside at Beresford's entrance; rose up, welcomed him; and +placing his back against the mantelpiece, at once entered into +conversation. + +"Well, Mr. Commissioner," he commenced; "so you've got back to the +hive, eh? and now I suppose you mean to remain and let one of the +other hard-worked members of the Board have a little rest, eh?" + +"Yes," replied Beresford; "I'm a fixture now for a long time; I must +take to the collar, and stick to it; but you, old fellow,--do you mean +to say you've been here all this blessed time?" + +"I've not moved away yet," said Simnel; "some one must do the work, +you know," he added with a meaning grin. + +"Yes, I knew, of course; and a deuced hard grind you've had of it. But +you'll go away now, I suppose?" + +"No; I shall run down to Leicestershire and get a little hunting next +month perhaps that is, if I can get away; and I might take a +fortnight in Paris at Christmas, just to avoid the 'God bless yous!' +and 'Happy years!' and other jackass congratulations, which I hate and +abominate." + +"Genial creature!" said Beresford, regarding him with great +complacency "what's the news?" + +"That's just what I should ask you," retorted Simnel; "there's no news +here. Sir Hickory has been to the Lakes, and 'my lady' was much +pleased with Ullswater; which is more, I should think, than Ullswater +was with 'my lady,' always supposing Ullswater to have any taste. Old +Peck has slept as much as usual but has not devoted as much time as he +generally does to his get-up, and has consequently been rather red and +rusty about his beard. O'Scanlon has been dying for your return, that +he may get away; and the men in the Office are just the same as ever. +Oh, by the way, I see that marriage has come off?" + +"Which marriage?" + +"That man Churchill, who was staying with you at old Wentworth's, has +married that dashing girl--what was her name--?--Lexden!" + +"Yes; and the _other_ marriage has come off. Old Schröder is one flesh +now with Miss Townshend; that's a nice thing to think of, isn't it?" + +"Ay, I heard of that too; saw it in the paper of course; but beyond +that, one of the young fellows here, Pringle, had cards; he's a +connexion, or something of the sort." + +"Yes; they've taken a thundering big house in Saxe-Coburg Square,--in +the new South-Kensington district, you know,--and are coming out +heavily. There's a dinner there on Thursday, to which I'm asked; and a +reception afterwards. It's a bad time of year; but there _may_ be some +new fillies trotted out, you know." + +"Ah! you've done nothing more in that matter, I suppose? no one on +hand just now! no combination of money and beauty, as Jack Palmer +says, when he rides with Schwarzchild into the City?" + +"None! I've had no chance; but I should think this wouldn't be a bad +opening. They are a tremendously well-tinned set at Schröder's; and +he's safe to ask no women who are not enormously ingotted. With such +girls, unaccustomed to any thing but what was Paddington and is now +Tyburnia, one might have a chance, for they've seen nothing decent +yet, you know. Your stock-brokering gent is a hopeless beast!" And Mr. +Beresford shrugged his shoulders, and then looked down at his feet, as +though Capel Court lay beneath them. + +"You're going to the dinner?" asked Simnel. + +"Going, my dear fellow! if you had been staying for the last month, as +I have, with Jim Coverdale, you wouldn't ask the question. No better +fellow than Jim breathes, and there's always capital sport to be got +at his place; but the cooking is something indescribably atrocious. +One always feels inclined, when he asks you what you'd like for +dinner, to use the old _mot_, and say, '_Chez vous, monsieur, on +mange, mais on ne dîne pas_.' After a month's experience of +Coverdale's cook, I am looking forward with eager anticipation to the +performances of such an artist as Schröder will probably employ." + +"I should think," said Mr. Simnel, after a minute's pause--"I should +think it probable that Mr. Townshend will be there." + +"First dinner after his daughter's marriage," said Beresford. "Duty, +by Jove Of course he will." + +"If he is there, I want you to do me a favour," said Simnel, quietly. + +"And that is--?" asked Beresford, in whose ears the word 'favour' +always rang with a peculiar knell. + +"A very slight one, and involving very little trouble to you; else, +you may take your oath, I know you too well to expect you'd grant it," +said Simnel, with some asperity. "No! I merely want you, in the course +of conversation, and when you have fully secured Mr. Townshend's +attention, to introduce, no matter how, the name of a firm--Pigott and +Wells." + +"Pigott and Wells!" repeated Beresford, mechanically. + +"Pigott and Wells. Should he ask you any thing farther, you will +remember that it is the name of a cotton firm in Combcardingham; and +take care that it fits into your story. That's all!" + +"It won't get me into any row, will it?" asked the cautious +commissioner; "you're such a tremendously sly old _diplomate_, such an +infernal old Machiavel, that I am always afraid of your getting me +into a mess." + +"Sweet innocent! you need not fear. There's no harm in the name. Of +course, it depends upon yourself how you bring it in." + +And Mr. Beresford, with a vivid recollection of owing eight hundred +pounds to Mr. Simnel, undertook the commission. + +About the same time Mr. Schröder's domestic arrangements were being +discussed under the same roof, in No. 120. + +"What are you going to do on Thursday night, Jim?" asked Mr. Pringle +of Mr. Prescott. + +"Nothing," said Mr. Prescott. + +"Then don't," said Mr. Pringle. "It don't answer and it don't pay. +I've got a card for a party in Saxe-Coburg Square, and I'll take you +if you like to come." + +"But I don't like to come. I'm sick of all your parties, with the same +grinning and bowing nonsense, the same bosh talked, the same wretched +routine from first to last. Who are the people?" + +"Now, what a duffer you are!" said Mr. Pringle; "first you declaim in +the strongest virtuous indignation against all parties, and then you +ask who the people are! Well; they are connexions of mine. Old +Townshend, my godfather, who's an old beast, and who never gave me any +thing except a tip of half-a-crown once when I was going to school, +has married his daughter--deuced pretty girl she is too--to a no-end +rich City party--Schröder by name. And Mrs. Schröder is 'at home' on +Thursday evening, 'small and early;' and I've got a card, and can take +you. There's a dinner-party first, I hear, but I'm not asked to that." + +"What a pity!" said Prescott; "your true philosopher only goes to +dinners. Balls and receptions are well enough when one is very young; +but they soon pall. There is in them an insincere glitter, a spurious +charm, which--" + +"Yes, thank ye," interrupted Mr. Pringle; "for which see _Pelham +passim_, or the collected works of the late Lord Byron. Much obliged; +but I subscribe to Mudie's; and would sooner read the sentiments in +the original authors. What I want to know is, whether you'll come?" + +"No, then." + +"Yes, you will. I know you, you old idiot, and all the reason for your +moping,--as though that would advance the cause one bit. Yes, you +will. We'll dine at Simpson's; have a quiet weed in my chambers; dress +there; and go into the vortex together." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +THE SCHRÖDERS AT HOME. + + +Mr. Beresford was thoroughly well-informed when he announced Miss +Townshend's marriage with M. Gustav Schröder. That event took place +almost immediately after the break-up of the party at Bissett Grange, +and Sir Marmaduke attended it on his way through to Paris. The wedding +was a very grand affair, and created quite a sensation in the dead +time of the year. A bishop, who in his private capacity held some land +which he had sold to a railway company numbering Mr. Townshend among +its directors, was entrapped for the ceremony, which, of course, took +place at St. George's, Hanover Square. There was such a gathering of +carriages, and such a champing and stamping of horses in George +Street, that two men who were sleeping at Limmer's, on their way +through town, were actually induced to shake off dull sloth so early +as eleven A.M., and to peer out of the window at the cavalcade; +satisfying themselves with a very short glance, however, and returning +to their couches again with great alacrity. Very great magnates in the +banking world, the brokering world, the colonial-export world, and the +shipping world, were present; as were M. Heinrich Schröder, +representative of the house at Frankfort, a bent shrivelled old +gentleman, with marked Jewish profile; thin hands always plucking at +his thin lips, and a very small knowledge of the English language;--M. +Louis Schröder, who represented the house at Paris, a man of forty, +short, stout, genial, and jolly; speaking all languages with equal +ease; with a keen eye for making money, but enjoying nothing better +than spending it; drinking very little, but fond of high-living and +high-play; and showing general sensuality in his thick scarlet lips +and short pudgy hands; more Schröders, male and female, from Hamburg, +from Mainz from Florence; and one--very much burnt up--who had just +returned from losing his liver, and gaining his fortune at Ceylon. Mr. +Townshend contributed the eminent personages in City firms above +mentioned, but none of his family were present; and it was remarked by +some of the guests, that none of his family had ever been seen by any +body,--any body meaning, of course, any body in their society; but, +owing to its being the dull season of the year, Miss Townshend's list +was not as brilliant as it might have been. For instance, ever since +as a child she married her doll to a resplendent individual in a soft +scarlet-cloth coat, a cocked hat, and a pair of linen trousers +(supposed to be of the male sex, but really another doll in disguise, +as proved by the lump of painted hair projecting behind), she had +always intended having eight bridesmaids; but Clara Hamilton and Kate +Brandon were away with their people and in their places she had asked +the Melville girls, people, whom, as she afterwards found, her trump +card, her prettiest bridesmaid Carry Seaward, did not speak. So that +the cards had all to be shuffled again, and eventually she got four +very pretty attendants to the altar. Barbara and her husband were away +honeymooning; and she didn't like to ask Captain Lyster, having a +perfect recollection of that morning in the library at Bissett, and +thinking that his presence on such an occasion would probably render +them both extremely uncomfortable. + +But altogether the wedding went off with success; for the bishop was +not only impressively solemn during the ceremony, but was pleasantly +jocose afterwards, cracked tepid little jokes with infinite gusto; and +a tepid jokelet from a bishop is worth more than a brilliant _mot_ +from a professional wit. And the company, though not very brilliant in +intellect, was quite brilliant enough to laugh when a bishop said a +good thing; and every body was very well dressed; and the wedding +presents, duly set out on a side-table, made a splendid show. The +Schröders were to the fore in the matter of wedding presents; the City +magnates of the Townshend connexion did pretty well, so far as silver +tea-services, and wine-coolers, and ice-pails, and fish knives and +forks, and splendidly-carved ivory tankards with massive silver +covers, were concerned, and in all the usual wedding-gift nonsense of +butter-dish and card-bowl; but the Schröders gave diamond-necklaces +and sets of turquoises and opals in old-fashioned filigree settings, +and tiny watches from Leroy's, costing 3000 francs, and Barbedienne's +rarest bronzes, and the choicest carvings from the Frankfort Zeil. Mr. +Schröder, too, had taken his bride elect, two days before the +marriage, to Long Acre, and shown her the neat little single brougham, +and the elegant open carriage; and then had driven on to Rice's, and +had had trotted out the fast trotters and the elegant steppers which +had been reserved for them. And Alice Townshend thought of all these +things as she stood at the altar beside the elderly gentleman with the +small eyes and the stubbly gray hair; and the shudder which passed +through her, as she solemnly vowed to honour and obey him, was a +little mitigated by the recollection of his wealth, and her consequent +future position. + +The honeymoon was spent partly at Brussels, partly at Paris, and then +the newly-married couple came home to their house in Saxe-Coburg +Square. Fifteen years ago, just before the first Great Exhibition +(_the_ Great Exhibition! we who had _gelebt und geliebt_ before '51 +know how poor the other one was in comparison to it!), the tract of +land whereon Saxe-Coburg, Gotha, Coleraine, and Dilkington Squares, +Adalbert Crescent, and Guelph Place now stand, was known as Grunter's +Grounds, and was tenanted by an honest market-gardener, who found a +very remunerative market in Covent Garden for his cabbage cultivation. +But Hodder, the great builder, marked the army of luxury marching +rapidly west; and knowing that quarters must be found for it, saw in +Grunter's Grounds the exact place for the erection of those squares, +crescents, terraces, and places, of which his architect, Palladio +Hicks, had so elaborately shown the elevation on paper, but had +erected so few. Mr. Hodder discovered that the nurseryman was in the +last eighteen months of his lease, and that Grunter's Grounds belonged +to a charity, the trustees of which were always quarreling among +themselves. This was enough for Hodder; he soon wormed his way into +the confidence of some of the trustees; and eventually succeeded in +getting the renewal of the lease refused to the market-gardener, and +the ground made over to him, on building lease, at a very cheap rate. +Now do you wonder why Mrs. Hodder drives one of the most stylish +equipages in the Park; or why, in her amateur theatricals, she manages +to get hold of all that extraordinary histrionic genius, which, by an +odd concurrence of events, always accompanies the possession of a +clerkship in the Treasury? That was a splendid speculation for Mr. +Hodder. There are thirty-six houses in Saxe-Coburg Square, for +instance; and each of them lets at 320_l_. a-year. They are all, as +Mr. Thackeray said of the Pyramids, "very big," and very ugly; great +gaunt stuccoed erections, bow-windowed, plate-glassed, and porticoed +after the usual prevalent pattern, with a small square courtyard +looking into a mews behind, and Mr. Swiveller's prospect, "a +delightful view of--over the way," in front. But they let wonderfully; +it is the thing to live in that quarter; and hangers-on to the selvage +of fashion, clerks in public offices, who have married into +aristocratic poor families, and suchlike, will be found bargaining for +a ghastly little hole in Adalbert Crescent or Guelph Place, when they +could get a capital roomy house at Highgate or Hampstead, with a big +garden, in which their "young barbarians" could be "all at play" from +morning till night, for far less money. Mr. Schröder's house was +furnished very expensively, and, considering all had been left to the +upholsterer, in not bad taste. The dining-room was in light oak, +carved high-backed chairs in green morocco; a large massive +round-table in the centre, with half-a-dozen swinging moderator-lamps +over it; Wardour-Street Rubenses and apocryphal ancestors on the +walls. Behind this the library in dark oak, splendid writing-table, +quaint old carved Davenport desk from a Carmelite monastery; wonderful +collection of books, the result of the blending of two library sales +at Hodgson's,--one the gathering of a bibliomaniacal _virtuoso_, the +other of a sporting nobleman,--and before-letter proofs, after +Landseer. The drawing-rooms I should utterly fail in endeavouring to +describe, so content myself by remarking that they were halls of +dazzling light,--allowed by their worst enemies, the critics, to be +"delicious;" by their most captious, to be "effective,"--splendidly +furnished, and opening on to conservatories and boudoirs and +canvas-covered balconies. + +Mr. Schröder was not the man to hide his candle under a bushel; nor, +having spent a vast amount of money on his house and its decorations, +to keep them solely for the contemplation of himself and his wife: so +it was at his suggestion that the dinner-party and reception were +organised. Mrs. Schröder at once gave her acquiescence; indeed, just +at this period of her life, she was in too dazed a state to do any +thing more than follow suit. She knew her father to be wealthy, and +always had lived in good style; but she also knew that her parent was +a great tyrant--one of those "stern" persons so popular in novels; and +she had had many visions of resisting him; of flying from his roof +with some young lover not overburdened with riches; of love in a +cottage, and other maniacal ideas of the same description; and now she +found that the time had come and passed; that she had not resisted at +all; and that she was settled down with a gray-headed, elderly +husband, who was one of the richest men in London. It was not her +childhood's dream, perhaps; but it was by no means uncomfortable; and +Mrs. Schröder wisely determined, to accept the riches, and to forget +the grayness of the head; and went in for the dinner-party with +spirit. + +Husband and wife furnished about an equal complement of friends to the +banquet, which was very splendid, but at first rather dull. Old +Heinrich Schröder, who had not yet returned to Frankfort, was present; +and as he spoke scarcely any English, he did not enliven the +conversation; which, however, was often polyglot. The magnates from +the City and their wives ate a good deal, and talked very little; +while some of the younger and more aristocratic people brought in by +Mrs. Schröder were silent as becomes "swells," and only occasionally +worked eyebrow or shoulder telegraphs to each other, in silent wonder +at, and depreciation of, their neighbours. Mr. Beresford began to be +awfully bored, and tried topic after topic without meeting with the +least success. At last, however, he seemed to have stumbled on one +that awoke a certain amount of general interest. + +"Seen your newly-elected brother-director of the Terra-del-Fuego +Company yet, Mr. Schröder?" he asked. + +"Colonel Levison?" said Mr. Schröder; "no, not yet; we've had no +board-day since his election." + +"Man of mark, sir," said an old gentleman, who had painted his chin +and shirt-front with turtle-soup. + +"What Levison is it, Beresford?" asked Captain Lyster, who was seated +near Mrs. Schröder. + +"Jack Levison; you know him. Wonderful life he's had!" + +"Has he?" said Mrs. Schröder, on whom the dulness had settled like a +pall. "Oh, do tell us about it, Mr. Beresford; that is, if you may." + +"Oh, yes, I may," laughed Beresford; "though it's nothing much to +tell. Jack was in the 9th, and came into five thousand pounds at his +father's death; sold out; speculated in cotton, and made it twenty; +speculated in hides, and lost every sixpence. Went out to Australia on +the first discovery of gold; was a boot-black in Melbourne; actually +had a stand and brushed boots, you know; afterwards was cad to the +Ballarat omnibus; fact, give you my word! At last got up to the +diggings; worked with varying luck, until at last turned up monster +nugget, and hit upon a splendid vein; stuck to it quietly, and made a +fortune. Realised; came back to England, and has doubled it. Curious +life, isn't it?" + +"How very odd!" said Mrs. Schröder, trying to extract a remark from a +very gorgeous lady on her right; "fancy, blacking boots!" + +"And what do you call 'em to a bus?" said the lady, who, though +gorgeous, was Clapham-born, and still possessed her native dialect. + +"Must be clayver man," hazarded a tall, thin gentleman, a light of the +Draft and Docket Office, who was very short-sighted, and perpetually +kept in his eye a glass, with which he endeavoured to focus somebody +into conversation; hitherto hopelessly. + +"Oh, yes," said his neighbour, a bald man, with cinnamon whiskers, +whose life was passed in saying the wrong thing in the wrong +place--"oh, yes; but don't you know he's Boswell Levison's brother. +He's a Jew!" + +Every body looked involuntarily at old Heinrich Schröder, about whose +origin there could be no doubt, and who had that face which you may +see repeated by hundreds in the Frankfort Juden-Gasse. + +"Ha! ha!" said the old gentleman, catching the last word, and finding +himself the centre of attraction; "was Chew! ya, zo; Chew ist goot." + +Mr. Schröder turned a dull lead colour, and a general awe-struck +silence fell upon the company, which was broken by Beresford, who, +again coming to the rescue, said: + +"You knew Levison, Monkhouse? We stayed together in his uncle's house +two years ago." + +The man with the eyeglass made a vain attempt to focus Beresford, and +said, "Did we?" + +"Yes, of course we did. You recollect, at Macarum's, near Elgin?" + +Mr. Monkhouse dropped his glass from his eye, and looked up to the +ceiling for inspiration; then, re-fixing it, said, "Oh, ah! Elgin! I +know!--where the marble comes from?" + +The Levison subject now being evidently exhausted, and the +conversation becoming hopelessly-idiotic, Captain Lyster strikes in at +a tangent, and asks Mrs. Schröder whether she has seen any thing +recently of her friend, Mrs. Churchill,--Miss Lexden that was. + +Mrs. Schröder replies in the negative, adding that she had called upon +Barbara "in, oh, such a strange street!" but had not found her at +home: the Churchills had been asked to dine there that day, but had +declined on account of Mr. Churchill's engagements. It was, however, +probable that they might come in the evening. Hearing the name of +Churchill mentioned, Mr. Beresford chimes in. + +"Ah, by the way, the Churchills! friends of yours, Mrs. Schröder? How +are they getting on? Love-match, and all that kind of thing, hey? +Clever man, Churchill; but should have kept to his own set; married +the daughter of his printer or publisher, or some fellow of that sort; +not taken away one of our stars." + +"What do you mean by his own set, Mr. Beresford?" said Lyster, rousing +himself. "Mr. Churchill, I take it, is a gentleman in every sense of +the word. I don't know whom you have been accustomed to associate +with, but I never saw a better-bred man." + +Mr. Beresford pauses for a moment, startled at the attack; then a +smile passes over his face as he says, "I didn't impugn your friend's +breeding, Captain Lyster; but I suppose even such a Corydon as you +would allow the folly of a love-match with no money on either side?" + +It is probable that Captain Lyster might have replied, even seeing, +clearly as he did, that the tendency of the conversation was towards +an argument in which he would have to exert himself; but the +cinnamon-whiskered man, who had been waiting for an opportunity of +speaking, now saw his chance, and burst forth--"Love-match!" said he; +"no money on either side! What then? Do you imagine that two people, +young, attached to each other, who risk a--a--what d'ye call +um?--fight in the great battle of life"--looking round and repeating +"in the great battle of life--are not much happier than those who +make, what you may call, sordid matches? Thus, for the sake of +argument, an elderly man marries a young girl; nothing in common +between them; she simply married for position, or to oblige her +parents; and he--well, I think we know the contemptible figure he +cuts; a case of buying and selling, as you would say in the City, +eh, Schröder?" and the cinnamon-coloured man, who was great at a +debating-society, looked in triumph at his host. + +Mr. Schröder, more leaden-coloured than ever, said, "Certainly." Mrs. +Schröder, who had been looking down at the table, and playing with her +dessert-knife, rose with the rest of the ladies, and left the room. +After their departure, the West-end section, including Beresford, +Lyster, and Monkhouse, seemed to get silent and abstracted; while Mr. +Schröder's particular friends from the City, the bank-directors and +public-company men, re-invigorated themselves with port, and discussed +the politics of Threadneedle Street and the chances of change in +the discount rate in hoarse whispers. Solemn dulness fell upon the +West-end division: Lyster dropped into a semi-dose; Mr. Monkhouse +tried to focus the talkers one by one, but failing, fell to polishing +his eyeglass and admiring his nails; the cinnamon-whiskered man cut +into the conversation once in the wrong place, and, having plainly +showed himself to be an idiot, was promptly extinguished; and +Beresford fell into a dreamy state, in which his liabilities ranged +themselves in horrible array before him, and he went into wild +speculations as to how they might be met. While in this state, he +became conscious of old Mr. Townshend's voice, laying down the law, in +most imperative style, on matters of finance, and suddenly he +remembered his promise to Simnel. He waited for his opportunity when +Mr. Townshend ceased for an instant, and then said: "My dear Mr. +Schröder, you can't tell how horrible it is for us impecunious people +to listen to this tremendously ingotted talk. We look upon you as a +dozen Sinbad the Sailors, each having found his own peculiar treasure +in the Valley of Diamonds. Ah! if it were only given to me to fathom +the secret of money-making!" + +The City section were pleased at this concession, and took the remarks +as complimentary. Mr. Schröder smiled, and said sententiously: +"Business has its cares as well as its pleasures." Mr. Townshend +nodded his head, saying, "You gentlemen despise our prosaic ways and +business routine; with you--" + +"Business routine!" exclaimed Beresford. "Why, you make a fortune by +the arrival of a telegram, by the nod of a cabinet-minister's head. +I'm not so ignorant of these mercantile matters as you may fancy. When +I was in the habit of staying with my intimate friend Pigott, of the +firm of Pigott and Wells--" + +"What name did you say?" asked Mr. Townshend, with a blanched face. + +"Pigott and Wells," repeated Beresford slowly, looking at him +stedfastly; "merchants of Combcardingham. Do you know the firm?" + +"No, not at all. That is--I--" and Mr. Townshend's teeth chattered as +he gulped down a bumper of port and cowered in his chair, as a +tremendous knock, reverberating through the house, announced the +arrival of the first guests for the reception. + +The reception. _Item_, Herr Klavierspieler, the celebrated _pianiste_, +who was so fall of soul, and so mysterious, and so thin, and so +long-haired, and so silent. All sorts of stories afloat about Herr +Klavierspieler,--that he communed with spirits; that he was a ghoule; +that he was consuming away under an unrequited passion for an Austrian +countess of excessive haughtiness; whereas in real truth he was the +son of a saddler in the Breite Strasse of Dresden, and his liver was +deranged, perhaps by his eating five heavy meals a day, and, save when +he was playing in public, never being without a pipe in his mouth. +_Item_, M. Bloffski, the Pole, _the_ violincellist of the world, a fat +man in spectacles, who perspired a great deal, breathed through his +nose, had a red-cotton pocket-handkerchief, and played his instrument +divinely. _Item_, Mr. Schrink, musical critic of the _Statesman_ +newspaper, a little man with a hump-back and a frightfully sensitive +ear; a little man who would cower and, shrink under false notes, and +stamp and growl under bad singing; a little man whom every one hated, +and who did not particularly like himself. _Item_, Fräulein Wünster, +one of those German young ladies who, ever since Jenny Lind's success, +have been imported into England under the firm idea that they were +"going to do it," and who, having filled up gaps in the Hanover Square +and St. James's Hall concerts, have returned to _Vaterland_ without +having made the smallest mark. Mr. Dabb, fashionable artist, whose +portrait of Mr. Schröder decorated the walls, was there; as was Mr. +Fleem, the author of _Fashion and Satire_--a young gentleman who, +for a cynic, seemed on remarkably good terms with himself and his +fellow-creatures. Mr. Pringle and Mr. Prescott arrived together; and +just after the gentlemen came up from the dining-room, Mr. and Mrs. +Churchill were announced. + +If Mrs. Churchill had been the Empress of Austria or the Queen of the +Cannibal Islands, she could not have entered the room more haughtily, +or created a greater effect. She was dressed in a plain dark-gray +silk, with a bunch of scarlet geraniums in her hair, and a black-lace +shawl over her shoulders. Her little head was erect, her delicate +nostrils distended, and her eye seemed to challenge any unpleasant +remark. Frank Churchill was, as usual, quiet and sedate; but it was +evident he marked the impression which his wife made, and was pleased +thereby. Was he pleased with the expression of her face, as he marked +it contracted for an instant, though immediately afterwards the +features resumed their calm statuesque immobility? Was he pleased with +the tone of her voice, which became a little hard and metallic, +instead of that soft whispering which he knew as hers? Barbara's trial +was on her at that instant: she had returned to that society in which +she had all her life lived; those luxuries, which had been in daily +use, were around her, after she had been for weeks absent from them; +the mere size of the rooms, the lighting, the perfume, the presence of +guests,--all seemed to render the events of the past months as a +dream; and she had to bring her presence of mind into play to argue +with herself. + +Mrs. Schröder rushed up to her at once; no doubt of the _empressement_ +of her manner! affection a little too palpable, as Barbara thought. + +"Oh, Barbara darling! so glad you're come! I thought you'd +disappointed us. How late you are!" + +"Frank was detained; as I expected, Alice; make him explain himself." + +"No occasion for that, I hope? Mrs. Schröder," said Churchill; "the +slaves of the lamp, you know!" + +"Oh, there! that horrible business! your constant excuse; you're all +alike. Gustav! Gustav! here's Mr. Churchill excusing himself from +being late, and pleads business; take him away, and discuss the +wretched subject together. I want to talk to Barbara,--a long talk. +No, Gustav! I don't care what you say about my duties as hostess: I +_will_ talk to my old friend!" So Schröder and Churchill went off, and +Alice and Barbara seated themselves in a far window. + +"Now, Barbara dear, tell me every thing. I needn't ask you if you're +happy; that's a matter of course. Do you like your house? Is the +boudoir in pale-green silk, as we always said we'd have it? Mine's in +rose-colour; but that's Gustav's taste; I always liked your notion +best." + +"My boudoir, Alice? you forget." + +"Oh, so I do. How ridiculous! But look here, Barbara darling; you'll +come out for a drive with me whenever I fetch you?" + +"Oh, thanks, Alice; I'm too far out of your way to be fetched often." + +"Not a bit, Barbara; what else have the horses to do? though it is a +difficult place to find out. Edwards--the coachman, I mean--had never +heard of it, though he knows all sorts of short cuts; and we had to +ask our way perpetually." + +Barbara had something on the tip of her tongue, but it was never +framed into words. She contented herself with saying, "the situation +is handy for my husband, you know. I should not like the thought that +he had far to come late at night." + +"Oh! is he ever out late at night? How dreadful! how dull you must be! +how wretched for you! I should make my maid sit up and read me to +sleep." + +"There has been no need for any such violent measures at present," +said Barbara, with a slight smile. "Frank has managed to do his work +at home, hitherto; but of course there may be occasions when he will +be obliged to be out." + +"You must come to us then. Promise! won't you, Barbara dear? You'll +like Mr. Schröder; at least I think you will. He's very quiet; but so +kind-hearted and thoughtful. Oh, Captain Lyster! how you startled me!" + +"Very sorry, Mrs. Schröder," drawled the Captain, creeping leisurely +towards them; "wouldn't have put you out for the world; but this is +scarcely fair, you know; two ladies monopolising each other when we're +dying to talk to them; and we're left to listen to that horrible +hirsute wretch who's thumping the piano." + +"Klavierspieler a horrible wretch! Did you hear that, Barbara? Well, +Captain Lyster, I won't monopolise Mrs. Churchill any more, and you +shall have a chat with her;" and Mrs. Schröder walked off, laughing. +Barbara had been looking at Mr. Schröder, who was standing in the +doorway talking with Frank Churchill; and had noticed his face fall as +Lyster approached them. When Mrs. Schröder moved away, her husband +seemed relieved. + +Captain Lyster sat down by Barbara, and talked long, and for him +earnestly. She saw at once that he wanted to be numbered among her +friends; and in a score of little delicate sentences he conveyed to +her his appreciation of her conduct in marrying a man whom she loved, +in spite of the opposition of her friends, his respect for her +husband's character and talents, and his desire to serve them. Then he +turned the conversation upon Mrs. Schröder; and Barbara noticed that +his manner changed; that he hesitated, and kept his eyes down, as he +wondered whether she were happy; whether she loved he husband; whether +it had really been her duty to obey her father's will, and not consult +her own inclinations, as people said had been the case. For the first +time a light broke upon Barbara, and she knew Captain Lyster's story +as plainly as if he had told it to her in so many words. Following his +glance as he stopped speaking, she saw that it rested on Alice +Schröder, to whom Mr. Beresford was now talking, bending over her +chair with great apparent devotion; and looking from them to Mr. +Schröder, Barbara remarked that the gloom had returned to his face, +while Frank Churchill himself looked somewhat annoyed. + +It was not without a very great deal of trouble that Mr. Pringle had +induced his friend Prescott to accompany him to Saxe-Coburg Square. +Even after that gentleman had given a reluctant consent he withdrew +it, and on the very morning of the reception Mr. Pringle was not aware +whether or not he should have to go alone. For Mr. Prescott was very +much in love with Kate Mellon still: that interview in the Park had by +no means had the effect of curing him of his passion; although, being +a sensible young fellow, he saw that there was not the slightest use +in giving way to it. + +"He's a thoroughly changed buffer, is Jim, sir!" Mr. Pringle would +remark of him; "he used to be the cheeriest of birds; always good for +going out some where, and no end of fun; always in tip-top spirits, +and the best chap out. But now he sits in his chambers, and smokes his +pipe, and grizzles himself to death, pretty near; wishing he'd got +more money, and all sorts of things. That won't do, you know! He must +be picked up and trotted out; and the man for that line of business is +yours truly." In pursuance of which determination Mr. Pringle opened a +system of attack on his friend, and in the first place insisted that +they should go together to Mr. Schröder's reception. Even at the last, +when Prescott gave in his final consent, it was under strong protest. +"I shall be dreary, old boy; and you'll be sorry you took me. You know +I'm not very good company just now, George. I've not got over--" + +"All right; I know. 'Tell me, my heart, can this be?' &c. But we'll +have some dinner at Simpson's, and a bottle of old port; and that'll +set you up, and make you see life under a different aspect, as they +say in novels." + +The dinner was very good; and finding his friend still silent and +low-spirited, Mr. Pringle exerted himself to rouse him. He was very +well known at the dining-rooms, and called the waiters by their +Christian names, and asked after their families, and little events in +their private lives. + +Mr. Prescott could not help laughing at the absurdities perpetrated +by his friend, and gradually his spirits revived. After dinner +they went to Mr. Pringle's chambers, and smoked and had some hot +whisky-and-water, which, coming after the port-wine, had a very +hilarious effect upon Mr. Pringle, who then wanted to "go out some +where," and not to go to the Schröders at all; but Mr. Prescott +overruling this, they dressed and went. Mr. Pringle--and especially +Mr. Pringle after half a bottle of port-wine and a couple of tumblers +of whisky-punch--was a trying person to go about with, and Prescott +had to call him to order several times. When they arrived at the +house, and were asked their names, he gave them as the Duke of +Wellington and Mr. Babbage; and on the servant's being about gravely +to repeat them, he stopped him, saying they did not wish their names +announced, as they were detectives come on very private business. On +the staircase he feigned a wild terror at the powdered heads of the +footmen; asked "how they came so white;" by nature or not? and +altogether so behaved himself, that Mr. Prescott declared he would not +enter the room with him. + +Once in the room, Mr. Pringle toned down visibly, and conducted +himself like an ordinary mortal. He was very friendly with Alice +Schröder, and expressed poignant regret at Mr. Townshend's sudden +indisposition (for that worthy gentleman declined to come upstairs +after dinner; Beresford's mention of Pigott and Wells had been too +much for him), though secretly Mr. Pringle was pleased at missing his +godfather, whom he was accustomed to regard as the essence of +sternness; and he was introduced to Churchill, of whom he spoke +the next day at the office as a "deuced clever fellow, a literary +bird;" and he listened for a few minutes to Klavierspieler's +pianoforte-fireworks; and, then went down and got some refreshment. He +endeavoured to induce Mr. Prescott to accompany him; but that +gentleman not merely absolutely declined, but addressed his friend in +strong words of warning, and declared that as for himself he was +thoroughly happy where he was. + +Indeed, once more in society, surrounded by well-looking, well-dressed +people, listening to music and conversation in a splendidly-appointed +home, Mr. Prescott began to think to himself that the solitary +pipe-smokings in dreary chambers, the shutting himself away from the +world, and giving himself up to melancholy, was rather a mistake. Of +course the grand cause of it all remained unaltered,--he never could +get over his passion, he never would give up thinking of Kate,--and +just then he started as he heard a light, musical, girlish voice +behind him say, "it is James Prescott!" He turned rapidly round, and +saw two or three people standing by him; one of whom, a very pretty, +fresh-coloured buxom girl, stepped forward, laughed as he made a +rather distant bow, and said, "You don't recollect me! Oh, what a +horridly bad compliment!" + +"It is excessively absurd, to be sure, on my part, I know. I cannot, +by Jove! Emily Murray!" Prescott burst out as the face recurred to his +memory. + +"Emily Murray, of course!" said the young lady, still laughing; "Why, +what ages since we've met! not since you left Havering; and how's the +dear Vicar and the girls? which of them are married? I should so like +to see them; and you--you're in some Government Office we heard; which +is it? and--" + +"I must come to Mr. Prescott's rescue, Emily, if you'll introduce me. +You've stunned him with questions," said an elderly lady standing by. + +"Oh, aunt, how can you say so! James--Mr. Prescott,--I don't know +which I ought to say; but I always used to say James,--this is my +aunt, Mrs. Wilmslow, with whom we're staying. I say we, for papa is in +town; but his gout was threatening; so he wouldn't come to-night." + +"My brother will be very pleased to see you, though, Mr. Prescott," +said Mrs. Wilmslow; "I know he has the kindliest recollection of your +father at Havering. Will you come and lunch with us to-morrow?" + +Mr. Prescott accepted with thanks, and Mrs. Wilmslow moved back to her +party; but Emily Murray stayed behind, and they had a very long +conversation; during which he settled not merely that he would lunch +in Portland Place on the next day, but that he would afterwards +accompany Miss Murray and some of her friends in their subsequent +ride. As Miss Murray departed with her friends, Mr. Pringle came up +and apologised for having left his friend so much alone. "Very sorry, +old fellow, but I got into an argument with an old German buffer +downstairs. Very good fellow, but spoke very shy English. Told me he +was nearly eighty years old; and that he accounted for his good health +by having been always in the habit of taking a walk past dinner. Took +me full ten minutes to find out he meant _after_ dinner. But I say, +old fellow, I'm really sorry; you must have had a very slow evening." + +"On the contrary," said Mr. Prescott, "I've enjoyed myself amazingly." + +Mr. Pringle looked hard at his friend, and whistled plaintively. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +THE OLD OR THE NEW? + + +Thirty years before the date of my story, Braxton Murray and Alan +Prescott were college friends. Braxton was a gentleman commoner of +Christchurch; Alan, a scholar of Wadham. Braxton had four hundred +a-year allowance from his father, and the direct succession to one of +the richest estates in Kent. Alan had his scholarship, seventy pounds +a-year exhibition from a country foundation-school, and another fifty +allowed him by his uncle. The disparity between the positions of the +two young men was vast, but they were thoroughly attached to each +other; and when Braxton had succeeded his father, and the old vicar of +Havering died, Braxton Murray sent for Alan Prescott, then doing duty +as a curate and usher in a suburban school, and presented him with the +vicarage of Havering. That was a happy time in both their lives; the +income of the Vicar was small, certainly, but so was the parish, and +the duties were light; and having only himself, his wife, and a son +and daughter to provide for, and being constantly in the receipt of +presents from his friend and patron, the Rev. Alan Prescott did very +well indeed. Situate in the heart of Kent, no prettier spot than +Havering can be found; and Brooklands, the squire's place, is the gem +of the county. In the bay-window of the old dining-room, overhanging +the fertile valley through which the Medway lies like a thread of +silver, the two men would sit drinking their claret, discussing old +university chums or topics of the day, and pausing occasionally to +look at the gambols of the Vicar's son, Jim, and the Squire's only +daughter, Emily, who were the merriest of little lovers. But as years +went by, and the Vicar's family steadily increased,--first by twin +girls, then by a bouncing boy, and finally by a little crippled +girl,--and as, each year, expenses grew heavier, Alan Prescott was +somewhat put to it to obtain the necessary connexion of those two +ends, the means of bringing which together puzzles so many of us all +our lives; and when the governors of the foundation-school where he +had been usher, remembering his abilities, wrote to offer him the +vacant headmastership, he was too poor to refuse it. Duff borough, a +big, staring, gaunt, manufacturing town, perched on one of the +bleakest of the northern hills, was a bad exchange for beaming little +Havering, with its smiling orchards and glorious hop-gardens; and the +society of the purse-proud, cold, stuck-up calico-men was +heartbreaking after the ease and warmth of Braxton Murray's +companionship. But Alan Prescott felt the spurs of need, and buckled +to his work like a man. An active correspondence was kept up between +him and the Squire of Havering; and occasionally,--once in the course +of four or five years, perhaps,--he had spent a week at Brooklands; +but it was too expensive to remove his family; and consequently, until +that evening in Saxe-Coburg Square James Prescott had not seen Emily +Murray since they were children together, playing out in the old +dining-room at Brooklands. + +Emily Murray had been a pretty child; had become a beautiful girl. +There was no doubt about her; one look into those honest brown eyes +would have convinced you that she was thorough. A plump rosy-rounded +bud of woman; a thoroughly English girl, void of affectation, conceit, +and trickery; clean, clear, honest, wholesome, and loving. As she +talked to James Prescott of the old days at Havering, she spoke out +freely, referring to bygone gambols and fun with frank laughter and +many a humorous reminiscence; and when she suggested his joining their +riding-party the next day, she looked him straight in the face without +the smallest shadow of entanglement or guile. To her own brother her +manner had not been different, Prescott thought, as, after they had +parted, he recalled every word, every glance; and he wished for a +moment that there had been something different in it, a trifle more +tenderness, a hand-pressure, a sly upward glance, or--and then he +flung such nonsense behind him, and was delighted to remember the +warmth of her recognition, the cheeriness of her chat. She was nothing +to him, of course; his doom was fixed; he had loved, and--and yet how +pretty she was! how perfectly gloved! how charmingly dressed! what a +pleasure it was to feel that you were talking to a lady! to know that +no slanginess would offend the eye, no questionable _argot_ grate upon +the ear; to feel that--and then Mr. Prescott remembered how the idol +of his soul had called him "Jim," ay, and "old buffer;" how she had +smoked cigars, and used maledictions towards refractory animals; how +there had been all kinds of odd discussions about all kinds of odd +people before her; and how he had seen men take wine without stint, +and smoke cigars in her face, and wear their bats before her, without +the smallest self-restraint. And, smoking a final pipe before turning +into bed, Mr. Prescott pondered on these things long and earnestly. + + +Mr. Prescott found a warm welcome awaiting him. Mrs. Wilmslow had been +impressed with his manners and appearance, and old Mr. Murray had a +yearning for the friend of his youth, and longed to receive that +friend's son with open arms. A hale pleasant gentleman, Mr. Murray, +with that wonderful cleanliness which is never seen out of England, +with polished bald head fringed with iron-gray hair, ruddy complexion, +keen little blue eyes, and brilliant teeth. He wore a slipper on his +right foot, but hobbled forward, nevertheless, and gave the young man +a hearty shake of the hand. + +"Glad to see you, Jim! Little Jim you were; but, by Jove! I should +not like to carry you on my back now, as I have done many a time. +Very glad to see you! Old times come again, by George! Trace every +feature of your face, and can almost see Magdalen tower behind your +back--you're so like your father. How's the Vicar, eh? I'll drag him +out of that infernal spinning-jenny place yet, and give him a breather +across the home-copse at Havering before next season's over." + +Prescott said that his father was well and jolly, but scarcely up to +shooting now, he had had so little practice lately. + +"So much the more reason we should give it him, then! He used to be a +crack shot; one of the few men I've seen shoot a brace of woodcock +right and left! And walk! by George, he'd walk me into--has he had any +gout?" + +"Not yet, sir;--a threatening last year." + +"Bravo!" roared the old gentleman; "I've got some 20-port that shall +bring that threatening to real effect, if he'll only drink enough of +it. And to think that Pussy should have found you out!" + +"Pussy?" said Mr. Prescott. + +"Emily, of course! a wayward gentle puss who never shows her claws!" +and at that moment Emily entered the room, and advanced towards +Prescott with frank smile and outstretched hand. + +Luncheon passed off pleasantly enough. The old gentleman rattled on +incessantly, and availed himself of Prescott's presence, and Mrs. +Wilmslow's distracted attention consequent thereupon, to take three +bumpers of dry sherry, instead of that one half-glass to which, by +doctor's orders, he was so strictly relegated. Mrs. Wilmslow was +thoroughly charmed with Prescott, led him on to talk of his home-life, +of his office friends, and seemed to regard him with real interest. +Emily was less talkative than she had been the previous evening, and +seldom looked up from the table; but she joined readily in the +conversation, and none were too pleased when the horses were +announced. + +"Got a horse, Jim?" asked the Squire. "That's right! hope it'll carry +you all right, though one never knows any thing about these hired +hacks. You might have ridden the cob, if I'd known you'd been coming +earlier! This is his third day's rest, and the cob will be about as +fresh as paint when I get across him again. Not that I care much for +your Rotten-Row riding--dull work that, up and down, up and down! The +Vicar and I--we used to go to work in a little more business-like +fashion than that! I suppose he never gets a day's run now? Ah! +thought not! Those spinning-jenny locals would think it unprofessional +for a parson to follow hounds, eh? There, bless you, pussy! good-by, +child! and good-by to you, young Jim! Call here again in a day or two, +and we'll settle about your coming to Havering in the vacation--and +the Vicar too, d'ye hear?" + +"I'm getting rather nervous about my responsibility, Miss Murray," +said Prescott, as they passed through into the hall. "I don't think +I've forgotten my old knack of mounting. You needn't fear my not +lifting you high enough, or jerking you over the side, I mean; but +I've never seen your amazonship yet, and if any thing should happen--" + +"Oh, don't fear that, James--Mr. Prescott, I mean!" said Emily with a +clear ringing laugh. "You'll mount me rightly enough, I know: +and as for looking after me afterwards, I forgot to tell you my +riding-mistress would be with us." + +"Your riding-mistress!" but as he spoke, the footman threw open the +street-door; and the first thing that met his glance was a well-known +figure sitting erect on a black thoroughbred. Kate Mellon! no one +else. James Prescott had watched too often the rounded outline of that +compact figure, the fall of that dark-blue skirt, the _pose_ of that +neat little chimney-pot hat, under which the gold-shot hair was massed +in a clump behind, not to recognise them all at the first glance. Kate +Mellon, by all that was marvellous! Two young ladies, also mounted, +were with her; and a groom was leading another horse, with a +side-saddle on it for Emily Murray, and another groom was leading the +very presentable hack which Prescott had engaged from Allen's. As she +caught sight of Prescott, Kate gave one little scarcely-perceptible +start, and then saluted Miss Murray with uplifted whip. Prescott swung +Emily to her saddle, and the cavalcade started. + +"You see I have brought a cavalier, Miss Mellon," said Emily, with a +smile; "though I don't know whether such an encumbrance is +permissible; but this is Mr. Prescott, whom I have known for a very +long time. James, this is Miss Mellon, who is good enough to +superintend my clumsiness on horseback, and who is the very star of +horsewomen herself." + +Kate started a little at the "James," but merely repeated the whip +salutation, and said, "Mr. Prescott and I have met before, Miss +Murray. Besides, you're coming it too strong about yourself! you're +quite able to take care of yourself now, and have no clumsiness left, +whatever you might have had at first. This has relieved me of some of +my charge; for these two young ladies will want all my eyes, and +another to spare, if I had it. Perhaps you'll not mind my riding +forward with them, and you and Mr. Prescott can follow us; you're both +of you to be trusted--with your horses, I mean!" and she smiled +shortly, and cantering on, joined the anonymous young ladies in front. + +You see it is perfectly right to tell a man who is desperately smitten +with you that he is on the wrong tack; that though you have a great +regard for him as a friend, you cannot reciprocate his love-passion; +and that the whole affair is ill-judged, and should properly be put a +stop to at once. But when you come upon him suddenly, within three +weeks, evidently consoling himself by dangling at the heels of another +woman--well, there is something provoking in it, to say the least! +Kate Mellon was thoroughly honest during all that last interview with +Prescott in Rotten Row, but she scarcely expected _this_. + +So they rode on in two divisions; and the young ladies in front, who +were the daughters of a picture-dealer who had recently risen from +nothing, and who were in the greatest state of fright at the +unaccustomed exercise, were surprised to find a tone of asperity at +first tinging their mistress's instructions at being told of their +rounded shoulders and their heavy hands, in far plainer terms than had +been hitherto employed. But this severity gradually subsided as they +went on, and as Kate thought to herself how all was for the best, and +how, instead of being annoyed, she ought to do every thing she could +to help the fortunes of one who had been so staunchly gallant to her, +until he was repulsed. As for the couple behind, they got on +splendidly; Emily looked to the greatest advantage on horseback; and +Prescott could scarcely take his eyes from her as he watched the +graceful manner in which she sat her horse, and as he listened +to the encomiastic remarks which her appearance extracted from the +passers-by. He talked to her of the old days, and she answered without +an ounce of coquetry or affectation; and she spoke of her father, of +her happiness in her home, of the little simple duties and pleasures +in their village, and of other little suchlike matters, in an honest +way that touched James Prescott deeply, and sent purer, calmer +thoughts into his heart than had found lodging there for many months. + +After a couple of hours in the Row the party returned to Mrs. +Wilmslow's, where Emily bade them farewell, and Prescott also +alighted, giving up his horse to the groom waiting for it. Kate Mellon +saw her other pupils to their home close by, and then turned into the +Row again, intending to have one final gallop on her way to The Den. +She was at full speed when she heard the dull thud of a horse's hoofs +close behind her, and turning saw Mr. Simnel. In a minute he was by +her side. + +"How d'ye do, Kate?" said he, reining-in his big hunter; "I came on +the chance of seeing you here." + +"How do, Simnel?" said Miss Mellon, shortly; "what do you want?" + +"I want you to say when I can come up to The Den and have +half-an-hour's chat with you, Kate." + +"And I tell you, never! as I've told you before. Look here, Simnel," +said she, pulling up short; "let's have this out now. I don't like +you; I never did, and I never shall! and I don't want you at my place. +Do you understand?" + +"Perfectly," said Simnel, with a hard smile; "and yet I think I must +come. I want to say something specially particular to you." + +"What about? What you've said before? About yourself?" + +"No," said Simnel, smiling as before; "I never say things twice over. +I want to talk to you about a friend of ours--Charles Beresford." + +"Charles Beresford?--what of him?" + +"That's just what I propose to come and tell you." + +Their eyes met. The next instant Kate cast hers down as she said, "I +shall be at home on Friday from two till six. You can come then." + +"You may depend on me," said Simnel; "I'll not bore you any longer." +He raised his hat with perfect politeness, turned his horse, and rode +slowly away. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +THE CHURCHILLS AT HOME. + + +Three months' experience sufficiently indoctrinated Barbara Churchill +into her new life. At the end of that time she could scarcely have +been recognised as the Barbara Lexden who had held her own for three +seasons, and done undisputed havoc among the detrimentals: not that +she was changed in appearance; that grand _hauteur_, that indefinable +something of delicacy, breeding, and refinement, was even more +noticeable than ever; if any thing, her nostrils were more frequently +expanded, her lips more constantly in their curve; nor had her eyes +lost their brightness, her figure its trim form, her walk its grace +and elegance. Though Parker had long since served under another +mistress Barbara's hair had never been more artistically arranged than +by her own hands; and though her dress had been modified from the +nearest approach to excess in the prevailing fashion which good taste +would permit to the merest simplicity, she had never, even in the +height of her queendom, been more becomingly attired than in the plain +silk dresses and simple linen collars and cuffs which she donned in +Great Adullam Street. Where was the change, then? whence the source of +the alteration? In truth she herself could scarcely tell; or if the +idea ever rose in her mind she thrust it out instantly, arguing within +herself, in a thousand unimpressive, undecisive, unsatisfactory ways, +that she did _not_ feel as she had imagined, and that she was merely +"a little low." + +That phrase was Frank Churchill's bane. He would return from the +_Statesman_ Office, where, after the regular daily consultation, he +had remained and written his leader (Harding always hitherto had +managed to free his friend from night-work), and would find his wife +with red-rimmed eyelids and the final traces of a past shower. At +first he was frightened at these manifestations, would tenderly caress +her, and ask her what had happened, Nothing! always nothing! no cross, +no domestic anxiety, no special trouble. But then something must have +happened. Frank's logical spirit, long trained, refused to accept an +effect without a cause; and at length, after repeated questioning, he +would learn from Barbara that she was "a little low" that day. A +little low! What on earth had she had to be a little low about? And +then Frank would imagine that there were more things in women than +were dreamt of in his philosophy; and would pet her and coax her +during dinner, and restore her somewhat to herself, until he took up +his review or his heavy reading, when the "little low" fit would come +on again; and after half an hour's contemplation of the coals Barbara +would burst into sobs and retire to bed. And then Frank, laying down +his book and pondering over his final pipe, would first begin to think +that he was badly treated; to review his conduct, and see whether any +act of his during the day could have caused the "little lowness;" to +imagine that Barbara was making mountains of molehills, and was losing +that spirit which had been one great attraction to him; then gradually +he would soften, would take into consideration the changes in the +circumstances of her life; would begin to accuse himself of neglecting +her, and preferring his reading at a time when she had a fair claim on +his attention; and would finally rush off to implore her forgiveness, +and pet her more than ever. + +An infatuated fellow, this Frank Churchill; so happy in the possession +of his wife, in the knowledge that she was his own, all his own, that +nothing, not even the fact that she was occasionally a "little low," +had power to damp his happiness for more than a very few minutes. He +would sit at dinner of an evening, when she was engaged with her work, +and he had a book in front of him, in company, when he could steal a +minute from the general conversation, looking at her in rapt +admiration; not one point of her beauty was lost upon him; the shape +of her head; its _pose_ on her neck; her delicate hands with that pink +shell-like palm; those long tapering fingers and filbert nails; her +rounded bust and slim waist,--all her special excellences impressed +him more now than they had when he had first seen her; but, above all, +he revelled in her "bred" appearance, in that indefinable something +which seemed to lift her completely out of the set of people with +which he saw her surrounded, and to show her by right the denizen of +another sphere. If you could have persuaded Frank Churchill that +another man held such opinions as these; that another man had such +feelings with regard to his wife; and that through holding them he was +induced to regard somewhat intolerantly those among whom he had +hitherto moved, and from whom he had received the greatest kindness +and friendship,--what words would have been scathing enough to have +expressed Frank Churchill's disgust! + +Yet such was undoubtedly the case. Churchill's most intimate friend +was George Harding,--a man whom he reverenced and looked up to, but +whom he, since his marriage, had often found himself pitying from the +bottom of his soul. Not on his own account: loyal to his craft and +steadfast in his friendship, Churchill thought there were few more +desirable positions than the editorship of the _Statesman_, when as +free from influence or partisanship as when Harding held the berth. It +was because his friend was Mrs. Harding's husband that Churchill +pitied him; though, indeed, Mrs. Harding was a very fair average kind +of woman. A dowdy little person, Mrs. Harding! the daughter of a +snuffy Welsh rector, who had written a treatise on "Aorists," and with +whom Harding had read one long vacation,--a round-faced old-maidish +little woman, classically brought up, who could construe Cicero +fluently, and looked upon Horace (Q. Flaccus, I mean) as rather a +loose personage. In the solitude of Plas-y-dwdllem, George Harding was +thrown into the society of this young female. He did not fall in love +with her--they were neither of them capable of any thing violent of +that nature; but--I am reduced to the phraseology of the servants' +hall to express my meaning--they "kept company together;" and when +George took his degree and started in life as leader-writer for the +_Morning Cracker_ (long since defunct), he thought the best thing he +could do for his comfort was to go for a run to Wales and bring back +Sophia Evans as his wife. This he did; and they had lived thoroughly +happily ever since. Mrs. Harding believed intensely in the +_Statesman_; read it every day, from the title to the printer's name; +knew the name of every contributor, and could tell who had done what +at a glance. Her great pride in going out was to take one of the cards +sent to the office, and observe the effect it made upon the receiving +attendant at operas, flower-shows, or conversazioni. She always took +care that the tickets for these last were sent to her; and her +head-dress of black-velvet bows with pearl-beads hanging down behind +was well to the fore whenever a mummy was unrolled, the fossil jawbone +of an antediluvian animal was descanted on, or some sallow missionary +presented himself at Burlington House, to be congratulated by hundreds +of dreary people on having escaped uneaten from some place to which he +never ought to have gone. She herself was fond of having occasionally +what she called "a social evening." This recreation was held on a +Saturday, when there was no work at the _Statesman_ office, when the +principal members of the staff would be bidden, and when the +condiments provided would be brown-bread and butter rolled into +_cornets_, tea and coffee and lemonade, while the recreation consisted +in conversation (amongst men who had met for every night during the +past twelve months), and in examining photographs of the city of +Prague. The ribald young men at the office spoke of Mrs. Harding as +"Plutarch," a name given to her one night when Mr. Slater, the +dramatic critic, asked her what novel she was then reading, and she +replied, "Novel, sir! Plutarch's Lives!" But they all liked her, +notwithstanding; and for her sake and their dear old chief's did +penitential duty at the occasional "social evenings" in Decorum +Street. + +Of course this little body had nothing in common with Mrs. Frank +Churchill, and neither understood the other. George Harding had been +so anxious that his wife should pay all honour to his friend's bride, +that Mrs. Harding's was the first visit Barbara received. They did not +study the laws of etiquette in Mesopotamia, or Mrs. Harding thought +she would break the ice of ceremony with a friendly call; so the +arrived one morning at 11 A.M. dressed for the occasion, and having +sent up her card, awaited Barbara's advent in the drawing-room. No +sooner had the servant shut the door and Mrs. Harding found herself +alone than she minutely examined the furniture, saw where new things +had replaced others with which she had been acquainted, mentally +appraised the new carpet, and took stock generally. The result was not +satisfactory; an anti-macassar which Barbara had been braiding lay on +the table, with the needle still in it. Mrs. Harding took it up +between her finger and thumb, gazed at it contemptuously, and +pronounced it "fal-lal;" she peeped into the leaves of a book lying +open on the sofa, and shut them up with a sigh of "Novels! ah!" she +turned over the music lying on the little cottage-piano which Frank +had hired for his wife, and again shrugged her shoulders with an +exclamation of distaste. Then she sat herself down on a low chair with +her back to the light (an old campaigner, Mrs. Harding, and seldom to +be taken at a disadvantage), pulled out and smoothed her dress all +round her, settled her ribbons, made a further incursion into the +territories of a refractory thumb in her cowskin puce-coloured glove, +which had hitherto refused submission to the invader, and awaited the +coming of her hostess. + +She had not long to wait. Frank had gone out on business; but he had +so often spoken of Harding as his dear friend, that Barbara, though by +no means gushing by nature,--indeed, if truth must be told, somewhat +proud and reserved,--had made up her mind to be specially friendly to +Mrs. Harding; so she came sailing into the room with outstretched hand +and a smile on her face. Mrs. Harding gave one glance at the full +flowing figure, the rustling skirts, and the outstretched hand; she +acknowledged the superior presence, and then suddenly maxims learned +in her youth in the still seclusion of Plas-y-dwdllem rose in her +mind,--maxims which inculcated a severe and uncompromising deportment +as the very acme of good breeding. So, instead of coming forward to +meet Barbara and responding to her apparent warmth, the little woman +stood up for a quarter of a minute, crossed her hands before her, +bowed, and sank into her seat again. For an instant Barbara stopped, +and flushed to the roots her hair; then, quickly perceiving it was +merely ignorance which had caused this strange proceeding on Mrs. +Harding's part, she advanced and seated herself near her visitor. + +"You are a stranger in this neighbourhood?" commenced Mrs. Harding. + +Barbara, feeling that the admission would be what policemen call "used +against her," answered in the affirmative. + +"It's very healthy," said Mrs. Harding. + +Barbara again assented. + +"Do you like it?" asked Mrs. Harding. + +"I can scarcely say. I have had so little opportunity of judging. It +is very convenient for where my husband has to go, and all that; but +it is a long way from that part of London which I know." + +Two or three things in this innocently-intended speech jarred +dreadfully on Mrs. Harding's feelings. That worthy matron had all the +blood of Ap-somebody, a tremendously consonanted personage of +Plas-y-dwdllem in old times, and she was irritable in the highest +degree. But she made a great gulp at her rage, and only said, "Oh, you +mean the _Statesman_ office; yes, of course I ought to know where that +is, considering Mr. Harding's position there! We think this a very +nice situation; but, of course, when you've been brought up in +Grosvenor Square, it's different! What does Vokins charge you?" + +"I--I beg your pardon!" said Barbara. "Vokins?" + +"Yes; Vokins the butcher!" repeated the energetic little woman. +"Sevenpence or sevenpence-halfpenny for legs? Your mother-in-law was +the only woman in the neighbourhood who got 'em for sevenpence, and +I'm most anxious to know whether he hasn't raised it since you came +here." + +"I'm sorry I'm unable to answer you," said Barbara; "but hitherto my +husband has paid the tradesmen's bills. I've no doubt" she added, with +a half-sneer, "that it shows great shortcomings on my part; but it is +the fact. I have hopes that I shall improve as I go on." + +"Oh, no doubt," said Mrs. Harding, faintly. "Live and learn, you +know." But she gave up Barbara Churchill from that time out. She, who +had known the price of every article of domestic consumption since she +was fourteen years old, and had fought innumerable hand-to-hand +combats with extortionate tradesmen, looked upon this _insouciance_ of +Barbara's as any thing but a venial crime. A few other topics were +started, feebly entered into, and dropped; and then Mrs. Harding took +her leave, with faintly-expressed hopes of seeing her new-made +acquaintance soon again. + +That afternoon George Harding, returning home to dinner, was told by +his wife that she had called on Mrs. Churchill. + +"Ay!" said the honest old boy; "and what did you make of her, Sophy? +I'd trust your judgment in a thousand; and Frank has a high opinion of +it, I know. Is she pretty, and clever, and managing, and all the rest +of it?" + +"Well, as to prettiness, George, she's not one of my style of +beauties," said Mrs. Harding. "She's a tall slip of a woman, with +straight features, such as you see on the old coins; and she's very +stand-offish in her manners; and, as to managing--well, she's too fine +a lady to know her tradespeople's names, or what she pays them." + +George Harding whistled softly, and then plunged into his hashed +mutton. He made but one remark, but that he repeated twice. "I told +him to beware of swells. God knows I warned him. I told him to beware +of swells." + +That same night Mrs. Churchill told her husband of the visit she had +had. + +"I'm so glad!" said Frank. "I knew old George would send his wife +first. Well, what do you think of Mrs. Harding, Barbara?" + +"Oh, I've no doubt she meant every thing kindly, Frank," said Barbara, +"She's--she's a right-meaning kind of woman, Frank, no doubt; but +she's--she's not my style, you know." + +Frank was dashed. "I don't exactly understand, dear. She was perfectly +friendly?" + +"Oh, perfectly! But she asked me all sorts of curious questions about +the tradespeople, and the housekeeping, and that. So strange, you +know." + +"I confess I don't see any thing strange so far. She offered you the +benefit of her experience, did she? Well, that was kind; and what was +wanted, I think." + +"Oh, I'm sorry you think it was wanted," said Barbara. "I didn't think +any thing had gone wrong in the house." + +"No, my darling, of course not," said Frank "nothing--all is quite +right. But, you know, housekeeping is Mrs. Harding's strong point; and +young beginners like ourselves might learn from her with advantage. I +think we must lay ourselves out for instruction in several matters, +Barbara darling, from such persons as Mrs. Harding and my mother." + +And Barbara said, "Oh, yes, of course." And Frank did not notice that +her little shoulders went up, and the corners of her little mouth went +down, and her eyes sparkled in a manner which did not promise much +docility on the part of one of the pupils thus to be instructed. + +It took but a very short time for Barbara to discover that she and her +mother-in-law were not likely to be the very best friends. On their +first meeting the old lady was very much overcome, and welcomed her +new daughter-in-law in all fulness of heart. And perhaps--though +Barbara never knew it--it was at this first meeting that a feeling of +disappointment was engendered in Mrs. Churchill's heart. For long +brooding over the forthcoming events of that day, ere the new-married +couple had returned to town, Mrs. Churchill had settled in her own +mind that there were to be no jealousies between her and the new +importation into the small family circle as to the possession of +Frank, and that to that end the right plan would be to receive Barbara +as her daughter, and to make her part recipient of that affection +which had hitherto only been lavished on Frank. This idea she +forthwith carried into execution, kissing Barbara with great warmth, +and addressing her as her dear child. Unimpulsive Barbara, though +really pleased at her reception, accepted the caresses with becoming +dignity, offered her cheek for the old lady's warm salute, and +addressed her mother-in-law in tones which, though by no means lacking +in reverence, certainly had no superfluity of love. The old lady +noticed it, and ascribed it to timidity, or the natural shyness of a +young girl in a strange position; she noticed specially that Barbara +invariably spoke to and of her as "Mrs. Churchill;" and before they +parted she said: + +"My dear, you surely don't always intend to speak to me in that formal +manner. I am your mother now, Barbara; won't you call me so?" + +"No, dear Mrs. Churchill--no, if you please! I have never called any +one by that name since I lost my own mother, and--and I cannot do so, +indeed." + +Mrs. Churchill simply said, "Very well, my dear." But in what +afterwards became a gaping wound, this may be looked upon as the first +abrasion of the skin. That gave the old lady a notion that her +daughter-in-law's tactics were to be purely defensive, that there was +to be no compromise, and that she, the old lady, was clearly to +understand that her position was on the other side of the gabions and +the fascines, the stone walls and the broad moat; that by no means was +the key of the citadel to be considered as in her possession. + +When relations of this kind in one family begin to be _à tort et à +travers_, there is no end to the horrible complications arising out of +them. Mrs. Churchill attempted to initiate Barbara into the mysteries +of housekeeping, and the art of successfully combating nefarious +tradesmen; but the success which attended the old lady's efforts may +be guessed from Barbara's interview with Mrs. Harding. She tried to +get Barbara to walk out with her; but Barbara had not been accustomed +to walk in London streets, and was timid at crossings,--which made the +old lady irate; and was frightened at the way in which men stared, and +on some occasions spoke out unreservedly their opinions of her beauty. +She had liked the outspoken admiration of the crowd, as she sat well +forward in the carriage on drawing-room days; but then she knew that +she had Jeames with his long cane in reserve in case of need; though I +doubt whether Jeames would have been more useful in case of actual +attack than old Mrs. Churchill, who invariably resented these +unsolicited compliments to her daughter-in-law with a snort of +defiance, and who usually carried a stout umbrella with a ferule at +the end, which would have made a very awkward weapon, and which she +would have wielded with right good will. Misunderstandings were +constant: after the first few occasions of their meeting, Barbara did +not ask Mrs. Churchill to the house for fear of appearing formal; +whereupon the old lady, when Frank called at her lodgings, asked what +she had done to be exiled from her son's house. Pacified and settled +as to this point, the old lady, to show her forgiveness, called in so +frequently, that Barbara told her husband she knew her housekeeping +was not perfection; but that she had not expected a system of +_espionnage_, which was evidently kept on her by his mother. When Mrs. +Churchill dined at their house, Barbara, for fear of appearing +extravagant, would have a very simple joint and pudding; whereupon the +old lady would afterwards tell Mrs. Harding, or some other friend, +that "Heaven alone knew where Frank's money went--not on their +dinners, my dear, for they're positively mean." + +Nor with her husband's friends did Barbara make a very favourable +impression. They admired her, of course; to withhold that tribute was +impossible; but they were so utterly different in manner and +expression, had such different topics of conversation and such totally +opposite opinions to any thing she had ever seen or heard, that she +sat in silence before them; uttered vague and irrational replies to +questions put to her while her thoughts were far away, smiled feebly +at wrong times, and so conducted herself, that Mr. M'Malthus, a clever +Scotchman, who was worming his way into literature, and was at that +time getting a name for blunt offensive sayings (an easily earned +capital, on which many a man has lived for years), was reported to +have remarked that "a prettier woman or bigger fool than Mrs. +Churchill was not often seen." + +There were others who, while they allowed that she had plenty of +common-sense (and indeed on occasion, in a cut-and-thrust argument, +Barbara showed herself cunning of fence, and by no means deficient in +repartee), would call her stuck-up and proud; and there were some, +indeed, who repudiated the mere fact of her having lived in a +different class of society to which they were not admitted, as in +itself an insult and a shame. And even those who were disposed to +soften all defects and to exaggerate all virtues--and they were by no +means few in number--failed to what they call "get on" with the new +Mrs. Churchill. They had no subjects of conversation in common; for +even when literary subjects were introduced, they frightened Barbara +by their iconoclastic tendencies; deliberately smashing up all those +gods whom she had hitherto been accustomed to reverence, and erecting +in their stead images inscribed with names unknown to her, or known +but to be shuddered at as owned by Radicals or free-thinkers. They +were men who outraged none of the social _convénances_ of life; about +whose manner or behaviour no direct complaint could be made; and often +she thought herself somewhat exacting when she would repeat to +herself, as she would--oh, how often!--that they were not gentlemen: +not her style of gentlemen; that is to say, not the style of men to +whom she had been accustomed. When, for instance, would a man have +dared to address his conversation to any other man in preference to +her, she being present? When could a man have permitted her to open a +door, or place a chair for herself, in that set amongst which she had +previously moved? Respect her! Her husband's friends would ignore her +presence; saying in reply to a remark from her, "Look here, Churchill, +you understand this;" or would prevent her interrupting them (a +favourite practice of hers) by putting up their hands and saying, +"Pardon-me while I state my case," continue their argument in the most +dogged manner. + +What most amazed Barbara was the calm manner in which all her sallies, +however bitter or savage, were received by her husband's intimates, +and laughed away or glossed over by Frank himself. At first her notion +was to put down these persons by a calm haughty superiority or a +studied reticence, which should in itself have the effect of showing +her opinion of them: but neither demeanour had the smallest effect on +those whom it was intended to reprove. The first time she ever +perceived that any one was the least degree inclined to oppose her +sway or dispute her authority, was one Saturday night, when +Churchill's study was filled with several of his old friends, smoking +and chatting. Barbara was there too, with her embroidery. She could +stand tobacco-smoke perfectly; it did not give her a headache, or even +worse than that, redden her eyelids and make her wink; and there was a +small amount of "fastness" in it which pleased her. Moreover her +presence prevented the gathering in the _tabagie_ from quite sinking +into a bachelor revel, the which Barbara, as a young married woman, +held in the deepest abomination. The conversation was in full swing +about books, authors, and publishers. + +"Chester's going to bring out a volume of poems," said Mr. Bloss, an +amiable young man with fluffy hair, who always had a good word for +every one. "Says he should have published them before, but he's so +many irons in the fire." + +"Better put his poems where his irons are," laughed Mr. Dunster, a +merry little old gentleman with light-blue eyes, who could take the +skin off your back and plant daggers in your heart, smiling all the +time in the pleasantest manner. "Chester's next door to an idiot; +lives close by you, by the way, Bloss, doesn't he?" + +All the men laughed; and even Barbara, after a look of amazement, +could not help smiling. + +"He's dreadfully frightened of the critics," said another man sitting +by. "You must notice him in the _Statesman_ yourself, Churchill, eh?" + +"Or I'll speak to Harding. Poor Chester! he mustn't be allowed to come +to grief. What are his verses like? has any one seen them?" + +"I have," said Mr. Bloss. "They're really--they're--well--they're not +so very bad, you know." + +"What a burst of candour!" said Mr. Dunster. "Bloss, you are a young +reviewer, and I must caution you against such excessively strong +statements." + +"Chester's most afraid of the _Scourge_," said the man who had spoken +before; "he thinks it will flay him." + +"He should mollify them by saying that his verses were written at 'an +early age,'" laughed Churchill. + +"That wouldn't do for the _Scourge_; they would say the verses were +too bad even to have been written by a child in arms," said Mr. +Dunster. + +"How _very_ nice! What an old dear you are, Dunster!" said a gentleman +sitting in a corner of the fireplace exactly opposite Barbara, with +his legs stretched out on a stool, and his body reclining on an +easy-chair. This was Mr. Lacy, an artist, who, as it was, made a very +good income, but who might have taken the highest rank had his +perseverance been on a par with his talent; a sleepy, dreamy man, with +an intense appreciation of and regard for himself. + +"What do you think of all this, Mrs. Churchill?" asked Bloss; "they +are any thing but compassionate in their remarks." + +"They may be or not," said Barbara, wearily. "It is all Greek to me: +while these gentlemen talk what I believe is called 'shop,' I am +utterly unable to follow the conversation." + +Frank looked uneasily across at his wife, but said nothing. + +"What shall we talk about, Mrs. Churchill?" said Mr. Dunster, with an +evil twinkle of his blue eyes. "Shall it be the last ball in the +Belgravia, or the new _jupe_; how Mario sang in the _Prophète_, or +whether bonnets will be worn on or off the head?" + +Churchill frowned at this remark, but his brow cleared as Barbara said +with curling lip: + +"You need not go so far for illustrations of what you don't +understand, Mr. Dunster. Let us discuss tolerance, domestic +enjoyments, or the pleasure of being liked by any one,--all of which +axe, I am sure, equally strange to you." + +Mr. Dunster winced, and the fire faded out of his blue eyes: he did +not understand being bearded. Frank Churchill, though astonished at +seeing his wife defiant, was by no means displeased. Old Mr. Lacy, +fearing a storm, which would have ruffled him sadly, struck in at +once: + +"It's a mistake, my dear Churchill; I'm convinced of it. We're not fit +for these charming creatures, we artists and writers, believe me. +We're a deucedly irritable, growling, horrible set of ruffians, who +ought to be left, like a lot of Robinson Crusoes, each on a separate +island. I can fully enter into Mrs. Churchill's feelings; and I've no +doubt that Mrs. Lacy feels exactly the same. But what do I do? I'm +compelled to shut the door in Mrs. Lacy's face--to lock Mrs. Lacy out. +She's a most excellent woman, as you know, Churchill; but she always +wants to talk to me when I ought to be at work; now, on a sky-day, for +instance! There are very few days in the year in this detestable +climate, my dear Mrs. Churchill, which permit of one's seeing the sky +sufficiently to paint it. When such a day does happen, I go to my +studio and lock the door; but I've scarcely set my palette, before +they come and rap, and want to talk to me--to ask me about the +butcher, or to tell me about the nurse's sister, or something; and I'm +obliged to whistle or sing to prevent my hearing 'em, or I should get +interested about the nurse's sister, and open the door, and then my +day's work would be spoilt." + +"You're right, Lacy," said Dunster: "men who've got work to do should +remain single. They'll never--" + +"Come, you're polite to my wife," said Frank. "This is flat blasphemy +against the state into which we've just entered." + +"Oh, pray don't let the conversation, evidently so genial, be stopped +on my account. I'm tired, and am just going;" and with a sweeping bow +Barbara sailed out of the room. + +An hour afterwards, when Frank looked in from his dressing-room, he +saw in the dim light Barbara's hair streaming over the pillow, and +going to her found traces of tears on her cheeks. Tenderly and eagerly +he asked her what had happened. + +"Oh, Frank, Frank!" she exclaimed, bursting into fresh sobs; "I see it +all now! What those horrid men said is too true! We were worse than +mad to marry. Your friends will never understand me, while I shall +interfere with your work and your pleasure; and, oh! I am so very, +very miserable myself!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +THE FLYBYNIGHTS. + + +To such of womankind as knew of its existence there were few places in +London so thoroughly unpopular as the Flybynights Club. And yet it was +an unpretending little room, boasting none of the luxury of decoration +generally associated in the female mind with notions of club-life, and +offering no inducement for membership save that it was open at very +abnormal hours, and that it was very select. The necessary +qualification for candidature was that you should be somebody; no +matter what your profession (provided, of course, that you were a +gentleman by position), you must have made some mark in it, shown +yourself ahead of the ruck of competitors, before you could have been +welcome among the Flybynights. Two or three leading advocates, +attached for the most part to the criminal bar; half-a-dozen landscape +and figure painters of renown; half-a-dozen actors; a sporting man or +two, with the power of talking about something else besides Brother to +Bluenose's performances; two or three City men, who combined the most +thorough business habits with convivial tastes in the "off" hours; a +few members of Parliament, who were compelled to respect the room as a +thoroughly neutral ground; a few journalists and authors, and a +sprinkling of nothing-doing men about town,--formed the corporate body +of the club. What was its origin? I believe that certain members of +the Haresfoot Club, finding that establishment scarcely so convivial +as report had led them to believe; that the _Dii majores_ of the house +were a few snuffy old gentlemen, without an idea beyond the assertion +of their own dignity and the keeping up of some dreary fictions and +time-worn conventionalities; that the delights of the smoking-room, so +much talked of in the outer world, in reality consisted in sitting +between a talkative barrister and a silent stockbroker, or listening +to the complaints against the management of the club by the committee; +finding, in fact, that the place was dull, bethought them of +establishing another where they could be more amused. Hence the +Flybynights. + +The Flybynights had no house of their own; they merely occupied a room +on the basement of the Orpheus tavern,--a dull sombre old room, with +big couches and lounges covered with frayed leather, with a smoky +old green-flock paper, and with no ornament save a battered old +looking-glass in a fly-blown frame. Occasionally roisterers new to +town, on their way to the big concert-room of the Orpheus, where they +were to be enchanted with the humour of Mr. Bloss's "Dying Cadger's +Lament," or the pathos of Mr. Seeinault's "Trim-built Wherry," would +in mistake push open the green-baize door leading to the Flybynights +sanctum, and immediately withdraw in dismay at the dinginess of the +room and the grim aspect of its occupants. That grimness, however, was +only assumed at the apparition of a stranger; when the members were +alone among themselves, perfect freedom from restraint was the rule. +And if, on the next morning, the jurymen who listened with awe to the +withering denunciations which fell from the lips of the learned +counsel for the prosecution,--the bank-directors who nodded approval +to the suggestions of certain shrewd financiers,--the noble sitters +who marked the brows of the artists engaged on their portraits, +"sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,"--nay, even the patients +who gazed with eager eyes to glean something from the countenances of +the physicians then clutching their pulses,--had seen counsel, +financiers, artists, and physicians on the previous evening at the +Flybynights, they could not have recognised them for the same men. The +fame of the club spread; anecdotes and _bon-mots_ ran round town more +quickly, and were better received, when they had the Flybynight stamp. +It was rumoured that O'Blank and Macaster, the great authors, were +occasionally to be seen there in the flesh, conversing like ordinary +mortals; heavy swells found out that it was open as late as Pratt's, +and asked each other, in elliptic phraseology, "Whether 'twasn't good +kind place, eh? met 'musing kind fellahs there; made laugh'n, that +kind thing?" But though they made various attempts at election, they +never got beyond an occasional visit to the club; friendly attempts to +smuggle them in as members were dead failures; and at every ballot, +generally held at midnight, the strident voice of Rupert Robinson, +author and dramatist, could be heard asking, at the mention of any +candidate's name, "Who is he? what can he do? what has he done?" +questions which, unless satisfactorily answered, caused the immediate +pilling of the pretender to association with the Flybynights. + +A few weeks after the Schröders' reception, Beresford and Simnel, who +had been dining together, strolled into the club soon after midnight. +Beresford was a member; Simnel came as his guest; the latter would +have been safe of election, as his tact and shrewdness were very +generally known and highly esteemed amongst the men, but he always +refused to be put in nomination. "It's all very well for Beresford," +he would say; "he's a Commissioner, and can do as he likes; I'm an +upper servant; and though you're a deuced pleasant set of fellows, you +haven't got a great name for respectability with the B.P., or British +Public, whom I serve. It's horribly virtuous, is the B.P., and is +always in bed before you sweet youths meet in this bower of bliss. So +that though I'm delighted to come occasionally with Charley and pay +you a visit, I must be in a position, if called upon, to swear that +I'm not an affiliated member of your sacred brotherhood." The other +men understood all this, and liked Simnel better for his candour; and +there was no visitor at the Flybynights more welcome than he. It was a +great occasion at the Flybynights; one of the members, Mr. Plinlimmon +the poet, had that day been giving a lecture "On Sentiment, its Use +and Abuse," at St. Cecilia's Hall, and had had great success. For Mr. +Plinlimmon was not a mere common poet who made verses and sold +them; he was cousin to Lady Heritage, whose husband was the Lord +Privy-Purse; and he was very well off, and wrote only for his +amusement, and consequently was the very man to be patronised. +Moreover, he wrote weak little verselets, like very-much-diluted +Wordsworth, abounding in passages quotable for Academy pictures of +bread-and-butter children; and he was much taken up by Mr. +Spicklittle, the editor of the _Boomerang Magazine_, so soon as it was +understood that he stood well with the fashionable world. And there +had been a very fashionable audience at St. Cecilia's Hall to hear Mr. +Plinlimmon on "Sentiment," and the stalls had been filled with what +was afterwards stated in the public prints to be the rank and flower +of the land; and high-born women had complimented him on the +conclusion of his labours, and had voted his lecture charming; all of +which thoroughly consoled the lecturer, and enabled him to forget the +rude conduct of certain rough-spoken critics in the body of the hall, +who had loudly cried "Bosh!" at his finest passages, and gone out with +much shuffling of thick boots and dropping of heavy walking-sticks +long before his peroration. And after dining with a countess, Mr. +Plinlimmon thought that the right thing was to go down and show +himself at the Flybynights Club, of which he was a member; and he had +entered the room just before Beresford and Simnel arrived. + +"Hail, Plinlimmon!" shouted Mr. Magnus the historian, with kindly +glances beaming through his spectacles; "hail, bard of the +what-d'ye-call-it! How air you, colonel?" + +"Hallo, Plinlimmon!" shouted Mr. Rupert Robinson; "been giving a show, +haven't you? what sort of house did you have? who looked after your +checks? you were very well billed, I noticed." + +Plinlimmon shuddered. + +"Lecturing, haven't you?" asked Mr. Slater, critic of the _Moon_. + +"Yes," said Plinlimmon, "I have been giving a lecture." + +"Ah!" said Mr. Schrink, critic of the _Statesman_, "if I'm not wrong, +Dr. Johnson defines the verb to lecture as to 'instruct insolently and +dogmatically.' You're quite capable of that, Plinlimmon." + +"What was your subject, sir?" asked Mr. Mugg, low comedian of the +Sanspareil Theatre. + +"Sentiment, sir!" said Mr. Plinlimmon, fiercely; it began to dawn on +him that he was being chaffed. + +"Deary me!" said Mr. Mugg, with feigned wonder and uplifted hands; +"sentiment, eh? them's my sentiments!" + +"Silence, you ribalds!" said Mr. Magnus. "You had a large attendance, +I hear, Plinlimmon; more women than men, though, I suppose? Men don't +come in the daytime." + +"There was a great gathering of the female aristocracy," said +Plinlimmon, perking up his head. + +"One old woman jawing always brings together a lot of others," +growled Mr. Dunster, beneath his breath. He had been apparently +dozing in a far corner of the room, but had roused up at the word +"aristocracy,"--as sure an irritant to him as a red rag to a +bull,--and his bright blue eyes were gleaming. + +"I didn't think much of your delivery, Plinlimmon," said Mr. Slater. + +"It was as slow as a midday postman's, and not so sure," said Mr. +Schrink; "you got uncommonly drowsy and bag-pipy at times." + +"I'll tell you what it is Plinlimmon," said Mr. Dunster; "you are +uncommonly dreary! You're a swell, and you can't help it; but you were +horribly slow. I'll tell you what it is, my young friend; you're far +too dull by yourself,--_you want a piano_." + +During the roar which followed this remark, Beresford felt a light +touch on his arm, and turning round saw Dr. Prater. + +Not to be known to Dr. Prater was to confess that the "pleasure of +your acquaintance" was of little value; for assuredly, had it been +worth any thing, Dr. Prater would have had it by hook or by crook. A +wonderful man, Dr. Prater, who had risen from nothing, as his +detractors said; but however that might be, he had a practice scarcely +excelled by any in London. Heart and lungs were Dr. Prater's +specialities; and persons imagining themselves afflicted in those +regions came from all parts of England, and thronged the doctor's +dining room in Queen-Anne Street in the early forenoons, vainly +pretending to read Darwin _On the Fertilisation of Orchids, the Life +of Captain Hedley Vicars_, or the Supplement of yesterday's _Times_; +and furtively glancing round at the other occupants of the room, and +wondering what was the matter with them. That dining-room looked +rather different about a dozen times in the season, of an evening, +when the books were cleared away, and the big bronze gas-chandelier +lighted, and the doctor sat at the large round-table surrounded by a +dozen of the pleasantest people in London. Such a mixture! Never +was such a man for "bringing people together" as Dr. Prater. The +manager of the Italian Opera (Dr. Prater's name was to all the +sick-certificates for singers) would be seated next to a judge, who +would have a leading member of the Jockey Club on his other hand, and +a bishop for his _vis-à-vis_. Next the bishop would be a cotton-lord, +next to him the artist of a comic periodical, and next to him a rising +member of the Opposition, with an Indian colonel and an American +comedian, here on a starring engagement, in juxtaposition. The dinner +was always good, the wines excellent, and the doctor was the life and +soul of the party. He had something special to say to every one; and +as his big protruding eyes shone and glimmered through his gold-rimmed +spectacles, he looked like a convivial little owl. A very different +man over the dinner-table to the smug little pale-faced man in black, +whom wretched patients found in the morning sitting behind a +leather-covered table, on which a stethoscope was conspicuously +displayed, and who, after sounding the chests of consumptive curates +or struggling clerks, would say, with an air of blandness, dashed with +sorrow, "I'm afraid the proverbially treacherous air of our climate +will not do for us, my dear sir! I'm afraid we must spend our winter +at Madeira, or at least at Pau. _Good_ day to you;" and then the +doctor, after shaking hands with his patient, would slip the tips of +his fingers into his trousers-pockets, into which would fall another +little paper-package to join a number already there deposited, while +the curate or clerk, whose yearly income was perhaps two hundred +pounds, and who probably had debts amounting to twice his annual +earnings, would go away wondering whether it was better to endeavour +to borrow the further sum necessary at ruinous interest, or to go back +and die in the cold Lincolnshire clay parish, or in the bleak Northern +city, as the case might be. On one thing the doctor prided himself +greatly, that he never let a patient know what he thought of him. He +would bid a man remove his waistcoat with a semi-jocund air, and the +next instant listen to a peculiar "click" inside his frame, which +betrayed the presence of heart-disease liable at any moment to carry +the man off, without altering a muscle of his face or a tone of his +voice. "Hum! ha! we must be a little careful; we must not expose +ourselves to the night-air! Take a leetle more care of yourself, my +dear sir; for instance, I would wear a wrap round the throat--some +wrap, you know, to prevent the cold striking to the part affected. +Send this to Bell's, and get it made up, and take it three times a-day; +and let me see you on--on Saturday. _Good_ day to you." And there +would not be the smallest quiver in the hard metallic voice, or the +smallest twinkle in the observant eye behind the gold-rimmed glasses, +although the doctor knew that the demon Consumption, by his buffet, +had raised that red spot on the sufferer's cheek, and was rapidly +eating away his vitality. + +But if Dr. Prater kept a strict reticence to his patients as regarded +their own ailments, he was never so happy as when enlarging to them on +the diseases of their fellow-sufferers, or of informing esoteric +circles of the special varieties of disorder with which his practice +led him to cope. "_You_ ill, my dear sir!" he would say to some puny +specimen; then, settling himself into his waistcoat after examination, +"_you_ complain of narrow-chestedness,--why, my dear sir, do you know +Sir Hawker de la Crache? You've a pectoral development which is +perfectly surprising when contrasted with Sir Hawker's. But then he, +poor man! last stage,--Madeira no good,--would sit up all night +playing whist at Reid's Hotel. Algiers no good,--too much brandy, +tobacco, and _baccarat_ with French officers--nothing any good. _You_, +my dear sir, compared to Sir Hawker--pooh, nonsense!" Or in another +form: "Any such case, my dear madam? any such case?"--turning to a +large book, having previously consulted a small index--"a hundred +such! Here, for instance, Lady Susan Bray, now staying at Ventnor, +living entirely on asses'-milk--in some of our conditions we must live +on asses'-milk--left lung quite gone, life hanging by a thread. You're +a Juno, ma'am, in comparison to Lady Susan!" There was no mistake, +however, about the doctor's talent; men in his own profession, who +sneered at his _charlatanerie_ of manner, allowed that he was +thoroughly well versed in his subject. He was very fond of young men's +society; and, with all his engagements, always found time to dine +occasionally with the Guards at Windsor, with a City Company or two, +or with a snug set _en petit comité_ in Temple chambers, and to visit +the behind-scenes of two or three theatres, the receptions of certain +great ladies, and occasionally the meetings of the Flybynights Club. +To the latter he always came in a special suit of clothes on account +of the impregnation of tobacco-smoke; and when coming thither he left +his carriage and his address, in case he was required, at the Minerva, +with orders to fetch him at once. It would never have done for some of +his patients to know that he was a member of the Flybynights. + +Such was Dr. Prater, who touched Beresford on the arm and said, "Not +again, my dear sir! I will not be balked of the opportunity of saying, +'how d'ye do?' to you again." + +"Ah, doctor," said Beresford with that apparent frankness and +_bonhomie_ to which he owed so much of his popularity, "delighted to +see you! But what do you mean 'balked of the opportunity'? Where was +that?" + +"A few weeks since, just before I left town;--I've been away, and Dr. +Seaton has kindly attended to my practice;--we met at the house of our +charming friend Mrs. Schröder; but I could not catch your eye. You +were too well engaged; there was, as somebody--I don't know who, but +somebody that every one knows--has said, there was metal more +attractive. Ha! ha! A charming woman, Mrs. Schröder! a very charming +woman!" + +"Very charming," echoed Mr. Beresford shortly, not particularly caring +about finding himself thoroughly focussed by the doctor's sharpest +glances concentrated through his spectacles. "By the way, don't you +know our secretary, Mr. Simnel, Dr. Prater?" + +The gentlemen bowed. "I have the pleasure of being well acquainted +with Mr. Simnel by name, and of being at the present moment engaged in +a correspondence with him in reference to a certificate which I have +given. And, by the way, my dear sir," turning to Simnel, "you really +must give young Pierrepoint his six weeks. You must indeed!" + +"If it rested with me, doctor, I'd give him unlimited leave; confer on +him the order of the 'sack,'" said Simnel, bluntly--"an idle stuck-up +young hound!" + +"Harsh words, my dear sir; harsh words! However, I will leave our +young friend's case with you and Mr. Beresford; I am sure it could not +be in better hands. You were not in Saxe-Coburg Square the other +night, I think? De-lightful party!" + +"No," said Simnel, "I'm not a great evening-party man myself; it's +only your butterflies of fashion, like our friend here, who enjoy +those light and airy gaieties. My pleasures are of a more substantial +kind. By the way, doctor, how's Kitty Vavasour's cough?" + +The doctor's eyes twinkled as he replied, "Oh, much better--very much +better. Horrible draught down that first entrance, my dear sir, as she +perhaps told--I mean, as you probably know. Dreadful draught! enough +to kill half the _coryphées_ in London. I've spoken to Grabb about it, +but he won't do any thing; and when I hinted at the drapery, asked +me if I thought he was going to let his ballet-girls dance in +bathing-gowns. Very rude man, Grabb." + +"Very good style they did that in the other night," said Beresford, +cutting in--"in Saxe-Coburg Square, I mean--very good, wasn't it? I +suppose it was the lady's taste; but when they get hold of a woman +with any notion of arrangement and effect, these _parvenu_ fellows +from the City certainly don't grudge the money for their fun. And in +the way the Schröders are living, the establishment must cost a pretty +sum, I should imagine." + +"A pretty sum indeed, my dear sir," said the doctor. "However, I +understand on all sides that Mr. Schröder can perfectly afford it. I +hear from those who ought to know" (a great phrase of Dr. Prater's, +this) "that his income is princely!" And then the doctor looked at the +other two and repeated "princely!" and smacked his lips as though the +word had quite a nice taste in his mouth. + +"It's a good thing to be a Polish Jew," growled Mr. Simnel. "This +fellow's ancestors lent money to long-haired Grafs and swaggering +Electors, and got their interest when they could; and thought +themselves deuced lucky not to get their teeth pulled out when they +asked for a little on account, or not to be put on the fire when they +presented their bill. Their descendant lives in pleasanter days; we've +given up pulling out their teeth, worse luck! And that neat little +instrument, 'Victoria, by the grace,' is as open to Jews as +Christians. I always thought there was something wrong in that." + +"This Schröder is a tremendously lucky fellow, by Jove!" said +Beresford. "He's got a very pretty wife and an enormous fortune; and +though he's not young, to judge from all appearances, has a +constitution of iron, and will live for years to enjoy his good +fortune." + +"Ah, my dear sir," said Dr. Prater in a low and solemn voice, "I'm +afraid you're not correct in one particular; not correct in one +particular!" and the little man shook his head and looked specially +oracular. + +Simnel glanced up at him at once from under his heavy eyebrows; but +Beresford only said, "Why, doctor, you're not going to try and make me +believe any envious disparagement of Schröder's riches?" + +"Not for the world, my dear sir; not for the world! Such rumours have +been spread! but, as you say, only among the envious and jealous, who +would whisper-away Coutts's credit, and decline to intrust their +miserable balance to Barings'! No; my doubts as to Schröder relate to +another matter." + +"His health?" said Simnel, who had kept his eyes on the solemn little +man, and was regarding him keenly. + +"Pre-cisely!" said the doctor. And he stepped aside for an instant, +helped himself to a pinch of snuff from a box on a neighbouring table, +and returned to his companions, gazing up at them with a solemn steady +stare that made him look more like an owl than ever. + +"His health!" exclaimed Beresford, "why there's surely nothing the +matter with that! He has the chest of a horse and the digestion of an +ostrich. I don't know a man of his age to whom, to look at, you'd give +a longer life." + +"Right, my dear sir," replied the doctor, "right enough from a +non-professional view. But Mr. Schröder, like the gentleman of whom I +have heard, but whose name I can't call to mind, has that within which +passeth show. I _know_ the exact state of his condition." + +"This is very interesting," said Mr. Simnel, drawing closer to the +doctor on the ottoman; "very interesting, indeed; yours is a wonderful +profession, doctor, for gaining insight into men and things. Would it +be too much to ask you to tell us a little more about this particular +case?" + +"Well, you know, I don't often talk of these matters; there are men in +our profession, my dear sir, who gossip and chatter, and I believe +make it pay very well; but they are men of no intellect, mere quacks +and charlatans--quacks and charlatans! But with gentlemen like +yourselves, men of the world, I don't mind occasionally revealing a +few of the secrets of the--the--what d'ye call 'em?--prison-house. The +fact is--" and the doctor lowered his voice and looked additionally +solemn,--"that Mr. Schröder's life hangs by a thread." + +Both his listeners started, and Mr. Simnel from between his set teeth +said, "The devil!" + +"By a thread!" repeated the doctor, holding out his finger and thumb +as though he actually had the thread between them. "He may go off at +any moment; his life is not certain for an hour; he's engaged, as you +know, in tremendous transactions, and any sudden fright or passion +would be his certain death." + +"Ah, then his disease is--" + +"Heart, my dear sir, heart!" said the doctor, tapping himself on the +left side of his waistcoat; "his heart's diseased,--one cannot exactly +say how far, but I suspect strongly,--and he may go out at any moment +like the snuff of a candle." + +"Have you known this long?" asked Beresford. + +"Only two days: he came to me two days ago to consult me about a +little worrying cough which he described himself as having; and in +listening at his chest I heard the death-beat. No mistaking it, my +dear sir; when you've once heard that 'click,' you never forget it." + +"By Jove, how horrible!" said Simnel. + +"Poor devil! does he know it himself?" asked Beresford. + +"Know it, my dear sir? Of course not. You don't imagine _I_ told him? +Why the shock might have killed him on the spot. Oh, dear, no! I +prescribed for his cough, and told him specially to avoid all kind of +excitement: that was the only warning I dare give him." + +As the doctor said this, Mr. Simnel rose. "It's a horrible idea," said +he with a shudder--"horrible!" + +"Very common, my dear sir, very common. If you knew how many men there +are whom I meet out at dinner, in society, here and there, whom I know +to be as distinctly marked for death as if I saw the plague-spot on +their breasts!" + +"Well, you've completely frightened me," said Beresford. "I'll get +home to bed, and try and forget it in sleep. Are you coming, Simnel? +Good night, doctor." And the two gentlemen went out together, leaving +the little doctor already sidling up to another group. + +When they were out in the street, and had started on their homeward +walk, Simnel said to his companion: + +"That was strange news we've just heard." + +"Strange, indeed," replied Beresford. "Do you think the doctor's +right?" + +"Not a doubt of it; he's a garrulous idiot; as full of talk as an old +woman; but I have always heard very skilful in his profession, and in +this special disease I believe there are none to beat him. Oh, yes, +he's right enough. Well, you always held winning cards, and now the +game looks like yours." + +"Simnel," said Beresford, stopping short and looking up into his face, +"what the devil do you mean?" + +"Mean!" echoed Simnel; "I'll tell you when you come on; it's cold +stopping still in the streets, and the policeman at the corner is +staring at you in unmitigated wonder. Mean!" he repeated, as they +walked on; "well, it's not a very difficult matter to explain. You +hear that Schröder has heart-disease--that at any moment he may die. +You always had a partiality for Mrs. Schröder, I believe; and if there +be any truth in what I gather from yourself and others, you stand very +well with her." + +"Well?" + +"Well! You're dense to-night, Master Charley. Well? Why, you've as +great a chance as man ever had before you. You've only to wait until +what Prater told us of happens,--and if he's right, it won't be +long,--and then marry the widow and start as a millionaire." + +"By Jove, it _is_ a great chance!" said Beresford, looking at his +friend. + +"And yet you didn't see it until just now. Why, it opened straight up +in front of me the instant that chattering medico mentioned the fact. +If you play your cards well, you're all right; but remember, +flirtation and courtship are two different things, and must be managed +differently. And recollect it's for the latter you're now going in. +Now, here's my street, so adieu. Sleep on this matter, and we'll talk +of it to-morrow morning." + + +"It's a tremendous fluke," said Mr. Simnel, as he leisurely undressed +himself; "but it will serve my purpose admirably. That eight hundred +pounds of mine lent to Master Charley looks much less shaky than it +did, and what a trump-card to play with Kate!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +MR. SIMNEL AT THE DEN. + + +Two days after the events recorded in the last chapter, Mr. Simnel +left the Tin-Tax Office a couple of hours earlier than his usual time +of departure, and taking a cab, hurried off to his apartments in +Piccadilly. Overlooking the Green Park, sufficiently lofty to be +removed from the immediate noise of the traffic, and situate in that +part of the street which was macadamised, there were, perhaps, no more +delightful chambers in town than those occupied by the Tin-Tax +secretary. They consisted but of three rooms--sitting-room, +bed-chamber, and bath-room; but all were lofty and well-proportioned, +and were furnished in a thoroughly luxurious manner. A big bookcase, +with its contents admirably selected, covered one side of the +sitting-room, on the walls of which hung Raphael Morghen prints, and +before-letter proofs after Landseer, Leslie, and Stanfield; a round +table, over which were suspended three swinging moderator-lamps, with +white-china shades and crimson-silk fringe; a sofa and numerous +easy-chairs, all in crimson velvet and walnut-wood; rich spoils of +Bohemian glass, standing in odd corners on quaint oak cabinets; two +Sèvres china dogs, in begging attitude, mounting guard on either end +of the mantelshelf; and a flying female figure suspended across the +looking-glass;--such were among the incongruous contents of the room. +On the table, two yellow-paper covered French novels, a Horace, +and M'Culloch's Commercial Directory lay side by side; in the +looking-glass, cards for evening-parties and dinners were jostled by +tickets soliciting vote and interest in approaching elections of +charitable societies, remindings of gatherings of learned bodies, and +small bills for books or boots. It was Mr. Simnel's pleasure to keep +up this _mélange_; his time was generally fully occupied; he chose +people to consider that he had not a moment to himself; he wished +those who called on him on business to see the invitations, in order +that they might judge therefrom of his position in society; and he +took care that the attention of those idle droppers-in, who came on a +Sunday morning, for instance, or late at night, to have a chat, should +be directed to the business-cards, to give them a notion of his +standing in the money-making, business world. Since Mr. Simnel assumed +the reins at the Tin-Tax Office, two or three hundred men had sat with +their legs under that round table, discussing an excellent dinner, and +meeting pleasant people; but not one of them had ever left the room +without Mr. Simnel's feeling that his coming had been productive of +benefit to his host, and that the invitation had fully answered its +intent. Baron Oppenhardt, the great financier, never could tell what +made him accept Simnel's invitation, save that he knew his host was +connected with Government and had a long head of his own; yet he never +refused. And little Blurt, whose "connexion with the press" was of a +limited nature, never could understand why, biennially, he sat under +those shaded moderator-lamps in Piccadilly, and consumed Pommery Greno +out of bell-shaped glasses. But Simnel knew why he had them to dinner, +and took their value out of both Oppenhardt and Blurt. + +A long-headed man, Mr. Simnel, and, to judge from the strange smile on +his face on that particular day, full of some special scheme, as he +emerged from his bedroom and looked out into Piccadilly. Any thing but +a vain man, and long past the age when the decoration of one's person +enters largely into account, Mr. Simnel had yet paid special attention +to his toilette during the short interval which had elapsed since his +arrival at home from the Tin-Tax Office. He was got up with elaborate +care and yet perfect simplicity; indeed, there was a touch of the old +school in his drab riding-trousers, white waistcoat, blue cut-away +coat, and blue bird's-eye neckerchief, with small stand-up collars. A +glance into the street showed him that his horses were ready, and he +descended at once. At the door he found his groom mounted on a +knowing-looking gray cob, short, stiff, and sturdy, and leading a +splendid thoroughbred bright bay with black points. This Mr. Simnel +mounted and rode easily away. + +Through Decimus Burton's archway he turned into Hyde Park and made at +once for the Row. There were but few men lounging about there at that +time of the year, but Simnel was known to some of them; and after nods +had been exchanged, they fell to comparing notes about him and his +horse and his style of living, wondering how it was done, admiring his +cleverness, detracting from his position--talking, in fact, as men +will do of another who has beat them in this grand struggle for place +which we call life. The Row was very empty, and Simnel paid but little +attention to its occupants: now and then he occasionally raised his +whip mechanically in acknowledgment of some passing salute, but it is +to be doubted whether he knew to whom he was telegraphing, as his +thoughts were entirely fixed on his mission. However, he wore a +pleasant smile on his face, and that was quite enough: grinning, like +charity, covers a multitude of sins; and if you only smile and hold +your tongue, you can pass through life with an _éclat_ which excellent +eloquence, combined with a serious face, would fail to give. So Mr. +Simnel went smiling along at the easiest amble until he got clear of +the Row and the town, and then he gave the bay his head, and never +drew rein until he turned up a country lane immediately on passing +Ealing Common. + +Half way up this lane stood The Den, and evidences of Kate Mellon's +calling began to abound so soon as you turned out of the high-road. In +the fields on either side through the bare hedges one could see a +string of horses in cloths and head-pieces, each ridden by a groom, +skirting the hedges along which a proper riding-path had been made; +occasionally a yellow break, driven by a veteran coachman, with a +younger and more active coadjutor perched up behind, and standing with +his eyes on a level with the coach-box observing every motion of the +horses, would rumble by, while the clay-coloured gig containing Mr. +Sandcrack the veterinary surgeon, who, in his long white cravat, +beard, and tight trousers, looked a pleasant compound of a +dissenting-minister, a horse-jockey, and an analytical chemist, was +flying in and out of the lane at all times and seasons. Mr. Simnel +seemed accustomed to these scenes and thoroughly well known amongst +them, the grooms and breaksmen touched their hats to him, and he +exchanged salutations with Mr. Sandcrack, and told him that the bay +had got rid of all his wind-galls and never went better in his life. +So straight up the lane until he arrived at the lodge, and then, +before his groom could ride up, his cheery cry of "Gate!" brought out +the buxom lodge-keeper, and she also greeted Mr. Simnel with a curtsey +of recognition, and received his largesse as he rode through; so down +the little carriage-drive, past the pigeon-house elevated on a pole, +and the pointers' kennels, and the strip of garden cultivated by the +lodge-keeper, and in which one of the lodge-keeper's dirty chubby +children was always sprawling; past the inner gates, through which +could be caught glimpses of the circular straw-ride, and the stable +and loose boxes, and the neatly gravelled courtyard, up the sweep and +so to the house-door. Freeman, the staid stud-groom from Yorkshire, +had seen the visitor's entry from the stable, where he was +superintending, and hurried up to meet him. Before Mr. Simnel's own +groom had come alongside, Freeman was at his horse's head. + +"Mornin', sir," said he, touching his hat. "Missis is oop at +Fouracres, close by, givin' lesson to a young leddy, just by t' water +soide: joompin' brook, oi think. Howsever she'll be in d'rackly, oi +know." + +"All right, Freeman," said Mr. Simnel, leisurely dismounting. "Horses +all well? Fine weather for horseflesh, this!" + +"Ay, ay, it be, sir!" said the old man. "Stood be pratty well, oi'm +thinkin': coughs and colds, and that loike, as is allays case this +toime o' year." + +"Don't hurry Miss Mellon on my account, Freeman," said Mr. Simnel; "I +can wait. I'll go into the house, and you can let her know that I'm +here, when she comes in. By the way, Freeman, I haven't seen you since +Christmas: here's for old acquaintance' sake." + +Freeman touched his hat gratefully, but not submissively, as he +pocketed the half-sovereign which Mr. Simnel slipped into his +capacious palm, and moved off towards the stables with the groom and +the horses. + +"Good man, that," said Simnel to himself, as he went into the house. +"Straightforward, conscientious sort of fellow, and thoroughly devoted +to _her_. Proper style of man to have in an establishment: thoroughly +respectable--do one credit by his looks. If it ever comes off, I +certainly should keep Mr. Freeman on." + +Mr. Simnel passed on into the long low dining-room, where he found the +table spread for luncheon, with a very substantial display of cold +roast beef, fowls, and tongue, sherry, and a tall bottle of German +wine. He smiled as he noticed these preparations, and then leisurely +walked round the room. He paused at an oil-painting of Kate with a +favourite horse by her side. The artist evidently knew much more about +the equine than the human race. The horse's portrait was admirable, +but poor Kitty, with vermilion cheeks and glaring red hair, and a blue +habit with long daubs of light in it, like rain-streaks on a window, +was a lamentable object to look on. Only one other picture decorated +the walls, a portrait of the Right Hon. the Earl of Quorn, aged 61, +founder of the Society for the Relief of Incapacitated Jobmasters and +Horse-dealers, dedicated to him by his faithful servants the +publishers; representing a hale old gentleman, remarkable principally +for his extraordinary length of check-neckcloth, seated on a +weight-carrying cob, and staring intently at nothing. On a side-table +lay a thick book, _Youatt on the Horse_, and a thin pamphlet, +_Navicular not Incurable_, a _Little Warbler_ (poor Kitty!), and a kind +of album, into which a heterogeneous mixture of recipes for +horse-medicines, scraps of hunting news, lists of prices fetched at +the sales of celebrated studs, and other sporting memoranda had been +pasted. Simnel was looking through this, and had just come upon a slip +of printed matter, evidently cut from a newspaper, announcing the +appointment of Mr. Charles Beresford to be a commissioner of the +Tin-Tax Office, in place of Cockle pensioned--a slip against which +there were three huge deep pencil-scorings--when the door opened and +his hostess entered. + +Although her habit was draggled and splashed, and her hair disarranged +and blown about her face, Kate Mellon never had looked, to Simnel's +eyes at least, more thoroughly charming than she did at that instant. +The exercise she had just gone through had given her a splendid +colour, her eyes were bright and sparkling, her whole frame showed to +perfection in the tight-fitting jacket; and as she came into the room +and removed her hat, the knot of hair behind, loosened from the comb, +fell over her shoulders in golden profusion. She wound it up at once +with one hand, advancing with the other outstretched to her guest. + +"Sorry I'm late, Simnel," said she; "but I had a pupil here, and +business is business, as you know well enough. Can't afford to throw +away any chance, so I gave her her hour, and now she's off, and I am +all the better by a guinea. I didn't stop to change my habit because I +heard you were waiting, and I knew you wouldn't mind." + +"You couldn't look more enchanting than you do now, Kate," said +Simnel. + +"Yes, yes; I know," said Kitty; "all right! But I thought you knew +better than that. This is the wrong shop for flummery of that sort, as +you ought to have learnt by this time. Have some lunch?" + +They sat down to the table, and during the meal talked on ordinary +subjects; for the most part discussing their common acquaintance, but +always carefully avoiding bringing Beresford's name forward. When they +had finished, Kate said, "You want to smoke, of course. I think I +shall have a puff myself. No, thank you; your weeds are too big for +me; I've got some Queens here that old Sir John Elle sent me after I +broke that roan mare for his daughter. By George, what a brute that +was! nearly killed me at first, she did; and now you might ride her +with a pack-thread." + +Simnel did not reply. Kate Mellon curled herself up on an ottoman in +the window with her habit tucked round her; lit a small cigar; and +slowly expelling the smoke said, as the blue vapour curled round her +head, "And now to business! You wanted to talk to me, you said; and I +told you to come up to-day. What's it all about?" + +"About yourself, Kate. You know thoroughly well my feelings to you; +you know how often I have--" + +"Hold on a minute!" said Kate; "I know that you've been philandering +and hanging on about me,--or would have been, if I'd have let +you,--for this year past. I know that well enough; but I thought there +was to be none of this. I thought I'd told you to drop that subject, +and that you'd consented to drop it. I told you I wouldn't listen to +you, and--" + +"Why would not you listen to me, Kate?" said Simnel earnestly. + +"Why? Because--" + +"Don't trouble yourself to find an excuse; I'll tell you why," said +Simnel. "Because you were desperately bent on a fruitless errand; +because you were beating the wind and trying to check the storm; +because you were in love,--I must speak plainly, Kitty, in a matter +like this,--in love with a man who did not return your feeling, and +who even now is boasting of your passion, and laughing at you as its +dupe!" + +"What!" cried the girl, throwing away the cigar and starting to her +feet. + +"Sit down, child," said Simnel, gently laying his hand on her arm; +"sit down, and hear me out. I know your pluck and spirit; and nothing +grieves me more, or goes more against the grain with me, than to have +to tell you this. But when I tell you that the man to whom you so +attached yourself has spoken lightly and sneeringly of your +infatuation; that amongst his friends he has laughingly talked of a +scene which occurred on the last occasion of his visit to this house, +when you suggested that he should marry you--" + +"Did he say that?" asked the girl, pushing her hair back from her +face,--"did he say that?" + +"That and more; laughed at the notion, and--" + +"O my God!" shrieked Kate Mellon, throwing up her arms. "Spare me! +stop, for Heaven's sake, and don't let me hear any more. Did he say +that of me? Then they'll all know it, and when I meet them will grin +and whisper as I know they do. Haven't I heard them do it of others a +thousand times? and now to think they'll have the pull of me. O good +Lord, good Lord!" and she burst into tears and buried her face in her +handkerchief. Then suddenly rousing, she exclaimed: "What do you come +and tell me this for, Simnel? What business is it of yours? What's +your motive in coming and smashing me up like this?" + +"One, and one only," said Simnel in a low voice. "I wanted to prevent +your demeaning yourself by ever showing favour to a man who has +treated you so basely. I wanted you to show your own pride and spirit +by blotting this Beresford from your thoughts. I wanted you to do +this--whatever may be the result--because--I love you, Kate!" + +"That's it!" she cried suddenly--"that's it! You're telling me lies +and long stories, and breaking my heart, and making me make a fool of +myself, only that you may stand well with me and get me to like you! +How do I know what you say is true? Why should Charley do this? Why +did Charley refuse what I offered him? I meant it honestly enough, God +knows. Oh, why did he refuse it?" and again she burst into tears. + +"Oh, he did refuse it?" said Simnel, quietly. "So far, then you see I +am right; and you will find I am right throughout. I'll tell you why +he acted as he did to you. Because he's full of family pride, and +because he never cared for you one rush. At this very moment he is +desperately in love with a married woman, and is only awaiting her +husband's death to make her his wife!" + +"Can you prove that?" asked Kate eagerly. + +"I can! you shall have ample opportunity of satisfying yourself--" + +"Does the husband suspect?" + +"Not in the least." + +"That's right!" said the girl with sudden energy--"that'll do! Only let +me prove that, and I'll give him up for ever." + +"If I do this for you, Kitty, surely my love will be sufficiently +proved. You will then--" + +"Yes, we'll talk of that afterwards. I'll see you next week, and +you'll tell me more of this new love-affair of--of _his!_ Don't stop +now. I'm all out of sorts. You've upset me. I wasn't in condition. +I've been doing a little too much work lately. Go now, there's a good +fellow! Good-by." Then stopping suddenly--"You're sure you're not +selling me, Simnel?" + +"I swear it!" said Simnel. + +"I wish to heaven you had been," said the poor girl; "but we'll see +about the new business next week. I think we'll spoil that pretty game +between us, eh? There, good-by." And she set her teeth tight, and +rushed from the room. + +"So fax so good," said Mr. Simnel, as he rode quietly home. "She's +taken it almost a little too strongly. My plan now is to soften her +and turn her to me. I think I have a card in my hand that will win +that trick, and then--the game's my own!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +MR. BERESFORD IN PURSUIT. + + +The idea suggested by Simnel, after the interview with Dr. Prater at +the Flybynights, came upon Mr. Beresford with extraordinary force. It +opened up to him a new train of thought, gave a complete turn to his +intended course of life, afforded him matter for the deepest study and +reflection. As we have already seen, he was a man with a faultless +digestion, and without a scrap of heart--two qualities which had +undoubtedly greatly conduced towards his success in life, and towards +making him a careless, easy-going worldly philosopher. When he first +saw Miss Townshend at Bissett Grange, he remembered her as a cheery +little flirt whom he had met during the previous season; and finding +her companionable and amusing, determined to carry on a flirtation +which should serve as a pastime, and, at the break-up of the party, be +consigned to that limbo already replete with similar _amourettes_. The +presence of Captain Lyster, and the unmistakable evidence of his +passion for the young lady, gave Mr. Beresford very little annoyance; +he had a notion that, save in very exceptional cases, of which indeed +he had had no experience, women had a horror of an earnest lover; that +watchings and waitings, hangings on words, deep gazings into eyes, and +all outward signs of that passion which induces melancholy and affords +themes for poets, were as much _rococo_ and out of date as carrying a +lady's glove in your hat and perpetually seeking a fight with some one +on her account. He thought that women hated "dreary" lovers, and were +far more likely to be won by rattle, laughter, and raillery than by +the deepest devotion of a silent and sighing order. Moreover, as he +was only going in for flirtation, he would make his running while it +lasted, and leave the Captain to come in with the weight-carrying +proprieties after he had gone. + +So far at first. Then came the recollection of his straitened +position, the reflection that Miss Townshend was an heiress, and the +determination to go in seriously for a proposal--a determination which +was very short-lived, owing to the discovery of the lady's engagement +to Gustav Schröder. From the time of her marriage, Mrs. Schröder was +by Beresford mentally relegated to a corps which included several +married ladies of his acquaintance; for the most part young and pretty +women, whose husbands were either elderly, or immersed in business, +or, what was equally available, immersed in pleasure, and more +attentive to other men's wives than to their own; ladies who required +"notice," as they phrased it, and who were sufficiently good-looking +to command it from some men, between whom and themselves there existed +a certain understanding. Nothing criminal, nor approaching to +criminality; for despite the revelations of the Divorce Court, there +is, I take it, a something, whether it be in what is called our +phlegmatic temperament, whether it be in the bringing-up of our +English girls,--bringing-up of domesticity utterly unknown to +Continental-bred young ladies, which hallows and keeps constantly +present the image of the doting father and the tender mother, and all +the sacred home-associations,--a something which strengthens the weak +and arrests the hand of the spoiler, and leaves the sacrifice +incomplete. The necessity for "notice," or for "being understood," or +"for having some one to rely on" (the husband engaged in business or +in the House being, of course, utterly untrustworthy), has created a +kind of society which I can only describe as a kind of solid +bread-and-butter _demi-monde_--a _demi-monde_ which, as compared with +that state of existence known in France under the title, is as a club +to a tavern, where the same things are carried on, but in a far more +genteel and decorous manner. The relations of its different members to +each other are as free from Wertherian sentimentalism as they are from +Parisian license, and would probably be considered severely correct by +that circle of upper Bohemians, of whose lives the younger Dumas has +constituted himself the chronicler. + +Having, then, mentally appointed Mrs. Schröder a member of this +society, Mr. Beresford took upon himself the office of her cavalier, +and behaved to her in due form. When they were in company together, he +sedulously kept his eyes upon her, strove to anticipate her wishes, +and let her see that it was she who entirely absorbed him; he always +dropped his voice when he spoke to her, even though it were about the +merest trifle; and he invariably took notice of the arrangements of +her dress, hair, and appearance in general, and made suggestions +which, being in excellent taste, were generally approved and carried +out. Then he found out Mrs. Schröder's romantic side, a little bit of +nineteenth-century sentiment, dashed with drawing-room cynicism, which +found its exponent in Mr. Owen Meredith's weaker verses; and there +they found plenty of quotations about not being understood, and the +"little look across the crowd," and "what is not, might have been," +and other choice little sentiments, which did not tend to elevate Mr. +Gustav Schröder, then hard at work in the City, in his wife's good +opinion. Indeed, being a very weak little woman, with a parasitical +tendency to cling for support to something, and being without that +something, which she had hitherto found in Barbara, free from the +dread which her father's presence always imposed upon her, and having +no companion in her husband, Mrs. Schröder began to look forward with +more and more eagerness to her opportunities of meeting Charles +Beresford, to take greater and greater delight in his attentions and +his conversation, and to substitute a growing repugnance for her +hitherto passive endurance of Mr. Schröder. Charles Beresford was +gradually coming to occupy the principal position in her thoughts, and +this that gentleman perceived with mingled feelings of gratified +vanity and annoyance. "She's going a little too fast!" he had said to +himself; "this sort of thing is all very well; but she's making it a +mile too palpable! People will talk, and I'm not in a position to +stand any public scandal; and as for bolting, or any thing of that +sort, by Jove, it would be sheer ruin and nothing less." In this frame +of mind, it had more than once occurred to Mr. Beresford to speak to +Mrs. Schröder, and caution her as to her bearing towards him; but +fortunately for him, so thoroughly void of offence had been all their +relations hitherto, that he scarcely dared to hint at what he intended +to convey, without risking the accusation of imputing evil by his very +advice. And in the mean time, while he hesitated what course to take, +came Dr. Prater's information, which at once changed all his plans. + +The day after the conversation at the Flybynights, Mr. Beresford left +town and remained away for a week. The first day after his return, he +went into Mr. Simnel's room at the Office, and found that gentleman as +usual surrounded with work. Contrary, however, to his general custom, +Simnel no sooner looked up and saw Beresford than he threw down the +pen which he was plying, rose, and advancing shook his friend heartily +by the hand. + +"Glad to see you back, Charley!" he said; "I was afraid you were off +for a ramble by your leaving no message and no address. Some of the +old games, eh? You must give them up now, Master Charley, and live +circumspectly; by Jove, you must." + +"Nothing of the sort," replied Beresford. "Gayford, who was chief here +before Maddox, was an old friend of our family; and he's ill, poor old +boy, so I went out of charity to stay with him. He's got a place at +Berkhampstead, and there's deuced good hunting-country round there. I +had three capital days; Gayford's daughters were out; clipping riders, +those girls; good as Kate Mellon any day!" + +"Indeed!" said Mr. Simnel, wincing a little at the name: "I should +think flirting with any body's daughters, be they ever so 'clipping,' +as you call it, would be time wasted for you just now, wouldn't it?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Beresford, knowing perfectly, but anxious +that the declaration should come from his companion. + +"Mean!" said Simnel, somewhat savagely. "What ant I likely to mean? +That you ought to stick to your duties here and earn your salary; that +Sir Hickory has heard that you go to the Argyle Rooms, and is going to +speak to Lord Palmerston about it; that you're hurting your health or +spoiling your complexion by keeping late hours,--is that why I'm +likely to tell you to live circumspectly? What rubbish it is fencing +with me in this way! You know that the last time we met was at that +nightclub of yours; that we had a talk there with Dr. Prater; and that +you determined--" + +"I know," interrupted Beresford with a start--"I know," he continued, +looking round, "I'm not over particular; but I confess this plotting +for a dead man's shoes seems to me infernal rascality." + +"What do you mean by 'plotting,' Charles Beresford? _I_ am plotting +for no dead man's shoes. _I_ have no hope of marrying a pretty widow, +and having a splendid income; and as for rascality--" + +"There, I didn't mean it; I only thought--" + +"Nor, on the other hand," pursued Mr. Simnel, relentlessly, "am _I_ +over head and ears in debt, pressed by Jews, horribly impecunious, +and--" + +"Leave me alone, Simnel, can't you? I know all this; and as you must +be perfectly certain, I've turned this Schröder affair over in my mind +a hundred times already." + +"And what have you decided?" + +"To go in for it at all hazards." + +"I think you're right," said Simnel quietly; "it seems to me your last +chance; and though it's not strictly a very nice business, there are +hundreds of men holding their heads up before the world, which very +much esteems them, who have made their money in far worse +transactions. You'll require an immense amount of patience and tact." + +"The former undoubtedly. Prater said he might go at any moment +if--what was it?--any thing excited or annoyed him. Question is what +does excite a fellow of that sort--Muscovadoes being high, or +gray-shirtings scarce, or pig-iron in demand, or some of those things +one sees in the paper--banks breaking or stocks falling, eh? As for +the tact, I don't think that will be required now." + +"How do you mean--_now?_" + +"Because it's all squared already," said Beresford complacently. +"I've only to go in and win whenever I like I imagine. To tell the +truth--though a man doesn't talk of these things, of course--I've +being fighting shy of it lately, rather than pressing it on." + +"Yes, yes, of course," said Simnel impatiently; "I know all about +that; but don't you see that the greatest tact will be required +because your plan of operations must be entirely changed? You have +been carrying on a very animated flirtation within certain limits; but +now you are going in for a totally different thing. You are going +in--sit down, and let us talk this over quietly, it's rather +important: I know you've great experience in such matters; but just +listen to my humble advice, it may be worth hearing,--you are going in +to make sure of marrying a woman after her husband's death; an event +likely to occur at any time. To insure success there are two ways--one +by compromising her--" + +"By Jove, Simnel!" exclaimed Beresford through his shut teeth. + +"Be quiet, and don't interrupt--I'm not going to brush the down off +your virtue! As I said, by compromising her, by which you gain a hold +upon her which she cannot shake off, and must always acknowledge and +bow to, when required. But this, besides being wrong and unjust, and +all that sort of thing--which I don't so much mind--is risky, which I +dislike; and if detected, brings the whole fabric to the ground. So we +may put that on one side." + +"Ah!" said Beresford, with a sigh of relief; "and the other?" + +"The other is a totally different method, and unlike any thing you +have ever tried, I suspect, with any one. It is simply by professing +hopeless, unswerving, unconquerable spooniness. You have +hitherto--pardon the question--merely looked and sighed, &c.? Ah, I +thought so; that gesture was quite satisfactory as to the amount of +tenderness. Well now, then, you must declare yourself. Quietly, of +course, and, if you please, without any manifestations, which would +entirely spoil our plan, the essence whereof is virtue. You declare +yourself to this effect: that you are so completely smitten that you +can keep silence no longer; that previous to going away for a +lengthened period (for you believe that expatriation is the only thing +that will afford temporary relief), you have determined on speaking to +her, fearing she might think your absence strange, or hear its cause +wrongly explained by somebody else; that yours is not like the feeble +sentiment of the butterflies who flutter around her, &c. &c.; but a +deep and stedfast passion, which will only cease with life. You know +all that business. Then, that your respect for her is so great, that +you will not give scandal the smallest chance of a whisper. Had you +met in happier times--oh! you did, eh? Well, then, had you been in a +position, when you first met, to have offered, &c.; but now, too late! +love for ever; but leave for ever--foreign climes." + +"Yes; but you know well enough I can't go abroad, and--" + +"My dear fellow, she'll never dream of your doing any thing of the +sort. If I've any knowledge of women, she'll be deeply affected, as +she ought to be by your deucedly romantic story. She'll say a good +deal about 'if,' in reference to former years; she'll state her full +determination to do nothing approaching the smallest shadow of wrong; +but she'll avow she should be miserable at the idea of being the cause +of your banishment, and therefore she'll entreat you to stop in +England and be her brother." + +"Be her brother?" + +"Ay, and a first-rate position you'll have of it as her brother. +There'll be an immense amount of sentiment in the connexion; she'll +defer to you in every thing; your presence will always keep every body +else off, and she'll never dream of carrying on with any one but you. +How could she expect again to meet with such delicacy as you've shown? +And if any thing _should_ happen, you're safe to be first in the field +and to carry off the cup. Now do you see the line of country?" + +"Oh, yes, I see it fast enough, and I've no doubt I can manage it. +It's rather a duffing business altogether; however, needs must, and I +musn't risk any more flukes. One thing I _am_ curious about, Simnel." + +"What's that?" + +"Why you take such an interest in this business? You first put me on +to it, and you've evidently given it some of your precious time in +thinking it out while I've been away. Be frank for once in your life, +and say--" + +"Why does it interest _me?_" said Simnel, nursing his leg, and giving +a grin which showed all his big teeth. "Well, Master Charley, your +memory has never been good, but you might occasionally recollect that +you owe me eight hundred pounds!" + +"Yes," said Beresford, "I know that well enough; but it isn't for that +alone. You'll be safe to get that, if I marry and come into money; but +there's something more in it than that, I know. It's that business +with the name of that firm that you made me say to old Townshend, +isn't it now, eh?" + +"What, Pigott and Wells!" said Simnel, rocking to and fro--"Pigott and +Wells of Combcardingham? Well, perhaps that has something to do with +it; who knows? Meantime, stick to what I've told you; begin at once, +and in a month's time come to me with a good report." + +And so ended the colloquy between this precious pair. + + + * * * * * + + +Pursuing his instructions with a certain amount of relish, and all the +experience of an accomplished and versatile actor, Mr. Beresford threw +himself into his new character with spirit, and made a decided hit in +it. All the raillery and nonsense, all the smiles and laughter, had +vanished. Owen Meredith had been exchanged for Lord Byron; and Mr. +Beresford as a nineteenth-century London-made Giaour was doing +terrible execution to that feeble little bit of Mrs. Schröder's +anatomy which she called her heart. There was no one to say a kind +word, to give proper advice, to the poor little woman in her need. +Barbara was absolutely lost to her: she had been two or three times to +Great Adullam Street, and Barbara had returned the call; but there was +evident restraint on both sides. The outside show of friendship +remained, but there was no animating spirit; none such, at least, as +to call for the kind of confidence which Alice Schröder would gladly +have made, had she received the slightest invitation. But Barbara was +not the Barbara of old days: she looked worn and anxious, was +constantly preoccupied, and answered at random; she confined herself, +moreover, to the merest commonplaces in her conversation, so that +Alice got no help from her. Nor from her father had she any +supervision: strict to a fault before her marriage, Mr. Townshend, +having once settled his daughter, imagined that his duty in life was +done, and that henceforth he might devote himself entirely to +pleasure, consisting in haunting the City by day and the whist-tables +at the Travellers by night. And it began to be noticed that this +hitherto model British merchant drank a great deal of wine with his +dinner, and a great deal of brandy after it; and there were ugly +rumours running about 'Change and drifting through Garraway's; and +Townshend's clerks were rather in request at the Bay Tree, and were +manifestly pumped as to whether there was any thing wrong with their +governor, under the guise of being requested to "put a name" to what +they would like to drink. It may be imagined, therefore, that under +this state of circumstances Mr. Townshend had neither time nor +inclination to bestow any advice upon that daughter, who, as he was in +the habit of saying, "had made such a splendid alliance." With her +husband Alice had, as has before been said, nothing in common. He +was a cold, proud, well-meaning man, who gloried as much as a +white-blooded elderly person can be said to glory in his riches and +his state, and who liked to have a pretty, elegant, well-dressed woman +before him at table, in the same way that he liked to have a stout +big-whiskered butler in a white waistcoat behind him. He liked his +wife, when he had time to think about her; but he had been brought up +in business, and that absorbed his whole attention by day; while +giving or going to parties, in which he could spend the result of what +he had attained by business, occupied him at night. But he had the +highest opinion of Mrs. Schröder's conduct, which he imagined was on a +par with every thing else in the establishment--real and genuine; and +he paid her bills, and presented her with cheques, with lavish +generosity. Only he was not exactly the man on whose bosom a wife +could lay her head and confess that she was tempted beyond her +strength. + +There was a man who, without being much mixed up with this little +episode in the great drama of human life, overlooked some of the +scenes, and saw the dangers to which one of the characters was rapidly +exposing herself. That man was Fred Lyster, the one sentiment of whose +life--his love for Alice Townshend--was as fresh and as green and as +pure as ever. The announcement of her engagement was a great shock to +him, and he had taken care only to meet her face to face once or twice +since her marriage. The meeting upset him; and though she was +apparently unconscious of any feeling in the matter, it did her no +good; and there was no earthly reason why it should be. But he went +every where where she went, and watched her in the distance; his ears +were always on the alert whenever her name was mentioned in club +smoke-rooms and suchlike haunts of gossip; and he found, as he had +dreaded with fatal prescience, at Bissett, that Beresford was on the +trail. Long and earnestly he deliberated with himself as to what +course he should pursue. Should he pick a quarrel on some other topic +with Beresford, and shoot him? Shooting had gone out of fashion; and +if he killed his man, he should be exiled from England; if he didn't +kill him, where was the use of challenging him? Should he speak to Mr. +Townshend? or was there no female friend to whom he could apply? Yes; +Barbara Churchill. In Barbara Churchill he had the greatest +confidence, and to her he would go at once. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +BARBARA'S FIRST LESSON IN THE MANÈGE. + + +For some few months after the events just described, the lives of +those who form the characters of this little drama passed evenly on +without the occurrence of any circumstance worthy of special record on +the part of their historian. Mr. Beresford, implicitly following Mr. +Simnel's advice, proceeded to lay siege to Mrs. Schröder in the manner +agreed upon, and found his advances received very much after the +fashion predicted by his astute friend. In all child-like simplicity +Mrs. Schröder firmly believed in the baneful influence which she had +unconsciously exercised over her admirer, and strove to make him +amends by a charitable and sentimental pity. She could perfectly +appreciate all his feelings; for was not she herself misunderstood? +had her girlhood's dream been realised? what was wealth, what was +position, to her? was she not mated with one who, &c.? So she not +merely permitted but encouraged Mr. Beresford's fraternal sentiments; +though she by no means eschewed the world and its frivolity, and gave +herself up to solitary romance. On the contrary, she went out a great +deal into society, and had frequent receptions at home; Beresford +being her constant but always unobtrusive companion. It is difficult +to say what motive about this time prompted a considerable change in +Mr. Schröder's manner towards his wife; but some such change +undoubtedly took place. It may possibly have been that the +insufficiency of money as a source of happiness may have dawned upon +him, steeped as he was to his very lips in constantly-increasing +wealth. It may have been that he suddenly awoke to the fact that he +was expected to lavish something more than generosity on the young +girl whom he had made the head of his house, and who, as he thought, +conducted herself with so much propriety. This new feeling may have +had its germ one night when they were sitting in their grand-tier box +at the Italian Opera, during the performance of _Der Freischütz_; and +as the old familiar strains rang through the house, Gustav Schröder's +memory travelled back for five-and-thirty years, and he saw himself a +lad of seventeen, seated in the pit of a little German theatre by the +side of a plump little girl, who wore a silver arrow through the great +knot of her flaxen hair, and down whose cheeks tears were rolling as +she listened to the recital of Agatha's woes. He had loved that plump +little Kätchen, loved her with a boy's pure and ardent passion; and +when sent to his uncle's counting-house at Frankfort, they had parted +with bitter tears, and with the exchange of very cheap and worthless +love-tokens. He wondered what had become of that five-groschen piece +with the hole drilled through it, and the bit of red ribbon. He +wondered why he had never loved since those days. And then he looked +up and saw his pretty, elegant little wife, whom every one admired and +praised; and it flashed upon him that he had never tried to break +through the outer crust of staid formality with which business and the +world had covered him; and he determined to try to love and be loved +once more. And so Mrs. Schröder, beginning to be dreadfully frightened +at the incantation scene, was astonished to find her hand gently taken +in her husband's, and on looking up to find his eyes fixed on hers. +From that time out Gustav Schröder was a changed man; he took frequent +holidays from business; he strove in every way to let his wife see how +anxious he was for her happiness; and she saw it, and was to a certain +extent touched by his conduct. It needed all Mr. Beresford's +sophistry, all his attention and quotation, the employment of all the +art in which he had been indoctrinated by his friend Simnel, to make +head against the influence which Gustav Schröder's quiet watchfulness +and fatherly affection were attaining; for the affection was, after +all, more fatherly than conjugal in its display. Mr. Schröder was far +too much a man of the world to affect to ignore his age or the result +of his life-habits; and no one was better pleased than he to see his +wife happy among younger and livelier companions. + +A happy influence properly exercised at this time would have been +immediately beneficial to Alice Schröder, and have brought matters +back into the right course. For instance, ten minutes' walk with +Barbara Churchill would have settled the question; for Barbara was to +Alice that one grand idol whom we all of us (although we change them +at different periods of our lives) set up and worship. And Barbara had +not derogated one whit from her high position in Alice's estimation by +her marriage. It was exactly the thing that she imagined a girl of her +friend's high spirit would do, if pressed to it; there was something +romantic in it, savouring of the legends of the high dames of old, who +gave themselves to poets after scorning kings; and the whole process +entirely agreed with certain of the _dicta_ of Mr. Owen Meredith, who, +as has been explained, was poet-laureate at the Schröder court. And +Alice called on Barbara, and petted her and praised her, and in her +silly little way did every thing possible to prevent the smallest +_rapprochement_ between them. And then Alice went away, and cried in +the carriage on her way home, and declared that Barbara was cruel and +unkind and unjust, and had utterly changed in every thing. + +Were these assertions correct? I fear that at all events they had a +certain proportion of truth. The spirit which had induced Barbara +Lexden to marry a man without money, and of, as her friends thought, +inferior position; which had made her scorn the threats of being cast +off by those among whom her life had hitherto been placed, and to hold +to one whom she knew but little, yet trusted much,--this same spirit +made her brave the fate to which she had resigned herself, and +determined that if she repined, it should be in secret and unheard. It +_was_ a mistake; _that_ she had already confessed to herself with +bitter tears many and many a time; done in haste, repented at +leisure--the old, old story, the old seductive myth, which will find +believers for ever and aye. How often, brooding in the solitude of her +chamber, had she gone over the whole business in her mind, linking bit +to bit, and endeavouring to find out where the reality had fallen short +of the anticipation! + +They were poor. Well! had she not expected poverty; had not Frank told +her plainly and honourably of his position before he made any +declaration? Yes; but she did not understand poverty exactly as she +had found it. She knew that they would not be able to give parties, +nor to go to the Opera, nor that kind of thing; but she certainly +thought that they would go out sometimes, and that she should not be +stuck at home for ever. Of course the people who gave parties had a +great deal of expense; but those who went to them had none; and it was +not expected that any newly-married people living in a small way +should entertain in return. But then Frank, after positively refusing +to go out a third night running, had given way; but had shaken his +head, and looked so serious over a glove-bill which he happened to see +on her dressing-table, that she threw on her dressing-gown, and bade +him go by himself. She did not care about going out; but if she went, +she would be decent; she had always been considered to have a +reputation for good taste, and nothing on earth should make her a +dowdy now. She would sooner stay at home always; indeed there was +little enough to go out for, having to be jolted in those horrible +cabs, that crawled along the streets, with no room for one's dress, +and with the certainty of being covered with dust or straw, or some +dreadful stuff, when you got out; and then the insolence of the +driver! + +And her home? It was small, and dull, and dreary; but had she been led +to anticipate any thing else? No; she supposed not. And yet she wore +herself out in those gaunt dark rooms, and chafed in her prison like a +bird in its cage. She had always been a bad correspondent, and since +her marriage had scarcely written any letters at all; but she would +sit mooning over the pages of a novel, or over the stitches of her +embroidery, until book or work would fall from her hand; and there she +would remain, looking intently at nothing, staring vacantly before +her. Frank caused her to be supplied regularly with a copy of the +_Statesman_, and in it she tried to read his articles--an honest +attempt in which she dismally failed. Her aunt had been somewhat of a +keen politician, and Barbara was sufficiently well informed on the +position of English parties to bear her share in a dinner-table +dialogue; but foreign affairs principally occupied Frank's pen +in the _Statesman_; and after an attempted course of reading about +Moldo-Wallachia, Schleswig-Holstein, and the Principalities, including +an immense amount of virtuous indignation, the reason for which she +did not comprehend, and the object of which she could not make out, +poor Barbara gave it up in despair. She was in the habit of glancing +occasionally at that portion of the paper in which Mr. Henchman +chronicled the doings of the fashionable world, and recorded the names +of those present at great entertainments; and sometimes when Barbara +would raise her eyes from the paper and look down the hot vista of +frowning houses in Great Adullam Street, where dust and straw were +blowing in a penetrating cloud, and whence the dismal howling of +itinerant hucksters fell upon the ear, she, remembering what part she +had recently played among those of whom she had been reading, and +contrasting it with her then life, would bite her lip until the blood +started, and sob bitterly. + +Where was her spirit, do you ask? Has she not been represented as a +girl of special spirit and pluck? Did not the early-narrated incidents +of her career, her very marriage, prove this? and is it natural that +she should break down before petty annoyances such as these? These +questions have been asked; and all I can reply is, that I paint +according to my lights and to my experience of life; and I believe +that there are hundreds of women of spirit who would bear the +amputation of a finger with more fortitude than the non-arrival of a +bonnet, and who suffer less in separation from those they dearly love +than in the necessity for a daily inspection of the bread-pan. + +And Frank, what of him? Had Barbara been deceived in him? had she +misjudged his heart, his truth, his love? Not one whit; and yet how +different he seemed! Throughout his life, Frank Churchill had acted on +impulse, and had generally pulled through with extraordinary success. +We have seen how, in the railway-journey back to Bissett, he had +argued with himself, had persuaded himself into the determination of +leaving the place and flying from temptation, and how on the impulse +of a moment he settled the career of his life. To say he had repented +of that step, would have been untrue; equally false would it have been +to say that he had not been seriously disappointed in its result. The +great charm of Barbara Lexden in his eyes had been her dissimilarity +from other women. In the quiet circles in which he moved, there was no +one kin to her; she stood out in bold relief among the fussy wives and +meek colourless daughters of his friends, seeming a being of another +sphere. And now, strange to say, this very contrast which had so +captivated him, was his bane. What though the wives were fussy; they +attended to their households with the utmost regularity, investigating +the smallest matters of domestic detail, keeping down expenses here, +making shift there, and having a comfortable home ready for their +husbands wearied out with their work. What though the daughters were +meek and colourless, without a fragment of taste in dress, without a +spark of spirit, without one atom of dash; they were ready to strum +the piano, or to play endless games of whist or picquet, when called +upon, to enjoy thoroughly such little society as they had among +themselves, and, in fact, to make themselves generally amiable. "Their +girls did not lollop on the sofa and read trashy novels all day tong, +my dear!" as Mrs. Harding more than once remarked; "they were not +aristocrats, and couldn't jabber Italian; but they didn't lie in bed +to breakfast, or be always fiddling with their hair, or dressing or +undressing themselves twenty times a day. If those were aristocratic +manners, the less she had of them the better." + +All this talk, and there was much of it perpetually current, reached +Frank Churchill's ears through his mother, and if it did not render +him actually unhappy, at least dashed his spirits and checked his +joys. He would sit for hours pondering over these things, thinking of +his past, when he had only himself and his old mother to care for, +wondering what would have been his future, supposing he had married +one of the daughters of Mesopotamia, and settled down into the snug +humdrum life pursued by those colonists. And then sometimes Barbara +would break in upon his reverie, and, looking so brilliantly handsome, +would come up and kiss his forehead, and say a few loving words +untinged by regret or complaint; and he would rejoice in the choice he +had made, and thank that fortune which had thrown such a treasure in +his way. + +There is no doubt that, without in the least degree intending it +(indeed, what sacrifice had she not made, would she not make, for her +son?), old Mrs. Churchill was a fruitful cause of the petty +dissensions which took place between Barbara and her husband. Devoted +to Frank, to her natural anxiety for his happiness was superadded an +invincible jealousy of the woman who had supplanted his mother in his +regard, or at least had pushed her from the highest position therein. +Against the actuations of this feeling the old lady strove with all +her strength, and made great way; but, like many other intending +victors, she imagined the day gained before the enemy had been +thoroughly repulsed, and then, neglecting her outposts, laid herself +open to an irresistible attack. At first Frank laughed away all these +remarks, telling his mother that the difference of age between her and +Barbara, the difference of their lives and bringing up, the difference +in the style of the present time and the days when Mrs. Churchill +lived in the world, caused her to think the young wife's proceedings +singular, and her demeanour odd. But _saepe cadendo_, by constant +trituration the old lady's notions got grafted into his brain, and +most of the weary self-communings and self-torturings which Frank had, +sprung from his mother's unintentional planting. + +One day about noon old Mrs. Churchill knocked at the door of Frank's +little study, and entering found her son hard at work on an article he +was preparing for a review. The old lady seemed in great spirits, +kissed her son most affectionately, and said: "Busy as ever, Frank my +darling? As I often used to say, you'll grow to your desk one day, you +stick at it so--at least you used to when I lived with you; I don't +know much of what you do now;" and she gave a little sigh, made doubly +apparent by an attempt to stifle it, as she sat down. + +"Why, mum, what nonsense!" said Frank; "you see as much of me as any +body now--as much as Barbara, at all events." + +"Oh, by the way, how is Barbara?" + +"Well, not very brilliant this morning; she's got one of her +headaches, and I persuaded her to breakfast in bed." + +"Ah, she didn't take much persuading, I fancy. The young girls +nowadays are very different from what I remember them; but she'd be +tired, poor child, waiting up for you last night." + +"She did no such thing, I'm delighted to say," said Frank, smiling, +"as I had to write upon the result of the debate, and didn't get home +until nearly three o'clock. Poor Barbara was sound asleep at that +time, and had been so for some hours." + +"Ah, ever since her visitor went away, I suppose?" + +"Her visitor? What visitor?" + +"Didn't she tell you? How odd! I called in last evening for a volume +of _Blunt on the Pentateuch_, and found Captain Lyster here chatting. +How odd that Barbara didn't mention it!" + +"She was too sleepy both last night and this morning, I imagine," said +Frank: "she has frequently told me of his visits." + +"Oh, yes, he calls here very often." + +"He's a very pleasant fellow," said Frank. + +"Is he?" said the old lady, in rather acrid tones. "I didn't think you +knew him." + +"Not know him!" exclaimed Frank; "why, mother dear, how on earth +should he call here if I didn't know him?" + +"He might be a friend of your wife's, my dear." + +"But my wife's friends are mine, are they not?" + +"It does not always follow, Frank," said the old lady calmly; +"besides, I thought if he had been a friend of yours, he would have +called _sometimes_ when you were at home." + +Frank looked up quickly with a flushed face; then said, "What +nonsense, mum! the man is an old friend of Barbara's, and comes at +such times as are most convenient to himself. You don't understand the +set of people he lives with, mum." + +"Very likely not, my dear; and I'm sure I'm not sorry for it; for they +seem strange enough; at least to a quiet old-fashioned body like +myself, who was taught never to receive male friends when my +husband--however, that's neither here nor there." And Mrs. Churchill +bustled out. + +When Barbara came down to luncheon, Frank said to her, "I hear you had +Captain Lyster here, last night, Barbara." + +"Oh, yes," she replied, "I forgot to tell you; he sat here some time." + +"He comes pretty frequently, doesn't he?" + +"I don't know," said Barbara, looking up; "I never counted the number +of times; you always hear when he has been." + +"I wish you'd do something for me, Barbara," said Frank. + +"Well, what is it?" + +"Just tell Lyster it would be better if he could contrive to call when +I'm at home." + +"Why?" asked Barbara pointedly. + +"Why--well--upon my word--I scarcely know why--except that people +talk, you know; and it's better--eh? don't you think?" stammered +Frank. He had acted on impulse again, and felt confoundedly ashamed of +himself. + +"I distinctly decline to do any thing of the sort. I wonder Frank, +you're not ashamed to propose such a thing to me; but I can see what +influence has been at work." + +"There has been no influence at all; only I choose--" + +"And _I_ choose that you should find a fitter person than your wife to +deliver insulting messages to your friends!" + +"Barbara suppose I were to insist upon your not receiving this man +again?" + +"You had better not, Frank," said she, moving towards the door; "you +don't know whom you have to deal with." And she swept out of the room. + +And this was Barbara's first lesson in the _manège_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +A GARDEN-PARTY AT UPLANDS. + + +Although it was only in the first days of July, it had become +thoroughly evident that the London season was on the wane. After a +lengthened period of inaction, there had been a fierce parliamentary +struggle brought about by that rising young gladiator Mr. Hope +Ennythink, who had impeached the Prime Minister, brought the gravest +charges against the Foreign Secretary, accused the Chancellor of the +Exchequer of crass ignorance, and riddled with ridicule the +incompetence of the First Lord of the Admiralty. As Mr. Hope +Ennythink spoke with a certain amount of cleverness and a great +amount of brass, as he was thoroughly up in all the facts which he +adduced,--having devoted his life to the study of Hansard, and being a +walking edition of that popular work,--and as he was warmly supported +by the Opposition, whose great leaders thought highly of the young +man, he ran the Government very hard, and gave the Treasury-whips a +great deal of trouble to secure even the slight majority which pulled +them through. But immediately the fight was over, it was evident that +the session was on the point of closing. There was no more excitement; +it was very hot weather; and the session and the season were +simultaneously doomed. However, the wives and daughters of the members +were determined to die hard; there would be at least a fortnight +before the prorogation of Parliament, and during that fortnight +dinners, balls, fêtes, and opera-visitings were carried on with +redoubled activity. To a good many, condemned to autumnal pinchings +and scrapings in a dull country-house, it was the last taste of +pleasure until next spring. + +Upon the gentlemen attached to the room No. 120, in the Tin-Tax +Office, the general state of affairs was not without its effect. Mr. +Kinchenton was away for his holiday--he generally chose July as the +best month for little Percy's sea-bathing--and he rung the changes +between Worthing, Bognor, and Littlehampton, in one of which places he +would be found in an entire suit of shepherd's-plaid, and always with +a telescope slung round him. Mr. Dibb, his liver in a worse state than +ever with the hot weather, had felt himself compelled to quit the +pleasant environs of Clapton, where he ordinarily resided, and had +taken a bedroom at Windmill-Hill, Gravesend, whence he came up to his +office every morning, having immediately established sworn animosity +with every guard and regular passenger on the North-Kent Railway, and +having regular hand-to-hand combats with the man who sat opposite to +him, as to whether the window should be up or down--combats commencing +at Gravesend and finishing at New Cross. Upon Mr. Boppy had come a new +phase of existence, he having persuaded Mrs. Boppy, for the first time +since their marriage, to go on a visit to some country friends, thus +leaving him his own master _pro tem_. And Mr. Boppy availed himself of +this opportunity to give a bachelor-party, cards and supper, at which +Mr. Pringle was the master of the revels, and they all enjoyed +themselves very much, and talked about it afterwards to Mr. Boppy; +little thinking of the unrevealed misery that wretched convivialist +was enduring on account of his being unable to rid the window-curtains +of the smell of tobacco-smoke, by which Mrs. B. would learn of the +past symposium, and would "warm" her husband accordingly. Mr. Prescott +and Mr. Pringle had been going on much the same as usual; and Mr. +Crump never went out of town because his pay was stopped when he was +absent from his office, and he never had any friends who wished to see +him. + +It was a very hot morning, the sun blazed in through the windows of +No. 120, aid upon the head of Mr. Pringle, who was copying items of +account on to a large ruled sheet of paper. + +"Item, every horse for draught or burden--item, each dog, sheep, +swine--I'll be blowed if I'll do any more of it," said Mr. Pringle, +casting down his pen and rubbing his head. "I must have some +soda-water! Prescott, James, was there too much lemon in +Quartermaine's punch last night, or was it that the whitebait are +growing too large to be wholesome? Something was wrong, I know! Crump, +my boy, you're nearest the cellar; just hand me a bottle of the +corrective." + +Mr. Crump certainly was nearest the cellar, which was in fact the +cupboard which should have been his property, but which had been +appropriated by Messrs. Pringle and Prescott as a soda-water store. + +"That's a good fellow; now you're up, would you mind just handing me a +bit of ice out of the basin? Thanks! What a good Crumpy it is! What's +the matter, Mr. Dibb?" + +"Can't you be silent for an instant, Mr. Pringle? You are perpetually +gabbling. Can't you let us have a moment's peace?" + +"I can generally," said Mr. Pringle, with an affectation of great +frankness; "but, somehow, not this morning. I seem to be inspired by +this delicious fluid. I think I shall write a book called Songs of +Soda-water, or Lays of the Morning after. That wouldn't be a bad +title, would it, Dibb?" + +Mr. Dibb took no notice of this beyond glaring at Mr. Boppy, who had +laughed; and there was silence for a few minutes, broken by Mr. +Prescott, who said, "When do you go on leave, George?" + +"In September, sir," replied Pringle. "That's the genial month when +the leaves come off." + +"Where are you going?" + +"That depends upon how much tin I've got. It strikes me, from the +present look-out, that the foreign watering-place of Holloway is +about as far as I shall be able to get. There's a tightness in the +money-market that's most infernal." + +"Why don't you apply to your godfather, old Townshend? He's always +treated you with kindness." + +"Yes; with un-remitting kindness! wouldn't send me a fiver to save me +from gaol. Oh, no! I'll manage somehow. When are you going?" + +"Well, I wanted a few days in September myself, if I could get away. +I've some shooting offered me at Murray's." + +"Murray's? Oh, ah! the parent of that nice little girl! je twig. And +the Paterfamilias is a jolly old bird, isn't he, and likes his drink, +and has plenty of money? in which case pater-familiarity does not +breed contempt." + +"They are old friends of my people, you know; and the old gentleman's +been very civil to me." + +"Ah! and the young lady hasn't been rude, has she?--at least I judged +not, from 'what I saw. She rides deuced well; but what a long time she +takes to mount! and when you had swung her to the saddle, I noticed +that her reins took an immense deal of arranging!" + +"Don't be an idiot, George! you're always fancying things." + +"And you're always fancying girls, and my life's passed in keeping you +out of scrapes." + +"By the way, do you ever see any thing of--" + +"Of _the other?_ Ah, base deceiver! fickle as the wind, or the what's +his name! Yes, I've met poor Kitty once or twice, and, without any +nonsense, she looked thoroughly seedy and worn." + +"Poor dear Kitty, I'm so sorry! I--" + +"Oh, yes, we know all about it; 'he loves and he rides away,' and all +the rest of it. But, joking apart, Master Jim, it's a very good thing +that business is over. I was really 'afraid at one time you were going +to grief. But--hollo! for me?" These last words thrown off at a +tangent to a messenger who entered the room with a letter. + +"No, sir; for Mr. Prescott." + +"Ah! I don't like letters generally; but that's not a blue one, and +looks tolerably healthy. What's it about, James?" + +"Read for yourself;" and Mr. Prescott tossed the letter over to him. + +"Mrs. Schröder--garden fête--Uplands," said Pringle, reading. "Oh, ah! +I knew all about that, but I didn't mention it, because I wasn't sure +that you'd be asked; and as a certing persing is going, you'd have +been as mad as a hatter at losing the chance of meeting her." + +"What's Uplands?" asked Prescott. + +"Uplands is no end of a jolly place which Schröder has taken for the +summer and autumn. He has got some tremendous operation in the mines, +or the funds, or some of those things that those City fellows get so +brutally rich with; and he must be in town two or three times a week. +So instead of going to Switzerland, as he intended, he has rented +Uplands, which is about seven miles from town, and might be seventy. +Out north way, through Whittington; stunning Italian villa, fitted up +no end, with conservatories, and big grounds, and a lake, and all +sorts of fun. Belonged to another City buffer, who's over-speculated +himself and gone to Boulogne. That _is_ a comfort; they do go to smash +sometimes; but even then they've generally settled as much as the +Chief Commissioner's income on their wives. Schröder heard of this; +pounced upon it at once; and this is to be Mrs. Schröder's first +garden-party." + +"I'm very glad I'm asked, if--" + +"Glad you're asked! I should think so; it'll be a first-rate party. +There'll be no shy ices or Cape cup; Gunter does the commissariat; the +Foreign Office has been instructed to send a lot of eligible Counts; +and Edgington will supply the marquee." + +"I was going to say, when you were kind enough to interrupt me, that +I'm glad I'm asked, if Miss Murray is to be there." + +"She'll be there, sir, fast enough; and you shall devote yourself to +her, and be the Murray's Guide; and I'll be your courier, and go +before you to see that all is square. I mean to enjoy myself that day, +and no mistake." + + +"This is the place, Jim!" said Mr. Pringle, as on the day of the party +they drove in a hansom along a meadow-bordered road some two miles the +country side of the little village of Whittington. "That's the house, +that white building with the high tower; no end of a smoke-room that +tower makes! it's fitted up with lounges and Indian matting; all the +windows hook outwards, and there's a view all over every where! What a +lot of traps, too!--like the outside of the Star and Garter on a +Sunday afternoon. That's the Guards' drag, I suppose; I know there was +a lot of them coming down--" + +"And there's old Murray's carriage; I'd know that any where," +interrupted Prescott. + +"Is it? well, then, you'll be all right. Easy, cabby; we don't want to +be thrown into the very midst of the aristocracy; we'll get out here, +and walk quietly up." + +Mr. Pringle had by no means given an exaggerated description of the +beauties of Uplands. The house stood on the brow of the hill, under +which nestled the little village of Whittington, the only cluster of +buildings within a couple of miles' range. All round it lay large +meadows, through which flowed, in tiny silver thread, the river Brent; +while far away on the horizon lay a thick heavy cloud betokening the +position of Babylon the Great. In the house the rooms, though somewhat +low, were large and cheerful, and the grounds were laid out in every +variety of exquisite taste. There were broad lawns, whereon the +croquet-players loved to linger; and noble terraces where the elderly +people sat, sheltered alike from the sun and the wind; and dark +winding shady walks, down which, at the close of evening, couples +would be seen stealing, and being questioned on their return, would +declare that they had been to see the syringa,--a statement which was +invariably received with derision, or, as the poet hath it, "Doubts +would be muttered around, and the name be suggested of Walker." And +there was a large lake with a real Venetian gondola upon it, very +black and gloomy, and thoroughly realising the notion of a "coffin +clapt in a canoe," and a large light shallop with an awning, and a +couple of outriggers and a water-quintain for those people who +preferred athletics to ease, and sunstrokes to comfort. + +"This is the right sort of thing, isn't it, my boy?" said Mr. Pringle, +as they passed along. "I suppose you could put up with a crib like +this, couldn't you? What a lot of people! every body in London here! +How do, doctor? Dr. Prater, very good little party; took me behind the +scenes at the Opera once, and gave me a certificate when I wanted +sick-leave. See that tall man in the fluffy white hat? Mincing-Lane +fellow merchant; named Hill; capital fellow, but drops his _h_'s +awfully. They call him the _Malade Imaginaire_, because he calls +himself 'ill when he isn't. That's his wife in the black dress with +white spots on it, like change for a sovereign. Those two tall fellows +are in the Second Life-Guards. Look at the nearest one to us, that's +Punch Croker; don't he look like an ape? I always long to give him a +nut: the other man's Charley Greville, a very good fellow; they tell a +capital story about him. His uncle was a tremendous old screw, who +left Charley his heir. When the will was read, the first clause +contained the expression of a hope that his debts would not be paid. +Charley had a copy of this clause sent round to all the creditors, +with an indorsement that he, as executor, would religiously fulfil the +desire of the deceased. There was a terrible scrimmage about it, and +the lawyers are at it now, I believe." + +"Isn't this our man--Beresford?" + +"Of course it is, and there's Mr. Schröder close by him. We'll go up +and make our salaams." + +So the young men wound through the crowd, and were very cordially +received by Mrs. Schröder, and indeed by Mr. Beresford. For the +Commissioner knew his popularity in the Office and was pleased at it, +and was always glad to meet decent-looking men belonging to it in +society. "It improved the tone of the confounded place," he used to +say. Talking to Mrs. Schröder was Mr. Sergeant Shivers, one of the +ornaments of the Old-Bailey bar; a tremendously eloquent man in the +florid and ornate style, with a power of cross-examination calculated +to turn a witness inside out, and a power of address able to frighten +the jury into fits; but who scorned all these advantages, and was +never so happy as when talking of and to great people. He was on his +favourite topic when Prescott and Pringle arrived. + +"Ah, my dear Mrs. Schröder," he was saying, "isn't it sad? The duchess +herself sent for me, and said, 'Now, Mr. Sergeant, speak to him +yourself. You have experience of life; above all, you have experience +of our order. Tell Philip what will be the result of this marriage +with Lady Di!' I promised her grace I would; and I did. I spoke not +only to Lord Philip, but to Lord Ronald and Lord Alberic, his +brothers. But it was no good; the marriage has come off, and now the +poor duchess is in despair. Ah! there's Lady Nettleford! I must go and +condole with her on the affair;" and the learned sergeant bowed +himself off. + +"Ah! 'Good-by to the bar and its moaning,' as Kingsley says," +remarked Mr. Pringle. "What a dreary bird! Now I see you're fidgetting +to be off, Jim; and I know perfectly well why; so we'll go and look +after the Murray. What a pity she's not got up in red, like her +namesakes! then we could recognise her a mile off." + +"There she is!" suddenly exclaimed Mr. Prescott. "There! just crossing +the end of the croquet-ground. I'm off, George. I shall find you in +plenty of time to go together;" and Mr. Prescott strode away in great +haste. + +"Very good," said Mr. Pringle; "'and she was left lamenting.' I +believe I am in the position of the daughter of the Earl of Ellin; if +not, why not? There's no fair young form to hang upon me; man delights +me not nor woman either; so I'll see if there's any moselle-cup +handy." + +Among those present at the Uplands _fête_ were Frank Churchill and +Barbara. Alice Schröder had made a great point of their coming; and +though at first Barbara refused, yet her husband so strongly seconded +the invitation, that she at length gave way and consented. It was a +trying time for Barbara: she knew she would there be compelled to meet +many of the members of that old set amongst which her youth had been +passed, and which she had so sedulously avoided since her marriage, +and she was doubtful of her reception by them. Not that that would +have distressed Barbara one jot; she would have swept past the great +Duchess of Merionethshire herself with uplift eyebrows and extended +nostrils; but she knew that Frank was horribly sensitive, and she +feared lest any of his sympathies should be jarred. Moreover, she felt +certain that Captain Lyster would be at the Uplands; and though since +the day of the little outbreak his name had not been mentioned, and +all having been made up with a kiss had gone smoothly since, Barbara +had an inward dread that the sight of him would arouse Frank's wrath +and lead to mischief. However, they came. Barbara was very charmingly +dressed; and if her face were a little pale and her expression +somewhat anxious, her eye was as bright and her bearing as proud as +ever. Alice Schröder received her in the warmest manner, kissed her +affectionately, and immediately afterwards without the slightest +intention planted a dagger in her breast, by expressing delight at +"seeing her among her old friends again." "These old friends"--_i.e_. +persons whom she had been in the habit of constantly meeting in +society, and who had envied and hated her--were gathered together in +numbers at Uplands, and all said civil things to Barbara; indeed, the +great Duchess of Merionethshire actually stepped forward a few +paces--a condescension which she very rarely granted,--and after +welcoming Barbara, begged that Mr. Churchill might be presented to +her, "as a gentleman of whom she had heard so much." Barbara rather +opened her eyes at this; but after the presentation it was explained +by the duchess saying, "My son-in-law, Lord Halley, has often +expressed his recognition of the services rendered to him by your pen, +Mr. Churchill." For Lord Halley was Foreign Secretary at that time, +and certainly gave Churchill plenty of opportunities of defending +him. And as they moved away, Barbara heard the duchess say, "What a +fine-looking man!" and Mr. Sergeant Shivers, who was thoroughly +good-natured, began loudly blowing the trumpet of Frank's abilities. +So that Barbara was happier than she had been for some time; and her +happiness was certainly not decreased by seeing that the cloud had +left Frank's brow, and that he looked in every way his former self. + +"Now, Barbara," said Alice Schröder, approaching them, "we are getting +up two new croquet sets, and want members for each. You'll play, of +course? I recollect how you used to send me spinning at Bissett--oh, +by the way, have you heard? poor dear Sir Marmaduke, so ill at Pau, or +somewhere--" + +"Ill? Sir Marmaduke ill?" + +"Yes, poor dear! isn't it sad? And Mr. Churchill will play too; but +not on the same side. I can't have you on the same side; you're old +married people now; and both such good players too! Let me see; +Captain Lyster, will you take Mrs. Churchill on your side?" + +Captain Lyster bowed, shook hands, and expressed his delight. Frank +Churchill shook hands with Lyster; but as he did so, a flush passed +over his face. + +"Now, then, that set is full," said Mrs. Schröder; "who is the captain +of the other set, playing at the other ground? oh, you, Mr. Pringle! +Will you take Mr. Churchill away with you; you only want one, I +think?" + +"No, madam," said Pringle, with a serio-comic sigh; "I only want one; +but I shall want that one all my life. Come along, Mr. Churchill." And +he and Frank started off to the lower lawn together. + +Barbara had always been very fond of croquet. She played well; relying +more upon the effectiveness of her aim than the result of her +calculations. She had a perfect little foot; and she croqueted her +adversaries far away with as much science as malice. She enjoyed the +game thoroughly, as, not having played for months, she rejoiced at +finding that she retained all her skill; but she could not help +perceiving that Captain Lyster was dull and preoccupied, and that he +attended so little to the game as to require perpetual reminding when +it was his turn to play. Indeed, despite all Barbara's exertions, they +might have lost the game--for their opponents were wary and +persevering--had it not been for the steady play of their coadjutors, +Mr. Prescott and Miss Murray, who evinced a really remarkable talent +for keeping close together, and nursing each other through all the +difficult hoops. At length they won with flying colours, and were +going to begin a new game, when Captain Lyster said, "Mrs. Churchill, +I should be so grateful for a few minutes' talk with you on a really +important subject. Please, don't play again, but let us stroll." +Barbara had all faith in Fred Lyster's truth and honour; she had known +him for years, and more than half-suspected the secret of his early +attachment to Alice; so that she had no hesitation in saying, +"Certainly, Captain Lyster, if you wish it;" then adding with a smile, +"You will not miss us much, will you, Mr. Prescott?" she and the +Captain strolled away. + +Then, as they walked, Fred Lyster talked long and earnestly. He told +Barbara that he addressed her as one who, he knew, took the deepest +interest in Alice Schröder's welfare; indeed, as one who had been as +her sister in times past. He touched lightly on the disparity in age +between Alice and her husband, and upon the difference in all their +habits, tastes, and opinions; he said that she was thus doubtless +driven to her own resources for amusement, and that her utter +simplicity and childishness made her the easy prey of designing +people. Then, with the utmost delicacy, he went on to point out that +for some time Beresford's attentions to Mrs. Schröder had been most +marked; that his constant presence at their house, or in attendance on +her when she went out, had attracted attention, and that at length it +had become common club-gossip. Only on the previous night he had heard +that it had been publicly discussed in the smoke-room of the Minerva; +that an old gentleman, an old friend of the family, had announced his +intention of speaking to Mr. Schröder about it. What was to be done? +He (Lyster), deeply pained at it all, had no authority, no influence, +no right, to mix himself with the matter. Would not Mrs. Churchill, in +pity for her friend, talk seriously with Mrs. Schröder about it? She +was all-potential. Mrs. Schröder believed implicitly in her, and would +undoubtedly follow her advice. Would not Mrs. Churchill do this, for +pity's sake? + +Barbara was very much astonished and very much shocked. She had always +known Alice to be weak and vain and silly; she knew that her marriage +with Mr. Schröder had been one made solely at her father's +instigation; but having lived entirely out of the set for the last few +months, she had no idea of the intimacy with Mr. Beresford, whose +acquaintance she considered was by no means desirable. She was +entirely at a loss what to do, being of opinion that her influence +over Alice had all died out. However, if Captain Lyster thought +otherwise, and if he counselled and urged her taking such a step, she +would not refuse; she would take an early opportunity of seeking an +interview with Alice, and giving that silly girl--silly, and nothing +more, she was certain--a very serious talking to; "and then, Captain +Lyster, let us trust that this horrible gossip will be put a stop to." +As Barbara said this, she smiled and put out her hand. Poor Fred bent +over it, and when he raised his head to say, "Mrs. Churchill, you will +have done an angel's work!" there were tears in his eyes. + +Meantime Frank Churchill, with doubt and distrust at his heart, +engendered by having to leave Barbara in company with Captain Lyster, +went away with Pringle to the lower croquet-ground, where they and +others played a succession of games with varying success, in all of +which Frank distinguished himself by ferocious swiping, and Mr. +Pringle came to grief in an untimely manner. At length, when they were +tired, Frank and Pringle walked away together--the former on the +look-out for his wife, the latter listening with great deference to +such scraps of his companion's conversation as he was treated with; +for Mr. Pringle had a great reverence for "people who write books," +and, in common with a great many, looked upon the production of a +something printable as an occult art. "It always seems such a rum +thing to me," said he ingenuously, "how you first think about it, and +then how you put it down! You write leaders, Mr. Churchill, eh? Oh +yes, we heard of you at our office, the Tin-Tax, you know! That +article in the _Statesman_ about old Maddox and his K.C.B.'ship, they +all declared it was you." + +As Churchill only said "Indeed!" in an absent manner, and was still +looking about him, Pringle proceeded: "Oh, of course you won't let it +out it was your work--we understand that! but it must be jolly to be +able to give a fellow one for himself sometimes! a regular bad one, +enough to make him drink! I should think that was better fun than +novel-writing; though novel-writing must be easier, as you've only got +to describe what you see. I think I could do that--this afternoon, for +instance, and all the swells and queer people about. The worst of it +is, you must touch it up with a bit of love, and I'm not much of a +hand at that; but I suppose one could easily see plenty of it to study +from. For instance, do you see those two at the end of this walk, +under the tree? I suppose that's a spooning match, isn't it? How he is +laying down the law! and she gives him her hand, and he bends over +it--" + +"Damnation!" exclaimed Churchill. + +"Hollo!" said Pringle, "what's the matter?" + +"Nothing!" said Churchill; "I twisted my foot, that was all!" + + +Barbara tried several times that evening to meet Frank; but he avoided +her; and it was not until they were in the fly, that she had an +opportunity of speaking to him. + +"Where on earth have you been, Frank, all day? I hunted and hunted for +you, but never succeeded in finding you." + +He looked up at her: her eyes were sparkling, her cheek flushed; she +was thoroughly happy. The escape from Mesopotamia and its dreariness, +the return to scenes similar to those which she had been accustomed +to, had worked immediate change. She looked so radiantly beautiful +that Frank was half-tempted to spare her; but after a second's pause, +he said, + +"I walked all over the grounds. I was in the shrubbery close by you +when Captain Lyster kissed your hand." + +"What!" exclaimed Barbara, with a start. "It is beneath me to repel +such a calumny; but to satisfy your absurd doubt, I tell you plainly +you were wrong." + +"Will you tell me," asked Frank, in a sad voice, "that he did not walk +with yop and talk with you apart? Can you deny it?" + +"No!" returned Barbara. "He did both walk and talk with me; he had +something very special to say to me, and he said it." + +"And it was--?" + +"I cannot tell you; it was told to me in confidence; it concerns the +reputation of a third person, and I cannot mention it, even to you." + +"Then, by the Lord, I'll have an end to this!" said Frank, in a sudden +access of passion. "Listen here, Barbara; I'll have no captains, nor +any one else, coming to repose confidences with which I'm not to be +made acquainted, in my wife! I'll have no shrubbery-walks and +whisperings with you! Such things may be the fashion in the circles in +which you have lived; but I don't hold with them!" + +He could have bitten his tongue out the next instant, when Barbara +said, in an icy voice, "It may be the fashion in the circles in which +_you_ have lived to swear at one's wife, and shout at her so that the +coachman hears you; but I don't hold with it, nor, what's more, will I +permit it!" + +She never spoke again till they reached home, when she stepped +leisurely out of the carriage, ignoring Frank's proffered arm, and +went silently to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +SHOWING WHO WERE "PIGOTT AND WELLS." + + +Mr. Simnel, the secretary, sat at his desk, hard at work as usual, but +evidently tempering the dulness of the official minutes with some +recollections of a lively nature, as now and then he would put down +his pen, and smile pleasantly, nursing his knee the while. "Yes," he +said softly to himself, "I think I'll do it to-day. I've waited long +enough; now I'll put Kitty on to the scent, and stand the racket. +_Ruat caelum!_ I'll ride quietly up there this afternoon;" and he +touched the small handbell, with which he summoned his private +secretary. In response to this bell,--not the private secretary, who +was lunching with a couple of friends and discussing the latest +fashionable gossip,--the door was opened by Mr. Pringle, who begged to +know his chief's wishes. + +"Eh?" said Simnel, raising his head at the strange voice; "oh, +Grammont at lunch, I suppose?--how do you do, Mr. Pringle? I want all +the letters brought in at once, please; I'm going away early to-day." + +"Certainly, sir," said Mr. Pringle, who objected on principle to +interviews with great official swells, such interviews being generally +connected in his mind with rebukes known as "carpetings." "I'll see +about it, sir." + +"Thank you, Mr. Pringle. How are all your people? bow is Mrs. +Schröder? who is your cousin, I think." + +"Yes, my cousin. She's all right; but I'm sorry to say my uncle Mr. +Townshend is very ill; so ill that he leaves town for the Continent +to-night, and is likely to be away some time." + +"Dear me! Pm very sorry to hear that." + +"Fact, indeed, sir! I was thinking, sir," said Mr. Pringle, who never +missed a chance, "that as Mrs. Schröder may perhaps be rather dull +to-morrow after her father's gone, I might perhaps have a day's leave +of absence to be with her." + +"Certainly; by all means, Mr. Pringle! Now send in the letters, +please." And Mr. Pringle retired into the next room, where he indulged +in the steps of a comic dance popular with burlesque-actors, and known +as a "nigger break-down." + +"Going out of town, eh? likely to be abroad some time! very unwell!" +said Mr. Simnel, nursing his leg; "then I must alter my arrangements. +I'll go and see him at once, and bring that matter to a head. I can +deal with Kitty afterwards." And when Mr. Simnel had signed all the +letters brought in to him, he unlocked his desk and took out a paper +which he placed in his pocketbook; then carefully locking every thing +after him, he departed. + +In the Strand he called a cab, and was driven to Austin Friars, where +he dismounted, and walked up the street until he came to a large door, +on the posts of which were inscribed the words, "Townshend and Co." +There was no Co., there never had been; Mr. Townshend was the entire +concern; he was the first of his name who had been known in the place, +and no one knew his origin. He first made his mark in the City as a +daring money-broker and speculator; two or three lucky hits +established his fame, and he then became cautious, wary, +well-informed, and almost invariably successful.. The name of +Townshend was highly thought of on 'Change; its owner had been invited +to a seat in the Bank Direction, and had been consulted by more than +one Chancellor of the Exchequer; he had been a member of the Gresham +Club, there made acquaintances, who introduced him into the True Blue +and the No-Surrender, for Mr. Townshend was intensely conservative; +and by the time his daughter was fit to head his table (his wife had +died years since), he had a set of ancestors on his walls in Harley +Street dating from warriors who fought at Ramillies and Malplaquet, +down to the "civil servant of the Company," who shook the pagoda-tree +in the East, and from whom, as Mr. Townshend said, his first start in +life was derived. It is doubtful--and immaterial--whether Mr. Simnel +knew or not of the non-existence of the Co. He asked for Mr. +Townshend, whether Mr. Townshend was in; and he put the question to +one of four young gentlemen who were writing at a desk, which, if it +must be called by its right name, was a counter. After a great deal of +fencing with this youth, who was reading out wild commercial +documents, such as "Two two four nine, Lammas and Childs on National +of Ireland--note for dis.," and who declined to be interrupted until +he had completed his task,--Mr. Simnel at length got his name sent in +to Mr. Townshend, and was shown into the great man's presence. + +Mr. Townshend was seated at a large desk covered with papers, which +were arranged in the most precise and orderly fashion. He was dressed +with great precision, in a blue body-coat and a buff waistcoat with +gilt buttons; his thin hair was brushed up over his temples, and his +face was thin and pale. He received his visitor somewhat pompously, +and made him a very slight bow. Mr. Simnel returned the salute much in +the same fashion, and said, "You will wonder what has brought me to +call on you, Mr. Townshend?" + +"I--I am not aware what can have procured me the honour of a visit, +Mr.--Mr.--" and the old gentleman held up Mr. Simnel's card at +arm's-length, and looked at it through his double eyeglass. + +"Simnel's my name! I daresay it conveys to you no meaning whatsoever?" + +"Oh, I beg your pardon! On the contrary, your name is familiar to me +as that of the secretary of the Tin-Tax Office. I am glad to make your +acquaintance, sir. I often have communication with official men. What +can I do for you?" + +"It's in a private capacity that I've come to see you," said Mr. +Simnel. "I heard you were going out of town, and I had something +special to talk over with you." + +"I must trouble you to be concise and quick," said Mr. Townshend, by +no means relishing the easy manner of his visitor. "As you say, I am +going out of town,--for the benefit of my health,--and every moment is +precious." + +"I shall not detain you very long," said Simnel, who had begun to +nurse his leg, to Mr. Townshend's intense disgust. "I suppose we're +private here? You'll excuse me; but you'll be glad of it before I've +done. I may as well be brief in what I have to say; it will save both +of us trouble. To begin with: I'm not by origin a London man. I come +from Combcardingham; so do you." + +Mr. Townshend's cheeks paled a little as he said, "I came from +Calcutta sir." + +"Yes; last, I know; but you went to Calcutta, and from +Combcardingham." + +"I never was in the place in my life." + +"Weren't you indeed? then it must have been your twin-brother. I know +a curious story about him, which I'll tell you." + +"If you are come here to fool away my time, sir!" said Mr. Townshend, +rising. + +"By no means, my dear sir. You don't know me personally; but I'll +pledge my official reputation that the story is worth hearing. I think +when I mention the names of Pigott and Wells--" + +Down at last--sunk down cowering in his chair, just as at the +Schröders' dinner, when he heard those dreadful names. + +"Ah, I thought you would remember them. Well, Pigott and Wells were +wool-merchants of old standing in Combcardingham. Pigott had long been +dead; but Wells carried on the business of the firm under the old +name. His solicitors were Messrs. Banner and Blair. One day Mr. Banner +came to their articled clerk, and said to him, 'Robert, I have got an +awkward business on hand; but you're a sharp fellow and can be +trusted. Old Wells is coming here presently with some one else. I +shall want a signature witnessed; but I'll get Podmore to do that. All +you have to do is to keep your eyes against that window,' pointing to +a pane hidden behind a curtain; 'and mark all you see, specially +faces. It may be a lesson to you on a future occasion.'" + +"Well, sir?" interrupted Townshend. + +"Well, sir, the clerk placed himself as directed, and saw old Mr. +Wells and a thickset, dissipated-looking man shown into the room. +Banner told Mr. Wells he was prepared for him, and produced a paper +for signature; the signer of which, in consideration of Mr. Wells +consenting to forego prosecuting him for the forgery of a bill of +120_l_. attached to the document, promised to leave England and never +to return. You're interested now; I thought you would be. Podmore was +called in, and witnessed the dissipated young man sign the paper; but +he knew nothing of its contents. Then old Wells, raising his shaking +forefinger, said, 'For your poor mother's sake, sir; not for yours!' +and the dissipated-looking man drew a long breath, as though a great +weight were off his mind, and strode out. The articled clerk saw all +this, and marked the features of the forger; he did not see him again +for many years. He sees him now!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Simply, that you were the forger, I the clerk!" + +"But that paper--that horrible confession, and the bill, they are +destroyed! Wells swore he would destroy them before his death!" + +"He intended to do so but he died suddenly, poor old man; and in going +through his desk I found them. I've got them here!" + +"And what use are they to you? What harm are they to me? I shall +swear--" + +"Stop a minute! Podmore is alive; he's got Banner and Blair's business +in Combcardingham now; he would verify his signature any day, and +yours too. No; I fairly tell you I've thought of it all for several +years, and I don't see your loophole. I think I've got you tight!" And +Mr. Simnel smiled pleasantly as he squeezed his thumb and forefinger +together, as though he were choking a rabbit. + +Mr. Townshend was cowering in his chair, and had covered his face +with his hands. When he raised it, he was livid. "What do you +want?--money?" + +"No," said Simnel, "not exactly. Oddly enough, I want nothing at +present! I merely wanted, as you were going out of town, to set +matters straight, and let us understand each other before you left. +I'll let you know when I really require you to do something for me, +and you'll not fail, eh?" These last words rather sharply. + +"In all human--I mean--in a--" and the old man stammered, broke down, +and threw himself back in his chair, sobbing violently. + +"Come, come!" said Simnel; "don't take on so! You'll not find me hard; +but you know in these days one must utilise one's opportunities. +There, good-by! you won't forget my name; and I'll write here when I +want you." + +And he touched, not unkindly, the shrinking old man's shoulder, and +went out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +WEAVING THE WEB. + + +In his well-deserved character of prudent campaigner, Mr. Simnel took +no immediate steps to avail himself of the signal advantage which he +had gained in his interview with Mr. Townshend. That eminent +British merchant went abroad, and his name was recorded among +a choice sprinkling of fashionables as honouring the steamship +_Baron Osy_, bound for Antwerp, with their presence, and, on the +"better-day-better-deed" principle, selecting the Sunday as the day of +their departure. Mr. Simnel read the paragraph with a placid smile; he +had seen sufficient of Mr. Townshend in that interview to guess that +his illness was merely the result of care and worry, and that there +was no reason to apprehend his proximate death. Antwerp--doubtless +thence Brussels, the Rhine, and perhaps Switzerland--would make a +pleasant tour; and as for any idea of escape, he knew well enough that +that thought had never crossed Mr. Townshend's mind. The old gentleman +knew he would have to pay the possessor of his secret heavily in one +way or another, but in what he was as yet totally ignorant; besides, +his business engagements in London utterly prevented all chance of his +retiring in any sudden manner. And so Mr. Simnel remained quietly at +his post at the Tin-Tax Office, apparently not taking any notice of +any thing save the regular business routine, but in reality intent on +his earnest cat-like watching of all around him, and always ready to +pull any string at what he considered the proper opportunity. + +He kept his eyes on Mr. Beresford, and knit his eyebrows very much as +he contemplated that gentleman's proceedings. Whether prompted by +anxiety for the fate of his eight-hundred pounds loan or by some other +occult reason, Mr. Simnel had been specially watchful over the +Commissioner, and urged upon him to bring the speculation in which he +had embarked to a prosperous close. With this view he had dissuaded +Beresford from going to Scotland, whither, as usual, he was bound on +his autumnal excursion; representing to him that he had of late been +very lax in his attendance; that he had had much more leave of absence +than any of his brother commissioners; that Sir Hickory Maddox had +once or twice referred to the subject in any thing but a complimentary +manner; and that the best thing he could do to stave off an impending +row would be to volunteer to stop in town, and let the other members +of the board have a chance of running away in the fine weather. At +this suggestion Mr. Beresford looked very black and waxed very wroth, +and couldn't see why the deuce, and on his oath couldn't tell the +necessity, &c.; but relented somewhat when his friend pointed out to +him that there was no necessity for his attending more than twice a +week at the office, just to sign such papers as were pressing; and +that instead of remaining in his South-Audley-Street lodgings, he +could go out and take rooms at a beautiful little inn in the village +of Whittington, where there was a glorious cook, a capital cellar, +beautiful air, splendid prospect, and above all, which was twenty +minutes' canter from the Uplands, Schröder's summer place. To this +plan Mr. Beresford consented; and after asking for a further loan of +fifty, and getting five-and-twenty, from Simnel, Beresford and his +mare Gulnare were domesticated at the Holly Bush, and he prepared to +make play. + +But somehow the state of affairs did not please Mr. Simnel. One day, +when he and Mr. and Mrs. Schröder were Beresford's guests, he seemed +specially annoyed; and on the next occasion of his friend's visiting +the office, he took the opportunity of speaking to him. + +"I want to say a word to you, Master Charles," said he, entering the +board-room and addressing Beresford, who was stretched on the sofa +reading the _Post_, and envying the sportsmen whose bags were recorded +therein. "I want to know how you're getting on." + +"Getting on! in what way?" asked Beresford, putting down the paper and +lazily looking round; "as regards money, do you mean? because, if so, +I could take that other five-and-twenty from you with a great amount +of satisfaction." + +"You're very good," said Simnel, with a sardonic grin; "but I'd rather +not. I'm afraid you've been trying some of Dr. Franklin's experiments +with kites again recently; at all events, I've seen several letters +addressed to you in Parkinson's--of Thavies Inn, I mean--handwriting; +which looks any thing but healthy. However, I didn't mean that; I +meant in the other business--the great venture." + +"Oh," said Beresford, "that's all right." + +"I'm glad to hear it. Satisfactory, and all that sort of thing, eh?" + +"Perfectly. Why do you ask?" + +"Well, to tell you the truth," said Simnel, with that kind of honest +bluntness, that inexpressible frankness, generally assumed by a man +who is going to say something disagreeable, "I had an idea that it was +quite the opposite. When we dined with you the other day,--deuced good +dinner it was too; I was right to recommend you there, wasn't I? I +haven't tasted such spitchcocked eels for years; and that man's +moselle has a finer faint flavour of the muscat than any I know in +England,--when we dined with you, as I say, I fancied things were all +wrong with the lady. I talked to the old boy, as in duty bound, and +listened to all his platitudes about the influence of money--as though +I didn't know about that, good lord! But the whole time I was +listening, and chiming in here and there with such interjections as I +thought appropriate, I kept my eye on you and madam; and from what I +saw, I judged it wasn't all plain-sailing. I was right; wasn't I?" + +"Well," said Mr. Beresford, between his teeth, "you were, and that's +the truth. We've come to grief somehow; but how, I can hardly tell. It +was going on splendidly; I had followed all your instructions to the +letter, and, in fact, I was thoroughly accepted as her brother, when +she suddenly veered round; and though I can't say she's been unkind, +yet she has lost all that warmth that so pleasantly characterised her +regard; and now, I think, rather avoids me than otherwise." + +"You've not overdone it, have you? Not been lapsing into your old +style of flirtation, and--" + +"No; on my honour, no. I rather think some of her friends have been +putting the moral screw on. You recollect a Miss Lexden--Mrs. +Churchill that is now?" + +"Perfectly! But _she_ would not be likely to object to a flirtation." + +"Not as mademoiselle, but as madame she has rangéed herself, and I +believe her husband is a straight-laced party. She was up at Uplands +for a couple of days, and rather snubbed me when I presented myself +there in my fraternal character. I've been putting things together in +my mind, and I begin to think that Mrs. Schröder's coldness dated from +Mrs. Churchill's visit." + +"Likely enough. I daresay Mrs. Churchill goes in tremendously now for +all the domestic virtues. If a reformed rake makes the best husband, a +penitent flirt ought to make the best wife; and, by all accounts, Miss +Barbara Lexden was a queen of the art. I hear that she and her husband +lead a perpetually billing-and-cooing existence, like a pair of +genteelly-poor turtles, in some dovecot near Gray's Inn." + +"That man Lyster's been a good deal to the house lately, too. I always +hated that fellow, and I know he hates me; he looks at me sometimes as +though he could eat me. Schröder seems to have taken a fancy to him; +and I sometimes half fancy that he has a kind of spoony attachment to +Mrs. Schröder--if you recollect, I told you I thought he was after her +when we were all down at Bissett--though I don't think very much of +that. I'll tell you what it is, Simnel," continued Mr. Beresford, in a +burst of confidence, straggling up into a sitting position on the +sofa, and beating his legs with the folded newspaper as he spoke, "I'm +getting devilish sick of all this dodging and duffing, and I've been +thinking seriously of calling my creditors together, getting them to +take so much a-year, and then going in quietly and marrying Kate +Mellon after all." + +Mr. Simnel's face flushed but for an instant; it was its normal colour +when he said, + +"You're mad! You, with the ball at your foot, to think of such a +course! So much a-year, indeed! Butchers and bakers do that sort of +thing, I believe, when they've been let in; but not forty-per-cent +men; not money-lending insurance-offices. Breathe a hint of your +state, and they'd be down upon you at once, and sell you up like old +sticks. Besides, you couldn't come to any arrangement with your +creditors without its leaking out somehow. It would get into those +infernal trade-circulars, or protection-gazettes, or whatever they're +called; and if the Bishop or Lady Lowndes heard of it, all your +chances of inheriting in either of those quarters would be blown to +the winds. As to--to Kate Mellon, you may judge how your alliance with +her would please either of the august persons I have named." + +"Jove! you're right," said Beresford, biting his nails. + +"Right, of course I am; and here you've only to wait, and an +heiress--a delightful little creature to boot--is absolutely thrown +into your arms. You're a child, Charley, in some things,--you clever +men always have a slate off somewhere, you know,--and in business +you're a positive child. Can't you see that yours must be a waiting +race?--that you mustn't mind being hustled, and bothered, and cramped, +at the beginning, but must always keep your eyes open for your chance, +and then make the running? The least impetuosity, such as you hint at, +would throw away every hope, and destroy a very excellently planned +scheme. Oh, you needn't wince at the word; we are all schemers in +love, as well as in every thing else, if we only acknowledged it." + +"Then you counsel my keeping on still, and endeavouring to regain my +influence?" + +"Certainly; by all means. It will come back, never fear. And look +here, Charley; don't fall into that horribly common and vulgar error +of abusing the people who are supposed to be thwarting your plans. Be +specially kind, on the contrary, in all you say of them. This Captain +Lyster, for instance, I should proclaim, if I were you, a thorough +gentleman--a prolix chevalier of a type now seldom seen--a man +evidently smothering an unhappy passion for--for--any body but Mrs. +Schröder. Wouldn't the other one do? Mrs. Churchill, I mean." + +"Do! What do you mean? There used certainly to be a flirtation between +them at one time, and--" + +"Quite enough. Only keep Mrs. Schröder from the notion that Lyster is +spooning her; for that's enough at once to turn her silly little +thoughts to him. Speak kindly of every one; and don't show the +smallest signs of weariness, depression, or discouragement." + + +When Mr. Simnel returned to his own room, he settled himself down into +his chair, and fell to nursing his leg and thinking, with the old +sinister smile on his face. + +"He's not the easiest fellow in the world to deal with--Beresford! At +least, he'd be difficult to some; but I think I've got him in hand. +Wants every thing to run slick off the reel at once, the idiot! As +though any great coup had ever been pulled off, save by waiting, and +watching, and patience. Marry Kate Mellon, indeed!" and here Mr. +Simnel's fingers, intertwined across his knee, cracked as he pulled at +them--"marry Kate Mellon, and with such a damned air of patronage too! +No, my young friend, never! You held a trump-card there, and you +neglected to play it; and in my game there's no revoking. I must see +Kitty, and look how the land lies. I think I've stalled Master Charley +off for some little time; and it's no use bringing about an +éclaircissement of the Schröder business; which Kitty would be safe to +do as soon as she had any tangible proof. Then I should lose my eight +hundred pounds in Charley Beresford's general and helpless smash. +But I'd sooner drop them than miss my chance of Kitty. Slippery, +though--slippery as the deuce!" and Mr. Simnel put his elbow on his +knee, and his face into his hand, and sat plucking at his chin +"hankers after Beresford, no doubt,--I think has a liking for that +young Prescott; but that I'll put a stop to to-day,--and I suppose +only thanks me for my kindness. And yet I can put the finishing stroke +to the whole thing in one moment; only want the one connecting-link +and the story's complete; and then I'll take my oath she'll have me. +I'll ride up there this afternoon, and just see how the land lies." + +In accordance with this determination, Mr. Simnel that afternoon +mounted his thoroughbred and cantered off to The Den. He found the +mistress of the house at home, seated on a rustic seat, in a little +grass-plot in front of the drawing-room window, with a carriage-whip +in her hand, with which she was flicking the heads off such flowers as +were within reach. She had evidently just come in from a drive, for +she still wore her bonnet and black-lace shawl, though the former was +perched on the top of her head, to keep off the sun, while the latter +hung trailing down her back. She had altered in appearance, and not +for the better: her eyes were unnaturally bright; her cheeks sunken, +and marked here and there with hectic patches. Simnel gave his horse +to a groom, and walked up the garden-path. Kate Mellon looked up at +the sound of his advancing footsteps; at first vacantly enough, but +when she recognised him, she roused herself, and got up to meet him. + +"How are you Simnel?" she said, with outstretched hand. "I was +thinking of you only to-day, and wondering what had become of you. +It's ages since you've been up here." + +"I've been very busy, Kate, and been unable to come. You know my wish +is to come as frequently as possible; oh, you needn't shake your head, +because you are quite certain of it; but that's neither here nor +there. I keep to my portion of the contract, and shall not bore you +about myself until I've shown you I've a right to ask you to listen to +me. And now, how are you, and what are you doing? To tell truth, I +don't think you look very bonny, young woman: a little dragged, eh? +End of the season, perhaps?" + +"Oh, I'm all right!" said Kate, hurriedly; "never better in health, +and jolly; that's the great point, isn't it, Simnel, eh? I'm learning +to look after number one, you know; and when you can do that, you're +all right, ain't you? Have some lunch? No? then look here; I've got +something you must taste,--some wonderful Madeira. Oh, all right; I +know it'll put some colour into your cheeks, and do you good." + +She called to a passing servant, and the wine was brought,--rare old +tawny, full-bodied, mellow Madeira,--such wine as is now to be met in +about a dozen houses in the land, and utterly different from the +mixture of mahogany-shavings and brandy which is sold under its name. +Simnel poured out two half-glasses; but Kate took the decanter from +him, filled her glass to the brim, and nodding to him, drank off half +its contents. + +"Ah!" said she, with a long-drawn inspiration; "that's the stuff! No +nonsense in that, you know; doesn't pretend to be what it isn't, and +can't deceive you. Tom Gillespie sent me a lot of that: found no end +of it in the cellars of his old uncle, the East-India Director, whose +tin he came in for. I find it does me good, steadies my nerve, and +gives me fresh life. What are you shaking your head at?" + +"It's dangerous tipple, Kate. I don't like to hear you talk like that. +Your nerves used to be as strong as steel, without any steadying. I +say, Kitty," said Mr. Simnel with a grave face; "you're not giving way +to this sort of thing for--" + +"For what?" interrupted Kate, with a discordant laugh; "for comfort? +Oh, no, thank you; I don't want that yet: I don't want to drown my +sorrows in the bowl. I haven't got any sorrows, and I shouldn't do +that with them if I had. By the way, Simnel, how is that affair going +on,--you know what I mean? You promised to let me know." + +"I believe it stands very much the same as it did," said he. + +"Then it hasn't worn out yet? he isn't tired of it, eh?" she asked +eagerly. + +"No; it still goes on." + +"You promised to tell me the woman's name, Simnel; why haven't you +done so? You pretend friendship for me, and then you keep things from +me that I ought to know; and you don't come and see me, and,--There, I +don't believe in you a bit!" + +"I keep things from you until the proper time for you to know them. I +don't come and see you, because all the leisure time I have had has +been devoted to your interests; and, by the way, Kate, that brings me +to the occasion of my present visit. I suppose you give me credit for +sincerity--" + +"Oh, ah; well, what then?" + +"I mean that you believe in me sufficiently to think that any step I +should take, any question I should ask, would not be out of mere idle +curiosity; but because I thought they would be beneficial to you?" + +She nodded her head, and stretched her hand towards the decanter; but +seeing Simnel frown, she stopped short, took up the whip which lay +close by, and commenced flicking the flowers again. + +"I want to ask you about your people,"--the girl started;--"who they +are; where you came from; what you know of them." + +"You know all that fast enough,--from Yorkshire,--you've heard me say +before. What more's wanted to be known? I pay my way, don't I, and who +does more? I'm not required to show my christening certificate to +every one that wants a horse broke, I suppose?" + +"What a fiery child it is!" said Simnel. "No one has a right to ask +any thing at all about it,--I least of all; but I think,--and I am not +sanguine, you know--that I shall be able, if you will confide in me, +to help you very greatly in the most earnest wish of your life." + +"Stop!" exclaimed Kate; "do you know what that is?" + +"I think I do," said Simnel, looking at her kindling eyes, quivering +nostril, and twitching lips. + +"If not, I'll tell you; I don't mind telling you: revenge on Charles +Beresford! revenge! revenge!" and at each repetition of the word she +slashed savagely at the tall flowers near her. + +"Well, I think I might say I could help you in that," said Simnel +quietly; "but you must be frank. You know I'm a man of the world; and +I've made it my business to go a little into this question. So now +tell me your life, from the first that you can remember of it." + +"You're a cool hand, Simnel but I know you mean running straight, so +I don't mind. First thing of all I can recollect is being held out at +arm's length by Phil Fox, as the child in his great trick-act of +Rolla, or the something of Peru. The circus belonged to old Fox, +Phil's father; and I used to live with the Foxes,--the old man and +woman and Bella Fox, and Phil and his wife. Bad lot she was: had been +a splendid rider, but fell and broke her leg; and was always vicious +and snappish, and that irritating, I wonder Phil could put up with +her. They were very kind to me, the Foxes, and I was quite like their +own child; and I played fairies, and flower-girls, and columbines, and +such like, all on horseback, in all the towns we went circuit. I used +to ask the old man sometimes about myself; but he never would say more +than that I was his little apprentice, and I should find it all right +some day. And so I went on with them till I grew quite a big girl, and +used to do the barebacked-steed business, and what I liked better, the +riding-habit and the highly-trained charger dodge, until old Fox +declared there was no better rider in England than me. I was just +nineteen, when he sent for me one night,--it was at Warwick, I +recollect, and we'd had a stunning house,--and I found him with two +gentlemen standing with him. He pointed to one of them, and he said to +me: 'Express'--that's the name he used to call me,--'Express, this is +the gentleman that bound you 'prentice to me ever so many years ago. +He's come to take you away now, and make your fortune.' I cried, and +said I didn't want my fortune made, and that I wouldn't go; but after +a long talk full of business, I saw it would be for my good, and I +agreed. So this place was bought for me in my name, and here I've been +ever since." + +"And who were those gentlemen?" + +"That's exactly what I can't tell you." + +"Can't tell?" + +"Won't, if you like it better. There, don't look vexed. I'll tell you +this much, one of them was my uncle,--my real uncle, I firmly +believe,--though on which side you must find out." + +"And the other?" + +"The other I love dearer than any one on earth." + +"Dearer than you loved--" + +"I know who you're going to say; infinitely dearer! but in--there; +there's enough of that. One thing more I'll tell you: up to this hour +I've never been told my father's name or rank in life." + +"And this benevolent uncle did it all? Quite like a play, by Jove! +Well, I've not learned much; but I may be able to make something of +it--something that will be good for us both." + +"That's all right! and now your business is finished?" + +"Yes, entirely--no, not quite, by the way; I wanted to say one word to +you on another subject. You know I'm not likely to be jealous Kitty--" + +"So far as I'm concerned, you've no right to be." + +"I know, of course; but still one doesn't like these things. There's a +young man named Prescott, who is in my office. I notice that he's +constantly in your company; I've met you with him half-a-dozen times, +and I hear frequently from others of his being with you." + +"What of that?" she asked, with flushing cheek; "are you to settle my +company for me?" + +"Not at all--not at all; but I'm speaking both for your good and his. +He's a young fellow of good abilities; but he's thoughtless and +foolish, and, what's worse than all, he's poor. Now this riding about, +horse-hiring and that sort of thing, necessarily leads him into +expense; and from what I hear, he's going a great deal too fast. I +hear all sorts of things about the young fellows who are under me, +and I'm told that your friend Mr. Prescott is getting involved in +money-matters; in fact, that he's mixed up in bill-transactions to an +amount which, for him, is heavy, with a blood-sucking rascal named +Scadgers, who is one of the pests of society in general, and +government offices in particular." + +"Scadgers!" replied Kate; "what a funny name! Scadgers, eh?" + +"A good many people have found it any thing but a funny name, Kitty. +Now, though I don't suppose there's any thing between you and Mr. +Prescott--" + +"Don't you trouble any more about that; perhaps you've never noticed +that Mr. Prescott never is with me except when one of my pupils is +there too: now do you understand?" + +"There was no pupil nor any one else with you when I saw him talking +to you in the Row some twelve months since; and he scuttled off as I +rode up: however, I thought I'd warn you about him. He's on the +downward road, and unless he pulls up, he'll come to grief; and it +wouldn't do for you to be mixed up in any thing of that sort." + + +He sat some time longer talking of ordinary matters, and rattling on +in his best style. In every thing he said there was a tinge of +attention almost bordering on respect to his companion, which she did +not fail to notice, and which decidedly impressed her in his favour. +Indeed, Kate Mellon never had imagined that Mr. Simnel could have made +such progress in her good graces as he did this day. They never +recurred to any serious topic until his horse was brought, when just +as he was mounting she touched him on the shoulder, and said, "You'll +not forget to keep me up to the mark about that business?" then, with +a half-shuddering laugh, "I'm still interested, you know, in that +young man's progress." Simnel wheeled round and looked at her steadily +under his bent eyebrows. "You shall be made acquainted with any thing +that happens, depend upon it. Adieu!" and he sprang to the saddle, +raised his hat, and rode slowly off. + +"Not half cured yet," said he to himself, "not half; and yet so savage +at his slight, that she'd do him any bad turn on the spur of the +moment, and repent of it instantly. She was telling truth about +Prescott, I know; but it was best to break up that instantly. How +lovely she looked! a little flushed, a little excited; but that only +added to her charm. I didn't like that Madeira being so handy, by the +way; I must look after that. By Jove, what a fairy it is! where's +there one to compare to her? so round and plump and well put together! +And if I can only square this family history--uncle, eh? who the deuce +can that have been? That's an important link in the chain. And +somebody she loves, too; what the deuce does that mean? Ah, well, it's +coming to a head now: another month ought to enable me to pull up the +curtain on the last act of the drama." + + +And Kate returned to her garden-chair as the sound of the horse's +hoofs died away in the distance; and throwing herself back, and +drumming with her fingers upon the little table, went off into a +reverie. She thought of her devotion to Beresford; how the passion had +first grown when he first knew her; how she had given way to it; and +how the nourishment of it was one of the brightest phases in her +strange odd life. She remembered the first time she saw him, the first +compliment he paid her; the way in which his easy jolly behaviour +struck her as compared with the dreary vapidity, or, what was worse, +the slangy fastness of the other men of her acquaintance. And then +she thought of that eventful evening when she had knelt at his feet +and--she dashed her clenched fist upon the table as she remembered +that, and shuddered and bit her lips when she thought that a +description of that scene had been given amid ribald shouts. Mr. +Simnel had not so much share of her thoughts as probably he would have +wished; but she pondered for a few moments on his eagerness to obtain +particulars of her early life, and wondered what scheme he had in +hand. She had a very high opinion of his intellect, and felt sure he +was using it just then in her service; but she could not conceive to +what end his labours were tending. And then she remembered what he had +said about Mr. Prescott; and her face grew a little sad. + +"Poor Jim!" she said to herself; "poor fellow! going to grief, is he? +in debt and dropping his money, like a young fool as he is. And that +nice girl, too, so fresh and jolly and countrified and innocent! Lord +help us! What are you at, Kitty, you idiot why should those things +give you a twinge? Steady, now; it's not often your heart buck-jumps +like that. They'll go all right, those though, if Jim can only be put +square. And that he shall be! What's the use of my hoarding in my old +stocking; it'll never be any good to me; and so I may as well have the +pleasure of helping somebody else. Scadgers, that was the name; I'll +get that put right at once. Scadgers! I wonder where he lives. +However, that'll be easily found out. Poor Jim! what a good husband +he'll make that rosy-faced girl!" + +What was it that made Kate Mellon's head drop on her hands, and the +tears ooze through the fingers covering her eyes? Not the thought of +Mr. Prescott's marrying some one else surely, for had she not +resolutely snubbed his proposals? Certain it is that she remained with +her head bowed for full ten minutes, and that when she looked up, her +face was tear-dabbled and her eyes red and swollen. She took no heed +of her appearance, however, but walked into the house, and pulling out +her gaudy blotting-book, she scrawled a long letter, which, when +finished, she addressed to "E. Churchill, Esq., _Statesman_ Office, +E.C." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +TIGHTENING THE CURB. + + +The garden-party at Uplands had a serious effect on the household in +Great Adullam Street. Of course the actual disturbance, the state of +warfare engendered by what Frank Churchill imagined he had seen take +place between his wife and Captain Lyster in the shrubbery, did not +last long. When Barbara swept up to her bedroom from the hired +brougham, Frank retreated into his little snuggery and lit his old +meerschaum-pipe, and sat gazing vacantly through the smoke-wreaths, +and pondering on the occurrences of the day. He could scarcely realise +to himself what had passed; he could scarcely imagine that the woman +to whom, twelve months since, he had sworn fealty, whose lightest +whisper caused his pulse to throb, and who, on her part, had changed +the whole style and current of her life for the sake of fulfilling her +determination to be his and his alone, could have so far repented of +that great crisis in her career as to listen to the compliments of +another man, to receive, with evident satisfaction, his unqualified +admiration, and to fly off in a rage, with fire in her eyes and bitter +words on her lips, when her husband remonstrated with her on her +conduct. Here were they, that "twain one flesh," that mysterious +two-in-oner sitting under the same roof indeed, but in separate rooms; +each thinking hard thoughts of the other, each with anger rife against +the other, and with harsh words applied to each other yet ringing in +their ears. Great Heavens! thought Frank, was this what he had fondly +pictured to himself? Was this the quiet haven of repose, the lodge in +the vast wilderness of Mesopotamia, with one fair spirit for his +minister, on which he had so rashly reckoned? Was the lodge to be a +divided territory? and was the fair spirit to be equally fair to some +other man, and to be a minister of the blatant, reviling, Boanerges +class? Instead of the quiet and rest on which he had calculated, and +which were so necessary to him after his exciting hard work, was his +mind to be racked by petty jealousies, his peace invaded by wretched +squabbles, the sunshine of his existence overclouded with gloom and +doubt? Was his wife to be an adversary instead of a helpmate? were +her-- And then abruptly he stopped in his self-torturing, as he +thought of her,--how friendless and unprotected she was, how he alone +was her prop and stay in the world; and then he turned the whole +matter in his mind, and it occurred to him that that horribly +irritable temper of his might have led him again into mischief, +causing him to see things that really might not have happened, and to +use language far stronger than there was any necessity for, and to +render him violent and undignified and absurd, and so completely to do +away with the force accruing from his right position. For undoubtedly +he was in the right position; for had he not seen with his own +eyes--what? They were walking together, certainly; but there was no +reason why that should not be: fifty other couples were promenading +the same grounds at the same time, and--no! on reflection, he did not +see Lyster kiss her hand; it was that young idiot who was gabbling to +him the whole time, and who said something about it. Perhaps nothing +of the kind had occurred. Barbara had denied it instantly; and when +had she ever breathed a falsehood to him? She was not the style of +woman to equivocate; her pride would save her from that; and--it must +have been all fancy! some horrible mistake, out of which had arisen +this wretched scene and his worse than wretched rage. And now there +was something between them, some horrible misunderstanding which must +be at once set right. If--if any thing were to happen to either of +them, and one were to die while there was enmity, or something like +it, existing between them! and this thought caused the meerschaum to +be laid aside unfinished, and sent Frank striding up, four stairs at a +time, to his bedroom. + +He found Barbara sitting in her white dressing-gown, arranging her +hair before the looking-glass. Her face was very white, her eyelids a +little red and puffed, and her lips were tightly pressed together. She +took no notice of the opening of the door, but went calmly on with her +toilet. Frank was a little disconcerted by this; he had calculated on +a tender look of recognition, a few smothered words of explanation, +and a final tableau in each other's arms. But as Barbara, with the +greatest serenity, still appeared completely immersed in the intricate +plaiting evolutions she was performing with a piece of her hair and a +stalwart hair-pin, Frank advanced gently, and standing behind her +chair, touched her shoulder, and said softly, "Darling!" + +There was no reply; but the hands occupied in the plaiting manoeuvre +perhaps shook a little. + +"My darling," repeated Frank, "won't you notice me?" + +"Were you speaking to me?" asked Barbara in an icy voice, and looking +up at him with a calm rigid blank face. + +"To whom else should I be speaking? to whom else should I apply that +term?" + +"Really I can't say. The last time you spoke to me, you were good +enough to swear; and as I know you pride yourself on your consistency, +I could not imagine you could so soon alter your tone." + +"No; but, Barbara dearest, you should not throw that in my teeth; you +know that I was vexed; that I--" + +"Vexed, Frank! Vexed! I wonder at you! You accuse me of something +utterly untrue, in language such as I have never listened to before; +and then, as an excuse, you plead that you were vexed!" + +"I was foolish, Barbara, headstrong and horrible, and let my +confounded temper get the mastery over me; but then, child, you ought +to forgive me; for all I did was from excess of love for you. If I did +not hang upon every word, every action, of yours, I should be far less +exacting in my affection. You should think of that, Barbara." + +His voice was broken as he spoke, and she noticed that the hand which +was upon her chair-back shook palpably. + +"You _could_ not have meant what you said in the brougham, Frank," +said she in a softened tone. "You could not have imagined that I +should have permitted--there, I cannot speak of it!" she exclaimed +abruptly, placing her handkerchief to her swimming eyes. + +"No, my darling, I will not. I could not--I never--of course--fool +that I am!" and then incoherently, but satisfactorily, the question +was dismissed. + +Dismissed temporarily, but by no means forgotten, by no means laid +aside by either of them. Captain Lyster called the next day while +Frank was at the office, eager to see whether Mrs. Churchill had +repented of the task she had undertaken in counselling and warning +Alice Schröder; and Barbara told her husband on his return of the +visit she had had, and mentioned it with eyes which a desire not to +look conscious rendered somewhat defiant, and with cheeks which +flushed simply because it was the last thing they ought to have done. +Heaven knows Barbara Churchill had nothing to be ashamed of in being +visited by Captain Lyster. She never had the smallest sign of a +feeling stronger than friendship for him, and yet she felt somewhat +guilty, as she acknowledged to herself that his visit had given her +very great pleasure. The truth was that the garden-party at Uplands +had completely upset the current of Barbara's life. When, in the first +wild passion of her love for him who became her husband, she had +willingly forfeited all that had hitherto been the pleasure of her +life,--the luxury and admiration in which she had been reared, the +pleasant surroundings which had been hers since her cradle,--she had +found something in exchange. She had given up half-a-hundred +friendships, which she knew to be hollow and empty; but she had +consoled herself with one vast love, which she believed to be lasting +and true, and which, after all, was a novelty. + +As has been said, Barbara had had her flirtations innumerable, but she +had never known before what love was; and having a very sensitive +organisation, and going in heart and soul for the new passion, she had +not in any great degree, at all events felt the alteration in her +position. Although every thing was different and inferior, every thing +was in some degree connected with him, who was paramount in her idea +to any thing she had ever known. She might feel the dulness of the +neighbourhood, the smallness of the house, the difference in the +society and in her own occupations and amusements; but all these were +part and parcel of that sun of her existence--her husband; that great +luminary, in whose brilliant rays all little gloom-spots were +swallowed up and merged. Even when the glamour died away, and the +blacknesses stood out in bold relief, she had been so dazed by the +brightness, and, owing to the thorough change, the events of her past +life seemed so far away, as to awaken but very little remorse or +regret. She was beginning to bear with something like patience the +prosiness of her mother-in-law, the spiteful criticisms of Mrs. +Harding, the hideous vulgarity of some of her other neighbours. But +the visit to Uplands came upon her as a terrific shock. Once more +mixing in her old society, hearing the fashionable jargon to which she +had been accustomed from her youth up; meeting those who had always +looked up to her as their superior in beauty, and consequently in +marketable value; listening to soft compliments; seeing her wishes, +ever so slightly hinted, obeyed with alacrity; breathing once more +that atmosphere in which she was reared, but from which she seemed to +have been long estranged,--Barbara felt more and more like Barbara +Lexden, while Barbara Churchill faded hazily away. The dull, dull +street,--the dead, dead life,--the poverty which prescribed constant +care in the household management,--the dowdy dresses and second-hand +manners of the inhabitants of the quarter,--the daily vexations and +cares and wrong-way rubbings, seemed all to belong to some hideous +dream, while the real existence passed into the former life with a +pleasant addition in the person of Frank. The pleasure was brief +enough, and she woke to all the horrors rendered doubly bitter by the +short renewal of bygone joys. The clock had struck twelve, the +ballroom had vanished, and she was again Cinderella with haunting +memory for her glass-slipper. The prince remained, certainly; but he +was no longer a prince; he had bad tempers, and was peevish and +jealous, and thoroughly mortal. She had returned to the dust and +dreariness of Great Adullam Street, and the rattling cabs, and Mrs. +Churchill in her old black-silk dress, and the Hebrews opposite +smoking their cigars at the open windows in the hot summer evenings. +She could scarcely fancy that there was a world where people dressed +in full muslin, and pink-crape bonnets, or bewitching hats; where +business was unknown, and work never heard of; where there were +perpetual croquet-parties and picnics and horticultural fêtes; where +there were night-drives homeward in open carriages after Richmond +dinners; and where the men talked of something else than when Brown +was going to bring out his poems, or what a slating Smith's novel had +had in the _Scourge_. In that brief respite from her weary life, she +had heard those around her talking of their plans to be carried out on +the then occurring break-up of the season; she had heard girls talk +with rapture of their approaching visits to German Spas and Italian +lakes; she had heard arrangements made for meeting in English +country-houses, where she had formerly been an eagerly sought-for +guest; or at fashionable seaboards, where she had been the reigning +belle. And she came back with the full knowledge that a fortnight's +run to some cockney watering-place, handy of access to London, where +she could live in cheap lodgings and play, a very undistinguished +part, would be all the relaxation she could possibly hope for. And all +this sunk into her soul, and made her wretched and discontented, and +formed the wandering isles of night which dashed the very source and +fount of her day. + +It was wrong, undoubtedly. She had chosen her course, and must run it; +as the Mesopotamians would have expressed themselves, she had made her +bed, and must lie upon it. She had her husband to think of, and should +have struggled womanfully to bear up against all these small crosses +and disquietudes for his sake; she should have met her fate with a +brave heart, and striven to prevent his having any suspicion of the +longings and disappointments by which she was racked. Barbara should +have done all this, as we in our different way should have done so +much, which we have resolutely omitted,--paid that bill, for instance; +avoided that woman; not bought that horse; helped that old friend; +denied ourselves that fling in print at Jones. She should have done; +but, like us, she didn't. Her character was any thing but perfect; and +the very pride on which she so much prided herself, and which should +have left her straight, now turned against herself, and, "like a +hedgehog rolled the wrong way," pricked her mercilessly. She did +indeed struggle to contend with the feelings which were conquering +her, and which were the "little low" sensations renewed with tenfold +force; but without success. A dead dull despair, a loathing and +detestation of all the circumstances of her life, a horror of the +people round her, and a wild regret for what had gone before never to +return,--these were the demons which beset Barbara's daily path. And +with them at one time came the first threatenings of another feeling +which would have been more destructive to all chance of present or +future happiness than any other, had not Providence in its mercy +counteracted its effect by a passion, bad indeed, torturing, and +hurtful, but nothing like so deadly as the other. Weighed down by her +real or fancied misery, constantly repining in secret, and comparing +her present with her past life, Barbara might have been tempted to +think of Frank as the agent of her wretchedness, as the primary mover +in the chain of events which had made her exchange Tyburnia for Great +Adullam Street, luxury for comparative poverty, and happiness for +despair; she might have done this, but she became jealous. She noticed +that lately Frank's manner had been strange and preoccupied; that he +was away from home very much more frequently than when they were first +married; that from what she gathered when she heard him talking with +his friends, he evidently sought work which took him out, and on two +or three occasions had gone on country trips in the interest of the +journal--duty which did not fall to his lot, and which he had never +undertaken before. His manner to her, she thought, was certainly very +much changed, and she did not like the alteration. He was courteous +always, and gentle; but he had gradually lost all that petting +fondness which, from its very rarity in a man of his stamp, was so +winning at first; and with his courtesy was mingled a grave sad air, +which Barbara understood to mean reproach, and which galled her +mightily. I do not know that Barbara at first really felt jealous of +her husband: had she examined the foundation of her jealousy and +sifted its causes, there is very little doubt that the natural sense +which she undoubtedly possessed would have shown her that her +suspicions were absurd. But the truth is, she all unwittingly rather +encouraged the passion, as a relief from the monotonous misery of her +life, without a thought of how rapidly it grew, or what proportions it +might eventually assume. It was a change to think differently of +Frank, to take a feverish interest in his proceedings and in the +proceedings of those with whom he was brought into contact; and Frank +himself was surprised to find how the "little low" fits had been +succeeded by a more sprightly demeanour--a demeanour which showed +itself in sharp glances and bitter words. + +And Frank, was he happy? In truth, not one whit happier than his wife, +though his wretchedness sprang from a different cause and was shown in +a different way. He felt that he had clutched the great prize, and +found it to be a Dead-Sea apple; that he had reached the turning-point +of his career, passed it, and found the rest of his course all +down-hill; he had played the great stake of his life and lost it; and +henceforward his heart's purse was empty, and he was bankrupt in +affections. It had come upon him, gradually indeed, but with +overwhelming force: at first he had ascribed Barbara's pettishness to +the mere vagaries of a girl, and had looked upon her caprices as +relics of that empire which had been hers so long, and from which she, +naturally enough, was unwilling to part. He had seen, not without +annoyance, indeed, but still without any deep or lasting pang, that +there was an uncomfortable feeling, based either upon rivalry or some +other passion equally unintelligible to him, between his wife and his +mother; but he had hoped this would pass away. He had noticed that his +old friends, though they spoke with warm admiration of Barbara's +beauty, deemed to shirk any question of liking or being pleased with +her; and that, let them meet her however often, she scarcely seemed to +make any progress in their regard; but he thought this was as much +their fault as hers, and that the estrangement would wear off. It was +not until his mother had dropped her hint as to the frequency of +Captain Lyster's visits, that Frank's mind began to be seriously +disturbed; it was not until the scene at Uplands, of which he had been +an unwilling spectator, and the subsequent scene with Barbara in the +brougham, that he began to feel that his marriage had been a horrible +mistake. Then all Barbara's "low" fits, all her silence, all the tears +which he could see constantly welling up into her eyes, and kept back +only by a struggle as palpable as the tears themselves; then the +complaints of dulness and monotony--all poor Barbara's shortcomings, +indeed, and they were not a few--were ascribed to one source. She had +known this man in former days; he was of her society and set, and had +probably made love to her, as had hundreds before; and Frank ground +his teeth as he thought how Barbara's reputation as a flirt, and her +attractive qualities as a coquette, had been kindly mentioned to him +by more than one of her old friends. Some quarrel had probably +occurred between them; during which he Frank had crossed her path, had +fallen at her feet,--dazed idiot that he was!--and she had raised him +up, and out of pique had married him. That was the story, Frank could +swear to it! he turned it over and over in his mind until he believed +it implicitly, and conjured up the different scenes and passages, +which made his blood boil and sent him, with set teeth and scowling +brow, stamping through the long-echoing Mesopotamian squares, to the +intense wonder of the policeman and the few passers-by in those dreary +thoroughfares. Only when he was quite alone, however, did he in the +least give way to his emotions. When he was at home--where he and +Barbara would now sit for hours without exchanging a word, and where +the occasional presence of a third person rendered matters more +horrible, compelling them to put on a ghastly semblance of +affectionate familiarity--when he was at home, or down at the +_Statesman_ Office, where he could be thoroughly natural, he was +moody, stern, and silent. His manner had lost that round jollity which +had always characterised it, and his appearance was beginning to +change: he was thinner; there were silver lines in the brown hair, and +two or three deep lines round the eyes. + +Of course his friends noticed all this, as friends notice every thing. +Madly and blindly people go through life, imagining that their +thoughts and actions are--some of them, at least--known but to +themselves alone; whereas all of them--all such, at least, as they +would prefer keeping secret--are public property, and as thoroughly +patent as if they had been proclaimed from the market-place cross. You +may go on in London living for years next door to a neighbour whose +name you are unacquainted with, and whom you have never seen; but make +him an acquaintance, give him some interest in you, and without your +in the least suspecting it, he will find out the whole story of your +life, will know all about the young lady with the fair hair in +Wiltshire, the hundred pounds borrowed from Robinson, the +disappointment at Uncle Prendergast's will--all the little things, in +fact, which you thought were buried in your own bosom; and will sit +down opposite you at table with an innocent ingenuous face, as though +your affairs were the very last things with which he would trouble +himself. We all do this, day by day, with the noblest hypocrisy, and +receive from our dear intimate statements of facts which we know to be +false, and warpings of statements which we know to be perverted, with +"Indeeds!" and "Reallys?" and head-noddings of outward acquiescence +and mocking incredulity in our hearts. Barbara Churchill had been the +one grand subject of conversation for the Mesopotamian gossips ever +since her marriage: they had lived upon her, and found that she +improved in flavour. Her appearance, her dress, her manners; what they +were pleased to term her "stand-offishness;" her shortcomings as a +housekeeper; her ignorance in the matter of mending under-linen; her +novel-reading and piano-playing--all these had been toothsome morsels, +far more enjoyable than the heavy pies, the thick chops, and the +sardines which figured in that horrible Mesopotamian meal known as "a +thick tea;" and had been picked to the very bone. And then, when it +began to be whispered about--as it very soon did--that there were +dissensions in the Churchill camp, that all did not go as smoothly as +it should, and that, in fact, quarrels were rife--then came the +crowning delight of the banquet, and the female portion of the +Great-Adullam-Street community was nearly delirious with excitement. +Although old Mrs. Churchill, from her kind-heartedness and simplicity, +had always been a great favourite with her neighbours, she had no idea +of the extent of her popularity until this period. Her little rooms +were literally beset with female friends; and she had invitations to +tea-parties three-deep. To these invitations--to as many of them, at +least, as was possible--she invariably responded. By nature the old +lady hated the character of a gossip, and would have been highly +indignant had she been charged with any propensity for chattering; but +easily impressible by those with whom she was brought into contact, +she had acquired a little of the prevalent failing of the region, and +moreover, she thought it her duty to tell all she knew about the then +favourite subject, in order, as she phrased it, "that poor Frank's +position might be set right." But if poor Frank's position was +properly looked after, it must be acknowledged that poor Barbara +received her meed of popular disapprobation. Not that her +mother-in-law ever said one direct word of condemnation; old Mrs. +Churchill was far too good a Christian willingly to start or give +currency to harsh criticism, more especially on one so closely allied +to her. But, it was very difficult to absolve her son from blame +without shifting the onus of the avowed quarrel on to the shoulders of +her daughter-in-law; and when the ladies surrounding the tea-table, +groaning over "poor Mr. Churchill's" domestic woes, shook their +cap-strings in virtuous indignation at her who had caused them, the +old lady made but a feeble protest, which speedily closed in a string +of doleful ejaculations. In the minds of the members of this +Mesopotamian Vehmgericht, of which Mrs. Harding might be considered +president, Barbara stood fully convicted of the charge which they had +themselves brought against her. Her indolence, her carelessness, her +"fal-lal ways," her pride and squeamishness had brought--only rather +sooner than was expected--their natural result; and "isn't it better, +my dear, to have a little less good looks and a little less fondness +for jingling the piano and reading trashy novels, and keep a tidy +house over your head and live happily with your husband?" + +The stories of all that passed in Churchill's house, collected with +care from old Mrs. Churchill and her servant Lucy,--whose habitual +puritanical taciturnity was melted by the course of events, and who +gave way to that hatred against Barbara which she had felt from the +first moment of seeing her,--and duly dressed, illustrated, and +annotated by Mrs. Harding, who had a special talent in that way, of +course before long reached Mr. Harding's ears. + +It is difficult to explain how that good fellow was affected by the +news. He had the warmest personal regard for Frank, loving him with +something of paternal fondness; he had always impressed him with the +propriety of marriage, and had looked forward with real anxiety to the +time when he should see his friend settled for life. Not until then, +he thought, would those talents which he knew Frank possessed enable +him to take his proper position in the world: what he did now was well +enough; but it was merely the evanescent sparkle of his genius. +Soberly settled down with a woman worthy of him, the real products of +his intellect and his reading would come forth, and he would step into +the first rank of the men of his time. And now it had all come to +this! Frank was married; but he had made a wrong selection, and was a +moody, discontented, blighted man. The aspect of affairs was horrible; +and when told of their real condition by his wife, George Harding +determined that he would exercise his prerogative of friend, and speak +to Churchill on the subject. + +Accordingly the next day when he saw Frank at the usual consultation +at the office, Harding waited until the other man had left the room, +and then, placing his hand affectionately on his friend's shoulder, +said: "I want two minutes with you, Frank." + +"Two hours, if you like, Harding; it's all the same to me," replied +Churchill wearily. + +"I want you to tell me what ails you,--what has worked such a complete +change in you, physically and morally; or rather, I don't want you to +tell me, for I know." + +Churchill looked up defiantly with flushed cheeks, as he exclaimed, +"What do you know? are my private affairs topics for the tittle-tattle +of--there, God help me! I'm weak as water. Now I want to quarrel with +my best friend!" + +"No, you don't, old man; and you would get no quarrel out of me, if +you wished it ever so much. But I can't bear this any longer; I can't +bear to see you losing your health and your spirits; and wearing +yourself out day by day as you are, without coming to the rescue. Let +us look the matter boldly in the face at once. You're--you're not +quite happy at home, Frank, eh?" + +"Happy!" he echoed, with a strange hollow laugh; "no, not entirely +perhaps." + +"Well, that's a bad thing; but it's curable. At all events, giving way +to moping and misery won't help it. Many men have begun their married +life in wretchedness, and emerged, when they least expected it, into +sunshine. Here are two young people who have not known each other +above a couple of months, both of whom have very possibly been spoiled +beforehand, and they arrive each with their own particular stock of +whims and fancies, which they declare shall be carried out by the +other. It takes time to rub down all the angles and points, and to +provide for the regular working of the machinery; and it is never done +by a jump. You've fine material to work upon too; if Mrs. Churchill +were vulgar or uneducated, or did not care for you, you would have +great difficulties to contend with. But as she is exactly the reverse +of all this, she ought to be easily managed. Don't you understand that +in these matters one or the other must have the upperhand? and that +one should be the husband! The supremacy once asserted, all works +well; not until then, and generally the struggle, though sharp, is +very short. Every thing is wrong, and the whole machine is out of +gear. You've let her have her own way too much, my friend. You must +tighten the curb and see the result." + +"If you were a horseman, Harding," said Frank with a dreary smile, +"you would know that tightening the curb sometimes produces the worst +of rebellious vices--rearing!" + +"Oh, no fear of that; no fear of that. Try it! You really must do +something, Frank; I can't bear to see you giving way like this. You +must assert yourself, my good fellow, and at once; for though it may +be bad now, it will be ten times worse hereafter, and you'll bitterly +rue not having taken my advice." + +And George Harding went home and told, his wife what he had done, and +assured her that she would find matters speedily set to rights in +Great Adullam Street now. + +And Frank Churchill walked home, pondering on the advice he had just +received and finally determining within himself to adopt it. He +supposed he had been weak and wanting in proper self-respect. Harding +was always the reflex of his wife's sentiments, and doubtless that +whole set of wretched tabbies had been pitying him as a poor +spiritless creature. He would take Harding's advice and bring the +matter to an issue at once. + +He went into his little study and had just seated himself at his desk +to commence his work when Barbara entered the room. She was dressed in +her bonnet and shawl; her eyes were swollen and there were traces of +recent tears still on her cheeks; the muscles round her mouth were +working visibly, and her whole frame was quivering with excitement. As +she closed the door behind her, she seemed to control herself with one +great effort, then walking straight to the desk she said, in a broken +and trembling voice, "I want you to answer me a question." + +"Barbara!" said Frank, whose intended firmness had all melted away +before her haggard appearance, "Barbara!" and he rose and put out his +hand to draw her to him. + +"Don't touch me!" she screamed, starting back. "Don't lay one finger +upon me until until you have answered my question. This morning you +left this envelope on the dressing-table; tell me who is the writer +and what were the contents." + +She tossed an envelope on to the desk as she spoke, and leant with one +hand against the wall. + +"That envelope," said Frank, speaking very slowly, "is mine. I utterly +deny your right to ask me any thing about it; I utterly refuse to +satisfy your curiosity." + +"Curiosity! it is not that; God knows it is not that feeling merely +that prompts me: This is the second time you have, to my knowledge, +received letters in that writing. The first time was at Bissett, when +you left suddenly, immediately after its receipt. I suspected then, +but had no right to ask; now I have the right, and I demand to know!" + +"I can only repeat what I said before: I most positively decline to +tell you." + +"Beware, Frank! You ought to know me by this time; but you don't. If +you don't satisfy me on this point, I leave you for ever." + +"You have your answer," said Frank; "now let me get to my work." + +"You still refuse?" + +"You heard what I said." + +She drew herself up and left the room; the next minute he heard the +street-door shut, and, running to the dining-room window, saw her hail +a cab and get into it. + +"There's the first lesson, at all events," said he to himself. "When +she comes back to dinner, she will be cooler, and more amenable to +reason." + +He finished his work, and walked down with it to the _Statesman_ +Office. On his return he found a commissionaire in the hall talking to +his servant. He asked the latter where her mistress was, but the girl +said she had not come in, at the same time handing him a letter. It +was very brief; it merely said: + +"You have decided; and henceforth you and I never meet again. Mrs. +Schröder, with whom I am staying, will send her maid for a box which I +have left ready packed. I hope you may be more happy with your +correspondent, and in your return to your old life, than you have been +with B. C." + +As Frank Churchill read this, the lines wavered before his eyes, and +he reeled against the wall. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. +MR. SCADGERS PAYS A VISIT. + + +Those who had been most intimately acquainted with Mr. Scadgers of +Newman Street had never known him under any circumstances devote a +portion of his valuable time to sacrificing to the Graces. He was +popularly supposed to sleep in his clothes; and as those garments were +seldom entirely free from fluff or "flue," there were probably some +grounds for the supposition; but he could not have slept in his big +high-boots, though no one had ever seen him without them, save Jinks. +Jinks had more than once seen his master with slippered feet, and +trembled; for Mr. Scadgers' boots were to him what those other +Ingoldsby-celebrated boots were to the Baron Ralph de Shurland, what +his hair was to Samson, what his high-heels were to Louis Quatorze. +Without his boots, Mr. Scadgers was quite a different man; he talked +of "giving time," of "waiting a day or two," of "holding-off a bit;" +this was in his slippers: but when once his boots were on, in speaking +of the same debtor he told Jinks to "sell him up slick, and clear off +all his sticks." He always seemed to wear the same suit of black, and +all the washing that he was ever known to indulge in was by smearing +himself with the damp corner of a towel, which he kept in the office +between the chemist's bottles, one of which held the water; while +his toilette was completed by running a pocket-comb through his +close-cropped hair, and then smoothing it down with the palms of his +hands, whisking his boots with his red-silk pocket-handkerchief, +and putting sharp spiky points to his nails by the aid of a +vicious-looking buck-handled penknife. + +Thoroughly accustomed to his patron's appearance, Jinks was, then, +struck with wonderment on beholding him one morning enter the office +in comparatively gorgeous array. Through the folds of a white +waistcoat there protruded a large shirt-frill, certainly of rather a +yellow hue, and not so neat in the plaits as it ought to have been, +but for all that an undeniable frill, such as adorned the breasts of +the dandies of the last generation; his usual napless greasy hat had +been discarded for a very elegant article in white beaver, which had +apparently been the property of some other gentleman, and acquired +by its present owner in that species of commercial transaction known +as a "swop," as it was much too large for Mr. Scadgers, and +obliterated every sign of his hair, while a corner of the red-silk +pocket-handkerchief fell out gracefully over the back of his head. In +his hand Mr. Scadgers carried one damp black-beaver glove, and a thick +stick like an elongated ruler, with a silver top and a silk tassel. +Mr. Jinks was so overpowered at this apparition that he sat gazing +with open mouth at his master, unable to speak a word; he had one +comfort, however,--Mr. Scadgers had his boots on, so that under all +this frivolity there lurked an intention of stern business. + +Mr. Scadgers took no notice of his subordinate's astonishment; but +placing the glove and the stick on his desk, taking off the white hat, +and having a thorough mopping with the red-silk pocket-handkerchief, +looked through his letters, and proceeded to indorse them, for Jinks +to answer, in his usual business way. Some of his correspondence +amused him, for he smiled and shook his head at the letter in a +waggish way, as though the writer were chaffing him; in glancing over +another he would lay his finger alongside his nose and mutter, "No, +no, my boy! not by no means, no how!" while at others his larger eye +would gleam ferociously, the upper corner of his mouth would twist +higher than ever, and he would shake his fist at the paper and utter +words not pleasant to hear. His mental emotions did not, however, +interfere with his business habits: as he finished each letter he +wrote the substance of his reply on the back for Jinks to copy, drew +three or four cheques, which he also handed over to his factotum, and +locked away some flimsy documents which had formed the contents of +certain of the letters, in his cash-box. Some of the letters received +by that morning's post had contained bank-notes, and these Mr. +Scadgers examined most scrupulously before putting them away, holding +them between his eyes and the light to examine the water-mark, +carefully scrutinising the engraving, and finally comparing the +numbers, dates, and ciphers, with the list contained in a printed bill +pasted against the inside of his desk-lid headed "Stolen." Over one of +the notes, after comparing it with this list, Mr. Scadgers chuckled +vastly. + +"90275 LB January 12! there you are correct to a T. I thought they'd +turn up about this time. I say, Jinks, here's one of the notes as was +stolen from Robarts's; you recollect? Come up from Doncaster in +renewal-fee from Honourable Capting Maitland. He took it over the +Leger, no doubt: they always thought at Scotland Yard that that was +the way those notes would get put off; and they was right. Send +this back to the capting, Jinks,--he's gone back to Leeds barracks +now,--and tell him all about it; we can't have that, you know; might +get us into trouble; and if he wants a renewal, he must send another. +He won't know where he got it from, bless you! reg'lar careless cove +as ever was; he ain't due till Friday, and he's sent up to-day in a +reg'lar fright. You must step round to Moss's and tell 'em to proceed +in Hetherington's matter. There's a letter there from Sir Mordaunt, +askin' for more time, and promisin' all sorts of things; but I'm sick +of him and his blather. Tell Moss to put the screw on, and he'll pay +up fast enough. Write a line to young Sewell, and tell him he can have +125_l_., and the rest in madeiry. He's in Scotland; you'll find his +address in the book,--Killy-something; say the wine can be sent to the +Albany; but I won't do it in any other way. Any one been in this +morning?" + +"Only Sharp, from Parkinson's," said Mr. Jinks, who was already deep +in letter-writing. + +"Well," said his principal, "what did he want?" + +"He came to know if you'd be in another two hundred for Mr. +Beresford," replied Jinks, looking up from his work. "He's been hit at +Doncaster, and wants the money most immediate." + +"Then he won't get it from me," said Mr. Scadgers; "I won't have no +more of his paper, at no price. He's up to his neck already, is Mr. +Beresford; and that old aunt of his don't mean dying yet, from all I +hear." + +"There's the bishop," suggested Jinks. + +"Oh, blow the bishop! He might be bled on the square, but he'd turn +precious rusty if he thought it was stiff he was paying for. No, no; +Master Beresford's taking lodgings in Queer Street, I fancy; Parkinson +holds more of his paper than you think of, and if he wants to go +deeper, he must go by himself; I won't be in it." + +"All right," said Jinks; "I'll put a cross against his name in the +books. Rittman's boy looked in to see if his father could have two +pounds till Saturday. I told him to call again this afternoon." + +"Till Saturday," said Scadgers with a grin. "You never see such a +Saturday as that'll be, Jinks. Poor devil! there's nothing but the +carcass left there; and he's worked well too, and brought us plenty of +custom, though not of the best sort. Let the boy have a sovereign when +he comes, Jinks, and tell him if his father don't pay, I'll put him in +prison; not that he'll mind that one dump. Oh, by the way, give me all +the paper of young Prescott's that you've got by you." + +Mr. Jinks opened a large iron safe let into the wall just behind his +stool, and from a drawer therein took out a bundle of tape-tied +papers. From this he selected four, and as he handed them over to his +principal, said, "Here they are; two with Pringle, one with Compton, +and one IOU.,--total, one seventy-five. I was going to ask you what +you intended to do about them. The young feller was here yesterday +wanting to see you, and looking regularly down upon his luck." + +"Ah," said Scadgers, "there's something up about them--what, I don't +know; but I'm a-goin' on that business now. I shall be away for an +hour or two, Jinks." + +"You ain't a-goin' to get married, are you, Mr. Scadgers?" asked the +little old man with a look of alarm; "it would never do to bring a +female into the concern." + +Scadgers laughed outright. "Married! no, you old fool, not I. Can't a +man put on a bit of finery"--here be smoothed the yellow shirt-frill +with his grimy fingers--"without your supposing there's a woman in +the case? However, I'm goin' to call upon a lady, and that's the +truth; but all in a matter of business. Hand over them bills of +Prescott's, and don't expect me till you see me." + +So saying, Mr. Scadgers took the bills from Jinks and placed them +in his fat pocketbook, which he buttoned into the breast-pocket +of his frock-coat, gave himself a good mopping with the red-silk +pocket-handkerchief before throwing it into the big white hat, and +placing that elegant article on his head, took up the one damp glove +and the ruler-like stick, and went out. + +A consciousness of the shirt-frill, or the hat, or both, pervaded Mr. +Scadgers' mind as he walked through the streets; and gave him an air +very different from that which usually characterised his business +perambulations. He seemed to feel that he was calling upon the +passers-by for observation and notice; and certainly the passers-by +seemed to respond to the appeal. Ribald boys stuck the red-covered +books of domestic household expenditure which they carried into their +breasts, and swaggered by with heads erect; others openly expressed +their opinion that it was "all dicky" with him; while a more impudent +few suggested that he had stolen the "guv'nor's tile," or borrowed his +big brother's hat; nor were the suggestions that he was a barber's +clerk out for a holiday wanting on the youthful populace. In an +ordinary way Mr. Scadgers was thoroughly proof against the most +cutting chaff: the most terrific things had been said about his boots, +and he had remained adamant; drunken men had requested permission to +light their pipes at his nose, and he had never winced; in allusion to +his swivel-eye, boys had asked him to look round the corner and tell +them what o'clock it was, without ruffling his temper in the smallest +degree. But in the present instance he felt in an abnormal state; he +knew that there was ground for the satire which was being poured out +upon him, and he fled into the first omnibus for concealment. He rode +to the utmost limits of the omnibus-journey, and when he alighted he +had still a couple of miles to walk to his destination. He inquired +his way and set out manfully. The weather was magnificent; one of +those early October days when, though the sun's rays are a little +tempered of their burning heat, and the air has a freshness which it +has not known for months, the country yet wears a summer aspect. Mr. +Scadgers' way lay along a high-road, on either side of which were +fields: now huge yellow patches shorn of their produce, and, while +awaiting the ploughshare, looking like the clean-shaved faces of +elderly gentlemen; now broken up into rich loam furrows driven through +by the puffing snorting engine which has supplanted the patient +Dobbin, the handle-holding labourer, and whip-cracking boy of our +childhood, and against which Mr. Tennyson's Northern farmer inveighed +with such bitterness. Far away on the horizon lay a broad wooded belt, +broken in the centre, where two tall trees, twining their topmost +branches together, formed a kind of natural arch, and beyond which one +expected--absurdly enough--to find the sea. The road was quiet enough; +a few carts, laden with farm-produce or manure, crept lazily along it; +now and then a carrier's wagon, drawn by a heavily-trotting horse with +bells on his collar, jolted by, or the trap of a town-traveller +returning from the home-circuit, driven by an ill-dressed hobbledehoy +with the traveller nodding by his side, and the black-leather apron +strapped over the back seat, to make the trap look as much like a +phaeton as possible, rattled townward. But when in obedience to the +directions on a finger-post, Mr. Scadgers turned out of the high-road +up a long winding lane, fringed on either side by high hedges, on +which "Autumn's fiery finger" had been laid only to increase their +beauty a thousand-fold, where not a sound broke the stillness save his +own footfall and the occasional chirping of the birds, he seemed for +the first time to awake to the beauty of the scene. Climbing to the +top bar of a gate in the hedge on the top of a little eminence, he +seated himself, took off the big hat, mopped himself violently with +the red-silk handkerchief, and looked round on the panorama of meadow +and woodland, with tiny silver threads of water here and there +interspersed, until his heart softened and he had occasion to rub the +silver head of the ruler-like stick into his eyes. + +"Lor' bless me!" he muttered to himself; "it's like Yorkshire, and yet +prettier than that; softer and quieter like. More than twenty years +since I've seen any thing like this. And poor Ann! Daisy-chains we +used to make in Fairlow's mead, just like that field there, when we +was little children; daisy-chains and buttercups, and--poor Ann! And +to think what I'm now a-goin' to--Lord help us! well, it _is_ a rum +world!" with which sage though incoherent reflections Mr. Scadgers +resumed the big hat, dismounted from the gate, and continued his walk. + +As he proceeded up the lane, he began to take particular notice of the +objects by which he was more immediately surrounded; and on hearing +the tramp of hoofs he peered through the hedge, and saw strings of +horses, each mounted by its groom, at exercise. At these animals Mr. +Scadgers looked with a by no means uncritical eye, and seemed +satisfied, for he muttered, "Good cattle and plenty of 'em too; looks +like business that. Wise head she has; I knew it _would_ turn out all +right." When he arrived at the lodge, he stopped in front of the gates +and looked scrutinisingly about him, then rang the bell, and stared +hard but pleasantly at the buxom woman who stood curtseying with the +gate in her hand. Inside, Mr. Scadgers noticed that every thing looked +neat and prosperous; he did not content himself with going straight up +the carriage-drive, but diverged across the lodge-keeper's garden, and +peered into the little farmyard, where the mastiff came out of his +kennel to scan the stranger, and where two or three helpers, lounging +on the straw-ride, or polishing bits as they leant against the +stable-doors, mechanically knuckled their foreheads as he passed by. +Arriving at the house, Mr. Scadgers found the front-door open; but a +pull at the bell brought a staid, middle-aged woman (Kate Mellon, for +it was The Den which Mr. Scadgers was visiting, never could stand what +she called "flaunting hussies," as servants), by whom he was ushered +into the pretty little hall, hung with its antlers, its foxes' +brushes, and its sporting picture, and into the dining-room. There he +was left by himself to await the coming of the owner of the house. + +Now Mr. Scadgers, though by no means a nervous or impressible man, +seemed on this occasion to have lost his ordinary calm, and to be in a +very excitable state. He laid the big hat carefully on the table, +refreshed himself with a thorough mop with the red-silk handkerchief, +and rubbed his hands through his stubbly black hair; then he walked +up and down the room, alternately sucking the silver head of the +ruler-like stick, and muttering incoherencies to himself, and ever and +anon he would stop short in his perambulations and glance at the door +with an air almost of fright. The door at length was opened with a +bang, and Kate Mellon entered the room. The skirt of her dress was +looped up, and showed a pair of red-striped stockings and large, +though well-shaped, thick Balmoral boots; she had a driving-whip in +one hand and on the other a strong dogskin gauntlet, stretched and +stained. Her face was flushed, her eyes bright, and the end of her +hair was just escaping from the light knot into which it had been +bound. With a short nod to her visitor, at whose personal appearance +she gave a glance of astonishment, she began the conversation by +asking what his pleasure was. + +If Mr. Scadgers' behaviour had been somewhat peculiar before her +entrance, it was now ten times more remarkable. At first he stood +stock-still with his mouth open, gazing at her with distended eyes; +then he fell to nodding his head violently and rubbing his hands as if +thoroughly delighted, and then looked her up and down as though he +were mentally appraising each article of dress. + +"What's the man up to?" said Kate, after undergoing a minute of this +inspection; "come, none of this tomfoolery here. What do you want?" + +Recalled to himself by the sharp tone in which these words were +uttered, Mr. Scadgers fell into his usual state, bowed, and said he +had called by appointment. + +"By appointment?" said. Kate; "oh, ah, I recollect now. You +overcharged me for two horses and a dog in the list for last year. I +filled up your form-thing fairly enough; why didn't you go by that?" + +"Two horses and a dog!" repeated Mr. Scadgers. "There's some mistake, +miss; my name's Scadgers." + +"Lord, that is a good 'un!" said Kate, dropping the whip and clapping +her hands in an ecstasy of laughter. "I thought you were the man about +the taxes that I've sent for to come to me, too. So your name's +Scadgers, is it? I've heard of you, sir; you get your living in a +queer way." + +"Pretty much the same as you and the rest of the world, I believe," +said Scadgers, pleasantly;--"by the weakness of human natur'!" + +"Which you take a pretty considerable advantage of, eh?" + +"Well, I don't know: a gent wants money and he hears I've got it, and +he comes to me for it. I don't seek him,--he seeks me; I tell him what +he'll have to pay for it, and he agrees. He has the money, and he +don't return it; and when he goes through the Court and it all comes +out, people cry, 'Oh, Scadgers again! oh, the bloodsucker! here's +iniquity!' and all the rest of the gammon. If people wants luxuries, +miss, they must pay for 'em, as you know well enough." + +This was not said in the least offensively, but in a quiet earnest +manner, as though the man had real belief in what he stated, and saw +no harm in the calling he was defending. Kate, who had a pretty shrewd +knowledge of character, saw this at once, and felt more kindly +disposed to her new acquaintance than she had at first. + +"Well," she said, "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, +they say; and it's not my business to preach to you, and you wouldn't +heed it it I did. I got you to come here on business. You hold some +acceptances of Mr. James Prescott's?" + +"That's true, miss; I've got 'em here in my pocketbook." + +"What's the amount?" + +"The total, one seventy-five; cab-hire and loss of time, say one +seventy-five ten six." + +"Hand them over, and I'll write you a cheque." + +"Well," said Mr. Scadgers, slowly, "we don't generally take cheques +in these matters,--it ain't business; they mightn't be paid, you +know,--but I don't mind doing it for you." + +Something in the tone of this last sentence which struck oddly on Kate +Mellon's ear,--a soft tender tone of almost parental affection; a tone +which seemed to bring back memory of past days. She looked up +hurriedly, but Mr. Scadgers' swivel-eye was fixed on the wall above +her head; and in the rest of his countenance there was no more emotion +visible than on the face of a Dutch clock. Kate Mellon took out her +desk and wrote the cheque. + +"There!" she said, handing it to him,--"there's your money; hand +over the bills. All right! Now, two things more. One, you'll swear +never to let Mr. Prescott know who paid this money. Good! The other, +if ever he comes to you for help again--I don't think he will, mind; +but if he does--you'll refuse him, and let me know." + +"That's what they all say," said Mr. Scadgers, "if they come again, +refuse 'em;' and they do come again, and I don't refuse 'em,--that is +if I think they're good for the money,--but I'll swear I'll do it for +you." + +"I believe you," said Kate, simply. "Now, have some lunch before you +go." + +"No, thank you," said Scadgers, "no lunch; but I should like a glass +of wine to drink your health in." + +"You shall have it, and welcome," said she, ringing the bell; "and +I'll have one with you, for I was at the dumb-jockey business when you +came in, and it rather takes it out of one." + +When the wine was brought, Kate filled two glasses, and, taking up +one, nodded to Mr. Scadgers. "Here's luck," said she, shortly. Mr. +Scadgers took his glass, and said; "The best of luck to you in every +thing, and God bless you, my--miss, I mean! And now, I've heard a lot +about your stable and place--would you mind my going round them, +before I go?" + +"Mind!" said Kate; "I'll take you myself." And they walked into the +farm together. + + +"It was as much as I could do," said Mr. Scadgers to himself, as, half +an hour afterwards, he walked down the lane on his way back to +town--"it was as much as I could do to prevent throwing my arms round +her neck and telling her all about it. What a pretty creetur' it is; +and what spirit! I suppose she's nuts on young Prescott, and they'll +be gettin' married. Lord! that would be a rum start if he ever +knew--but he won't know, nor any of 'em; we shall never let on. Woman +of business too; keeps accounts I noticed, when she opened her desk; +and all the place in such order; kept as neat as a drawing-room those +stables. Well, that's one thing you did right, John Scadgers, and one +you won't be sorry for some day." + +"That's a queer customer," said Kate to herself, as she stood in the +lane by the lodge-gate, looking after his receding figure. "A very +queer customer. What a grip he gave my hand when he said good-by! My +fingers ache with it still. And there was no nonsense about him; I +could see that in a minute. Where have I seen him before? I've some +sort of recollection of him; but I can't fit it to any thing +particular--he's not in the horse-line, and he's not a swell; so I +don't see where I can have come across him. Glad he looked in this +morning, for I was precious dull: I can't make out what this weight is +that's hanging over me for the last few days, just as though something +was going to happen. I think another glass of Madeira would do me +good; but I promised Simnel I'd knock that off. I wonder what's come +of Simnel for the last few days. That old Scadgers seemed to know +something about this place, noticed the alterations in the five-acre +meadow; and when I asked him, said he remembered the place when it was +Myrtle Farm. I must ask Simnel about him, he--Lord, how depressed and +stupid I feel again!" She turned back and fastened the gate after her. +One of the gatekeeper's chubby children came running out to meet her, +and she caught the little thing up in her arms, and carried it into +the lodge. As she was putting it down she heard the tramp of horses' +feet, and raising her head, looked through the window. The next +instant her cheeks flushed scarlet; she dropped the child into a +chair, and rushing to the gate, threw it open, and stood gazing down +the road. + +Yes, it was he! no mistaking his figure, even if she had, not +recognised the horse. It was he riding so close to the lady by his +side, bending over her and looking down, into her upturned face. So +preoccupied that he never even bestowed a glance upon the place so +well known to him, so frequently visited in bygone days. And she, who +was she? Kate could see that she was slim, could see her fair hair +gathered in a knot beneath hat,--it must be the woman of whom Simnel +had spoken. And Kate Mellon gave a loud groan, and clenched her nails +into the palms of her hands, and stood looking after them with +quivering lips and a face as pale as death. + +Just at that moment two grooms came riding round the corner, side by +side. The sound of their horses' feet recalled Kate to herself. She +looked up, and in one of them recognised Beresford's man. She +collected herself by a great effort, and beckoned to him. The man saw +her, touched his hat, and rode up at once, leaving his companion to +proceed by himself. + +"William," said Kate, "who's that lady riding with your master?" + +"Mrs. Schröder, miss; Saxe-Coburg Square. Mr. Schröder drives pair of +chestnuts, miss, in mail-pheayton, plain black harness. May have +noticed 'em; often in the Park, miss." + +"Ah! No; I think not. Schröder,--Saxe-Coburg Square, you said?" + +"Yes, miss. Beg pardon, miss," added the man, who had himself been +formerly in Kate's service, and by whom, as by all of his fraternity, +she was adored,--"beg pardon, miss; but nothing wrong, is there? You're +looking uncommon ill, miss." + +"No," said Kate, with a ghastly smile. "I'm all right, thank you, +William. Good-day: ride on!" and William, touching his hat, clapped +spurs to his horse, and rode off. + + +That night the mail-cart was waiting outside the little village +post-office and the old woman was just huddling the letters into the +bag, when a groom came up at a hand-gallop, and dismounting, gave in a +letter, saying, + +"Just in time, Mrs. Mallins, I think!" + +The old woman peered at him over her spectacles. + +"Oh, it's you, Thomas, is it? Well, I'll take a letter from your +mistress, though I'm not bound to do it by the reg'lations. You're +after time, Thomas." + +"I know, Mrs. Mallins; but Miss Kate said 'twere most particular. And +I were to tell you so, and--" + +"Air you comin' with that bag?" growled the mail-cart driver, putting +his head into the shop. + +"All right, my man! all right!" said the old lady, handing him the +bag. "There it is. Thomas, you can tell your lady she was in time." + + +Half an hour afterwards Kate Mellon's servant looked into the +dining-room. There was no light, and she was about to withdraw, when +she heard her mistress's voice say, "What is it?" + +"Oh, nothing, ma'am; only Thomas says the letter was in time." + +"Very well," said Kate. Then, when the door was shut again, she +muttered between her clenched teeth: "It's done now, and can't be +undone! Now, Master Charley, look out for yourself!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. +AFTER THE STORM. + + +As you sit in the bow-window of your comfortable lodging at your +favourite watering-place during your annual autumn holiday, your +breakfast finished and the _débris_ removed, the newspaper rustling +idly on your knees, and the first and pleasantest pipe of the day +between your lips, you look up and see the aspect of affairs in the +little street below very much changed from its normal state. The +pleasure-boats--the _Lively Nancy_, which sails so regularly at +eleven A.M. with a cargo of happy excursionists, and which arrives in +port at irregular intervals varying from one to three, laden with +leaden-coloured men and hopelessly-bedraggled fainting women; the +_William and Ellen_, in which you go out to catch codling and plaice; +and all the other little craft usually stationed on the beach--have +been bodily removed, their owners and touters are drinking rum and +smoking shag-tobacco in evil-smelling little public-houses, and their +customers have no notion of putting them into requisition. The +bathing-machines,--those cumbrous vehicles in which you have so often +made that dread journey into the ocean, after being bidden to "stand +by" while the horse gives his first awful jerk and afterwards dashes +you against the sides of your travelling-prison, while you catch +horribly-distorted glimpses of your wretched countenance in the +miserable little sixpenny looking-glass pendant from the rusty +nail and swinging here and there like a live thing convulsed,--the +bathing-machines have all been dragged from the spot where they +ordinarily stand like a row of hideous guardians of the coast, and +have defiantly taken possession of one side of the little main street. +The place where the German band subsidised by the town usually pours +forth its perpetual iteration of the "Faust" waltz is now covered with +roaring plunging waves, thick brown walls of water rearing their white +crests a hundred yards off, as if in survey of their ultimate goal, +tearing madly onward, gathering in size and strength at every stride, +and at length discharging themselves with a thunder-crash in a +blinding avalanche of spray. These 'waves, this roaring seething mass +of trembling turgid water, is the great attraction to-day. In vain the +monkey on the three-legged table clashes his cymbals, or plies the +ramrod of his gun with frantic energy; in vain the good-looking +Italian boy, his master, shows his gleaming teeth or touches his hat +to attract attention; in vain the Highlander blows discord into his +bagpipes until all the neighbouring dogs possessing musical ears are +howling in misery. Nobody cares for anything but the sea to-day; the +little parade is thronged with visitors all gazing seaward, all rapt +in attention on the boiling waters; at one point, where the waves dash +in and sweep over the solid masonry, boys rush in between the ebb and +flow, returning happy if they have escaped, happier if they have been +soaked by the spray. People look out all round and scan the horizon to +see if there be any craft in sight, inspired with that singular +feeling which only Rochefoucauld has dared to define, the feeling +which sends crowds to watch Blondin's walk upon the high-rope, or the +performances of a lion-tamer,--the feeling which, in a lesser extent, +originates the sensation-loving element in us, and which is about the +lowest in degraded human nature. Far away, at the end of the +worm-eaten sea-besoaked jetty, is a little cluster of fishermen in +dreadnaught and sou'-westers, patiently watching the weather, which to +them is no toy nor amusement, but that on which hang their hopes of +daily bread; and they will tell you if you ask them, that these big +breakers thundering on to the shore are the result of some great storm +that has taken place far away in the heart of the Atlantic; and that +though the tempest is probably over now, these creations of its fury, +these evidences of its wrath, will continue to roll and surge and foam +for days to come. + +So it was with the Adullam-Street household and its surroundings. The +storm that had swept through it had been short, sharp, and decisive; +but the traces of its wrecking power were visible long, long after it +had past. + +At first it seemed quite impossible for Frank Churchill to understand +the extent of the misery which had fallen upon him. However roseate +might have been the dreams, in which he had indulged, of the blisses +of matrimony, he had lived too long in the world not to know that few +indeed were the couples whose lives were not checkered by some +occasional difference. These, he had been told, generally occurred in +the early portion of a matrimonial career, while the two persons were +each unaccustomed to the peculiarities of the other, and while +ignorance was, to a great extent, supported and backed up by obstinacy +and pride. The unwillingness of each to give way would eventually +result in a clash, whence would arise one of those domestic +differences popularly known as "tiffs," in which the actors, though +horribly wretched in themselves and disagreeable to each other, were +supremely ridiculous to the rest of the world, which either affected +to be blind or sympathising, and in either case was sniggering +in its sleeve at the absurdity of the scene. But these little +sparring-matches were usually of short duration; and though a constant +repetition of them might have a triturating effect upon the original +foundation of love and constancy, yet Churchill had noticed that long +before such a fatal result occurred, the sharp angles and points had +generally become gradually rounded off and rubbed down, and the +machine had begun to work harmoniously and with regularity. At all +events no open scandal took place. That open scandal, if not an actual +healer of wounds, is a rare anodyne to impulsive spirits and hearts, +thumping painfully against the tightened chain which day by day, with +corroding teeth, is eating its way into their core. Exposure, +publicity in the press, Mrs. Grundy--these are the greatest enemies of +the Divorce-Court lawyers; heavy though the list of cases standing +over for hearing may be, it would be fifty times heavier could the +proceedings be kept secret. Hundreds of couples now living together, +hating each other "with the hate of hell;" scowling, carping, +badgering, wearing, maddening, to desperation driving, from the hour +they rise till the hour they retire to rest and fall asleep,--the one +cursing his life, the other feebly bemoaning her fate, or openly +defiant, "each going their own way;" a state of being more horrible, +loathsome, and pitiable even than the other,--would be disunited, were +it not for the public scandal. "For the sake of the children," for the +scandal which would be entailed on their offspring, Mrs. Emilia will +not leave Mr. Iago; and so they continue to live together, while the +children are daily edified spectators of the manner in which their +father treats their mother, and listen to the constantly-renewed +expression of Mrs. Emilia's wish in reference to the possession of +that whip with which to lash the rascal (their father) naked through +the world. + +The exposure--the public scandal! To no one had these words more +terror in their sound than to Frank Churchill. All his life he had +shrunk from every chance of notoriety: had gloried in being able to +work anonymously; not for the sake of shirking any responsibility, not +from the slightest doubt of the right and truth and purity of whatever +cause he might be advocating: but because, when he had shot his bolt, +and hit his mark, as he generally did, he could stand calmly by and +mark the result, without being deafened by empty pans or sickened by +false flattery. His horror of publicity had been extreme; he had +invariably refused all details of his history to contemporary +biographers, and had never been so deeply disgusted as when he saw +some of his work tracked home to its author by the gossipping +correspondent of a provincial paper. It was good work, too--work +creditable to his brain and his heart; yet had it been penny-a-lining +written to order, he could not have been more annoyed at being +accredited with it. And now the full garish eye of day was to be let +into the inmost recesses of his heart's sanctuary! "Break lock and +seal, betray the trust!" let the whole world revel in the details. A +domestic scandal, and one besmirching a man who, despite of himself, +had made some name in the world, and a woman whose triumphs had +rung through society, was exactly the thing which the "many-headed +beast" would most delight in prying into and bandying about. The +details?--there were no details; none, at least, which the world would +ever hear of, or which would give the smallest explanation of the +result. There was the fact of the separation, and nothing more; what +led to it must be the work of conjecture, and people would invent all +kinds of calumny about him; and--great Heaven!--about her. The lying +world, with its blistering tongue, would be busy with her name, +warping, twisting, inventing every thing--perhaps imputing shame to +her, to her whose shield he should have been, to her whom he should +have protected from every blow. + +And here must be exhibited one of the flaws in Frank Churchill's +by-no-means-perfect character. His wife had taken a step which nothing +could excuse, had given way to her passion; and, in obedience to the +promptings of rage and jealousy, had done him an irreparable wrong, +and covered them both with a reproach which would cling to them for +life,--all this without any thing like adequate provocation on his +part; so that he had been shamefully treated, and, had he been +properly heroic, would have a fair claim upon your compassion, if not +your admiration. But the truth is he was anything but a hero; +notwithstanding the manner in which his hopes had been blighted and +his life wrecked, notwithstanding his having been deserted in that +apparently heartless way by his wife,--he loved her even then with a +passionate devotion; and when he thought of her, perhaps vilified and +calumniated, without her natural protector, wretched and perhaps +solitary, he had almost determined to fling his pride--nay, what he +knew to be his duty--to the winds, to rush after her and implore her +to come back to his home, and to do with him what she would. Of course +nothing could have been more degrading to him than such a proceeding, +and it was fortunate that good advice was coming to him in the person +of his mother. + +Coming in to pay her usual afternoon visit, the old lady walked +straight to the study, and after tapping lightly at the door with her +parasol-handle, she opened it and went in. She found her son seated at +his desk, his head buried in his hands, which were supported by the +projecting arms of the chair. His legs were stretched out before him, +and he seemed lost in thought. He did not change his position at his +mother's entrance, not until she addressed him by name; when, on +raising his head, she saw the dull whiteness of his cheeks, and the +bistre rings round his eyes. She noticed too that his hands shook, and +on touching them they were hot and dry. + +"My boy," said the old lady, gently, "you're not well, I'm afraid! +what's the matter with you? too much of this horrid work, or--why, +good God, Frank, there are marks of tears on your face! What _is_ the +matter,--what _has_ happened?" + +"Nothing, mother--nothing to me at least,--don't be alarmed, dearest; +I'm all right enough." + +"Then Barbara's ill!" said Mrs. Churchill, rising from the seat she +had taken. "I'll go to her at once, poor thing--" + +"You wouldn't find her, mother!" said Frank, in a very hollow voice. +"She's not upstairs; she's gone!" + +"Gone! Gone where?" asked the old lady. + +"Gone away--left me--gone away for ever!" and as the thought of his +desolation broke with renewed force upon him, his voice nearly failed +him, and it was with great difficulty that he prevented himself from +breaking down. + +"Left you--gone away--eloped!" cried the old lady, in whose mind there +suddenly arose a vision of a yellow post-chaise, with four horses and +two postillions, and Barbara inside, with Captain Lyster looking out +of the window. + +"No, no; not so bad as that," said Frank; "though horrible enough, in +all conscience;" and he gave his mother a description of the scene +which had occurred. + +As Mrs. Churchill listened, it was plain to see that she was greatly +moved; her hands trembled, and tears burst from her eyes and stole +down her cheeks. As the story proceeded, two feelings were struggling +for the mastery within her--one, pity for her son; the other, +indignation at her son's wife. The old lady, although now so quiet and +retiring and simple, had lived in the world, and knew the ways and +doings, the ins and outs, of its denizens. She had had tolerable +experience of man's inconstancy, of his proneness to sin, of his +exposure to flattery, and liability to temptation. Had Frank confessed +some slight flirtation with a pretty girl, some beneficence towards a +female acquaintance of bygone times, she would have thought that +Barbara had acted with worse than rashness in taking so decided a +step; but now, when Frank told her that the letter which had provoked +the final eruption was one which--had he not been pledged by its +writer to be silent concerning, pledge given long before he had made +Barbara's acquaintance--might have been read before the world, she +believed her son fully, and could form no judgment too severe on +Barbara's conduct. She was no vain-glorious Pharisee, to tell of the +tithes she had given, the good she had done; no humbler-minded sinner +poured out a nightly tale of shortcomings and omissions to the Great +Father: but when she thought of her own married life, when she +recollected all Vance Churchill's frailties, all his drinking bouts +and intrigues, all his carelessness and idleness, his neglect of his +wife his pettish waywardness, and constant self-indulgence; when she +compared all this with Frank's calm, steady, laborious, good life, and +recollected that under all her provocation her husband had scarcely so +much as a harsh word from her, she felt that Barbara's conduct had +been outrageous indeed. + +She said nothing at first, though her heart was full. With the tears +rolling down her cheeks, she rose from her chair, and, taking up her +position by her son, fell to smoothing his hair and passing her hand +lightly over his brow, as she had done--oh, how many thousand +times!--when he was a child; muttering softly, "My poor boy! oh, my +poor boy!" The gentler spirit which had taken possession of Frank just +before his mother's entrance grew and expanded under her softening +touch. He felt like some swimmer who, after a prolonged buffet with +the angry waves, feels his feet, and knows that a few more strokes +will bring him rest and home. There was a chance of nipping this +wretched scandal in its bud, which was much; there was a chance of +bringing his beloved to his side once more, which was all in all. +After a time he broke the silence, cautiously sounding the depths. + +"Do you think there's any chance of this horrible business being put +straight, mother?" he asked. + +"We are in the hands of God, my boy," replied the old lady, fervently. +"Time is the great anodyne. HE may think fit to have it all set right +in the course of time." + +"Yes; but--I mean--you don't think it could be settled at +once--to-night, I mean?" + +"If she were to come back to-night, which she will not, and confess +that her miserable pride and jealousy had driven her forth in a mad +fit, and were to ask pardon, and be as she ought to be--God +knows--humble and contrite, I would say let there be an end of it; +forget it all, and strive to live happier for the future. But if she +remains away to-night--well, I don't know what to say;" and the old +lady heaved a very intelligible sigh--a sigh which meant that in such +an event the worst had arrived. + +"Yes," said Frank; his mind still dwelling on the little course he had +proposed to himself;--"yes, of course, you don't think it would be +right, then, to go to her--" + +"Go to her!" echoed the old lady. + +"Yes, go to her, and tell her how utterly wrong she had been--that +there was not the slightest foundation for her suspicions; and that +she had acted most unjustifiably in quitting her husband's house in +the manner she has done; and--" + +Old Mrs. Churchill had been sitting as if petrified, with her lips +wide apart, during the delivery of this sentence; at this point she +thawed into speech. + +"Are you mad, Frank? has your misfortune turned your brain? You +propose to go to her,--this woman, who has brought contempt on you-- +and not only on you, on me and all our name,--and sue to her to come +back, and box her ears playfully, and tell her what a naughty girl she +has been! Do you imagine that this affair is any longer a secret, that +it has not been talked over already between Mrs. Schröder's maid and +your servants, between your servants and the tradespeople? Don't you +know that if your wife is absent from your house to-night, the doubt +will become a certainty, and that to-morrow the whole neighbourhood +will be ringing with it? No!" continued the old lady; "it has come, +and we must bear it. If that wicked girl--for I can't help feeling and +saying that she is wicked in her present course--sees her error and +repents, it will be your duty to forgive her and to take her back; but +as to your humbling yourself by going to her and asking her to return, +it's not to be thought of for a moment." + +"I suppose you're right, mother," was all that Frank said--"I suppose +you're right: we'll wait and see whether she comes back to-night." + +So they waited, mother and son, through that long evening. The day +died out, and the dusk came down, and the lamps were lighted in the +streets, and the pattering feet grew fewer and fewer; and still those +two sat without speaking, without moving, immersed in their own +thoughts; and still no Barbara returned. At length Mrs. Churchill, +remembering that her son had had no dinner that day, grew tenderly +solicitous about his health, and, crossing to him, raised his head and +pressed her lips to his, and begged him to rouse himself and eat. And +Frank, who felt himself gradually going mad with the one sad strain +upon his thoughts, said: + +"No, mother--not here, at all events. I must shake this off, if only +for a few minutes, or I shall go out of my mind. I'll take a turn in +the air; and if I feel faint or to want any thing, I'll go to the Club +and get it. You go home and to bed, dearest; for you must be +thoroughly knocked up with all my worries, which you are compelled to +share; she won't come back to-night--it's all over now; and to-morrow +we must face the future, and see what we're to do with the rest of our +lives." + +So they kissed again, and then went out together: Frank with a dead, +dull, wearying pain at his heart; and his mother, sad enough to see +him so sad, but with some little consolation mingled with her grief at +the feeling that this event was not unlikely to bring her and her son +more together again; to give her the chance of being in more frequent +and more affectionate communication with that being whom she +worshipped next to her Creator; of enjoying that to her inexpressible +delight, of having her son "all to herself" again. + +Leaving the old lady at the door of her lodgings, Frank strode on at a +rapid pace, neither looking to the right nor to the left, seeing none +of the people by whom he passed, thinking of nothing but his lost +love. At length the long fasting he had undergone began to tell upon +him, he felt sick and faint, and determined to go to his Club to get +some refreshment,--not to the Flybynights; he could not have borne the +noisy racket, the bewildering chaff, of that circle of free-lances; so +he strode steadily down to Pall Mall, and turned into the +Retrenchment. Even that solemn temple of gastronomy and politics was +far too lively for him in his then mood. The coffee-room was filled +with a number of men who had dined late, many of whom, just returned +from their autumnal expeditions, and not having met for a couple of +months, had "joined tables," and were loudly talking over their +holiday experiences. All was light and lively and jolly; and Frank +felt, as he sat in the midst of them, like the death's-head at the +banquet. At one table close by his four men were sitting over their +wine, one of the number being rallied by the rest about his +approaching marriage. "You're a lucky fellow, by Jove, Hope!" +Frank heard one of them say; "I always said Miss Chudleigh was the +prettiest girl out since the Lexden's year." "What's become of the +Lexden--didn't she get married or something?" asked another. "Oh, +yes!" answered the first--"married a man who's a member here. I don't +know him; but a cleverish fellow, I believe. No tin--regular case of +spoons, they said it was." "Mistake that!" said the _fiancé_, whose +future father-in-law was a wealthy brewer; "spoons is all very well, +but it wants something to back it." "Ah, but it's not every one +that has your luck," said old Tommy Orme, who just then joined the +party--"nor, I will say, Hope it isn't every one that deserves it, by +Jove!" and on the Hope of that speech, old Tommy determined to borrow +a ten-pound note from his friend on the first opportunity. Frank +shuddered as he listened, and bent his head over his cutlet. "Was +there any thing in what those men had said?" he asked himself, as he +walked home. Could it have been that the state of comparative poverty +into which he had brought his wife had soured her temper, rendered her +jealous and querulous, and so disgusted her as to cause her to avail +herself of the first excuse which presented itself for returning to +her former life? It might be so, indeed. If a were, Frank was not +disposed to think of her very uncharitably: he knew the whole wealth +of love which he had bestowed upon her; but he thought that her +bringing-up might perhaps have rendered her incapable of appreciating +it; and he went to his solitary bed with a feeling of something more +than pity for his absent wife, after imploring peace to and pardon for +them both in his prayers. + +The evening of the next day, however, found him in a very different +frame of mind. Not one word had been heard from Barbara; and the fact +of her absence, and the manner of her departure, had been thoroughly +well discussed throughout the neighbourhood. Early in the morning, +Frank, with the conviction that all must eventually be known, had +removed the seal from his mother's lips; and the old lady's +circumstantial account, softened as much as her conscience would +allow,--for she felt really more strongly than she had admitted about +Barbara's defection,--was detailed to various knots of fa-miller +friends throughout the day. The astonishment of the Mesopotamians was +immense; immense their horror, deep the condemnation they poured upon +the peccant one. The good women of the district could not realise what +had occurred. If Barbara had eloped, they would have had some slight +glimmering of it; though an elopement was a thing which in their idea +only occurred in highly aristocratic families. They had heard through +the medium of the newspapers, stories of post-chaise followed by +post-chaise speeding along the northern road, guilty wife and "gay +Lothario" (Mesopotamian phrase for cavalier villany varying from +seduction to waltzing) in the one, injured husband in the other. But +how a woman could take herself off, leave her home and her husband, +and send a servant for her things afterwards, my dear, as cool as if +she were going by the railway train,--that beat them altogether. But +though they could not understand, they could condemn, and did, in most +unmeasured terms. Whatever the motive might have been, and the most +energetic among them could not find in what was said any thing +particularly damnifying ("in what is said, my dear; but I'm sure there +must be something behind all this that we don't know of, but which +will come out some day"),--whatever the motive might have been, there +was the fact; that could not be got rid of or explained away: Mrs. +Frank Churchill had left her home and was not living with her husband. +What more or less could you make of that? Some of them had seen it in +her from the first. + +There was something--one section said, in her eye, another in her +manner--which showed discontent, or worse. "Something" in her walk +which displeased many of them greatly--"as though the ground she trod +upon was not good enough for her," they said. And she who had held her +head so high, for whom none of them were good enough, had come to +this. Well, if being a fine lady and being brought up amongst great +people led to _that_, thank goodness they were as they were. + +Mrs. Harding had been one of the earliest to receive old Mrs. +Churchill's confidence, and had been so much astonished and impressed +by what she heard, that she at once returned home and proceeded to +rouse her husband, then peacefully sleeping off his hard night's work. +It must have been something quite out of the common to have prompted +such a step, as George Harding was never pleased at having his +hard-earned rest broken in upon; but on this occasion his wife thought +she had a complete justification. So she went softly into the closed +room, undrew the curtains and let in the full morning sun; then she +shook the sleeper's shoulder and called "George!" Harding roused +himself at once and demanded what was the matter; he always had an +idea, when suddenly awakened from sleep, that something had happened +to the paper, either an Indian mail omitted, or a leader of the wrong +politics inserted, or something equally dreadful in its result; and he +had scarcely got his eyes fairly open, when his wife said, "Oh, my +dear, such a terrible thing for poor Churchill!" + +"What do you mean?" asked George, broad-awake in an instant; "nobody +ill?" + +"Oh, no, my dear; much better if it were. She's gone, my dear!" + +"Who's gone; what on earth do you mean?" and then his wife told him +the story circumstantially. And after hearing it George Harding +dressed himself at once and went out to see his friend. + +He found Churchill sitting in his little study, looking vacantly +before him. There were no signs of work on the desk, no book near him; +he had evidently been sitting for some time in a state of semi-stupor. +He was very pale; but he looked up at the opening of the door and +smiled faintly when he saw who it was. There was something so cheery +in dear old George Harding's presence, that it shed light wherever he +went, no matter how dark the surroundings: men who, as they knelt by +the coffins of their wives, had prayed to God to take them then and +there,--men who, contemplating the ruin sweeping down upon them, +had horribly suggestive thoughts of the laudanum-bottle or the +pistol-barrel,--had felt the dark clouds pass away at the sound of his +genial voice and the sight of his hopeful face. But there were tears +in George Harding's gray eyes as he took his friend's hand, and his +voice shook a little as he said, "My dear old Frank! my poor dear +fellow!" + +"I'm hard hit, Harding, and that's the truth. You've heard all about +it, of course?" Frank asked nervously, fearing he might have again to +recount the miserable history. + +"Yes, my wife has told me,--she heard it from your mother, I +believe,--and I came on at once. Do you know I'm horribly afraid, +Frank, that it was from your taking my advice that this quarrel took +place?" + +"Your advice?" + +"Yes, about tightening the curb. I told you, if you recollect, that I +thought there should be a greater amount of firmness and decision in +your manner to Mrs. Churchill, and--" + +"Oh, you need not be anxious on that score; it must have come sooner +or later; and it's come sooner, that's all!" + +"And what are you going to do?" + +"Do? what do sensible men do when they have troubles? Grin and bear +them, don't they? And so shall I. I can't live alone; so I shall +instal my mother here again, and, I suppose, all will--will be pretty +much as it was eighteen months ago." + +"I was afraid from what my wife said, that I should find you in some +such mood as this," said Harding sternly. "One would think you were +mad, Frank Churchill, to hear you talk such stuff. Don't you know that +Mrs. Churchill is as much your wife before God and man as she ever +was? Don't you feel that she has done nothing for which even the +wretched laws which we in our mighty wisdom have chosen to frame would +justify you in treating her in this way? I can understand it all; +you've been worked upon by the chatter and magging of these silly +women until you've lost your own calm common-sense. But don't you feel +now, Frank, that I'm right? Don't you feel that a fit of rage, a mere +wretched passing temper, is not the thing to separate those whom--you +know I use it in no canting sense--those whom God has joined together? +Don't you feel that it is your duty to go to her, or to send--I'll go +if you like, though it's not a very pleasant office--to point out to +her the miserable folly of this course, and to bring her back to her +proper place--her home?" + +"My dear Harding," said Frank quietly, "I know you are sincere in your +advice, but it is impossible for me to take it. My wife has subjected +me to a very great outrage; and until that is explained and atoned +for, I will never look upon or speak to her." + +Harding would have said something more, but Churchill raised his hand +in deprecation, and then changed the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. +THE PAPER BULLET. + + +Like the man and woman in the toy weather-house, Mr. Schröder's two +houses never were "to the fore" at the same time. When the one was +lighted, the other was gloomy; when the one was tenanted, the other +was empty; when the one was decorated, the other was comfortless. As +the second breath of summer came floating over Kensington Gardens, +after the may- and apple-blossoms had disappeared, but long before +dust and drouth had settled down on the greensward and the umbrageous +walks of the parks; when there was evinced among young men a perpetual +desire to dine at the Star-and-Garter at Richmond, and an undying +hatred of passing the Sunday within the metropolis; when Mr. +Quartermaine began to wonder where he should stow all his visitors, +and Mr. Skindle of the Orkney Arms began to think of building; when +fashionable people thought it no more harm to sit in their carriages +outside Grange's, than to call diamonds 'dimonds,' or ribbon 'ribbin;' +when the Sunday-afternoon attendance at the Zoological Gardens began +to exceed the week-day; when green-peas began to have some taste, and +asparagus to be something else beside stalk and stick,--then the glory +of the Saxe-Coburg-Square establishment showed strong symptoms of +waning. The usual amount of solemn dinner-party had been gone through; +every body necessary had been asked to balls, music, and +_conversazioni_; Mrs. Schröder's taste and Mr. Schröder's wealth had +been exhibited constantly at the Opera and at some of the most +fashionable gatherings in London; and one, if not both, of them longed +for a little quiet. This resulted in the renting of Uplands, when +blank misery fell upon the establishment in Saxe-Coburg Square. All +the ornaments and nicknacks were removed and put away; the chandeliers +were shrouded in big holland bags; the shutters were put up; and the +spurious Schröder ancestors scowled dimly from the wall over a great +desert of dining-table, no longer shining with snowy damask or +sparkling silver and glass. The staff of servants,--the French cook +and the Italian confectioner; the ponderous butler, so frequently +mistaken by Mrs. Schröder's West-end friends for a City magnate; the +solemn footman, large-whiskered, large-calved, ambrosial, and most +offensive; the lady's-maid and the buttons,--all, down to the +kitchen-maid, who lived in a perpetual state of grease and dripping, +and who was preparing herself for "plain cook, good," in the +_Times_ column of 'Want Places,'--all went away into what the said +kitchen-maid was heard to designate "that rubbiging country;" and an +old woman, weird, puffy, dusty, with old black silk stitched about her +head where her hair should have been, and with bits of beard sticking +on her chin, came and took up her abode in the housekeeper's room and +"kep' 'ouse" herself. + +But when October was well set in, and the days grew short, and the +showers not unfrequent; when, even if there were no showers, the heavy +mists of morn and dews of night left the ground moist and dank and +plappy; when weird night-winds rose and sighed Banshee-like over the +hushed fields; when the lawn lost its soft verdure and grew brown and +corrugated; when the trees, which during the summer had so +picturesquely fringed the lawn and framed the distance, now gaunt and +dismal, swayed mournfully to and fro, drearily rattling their stripped +limbs,--then a general inclination to return back to the comfort of +London began to be manifested by all the inhabitants of Uplands. It +was all very pleasant when Mr. Schröder had spun his chestnuts up the +leafy lanes, or over the breezy hills, in the summer; but it was a +very different thing when he had to come the same road from town in a +close carriage, with the rain pattering against the windows, and with +no gas for the last three miles of the journey. It was dull work for +Mrs. Schröder and whatever female companion she might happen to have, +with nothing to do but yawn over novels, or listlessly thrum the +piano, or watch the gardeners filling their high barrows with dead +leaves and unceasingly sweeping the lawns and paths. She could have +relieved her tedium by a little shopping, she thought; but there were +no shops--at least what she called shops--within miles of Uplands. As +to the servants, they all hated the place; there were no military for +the females, and the policemen were all mounted patrols, who "just +looked round at night on 'orseback, and never had no time for a +gossip, or a bit of supper, or anythink friendly;" while the male +domestics were removed from their clubs and all the other delights +which a town-life afforded. So, to the great joy of all, the word was +given to march; and the whole establishment descended on Saxe-Coburg +Square leaving Uplands to the care of the Scotch gardener, who removed +his wife and family up from one of the lodges, and encamped in the +kitchen and adjacent rooms. + +Mrs. Schröder was by no means ill-pleased at the return to town. The +moving gave her no trouble; she had merely to walk into her rooms and +find every thing arranged for her; and she was in hopes that a +salutary change would be effected in at least one arrangement which +was beginning to worry her. The truth is, that during the last week of +their stay at Uplands it had begun to dawn upon Mrs. Schröder that +Charles Beresford's attentions were not what they should be. She had +more than once endeavoured to think out the subject; but her +intellects were none of the brightest, and she got frightened, and +either began to cry, or let every thing go by the board in the grand +certainty that "it would be all right in the end." But of late she had +felt the necessity of taking some steps to bring the acquaintance +between her and her admirer to some proper footing. This had not come +on her entirely of her own accord. She had noticed that her husband +(whose attentions to her increased day by day from the time when his +heart seemed to soften so suddenly and so strangely towards her) +seemed to regard the presence of the Commissioner with obvious +impatience. Mr. Schröder never, indeed, said any thing to his wife on +the subject; but he evidently chafed when Beresford was in the house: +and if Mrs. Schröder and Beresford were at all thrown together apart +from the general company, they were sure to see Mr. Schröder's eyes +fixed upon them. Others of her friends had not been so reticent. +Captain Lyster had hinted once or twice, what Barbara Churchill had +several times roundly spoken out--that Beresford was a _vaurien_, +whose attentions were compromising to any married woman; and that if +he had the smallest spark of gentlemanly feeling in him, he would +desist from paying them. So Mrs. Schröder, who was nothing but a very +silly weak little woman (there are few women who are really bad, even +among those who have erred: the Messalinas and the Lady Macbeths are +very exceptional cases), and who really had a sincere affection for +her husband, had made up her mind that she was behaving badly, and had +determined to break gradually, but uncompromisingly, with Mr. +Beresford and his attentions. She had been so completely hoodwinked by +the fraternal relations which, at Mr. Simnel's suggestion, the +Commissioner had cultivated, that it was not until immediately +previous to their quitting Uplands that she saw the danger she had +been running, and felt horribly incensed with Mr. Beresford for his +part in the affair. + +They had been back for some days in Saxe-Coburg Square, and Alice +Schröder was nestling in her easy-chair after luncheon, wondering when +the opportunity would occur in which she could plainly point out to +Mr. Beresford that he must altogether alter his conduct for the +future, when Mrs. Churchill was announced, and Barbara entered the +room. + +She was very pale, walked very erect, and held out her two hands to +Alice as she advanced. + +"Why, Barbara! Barbara darling!" said impulsive little Alice, "I'm so +delighted to--why, what's the matter, dear? how strange and odd you +look!" + +"I want you to have me here for a few days, Alice, if you will." + +"Why, of course, dear! I'm so glad you've come at last; it wasn't for +the want of asking, you know. And Mr. Churchill will be here to +dinner, dear, at seven, eh?" + +"Mr. Churchill will not come at all, Alice," said Barbara very +gravely. "I am here alone." + +"But he knows you've come here, doesn't he?" + +"You don't understand me yet, Alice. I have left my husband." + +"Left your husband! oh, Barbara, how dreadful! how could you!" and +Alice Schröder's face exhibited such signs of unmistakable terror, +that for the first time the magnitude of the step she had taken, and +the apparent impossibility of its recall, seemed to flash upon +Barbara. A rush of tears blinded her eyes; and she held out her hands +appealingly, as she said, "You--you don't shrink from me, Alice?" + +Astonishment, nothing more, had caused Mrs. Schröder's trepidation; in +an instant she had rushed forward and wound her arms round Barbara's +neck, saying, "Shrink from you, my darling? why, what madness to +suppose such a thing! Where should you come but to my house, in such a +case? Besides, it's nothing, darling, I suspect, but a temporary +little foolish quarrel. Mr. Churchill will be here to dinner, and take +you home with him afterwards." + +But Barbara shook her head and burst into tears, saying that it was a +matter which admitted of no compromise and no amicable settlement. And +then, between floods of crying, she told Alice the outline of the +quarrel; dwelling specially upon Frank's refusal to give up the letter +he had received, or to say who was his correspondent. Alice seemed +deeply impressed with the atrocity of Frank's conduct, though she +doubted whether she herself would have had the courage to take such a +decided step as leaving her home ("You always said I was wanting in +spirit, Barbara; and indeed I should not have known where to go to"). +She recollected Barbara's having been upset at a letter which had come +to Frank at Bissett, before they were engaged; and she was full of "O +my's!" and general wonderment, as to who could have written both these +mysterious epistles. + +"Very odd," she said--"very odd, and very unpleasant. You're sure it +was a woman's hand, dear? People do make such mistakes about that +sometimes. Most dreadful, indeed! Well, that's one blessing, I've +often thought, with Gustav, and is some compensation for his grayness +and his being so much older, and that sort of thing. For grayness is +better than jealousy, isn't it, dear? and I'm sure it's pleasanter +to think of your husband at whist than waltzing, as some of them +do--whirling about the room as though there were no such thing as the +marriage service And letters too, that's awful! I'm so glad you came +here, Barbara darling; and so will Gustav be, when he comes in. We +must tell him all about it. I tell him every thing now, he is _so_ +kind." + +He was _very_ kind, this heavy-headed elderly German merchant. When +he came in, his wife at once told him what had occurred; and when he +met Barbara in the drawing-room, before dinner, he took her hands in +both of his, and pressed his lips gravely on her forehead, and bade +her welcome, and told her to consider his house as her home. For Mr. +Schröder had, in his strange old-fashioned way, a very keen sense of +honour and of the respect due to women; and he felt, from the story +that had been told to him, that Barbara's feelings had to a certain +extent been outraged. He had never held much good opinion of the +literary craft: he could not understand a calling which did not employ +clerks and keep ledgers and day-books, which did not minister to any +absolute requirement, and which only represented something visionary +and fanciful. He shared in a very widespread notion that the _morale_ +of people engaged in that and similar pursuits was specially liable to +deterioration; and he took what he understood to be Frank Churchill's +defection from the paths of propriety as an indorsement of his idea, +and a proof that he had been right in its adoption. He happened to let +fall some remark to this effect, a few words only, and not strongly or +savagely put, but they had immense weight with Barbara Churchill. + +For they immediately recalled to her recollection her several +interviews with her aunt, Miss Lexden, when she first announced the +engagement with Frank, and she remembered the acrimony with which the +old lady had spoken of the class to which her intended husband +belonged. The very words her aunt had used were ringing in her ears. +"If I were to see you with broken health, with broken spirits, +ill-used, deserted--as is likely enough, for I know these people,--I +would not lift one finger to help you after your degradation of me!" +"For I know these people!" Too well she knew them, it appears, when +she predicated what had actually occurred. Not deserted, though; that +at least could never be cast in her teeth. It was she who had taken +the initiative:--she who had broken the bonds and--what could the +world say to that? Would it not denounce her conduct as strange, +unwomanly, and unwifelike? And if it did, what did she care? Her +pride, her spirit, had often been spoken of; and she felt in no way +ashamed of having permitted herself to be swayed by them in this great +trial of her life. There must be many who would thoroughly understand +her conduct, and sympathise with her; and even if there were none, she +had the courage and the determination to stand alone. That she must to +a great extent have right on her side--that what she had done could +not be looked upon as extravagant or unjustifiable--was proved, she +argued to herself, by the kind reception she had met with at the hands +of Mr. Schröder, a man who, as she judged from all she had heard and +seen of him; would not be likely lightly to pass over any breach of +decorum. How or where the rest of her life was to be passed engrossed +very little of her attention at first. She knew that there was no +chance of reconciliation with her aunt; nor did she wish it. She had +quarrelled with her husband, certainly, and would never be induced to +live with him again; but her cheek flushed when she remembered what +insults had been heaped upon Frank by her aunt; and she thought almost +tenderly of him as she decided that after these insults nothing would +induce her to humiliate herself to Miss Lexden's caprices. The thought +of writing to Sir Marmaduke Wentworth crossed her mind; but Alice +Schröder had told her that Sir Marmaduke was laid up with a dangerous +illness in the Pyrenees; it would be very inopportune to worry him, +then, with domestic dissensions; and moreover Barbara was in very +great doubt as to whether the old gentleman, were he able, would not +take an active part in promoting a peace, and whether he would not +strongly disapprove of, and openly condemn, the course she had taken. +He had a very high opinion of Frank Churchill, who was his godson; +and unless it could be distinctly proved that he had committed +himself--unless it could be distinctly proved--could it? what proof +was there? had not her pride and spirit involved her in a snare? how +could she make her case good before an unbiassed judge? There was the +letter, and the letter in the same handwriting which he had received +at Bissett; but she had no actual proofs that they were not such as +should have been sent to any properly-conducted man. Great Heaven, if +she had been too precipitate! if she had brought about an _exposé_ by +rashness and wretched jealousy; if she had wrongly suspected that kind +and generous soul, and cruelly stabbed him without hearing his +defence! As Barbara turned these matters in her mind, sitting in her +bedroom on the first night of her arrival in Saxe-Coburg Square, she +felt the whole current of her being setting towards Frank; and she +covered with her tears and kisses his miniature which hung in a +locket at her watch-chain. Must this be the end of it? could her +fatal folly--if folly it were--darken the rest of her life? Oh, no! +she could never acknowledge her error,--that would be impossible; her +pride would never permit her to take the first steps towards a +reconciliation: but Frank would come--she knew it; he would come and +ask her to return; and she would go; and the rest of their life should +be unclouded happiness. + +But Frank did not come; and the next morning when Barbara found the +hours wearing very slowly by, and no solution of her wretchedness +arrived at; when little Alice Schröder's well-meant chatter +--well-meant, intended to be consolatory, but still chatter after +all--had utterly failed in giving the smallest consolation; when +Captain Lyster had called, and having been properly prepared by Mrs. +Schröder before he saw Barbara, had evidently the greatest difficulty +in assuming ignorance and unconcern; when the day had worn on, and no +progress had been made by her in any one way,--the bitter spirit rose +in her more strongly than ever, and she felt more and more impressed +as to the righteousness of her cause. The fact that Frank had not come +to her, crying "peccavi," and imploring her to return, had, to a very +great extent, convinced her that he must have been grievously in the +wrong. Fully prepared not merely to forgive him what he had not done, +but to be generous enough to meet him half way in an advance which +ought to have been made by her alone, she was annoyed beyond +description at his making no sign; and each hour that passed over her +head strengthened her obstinacy and deepened her misery. + +So several days went by. Barbara resolutely refused to go out; nothing +could induce her to be seen in public, and none were admitted to the +house save the intimate male friends of the family. Barbara +stipulated, at once, that no women should be let in, and Alice, who +believed in the most marvellous degree in Barbara, agreed to it. She +did, indeed, suggest one female name, the name of a lady in whom she +was sure, she said, Barbara would find great comfort; but Barbara, who +had some acquaintance with the person in question, hissed out, "Cat!" +with such ferocity, that little Alice never dared again to open the +question. The men-friends were restricted to two or three, among whom +Barbara was glad, for Alice's sake, to find Captain Lyster, and +equally glad not to find Mr. Beresford. She remembered Lyster's +confidence to her at Uplands (she had reason to remember it, she +thought with bitterness), and that confidence, though accidentally +distressing to herself, had impressed her with a high notion of the +Captain's truth and honour. She felt as though she would have liked to +have talked to him about her own troubles; but she did not know how to +start the subject, and Lyster never gave her the smallest chance. + +On the fourth day after Barbara's arrival, Mrs. Schröder asked her +guest, as usual, if she would drive out after luncheon, and having +received the usual negative, declared that she could not stand it any +longer, but that air she must have. Barbara would excuse her? Of +course Barbara would; nothing she liked so much as being left alone. +Then Mrs. Schröder determined on riding, and ordered her horse and +groom round to the door, and went out for a ride. + +She though& she would go for a stretch round the suburban lanes; it +was better and more fitted for an unaccompanied lady than the Park. So +turning in at Queen's Gate, she skirted the Row, and riding over the +Serpentine bridge turned up towards Westbourne Terrace, at the end of +which, leisurely riding along, she saw Mr. Beresford. He saw her too, +and in an instant was at her side; sitting his horse to perfection, +and bowing with perfect ease and grace. He asked her where she was +riding, and begged to be allowed to accompany her. She had a refusal +on the tip of her tongue; then recollected that she might never have +another chance of speaking to him as frankly and decidedly as she had +made up her mind to speak. So she consented. During the ride, she +spoke earnestly and well; Beresford tried sophistry and special +pleading; but they had little chance with her, so thoroughly in +earnest was she. It was while in the height of his argument that they +passed the lodge-gates of The Den, and were seen by Kate Mellon. + +Mrs. Schröder rode home that evening in a happier frame of mind than +she had been in for months. She felt that she had effectually settled +all Mr. Beresford's pretentious, and that she might meet her husband +without the smallest shadow on her brow. Her joy was a little dashed +by the receipt of a letter from her husband, which was put into her +hand as she alighted from her horse. It said that an Egyptian prince, +with whom the house had large transactions, had arrived at +Southampton, and that he, Gustav, as representing the house, was +compelled to go down and do the honours to him; that he had +telegraphed to his brother to relieve him as soon as possible; and +that he hoped to be back the next day. + +Mrs. Schröder's hopes were realised. In the course of the next +afternoon a cab drove up to the door in Saxe-Coburg Square, and Mr. +Schröder descended from it. His wife, who had rushed to the balcony at +the sound of wheels, noticed that his step was slow, and that--a thing +she had never seen him do before--he leant upon the cabman's arm. When +he entered the room she rushed to him, and, embracing him, asked him +how he was. + +"I am well, my darling," he answered; "quite well, but that I have +rheumatism, or something like it. A curious pain--dead, dull, stupid +pain--in my left arm and shoulder. Rheumatism, of course! And you, +Barbara, my dear; you are well? That's right; no news with you, of +course? Ah! I have been thinking much about you in the train, and we +will talk to-morrow of your affairs. Well, Alice, what news? Did you +persuade Barbara to drive yesterday?" + +"No, she refused again; so I went out on horseback." + +"Ah, ah! that was right. Alone?" + +"I went alone; but I met Mr. Beresford." + +"Beresford! I hate that name; he is a bad man. Bad! bad!" + +And Mr. Schröder shook his hand in the air, and was obviously very +much excited. + +"Gustav," said Mrs. Schröder, "I'm very sorry that--" + +"Ah, you don't know! More of this Beresford another time. A bad man, +my dear! Now I must look through my letters. Dinner at seven, eh?" + +And with a bow, Mr. Schröder descended to his library. + + +The clock had struck seven, the gong had boomed through the house, and +Alice and Barbara were standing at the dining-table; the place at the +head being vacant. + +"You had better tell your master, Pilkington," said Mrs. Schröder to +the great butler; "he is probably in his dressing-room." + +The great butler condescended to inform his mistress that he did not +think his master had left the libery. + +Mrs. Schröder then bade him find his miter, and tell him they were +waiting dinner. + +The butler left the room, and the next moment came running back, with +a face whiter than his own neckcloth. Barbara saw him ere he had +crossed the threshold; in an instant she saw that something had +happened; and motioning the butler to precede her, walked to the +library, followed by Mrs. Schröder. + +Fallen prone on his face, across the library-table, lay Mr. Schröder, +dead, with an open letter rustling between his stiffening fingers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. +HALF-REVEALED. + + +As Kate Mellon had soliloquised, some time had elapsed since Mr. +Simnel had visited The Den. A wary general, Mr. Simnel; a man who, +like the elephant, never put his foot forward without first carefully +feeling the ground in front of him, and trying whether it would bear; +a man who, above all, never was in a hurry. He had not gone through +life cautiously and with his eyes wide open without remarking how +frequently a little impulse, a little over excitement or yielding to +headstrong urging, had led to direful results. + +"No hurry" was one of his choicest maxims: to sleep upon an idea; to +let information just received mellow in his mind until he saw the very +best way to utilise it; to brood over the most promising projects, +carefully sifting the chaff from the grain; to wait patiently until +the two or three shadowy alternatives had, after due inspection, +resolved themselves into one broad path, impossible to be shrunk +from--that was Mr. Simnel's way of doing business. He never allowed +the iron to be overheated. So soon as it was malleable, he +struck--struck with irresistible force and sure aim; but he never +dallied with the half-heated metal, or tried warpings with pincers, or +blind struggles with solid resistance. If he had a fault in his +worldly dealings, it was that he delighted in hiding the power which +he was able to wield, even beyond the legitimate time for its +manifestation. There are men, you will have observed, who, in playing +whist and other games of chance and skill,--long-headed calculators, +far-seers, sticklers for every point of Hoyle,--yet cannot resist the +temptation of withholding their ace until the best time for its +production is long past, solely for the sake of causing a sensation, +for the sake of creating a feeling of astonishment among their fellow +players that the great card has been all that time in hand. So it was, +to a certain extent, with Robert Simnel. + +He had known nothing of love, this man, during his youth. He had had +no time for the cultivation of any tender passion. He had been brought +up roughly, with his own way to make, with his own living to get. He +was not pretty to look at, and no ladies felt an interest in smoothing +his hair or patting his cheeks. The matron at the Combcardingham +grammar-school,--a sour blighted old maid, a poor sad old creature, +who yet retained some reminiscences of hope in her forlorn frame; in +whom head-washing and looking after linen had not obliterated all +traces of feminine weakness, and who remembered early days, when she +dreamed that some day some one might make her some kind of a marriage +offer, dreams which had never been fulfilled,--this weird sister had +her favourites among the boys; but Simnel was not of them. They were +mostly fat-headed, sleek-faced boys, apply, rubicund, red-lipped, and +shiny; boys with reminiscences of home, who kissed Miss Wardroper as a +kind of bad substitute for Ma, and who traded on their blowing beauty +to be let off easily on tub-night, and to have advances of pocket +money before the regular day. Robert Simnel had no share in these +pettings; he was what Miss Wardroper considered an "uncomfortable +lad;" he was "nothing to look at;" and preferred lying on his stomach +under trees with a book between his elbows, on which his face was +resting, or sitting bolt upright, trying to catch on his page the +glimmer from the school-fire, to all the cossettings of the +housekeeper's room. In immediate after-life his course of conduct was +pretty much the same. Combcardingham was not a moral town. Many of the +pretty girls who worked hard all day dressed in great finery in the +evenings, and proceeded to the theatre, to the gardens, to the +_al-fresco_ entertainments with which the suburbs of the town were +studded, attended by the youth of the place. The conveyancing-clerk of +Messrs. Banner and Blair, the common-law ditto, and the Chancery +manager, were accustomed to speak of Annie, and Emmy, and Fanny, as +though the establishment of those eminent lawyers had been the +Hotel-Dieu, and they the interlocutors had been Parisian students +instead of provincial lawyers; the very copying-clerk, who served +writs, and fetched beer for the gentlemen in the inner office, had +been seen to wink his eye, and heard to mention some such article as +"a bit of muslin." But Robert Simnel had remained adamant. They dared +not chaff him; there was something in his manner which forbade any +approach to familiarity. Some of the ribalds had once set some of +their female friends to get a rise out of the quiet studious +shame-faced young man; but the girls had been met with perfect +politeness, mixed with such studied coldness, that the game was given +up in despair. From that time until he came up to London, Simnel was +left unworried. + +His life in town was equally cold and celibate. He moved very little +in the female society of his own class; not that he was unwelcome, but +that he disliked it. It bored him; and that was the worst thing that +could happen to him when once his foot was fairly set on the ladder. +In the old days he had endured men, women, parties, society,--all +utterly repugnant to his feelings and tastes; and he had vowed that, +should he ever have the power, the severance of such obligatory ties +would be the first luxury in which he would indulge; and he kept his +word. "My lady," would chirp little Sir Hickory Maddox,--"my lady has +bid me bring you this note of invitation to dine with us next +Wednesday, Simnel. Formal, you perceive; for you are such a well-known +stickler for formalities, that we fain must treat you à la Grandison;" +and then Sir Hickory, who prided himself on the construction of his +sentences, would double up his little head into his ample cravat, and +bow in a mock heroic manner. But Mr. Simnel managed to find an excuse +for not attending the solemn dinners of his chief; nor did he ever +attend the pleasant _réunions_ of Mrs. Gillotson and Mrs. Franks, +wives of the senior officers of his department, to which he was +bidden. Of course, as a bachelor, it was not supposed that he should +receive lady visitors; and though his rooms in Piccadilly had +witnessed certain scenes which their proprietor described as _petits +soupers_, but which the mother-in-law of the serious saddler who held +the shop below openly proclaimed as "orgies," at which certain +distinguished _coryphées_ of Her Majesty's Theatre were present, and +there was lots of fun and laughter and champagne, and an impromptu +galop after supper,--no one could tax Simnel with any decided +flirtation. He had been very polite to, more than that, very jolly +with every body, thoroughly hospitable, genial, and kind; but when +they broke up, and Punter Blair put Fanny Douglas into a cab, and Sis +Considine walked away with Kate Trafford and her sister Nelly, and the +whole party turned out laughing and singing into the street, Robert +Simnel went round the rooms and put out the wax-lights, and picked up +bits of lobster-shell and cracker-paper from the floor, and, yawned +confoundedly, and was deuced glad it was over. + +So he went on his way through life, with that way unillumined by one +spark of love until he first saw Kate Mellon. How well he recollected +every circumstance connected with the first glimpse of her! It was on +a glorious spring afternoon at the beginning of the season; he was +walking with Beresford (with whom he was just beginning to be +intimate) through the Row, when he noticed the heads of the +promenaders all turned one way; and following the direction, he saw a +mounted female figure coming at a rapid pace down the ride. The horse +she sat was a splendid black barb, an impetuous tearing fellow, who +had not yet learned that he was not to have his own way in life, and +who was making the most desperate struggle to recover such submission +as he had been compelled to yield. In and out, in and out, from side +to side, he bounded, obedient to the light hand, the scarcely tapping +whip and the swerving body of his rider; but his foam-flecked chest +and his sweat-rippled neck showed how unwillingly he accepted his +lesson. At length, on catching sight of Beresford, who left Simnel's +arm and walked to the rails, Kate drew rein, and, while she gave one +hand to her acquaintance, she relaxed the other until the horse had +full play for his stretching neck. Simnel stood amazed at her beauty +and at the perfect outline of her supple figure. She was just exactly +his style. Mr. Simnel had no admiration for Grecian features or +classic mould. Ebon tresses and deep dreamy eyes were little regarded +by him; his taste was of the earth, earthy; piquancy of expression, +plumpness of form, was what he, to use his own expression, "went in +for." He would not have bestowed a second glance upon Barbara +Churchill; but Kate Mellon was exactly to his taste. He filled his +eyes and his heart with her as she sat talking to Beresford that day; +the sweeping lines of her habit, the dainty little handkerchief +peeping out of the saddle-pocket, the dogskin gauntlets, the +neat chimney-pot hat, the braided hair, the face flushed with +exercise,--all these lived vividly in his remembrance, and came in +between his eyes and letters for signature to irascible correspondents +and long accounts of indebted tax-payers. He was not long in obtaining +an introduction to his idol; and then he saw at once, with his innate +sharpness, that he had but little chance of pressing his suit. Long +before that _éclaircissement_ which Beresford had described to him, +Simnel saw the state of affairs in that direction, and knew what Kate +Mellon fondly hoped could never be realised. He did not think that the +girl ever would have the chance of so plainly stating the position of +affairs; but he knew Beresford well enough to be certain that moral +cowardice would prevent his availing himself of the position offered +to him. Nor did Simnel blame him in this; that far-seeing gentleman +knew perfectly that for any man in society to ally himself in +matrimony to a woman with a reputation which was equivocal simply from +her profession, no matter how excellent the individual herself might +be, was sheer madness. "It isn't," he argued to himself, "as though I +were a landed proprietor or a titled swell, who could throw the aegis +of my rank and position over her, and settle the question. Heaps of +them have done that; dukes have married actresses of queer names and +women of no name at all, and all the past life has been elegantly +festooned over with strawberry-leaves. I'm a self-made man, and they +hate me for that, though my status is now such that they can't deny +it; but then they'd immediately begin to ask questions about my wife; +and if there were a chance of flooring us there, we should be done +entirely." + +So when Mr. Beresford had told the story of his adventure with Kate +Mellon, Mr. Simnel, who had very much slacked off the scent, purely +from want of encouragement and a chance of seeing his way, returned to +the charge with renewed vigour. Beresford had faithfully repeated to +his Mentor every word of Kate's wild outburst; and in that sudden +revelation Simnel, nothing amazed thereby, had found a strong +incentive to farther exertion. Kate had hinted at relatives of whom +her future husband need not be ashamed. Who were they? That was one of +the first points to be found out, He wisely looked upon Charles +Beresford as now cleared out of his way. It was not for nothing that +Mr. Simnel had read at the Combcardingham grammar-school of the +_spretae injuria formae_; and he knew that the Commissioner had +probably committed himself for ever in the eyes of the lady of The +Den. Nevertheless, to make assurance doubly sure, he at once used all +his influence towards turning Beresford's views in another direction; +thus farther irritating Kate's pride, and preventing any chance of a +reconciliation; for this apparently phlegmatic man of business, this +calm, calculating, long-headed dry chip of an official, loved the +little woman with his whole heart and strength, and determined to miss +no opportunity of so winning her regard by his devotion to her cause, +and by the tangible results springing therefrom. That must tell in the +end, he thought. She is now heart-sore about Beresford; she has +discovered the foundation of sand on which her first little castle was +built; and now she will not touch the ruins or lay another stone. +There is but one way to arouse in her any new life,--the keynote to be +touched is ambition. If there be any truth in her assertion that the +is sprung from a race of which she can be proud, one may work it +through that. So Mr. Simnel worked away. He speedily found that Kate's +own knowledge of her origin was cloudy in the extreme; but he +possessed, in a rare degree, the faculty of putting two and two +together and making four of them very rapidly; and he had not been +very long chewing the cud of poor Kitty's stories of the circus, and +the uncle, and all the rest of it, before he saw a clue which sent him +spinning far into Northumberland by express-train to a place where he +saw the circus which Kate had named was advertised in those wonderful +column _Era_ as then performing. + +No one accompanied Mr. Simnel on that journey; no one knew what he did +or what he heard; but as the chronicler of these mild adventures, I +may state that though not in the least astonished at what was--after a +free pecuniary disbursement--imparted to him, he came back to London +radiant. The clerks in the Tin-Tax Office did not know what to make of +him; some of the young ones thought he had got married; but at that +suggestion the older men shook their heads. That was the last thing, +they opined, to cause an access of animal spirits. He might have come +in for a legacy, or taken the change out of some body whom he hated; +that was all they could see to account for his cheerfulness. Two or +three of the men, Mr. Pringle of course among the number, improved the +occasion by asking for a day or two's leave of absence; a request at +once granted by the smiling secretary, who, on the day after his +return, announced his intention of making a half-holiday, and wound +his way towards The Den. He rode through the lodge-gate, and exchanged +salutations with the rosy porteress; but as he turned into the +carriage-drive he perceived Freeman, the old stud-groom, standing at +the entrance to the stables, alert and expectant. As soon as the old +man recognised Simnel, he advanced towards him, and motioned him +towards the farmyard. Simnel turned his horse's head in that +direction, and when he arrived inside the gates and on the straw-ride, +old Freeman held his bridle as he dismounted. + +"A word wi' you, sir," said the old man, putting his finger on his lip +and nodding mysteriously. + +Mr. Simnel looked astonished, but said nothing, as the old groom +called to a helper, to whose care he relinquished the horse; then +taking Simnel into a little room and planting him in the midst of a +grove of girths and stirrups, the saddles of which formed an alcove +above him, the old man produced a short set of steps, and motioning to +Simnel to seat himself on the top of them, took up his position +immediately in front of him, and said, in a voice intended to be low, +but in reality very hissingly sonorous,-- + +"Waät be matther?" + +It was seldom that Mr. Simnel was nonplussed, but this was beyond him. +He had only caught one word, and that he thought better to repeat. So +he merely ejaculated "matter?" + +"Ay, matther!" echoed the old man, this time in rather an angry tone. +"Waät be matther down yon?" jerking his head towards the house. Mr. +Simnel thought that the man was presuming on his position to take +liberties, a very terrible crime in his eyes, so he simply elevated +his thick eyebrows and echoed, "Down yon?" + +"Thou knowst waät a mean, sir, weel enow. Waät be matther wi' my +leddy? waät be matther wi' my bright lassie ai've tended this ever so +long?" and the old man's face puckered up into wrinkles, and he +produced from his hat a cotton handkerchief, with which he rubbed his +eyes. + +"What do you mean. Freeman? I didn't follow you until this instant. +Is--is your mistress ill?" asked Simnel. + +"No, not ill; that's to say waät folks call ill; always greetin', that +waät she is,--thinkin' of something yon,--givin' no heed to waät goes +on close to her face. Eyes lookin' far away out into the distance; no +thowt of the stock such as she had; hasn't been into the farrier's +shop these three weeks,--blister here, singe there, do as 't loikes; +Miss never says nay now, and that's bad sign; for a more thrifty body +never stepped." + +"Ah, she doesn't take such interest, you mean, in what goes on here as +she did." + +"Int'rest! She cares nowt aboot it!" said the old man. "Ther' soommut +oop, soommut wring! that's what thee is. Ther' can't have been no one +a philanderin' wi' her, on and off like,--you understand?" + +"I should think not," said Mr. Simnel, with a face as solid as a rock. + +"If I'd thowt that," said old Freeman, "and I'd found 'em out, I'd +beat 'ems brains out as if it were a stoat!" and as he spoke he struck +the palm of his hand with the handle of his hunting-whip in an +unmistakably vicious manner. "Dunno waät's coom to her to-day," he +continued, after a pause; "haven't set eyes on her all the morning. +Hasn't been in t'yard, hasn't been in t'staäbles, hasn't moved out of +t'house." + +This latter part of Freeman's speech seemed to arouse Mr. Simnel's +fading attention; he looked up sharply, and said, + +"Not been out of the house all the morning! what does that mean? Who +was here yesterday?" + +"Yesterday," said the old man slowly considering; "there were +Sandcrack coom oop about Telegram's navicular,--no more navicular than +I am; nowt but a sprain;--and Wallis from Wethers's wi' a pair o' job +grays; and old Mr. Isaacson as tried some pheayton 'osses; and--" + +"Yes, yes," said Mr. Simnel; "no young man; no one in the habit of +coming here?" + +"Not one," said Freeman. + +"That's devilish odd," said Mr. Simnel, half to himself; "what the +deuce has happened to upset her? I'll go in and see. Good-day, +Freeman; I've brought some good news for your mistress, and I hope we +shall soon see her herself again." + +The old man touched his hat, as Simnel walked off to the house, where +he found Kate's servant, and learnt from her that her mistress had +kept her room all the morning, complaining of headache. From this +domestic Mr. Simnel had a repetition of old Freeman's story. Not only +had she seemingly lost all interest in her business, which formerly so +thoroughly engrossed her attention, but for the last few months she +had been in every respect a thoroughly changed woman. + +"I've been with her four year," said the woman, holding her hands +clasped in front of her, and beating time with them at the conclusion +of each sentence; "four year I've been with her, and never see no +megrims. A cheerfuller lighter-hearteder lady there were not, so long +as you was quick. Every thing must be done directly minute, and all +was right. But latterly there's been nothink but megrims and lowness +of sperrits, and no caring for what we wears or what we eats, or +whether we eats at all, indeed." This and much more to the same +effect, only cut short by Simnel's requesting the woman to take his +name to her mistress, and say he was anxious for a few words with her. + +He sat down in the dining-room and took up a _Bell's Life_ which lay +on the table; but had hardly glanced at it when the door was hurriedly +thrown open and Kate entered. She was perfectly colourless and +trembled violently. As she gave her cold hand to Simnel, she asked at +once, + +"What's the matter, Simnel? what's brought you here? Something +particular to say, they tell me. What is it?" + +Though Mr. Simnel was in reality very much shocked at the change which +had taken place in her personal appearance, he did not betray it by +look or word. There was not a break in his voice as, retaining her +hand between his, he said, + +"Why, Kate, is this your hospitality? is this the way you receive +visitors, demanding their business in this pistol-to-the-head fashion? +Suppose I were to say that my pressing business was to look at and to +talk to you.. + +"No, no, Simnel; no nonsense. At least not now, please; as much as you +like when you've answered me. There hasn't been a--I mean he +hasn't--you haven't--confound it, Simnel, why don't you help me?" and +she stamped her foot upon the floor in rage. + +"Kate, Kate," said he, still quietly, though this little evidence of +her excited state touched him very deeply, "I can't tell what is the +matter with you to-day. I've come to talk to you and to tell you a +little news about yourself--that's all." + +"About myself? not about--I mean about no one else? Nothing has +happened? nothing--" + +"Nothing that I know of. I only arrived in town late last night, and I +have seen no one this morning. What on earth did you expect? Now +you're flushing again! My dear Kate, you're not well, child; you +must--" + +"I'm all right now," said she, withdrawing her hand; "I'm all right +again. It was only some stupid nonsense; I'm a bit nervous, I think.. +I'll have some change of air, and see what that will do. I'm as +nervous as a cat. Had a girl here for a lesson yesterday. Fine girl, +sister of Dick Hamilton's--Dirty Dick's, you know; and she wanted to +see me put her horse at the brook. The brute refused, and I couldn't +put him at it the second time--lost my pluck--funked it myself--fancy +that! First time such a thing ever happened to me!" + +"You want change and rest, Kitty," said Simnel, kindly. "And you want +rest of mind much more than mere respite from bodily fatigue. Your +life lately has been past in a series of storms, in which you have +been tossed about, and whirled here and there, in a manner which is +now beginning to tell upon you. Now, all these starts and flushes and +tremors to-day are the result of some fresh worry. What happened +yesterday?" + +"Happened yesterday?" echoed Kate, flushing deeply as she spoke; +"nothing." + +"Who was here?" asked Simnel, in a mild tone of voice, but fixing his +eyes full on her. + +"Here? who? How dare you question me in this way? Who are you to come +worming and prying into my affairs? I never asked you to come, and I +sha'n't be sorry how soon you go!" + +He was not an atom moved at this outburst of rage, at these taunts; at +least he did not appear so. He only shook his head, and said +sorrowfully, + +"Unfair, Kitty; horribly unfair. I've just come back from a journey of +hundreds of miles, undertaken for the object of what you are pleased +to term 'worming and prying into your affairs;' and this is all the +thanks I get." + +She seized his hand, and pressed it warmly. "There, there! forget it: +it's all part and parcel of my nervousness, that I was telling you +about. Now you shall know who was here yesterday. Beyond the usual +business-people, only one man--Scadgers the money-lender!" + +"Scadgers! The deuce he was! What brought him? Did he come to--no, +that's impossible. What did bring him?" + +"Now it's you that are muttering to yourself, Simnel," said Kate. +"Make your mind easy; a letter from me brought him here. I wanted a +little assistance." + +"Stuff, Kitty! What on earth--oh, I see now. You little flat! you've +been paying young Prescott's bills for him." + +"Well, what if I have? You don't mind." + +"Mind! not I. I love you better for it. Oh, I see you smile; but I've +been making a few inquiries at the Office since I was here last, and I +find that it is a case with your pupil and him. He's a fine young +fellow, and will do well." It is astonishing how, when we are no +longer jealous of a man, his good qualities crop out. + +"He is a good fellow; a thoroughly good fellow; a gentleman in every +thought," said Kate; "and it was only right to give him a clean start +again. All young men--all who are worth any thing--kick up their heels +at first; and then some fools pull them in tight, and they get sulky +and vicious, and never run straight afterwards. But if they're held +straight in hand, and have just enough rein given them, they right +themselves very soon, and go as square as a die. You'll see now that +James Prescott will marry, and settle down into a regular humdrum +life, and be as happy as the day. That's the only existence, Simnel. +Lord help us! They talk of the pleasures of excitement,--the miserable +fools, if they only knew!" and Kate heaved a deep sigh, and buried her +face in her hands. + +"Come, come, Kitty," said Simnel, "this will never do. Nothing that +you've said can reasonably be applied to your own case. You've had the +enjoyment of one style of life, and now let us hope the joys of the +other are rapidly coming upon you. You shake your head again. What on +earth is the matter with you, child?" + +"I can't tell, Simnel," said the girl, raising her tear-blurred face. +"I can't tell. I've a horrible weight here," placing her hand upon her +heart,--"a something hanging over me; a presentiment of something +about to happen,--and I haven't the least notion what,--that never +leaves me. I'm as flat as a bad bottle of champagne. By the way, I +think I'll try whether a glass of that Madeira wouldn't--" + +"No, no, Kitty; for heaven's sake keep off that! The lift given by +that is only temporary, and you're twice as down as you were before, +when it subsides. You've never asked me one word about my journey +yet." + +"Your journey! What journey? Oh, to be sure, you said you'd been away, +and on my business. Where did you go to?" + +"To Newcastle-on-Tyne. To Norton's Fields, just beyond the town; +where--" + +"Norton's Fields! Newcastle! Why that's where we used to make our +pitch with old Fox's Circus, and--" + +"And that's exactly the place where old Fox's Circus is pitched at +this moment." + +"Did you go to it?" + +"Why, Kitty, can't you understand that, after what you told me the +other day, to visit it, and glean information from its people, was the +sole cause of my journey?" + +"And did you see them all? Is old Fox still alive; and Madam, with her +deep voice and big bony hands; and Lucette and Josephine--big girls +now, and doing the _haute-école_ business, I suppose; and Brownini, +the clown, is he with them yet? and Thompson the barebacked-rider--a +conceited beast, he was!--and old Bellars the band-leader? Lord, Lord +what happy times those were! happier than I shall ever see again, I +know." + +"Nonsense, Kate. Your life is just now at its turn. All those horrid +days of grinding labour in the circus, all the hard work you've done +here, shall be to you like a dream. You shall be a swell, and hold +your own with the best of them. Ay, and not merely in money,--I +offered you that long since,--but I wanted to prove a position for +you, and I _have_ proved it, Kitty, my darling!" and Mr. Simnel's +usually pale cheeks glowed, and his eyes glistened, and he squeezed +Kate's hand in the excitement of his feelings. + +"You've found out whose child lam, Simnel?" asked Kate. + +"Every thing! I've only got to see your father, and wring from him +the confession,--and I have the means of doing that, as safe as +houses--and you shall be put in your proper position at once, Kitty, +and a capital position it is, too. Your father is a man of great +wealth, very highly thought of, moving in the best circles, and +eminently respectable." + +"And his name?" + +"Ah, that I mustn't tell you till next time we meet. It's due to him +to let him know how much we have learned, and to give him the option +of behaving properly. If he refuse, I can put such a screw on him as +will compel him at once to do as we wish. And then, Kitty," continued +Simnel, dropping his voice, and looking at her fondly from under his +bushy eyebrows "when all my work for you is satisfactorily finished, I +shall come to you and ask for my reward." + +"You shall have it, Robert," she said simply, placing her hand in his. +It was the first time she had called him by his Christian name, and as +he heard it a thrill of delight ran through him. + + +Mr. Simnel had ridden away homeward, and Kate had thrown herself on a +sofa in the dining-room, and was vacantly watching the purple gloom +creeping up and ingulphing the landscape. Vacantly, I say; for though +her eyes were fixed on it, she heeded it not. Simnel's description of +his visit had awakened in her a thousand memories of old days. The +smell of the stables, the tan, and the sawdust of the ring; the lamps, +and the orange-peel in the marquee; the way in which the tent-poles +would strain and crack in a high wind, and the audience would look up, +as though expecting the crazy edifice to descend on their heads; the +swinging naphtha-burners flaring in the draught; the dull flopping +sound of the first drops of a thunder-shower on the tent roof, causing +an immediate consternation and whispering among the non-umbrellaed +spectators,--all these rose before her mind. She recollected all the +different stages of her own novitiate; heard old Fox's thin piping +voice cursing her freely for "missing her tip" in clearing the +garters, or sticking in the silver-papered hoop; and his wife's hoarse +growling at her extravagance in tarlatan skirts and rose-pinked +stockings. Then, pursuing this train of thought, she remembered what +Simnel had said about her parentage; and stung with a sudden idea she +sat upright on the sofa, unconsciously tapping her teeth with her +nails. Could it not all be made straight? That was what she thought. +Her father was a man of position, a man highly thought of and +esteemed--so Simnel had said; he could be forced to recognise her as +his daughter,--Simnel swore he should do this. What, then, stood in +the way of her being reconciled to, of her being married to Charles +Beresford? She had plenty of money as it was, and if her father were +rich as stated, could have the command of more. It was her position, +the horse-breaking business, that had floored Charley; she saw that at +once; but now here she was a recognised swell, bar the illegitimacy; +and Charley wouldn't mind that with money, and above all with +love--oh, such love!--for him. He would give up every one else for +her; he would give up that fair-haired woman--Ah, good God! the +letter! that fatal letter, which she wrote in her mad passion of +yesterday! that wild wicked letter was fatal! it would be shown to +him; her handwriting would be recognised, and there would be an end to +all her hopes. + +When the servant came in with the dinner-tray she found her mistress +in a swoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. +THE HOUSE OF MOURNING. + + +Dead! had been dead for half an hour!--so said the first man with an +approach to medical knowledge who was called in, and who indeed was a +worthy chemist who lived in the neighbourhood, and who, on the +strength of a square shop fitted with an oil-cloth floor, with a +little fountain in the centre (in the basin of which half-a-dozen +bottles of aerated water were always cooling), of a counter bearing +glazed cases of scents and cosmetics, of a nest of drawers labelled +with illegible half-words, and of three large shining coloured bottles +in the window, was regarded by the servants in the vicinity as a weird +practitioner indeed. A servant had been despatched in a cab for Dr. +Prater; but in the interval pending that luminary's arrival, Mr. +Canthar, of the Medical Hall, was master of the position, and all +those who were left with the body hung upon his words. It--it had +already come to be called "it"--still lay in the library, where it had +been found. Mrs. Schröder, who had hurried in close behind Barbara, +had, at the very first glimpse of the state of affairs, gone off into +a violent fit of hysterics, and had been removed to her room, whither +Barbara had followed her, and where the latter was now in close +attendance upon her stricken friend. When Mr. Canthar arrived (he had +stripped off his black-calico apron and thrown it into the cork-drawer +on being summoned, and completed his toilette _en route_ by running +his fingers through such hair as remained on the sides of his head), +he found Mr. Schröder's body stretched out on the sofa in the library, +and attended solely by the kitchen-maid and by a page-boy, who, partly +from love to the kitchen-maid, partly from gratitude to his employers, +bore her company. The other servants had declined having any thing to +do with such horrors, as not coming within their engagements. The +great butler had retired to the housekeeper's room, taking with him a +bottle of brown sherry, and there these supreme functionaries sat, +discussing future prospects; the French cook had gone out to announce +to a friend of his, who was steward at a crack club, that he was now +open to an engagement; the two footmen, great hulking masses of +ignorance and vanity, with faces whiter than the powder on their +heads, sat in the pantry, shaking over one glass of hot gin-and-water, +and solemnly glozing over the probability of a suggestion made by one +of them that "he" (they had never named him) had died of "spuntanus +kymbustium." When Mr. Canthar's sharp ring came at the bell, they both +trembled violently, and went up together to open the door. The +announcement that their master was dead,--an announcement made by Mr. +Canthar after a very cursory examination,--utterly failed in +reassuring them; on the contrary, it produced the liveliest symptoms +of fright, and they incontinently hurried down stairs to the pantry +again. Mr. Canthar required but a very short examination to arrive at +his verdict. He placed his finger on the pulse, his ear to the +waistcoat; then he took a candle from the attendant kitchen-maid, and +looked for an instant into the half-closed glazed eyes. Gently +depositing the hand, he said, "Dead! quite dead! been dead for +half-an-hour, I suppose. I'm not called upon to state to you my +opinion of the cause of death; indeed, it would be quite useless; +and as no member of the family has done me the honour to be +present,--well, no matter, never mind." Then, in a whisper, "I'd +put a cloth round the jaws, don't you know? just bind it together, +because--ugly appearance, you understand, Martha--good-night;" and Mr. +Canthar tripped out of the house, and devoted the remainder of the +evening to working out a composition for the nutriment of the hair, +which, under the name of Canthar's Crinibus, has an enormous +circulation over the infant heads of Albertopolis. + +Half-an-hour after he had received the message from the servant who +had been despatched for him, Dr. Prater spun up in his little low +carriage,--hung on C springs to prevent the doctor's highly sensitive +organisation being disturbed by bumps or jolts over the horrible +pavement,--and drawn by a pair of little bays, which might have been +the property of any _millionaire_ in the land. The great butler +condescended to leave the society of the housekeeper, and to rouse +himself so far as to hold open the drawing-room door for the doctor's +entrance; also to produce a decanter and a couple of glasses; and +placing them at the doctor's elbow, to croak out, "Our '20, sir!" and +to fill a wine-glass. + +"Ah, thank ye, Pilkington," said the little doctor, taking up the +glass, and holding it between his eye and the candle; "this is a +dreadful thing, Pilkington." + +"Yes, sir," said the butler, shortly; "it's ill-conwenient. Do you +find the wine agreeable to your taste, sir?" + +"Yes, yes, thank ye. I want you now to show me--ah, here's some one +coming;" and the door opened, and Barbara Churchill entered the room. + +"Mrs. Schröder is very ill, doctor; you must see her before you go, if +you please; in her absence I will conduct you. Pilkington--oh, there +are lights, I suppose?--this way, doctor;" and she led the way to the +library. This had been Barbara's first experience of death, and it was +a severe trial for her, broken down as she was with her other +miseries; but she saw how utterly helpless poor little Alice Schröder +was, and she determined to help to bear the misery of her sudden +misfortune. So she preceded Dr. Prater to the library; and when she +had opened the door, she beckoned to the kitchen-maid and page-boy, who +were sitting bolt upright on the edge of their chairs, and let the +doctor enter by himself, she returning to the dining-room. In a very +few minutes she was joined by the little doctor, who had in the +passage composed his face to its usual aspect by this time. "Not the +slightest hope, my dear madam,--not the slightest hope. If I had been +here the minute after, I could not have been of the least assistance. +Must have been instantaneous, my dear madam,--instantaneous,--disease +of the heart,--under which I long knew he laboured; but I never told +him. What was the need? I've said to myself fifty times, 'Prater, you +should tell Mr. Schröder of his danger;' and then, again, I've said to +myself, 'What's the use? Mr. Schröder's not a man to relax those +gigantic enterprises in which he is engaged, on the mere word of a +theorist like myself. He'll only be annoyed at my interference.' There +was no cause for any excitement, any special excitement, my dear miss? +Pardon me; to whom have I the pleasure of speaking?" + +"I am Mrs. Churchill,--I was Miss Lexden,--a very intimate friend of +Mrs. Schröder's before her marriage." + +"Ay, ay, ay! of course! how very remiss of me not to bear it in mind! +Pleasure of including your husband, Mrs. Churchill, among my +distinguished literary friends. I hope he's quite himself. Ay, ay; +Miss Lexden that was, eh? Think I've had the pleasure of meeting you, +before you took rank as a matron, in the house of my dear old friend +Sir Marmaduke Wentworth? Ah! I thought so. Ill now, poor dear +fellow,--ill in the Pyrenees; hum, ha! And no cause for any special +excitement in the present lamentable case, you say, my dear Mrs. +Churchill?--hum! Well, well; death from natural causes, of course. I +can testify as to his heart-disease. Still, I'm afraid, my dear madam, +there'll have to be a horrible--what we call a _post-mortem_. The +ridiculous laws of this country are not satisfied with a professional +man's word in such cases, and though--of course I'll take care there's +no annoyance. Bad thing for Mrs. Schröder,--very! I'll go up and see +her directly. By the way, my dear Mrs. Churchill," added the little +doctor, edging himself very close to Barbara, and looking more than +ever like an owl; "here's a paper which I picked off the floor of the +library when I went in to see our poor late friend just now. I haven't +looked at it myself, of course; but perhaps it might be well to put it +away, and not to let Mrs. Schröder see it just yet; and," continued +the doctor, examining with great attention the pattern of the Turkey +carpet, "I don't see that there's any necessity to mention its +existence before the coroner's people,--no one else seems to have seen +it,--and these things are better kept quiet;" and the doctor handed +Barbara a folded paper, which she at once placed in her pocket, and +bowed himself out. + +Then there fell upon that house confusion, and silence, and sadness, +and a general mistiness and ignorance. No one spoke above their +breath; no one knew what day of the month it was, or what day of the +week, or what length of time had elapsed since the occurrence of the +event which had given rise to this state of affairs. All normal laws +were suspended; the _carte_ for the proposed dinner did not go up as +usual in the morning; the great butler suspended his customary +inspection of the plate and reviews of the china and glass; the young +lady really born in Picardy, but passing current as a Parisian, who +was called "Mumzell" by the other servants, and who was attached as +special retainer to Mrs. Schröder, had no interviews with her lady on +toilet subjects, and found her health undoubtedly improved by being +relieved from mental anxiety on the subject of the perpetual invention +of new styles of head-dress. The tradesmen seemed to take Mr. +Schröder's dying out of the season as a kind of personal affront. Had +it happened when every thing was in full swing, the poulterer had +remarked, and when parties had the greatest worrit in supplying what +parties ordered, why parties might have been glad of a lull; but now, +in the slack time of year, when there was few families in town, and +what was mostly supplied with game from friends as had shooting, to +have a large and reg'lar customer's orders suddenly stopped, as might +be said, in this way, was not what parties expected and might be said +to look for. Perhaps the retainers attached to the stable-department +took the pleasantest view of matters. It were a bad business, they +allowed; but, after all, there muss be money left, and the +establishment wouldn't be broke up; and besides, a missis were easier +to serve than a master, and couldn't pry; not that any thing of that +sort could be said of their late guv'nor, for a more innocenter man +never breathed. He were a bad whip, always a tuggin' at the 'orses' +mouths; but a good master. Meanwhile 'orses must be kep' exercised; +and so Mrs. Edwards the coachman's wife, and Nancy and Billy her young +'uns, and Susan Gilbert, what was keeping company with Strapper the +under-coachman, and one or two convivial friends, had two or three +very pleasant days at Richmond and Hampton, proceeding thither in what +they called a "weggynet," borrowed from the corn-chandler at the +corner of the mews, and drawn now by the chestnuts which Mr. Schröder +used to spin along in his mail-phaeton, now by the iron-grays which +concentrated attention on Mrs. Schröder's equipage in the ring. And in +every department of the servants' hall and in the outlying regions +connected therewith, there seemed to be an impression of the +over-weening necessity for going in for good eating and drinking, as +if to counteract the baleful effect of the calamity which had +occurred. In the house itself, the kitchen-maid, relieved from +attendance in that dread library, gave herself up to the cooking of +mighty joints for discussion at the "one-o'clock dinner." The +housekeeper and the great butler had little refections, washed down +with brown sherry, in the still-room; while one of the two-gallon +stone jars of brown brandy,--originally ordered for preserve-purposes, +and of a very different quality from the eau-de-vie-de-cognac in the +tapering bottles--was apportioned by the butler to the nightly grog of +the servants' hall. Then it was that Rawbert, one of the six-foot +Johns, and son of an Oxford scout, first showed his remarkable talent +for brewing punch; under the influence of which the assemblage grew so +jolly, that some of them were only restrained from breaking into +harmony by the representation of others as to what was lying upstairs. + +What was lying upstairs had been moved from the library to a spare +bedroom, had been handed over to the charge of such horrible ghoulish +women as only appear at such dread times, and had been left all placid +and composed and cold and statuesque by itself. What was lying +upstairs had had visitors. The coroner--a fat man with a red face, +smeared black clothes, beady black eyes, and boots slit here and there +as a necessary accommodation for gout--had visited it; had stood at +the head of the bed where it lay, and had it not been for thick +carpeting and double doors, would have sent his opinion of it clanging +to the ears of her whom it once cherished as its own heart's blood. +The jury had visited it (some of them at least, nearly half were too +frightened to come beyond the bedroom-door), and had said, "Oh!" and +"Deary me!" and had looked at the coroner and gone away again to the +Coburg Arms; and then and there, over hot brandy-and-water, +administered as a corrective, and strongly recommended by the coroner, +had found a verdict of "Death from natural causes." Then it had other +visitors--men in black, who took off their coats at the door and left +their boots outside, putting on list slippers, and who had foot-rules, +and who whistled to themselves softly as they went about their ghastly +work. These men came again at night with others, blundering up the +stairs under the weight of a horrible burden, and the room assumed a +different aspect, and what lay therein seemed further removed from +humanity and less kin to any thing it had hitherto claimed kinship +with. And after that, it had yet another visitor; a white-robed woman, +who stole in at night and knelt at the side of its black prison-house, +and implored pardon for past waywardness and thoughtlessness and +girlish follies, and prayed for strength and succour and support; then +rising, pressed her lips on its cold forehead, and was led from the +room in a half-hysterical state. + +Yes; Alice Schröder had begun to wake to the realities of life, to +find that opera-boxes and drums and sealskin cloaks and equipages and +money, all good things in their way, were powerless against Death; and +that Death was not merely the bugbear which he had been always +painted, but had other qualities horrific in their nature, which she +at least had never imputed to him. He was a thought-compeller, and up +to that time little Alice had never known what thinking was. But now +she thought long and earnestly. She thought of her earlier days, long +before she had received her father's orders as to her marriage; she +thought of her school-girl flirtations and hopes and fears and +intentions as to matrimony; recalling the cavalry cornet, the +light-whiskered curate, and the Italian singing-master vividly in her +memory. Then she had a vague recollection of her coming-out and her +town-life, through all which there loomed a shadowy presentment of +Captain Lyster, standing specially boldly out in her remembrance of +her stay at Bissett Grange; and than came Mr. Townshend's imperative +decision, and her acceptance of her dead husband's offer. Had she +behaved well to that dead husband, who had behaved so kindly to her? +Ah, how painfully, as though with an actual sting, came back the +recollection of his kindness, of his lavish generosity; how with +clumsy action and ill-chosen words, but showing in the highest degree +the warmth of his affection and the delicacy of his mind, he had +loaded her with gifts, and had endeavoured to forestall her every +wish! How, with an evident straggle,--for had he not been matured to +it from his youth up?--yet successfully, he had weaned himself from +the cares of business (at one time his greatest pleasure), and learnt +a new life in the society of his wife, and in manifesting his devotion +to her. Had she brought him such wealth of affection as he had +showered upon her? Had she even met him half-way? When she was a girl, +she was fond of being considered "highly romantic" by her companions; +she thought herself the essence of romance; and yet what was her +romance compared to that shown by that elderly gray-headed German +merchant, who had changed the whole tenor of his life for a woman's +love? And had he possessed that love? that was the bitterest +question of all. Respect, yes; honour, yes; but did she respect Mr. +Beresford,--she certainly did not honour him,--who had so often been +her companion during her husband's lifetime? had she not had a warmer +feeling towards that accomplished cavalier? had she not permitted him +to speak in somewhat slighting terms, to which she by her silence had +given tacit approval of the dead man; ridiculing his age and habits, +unfitting him for finding favour in ladies' eyes, and protesting +against the hard fate which cast such pearls before such swine? All +this came up clear and fresh in Alice Schröder's memory; and as it +rose she hated Beresford with all her strength; and, struck with +deepest remorse, wished--oh, how she wished!--that the time would come +over again, that she might dower her husband with her love, and show +how she appreciated his devotion to her. + +Then what was lying there lay no longer. There came a morning when the +boys in the neighbouring mews, who had been on the look-out for some +little time, passed the word to each other that it was all right for +that day, and forthwith coming trooping out, took up their positions +in available spots close by. The mutes in their preposterous scarves, +and bearing their hideous banners, mounted guard at the door; and the +hearse and the mourning-coaches pulled-up close by; and the red-nosed +men got ready the trays of feathers, and the long staves, and the +velvet trappings, and all the funeral insignia, which would be +ridiculous were they not disgusting. And the company arrived at the +house: there were two of the dead man's brothers, representing the +firm respectively in Hamburg and Paris; uncles and cousins, pillars of +the London Exchange; the clerk from the office, who had acted as the +dead man's private secretary, and who was a very presentable young +man, the delight of the evening-party-givers of Surbiton; Mr. +M'quiddit from Bedford Row, who was met on the door-step by his clerk, +who presented him with an oblong packet, which the lawyer deposited in +the library before joining the rest of the company; and little Dr. +Prater, looking preternaturally solemn and wise,--all these gathered +together to see Gustav Schröder to his grave. On the dining-room table +were cold fowls (already cut up, and tied together with pieces of +black crape) and cold viands; but save Mr. M'Quiddit, who had come up +from his country-house at Datchet and was hungry, no one tasted food. +The decanters, however, were put into requisition; and the great +butler took occasion to whisper in Dr. Prater's ear a recommendation +of some Vino di Pasta as being something special. Then came that most +horrid time of all, when there was a bumping and a scuffling on the +stairs, and a creaking of the bannisters. Every body knew what caused +it and what it meant; and there was an involuntary silence which made +the talk, when they began again to talk, seem more hollow and forced +than it had been before. Then, draped in bilk scarves, and wearing +hats swaddled in crape, the mourners ascended the coaches, walking to +them through a lane of boys, and were borne off to Kensal Green; on +alighting at the gates of which dismal necropolis, they were +marshalled into proper order by the head undertaker, and so marched in +procession to the grave. There a gentleman, who really could not be +complained of when it was remembered that he had done duty four times +already that day, and expected to do it three times again, half +drawled, half cantered through the most beautiful service of the +Church, that for the burial of the dead, without the smallest atom of +expression, and apparently without knowing what he was about; then +he shut his book, and the bystanders one by one looked into the +grave--and all was over. The mourning-coaches, which had come so +slowly, went merrily back; the Schröders went to the City house, and +sent telegrams and read share-lists, and talked of how soon Gustav's +share in the concern ought to be realised; the uncles and cousins did +much the same; the presentable clerk had a holiday, and met a few lady +friends at the Zoological Gardens; Dr. Prater lunched at a rich +patient's, where he told the story of Mr. Schröder's death, and dined +at another rich patient's where he told it again; and Mr. M'Quiddit +had an interview with the widow and gave her a short abstract of the +will, which was eminently satisfactory. + + +It had been proposed by the deceased gentlemen's brothers, who +were his executors, that the widow should leave town for a few +weeks,--should run down to Brighton or Tunbridge Wells,--and thus, in +change of scene, shake off the excess of grief under which they found +her to be really labouring. But under a strange state of feeling which +is scarcely describable, but which originated in an idea that her +determination to do her duty to the utmost would not be properly +carried out, were she to allow herself any thing like indulgence, poor +little Alice decided upon stopping in Saxe-Coburg Square and +thenceforward entering upon the useful state of life which she had +proposed to herself. Perhaps in this decision she was a little guided +by her feeling for Barbara: the regard which had always existed +between them (regard on Barbara's side mingled with a sense of +superiority leading to pity, the regard which a grand Scotch deerhound +might feel for a little thin-limbed Italian greyhound pet) had very +much increased since the recent calamity. Alice had experienced a +sisterly tenderness at Barbara's hands which she had never thought +Barbara capable of feeling; Barbara had seen in Alice a fixed +propriety of purpose such as she had never given Alice credit for. And +Alice was by no means so selfish or so thoroughly wrapped up in her +own grief as not to see that, although Barbara pretended to look upon +her own married career as entirely at an end, yet in reality she had +by no means given up all hope of a happy reconciliation with Frank. A +sudden peal at the bell would make her cheek flame; her nervousness at +the sight of Pilkington entering the room with letters was +unmistakable; and in a thousand other ways she gave evidence of he +heart's yearnings. So Alice felt that while this unsettled state of +affairs lasted, Barbara's home must be with her, and that a removal +from town would be highly antagonistic to any chance of a settlement +which might transpire; and as this entirely coincided with her own +views, she elected to remain in town. + +Mr. Schröder's will had been made a few months before his death, and +was in accordance with the general tenor of his married life. It +ordered that his share in the City firm should be realised at the +earliest favourable opportunity, and that it and all his other +investments should be lodged in the name of trustees for his wife's +use and disposal. As this represented a very large annual income, and +as the details of the will soon became public through the medium of +the press, the "kind-inquiries" cards began to shower down in +Saxe-Coburg Square. You, who are rich, find these amicable condolences +sent in at once, in such times. You, who are poor, know that in +general there is a little hanging fire until it is understood what +will be the future position of the family. In the present day the vast +proportion of middle-class people occupy a factitious position in +society; factitious, that is to say, thus far--that its existence +depends entirely on the life of the father, husband, breadwinner. So +long as his good income is made, so good; but when he dies, despite +all his attempts at laying-by, his precautions in insuring his life, +the whole thing changes; all the little luxuries have to be given up, +and the family sinks into a decidedly lower circle of society. That is +why the great law-giver Society waits to hear the will read before he +nods approval on visits of condolence being paid. In this case there +could be not much doubt about money; but there were some peculiar +features,--"a sudden death, my dear, and that sort of thing;" and it +was thought better by Mrs. Grundy, and her set, to wait a little, +until there could be no possible doubt on the matter: After a little +time, the intimates of the house were admitted. Old Mr. Townshend was +still away on the Continent; and there never seemed to have been any +other member of the Townshend family; but the Schröders came down in +flocks. The wives of the brothers, and the sisters, and the daughters' +nieces, and cousins twice removed,--who so kind as they in time of +trouble? Their husbands and fathers might be money-grubbers in the +City of London; in them was nothing but the good old German spirit of +kindness, of brotherhood and sisterhood, of honest help and +openhanded affection, which had first flourished when they were all +poor stragglers in the Frankfort Judengasse, which had lasted until +they were among the most opulent of the earth. And Dr. Prater was +there, of course, every day, chirrupping softly about the house, and +going from thence up and down and into the ends of the London world, +and talking of the enormous wealth left by his poor deceased friend +Mr. Schröder to his interesting patient Mrs. Schröder. And Captain +Lyster came, sending up his card, and proffering his services in any +manner in which they might be required; and then Barbara saw him; and +after a little time Alice saw him; and his services were brought into +requisition, and proved to be eminently useful. For when Fred Lyster +chose to shake off his drawl, and to apply himself, there were few men +with a quicker or a keener appreciation of what ought to be; and in +settling affairs, there were numerous cases arose in which a lady +could not possibly interfere, and in which the intervention of some +one prompt, clear-headed, and business-like, was indispensable. And as +Fred Lyster had never any thing to do, he had full leisure to attend +to these matters, and entered into them with an eagerness and a +perseverance which astonished all who saw him--save Barbara, who +perhaps might have made a shrewd guess as to the mainspring of his +actions. Poor George Pringle had called too. He had been a good deal +cut up by the death of Mr. Schröder, whom he had been accustomed to +describe as "a good old cock, sir; a worthy old party; kind-hearted +and all that, and giving no end good feeds;" and he had, in his rough +way, great sympathy for his cousin Alice,--"a poor little thing, sir; +left alone, with nothing to console her." + +With consolation-end in view, Mr. Pringle arrived one Sunday afternoon +at the door of the house in Saxe-Coburg Square, in a hansom cab, +whence he extracted a smooth English white terrier, with a black patch +over one eye. Taking this animal under his arm, he, after making due +inquiries after Mrs. Schröder's health, transferred it to the +frightened grasp of Pilkington, requesting that it might be +at once carried upstairs with his love. Pilkington was horribly +frightened,--he "never could abide dawgs;" and so no sooner was the +door closed than he set the animal down in the hall, where, catching +sight of the well-fed calves of Rawbert the footman, it presently +began to lick its lips, and growled in a very ominous manner. + +Mr. Beresford called three times: once immediately after the +announcement of the death, when he simply left his card; once on the +day after the funeral, when, besides his card, he left a warm message +of inquiry; once a fortnight after, when "he hoped he might be +permitted to see Mrs. Schröder." Barbara was with Alice in her boudoir +when this message arrived; and she noticed that the poor little woman +went deadly white as she listened, and then flushed deeply. + +"Oh, no, no!" she exclaimed; "I cannot see him. Barbara darling, I +never will see him again. I hate the mention of his name; it jars upon +me now; I cannot tell you how--oh, no, no!" And so Barbara framed a +polite reply in Alice's name, and Mr. Beresford went away. + +That night, as Barbara sat in her own room, feeling very weary and +worn, and with an irrepressible yearning towards her husband and her +home, the tears rose in her eyes; and, determined not to indulge in +the luxury of "a good cry," she drew out her handkerchief, and with it +a paper, which fell to the ground at her feet. Looking down at it as +it lay there, she recognised the paper which had been found in the +library, and handed to her by Dr. Prater, on the night of Mr. +Schröder's death, and which had ever since entirely escaped her +recollection. She picked it up from the carpet, and opened it; but no +sooner had her eyes fallen on the inside than she gave a start of +astonishment, and uttered a low cry. The same!--unquestionably the +same handwriting! The circumstances connected with both previous +occasions of her having seen it far too deeply impressed it on her +mind to allow of her being mistaken. It was that long scrawly +handwriting--unmistakably that of a woman only partially educated--in +which the letters to Frank Churchill--that delivered at Bissett, and +the envelope found in the dressing-room--had both been addressed. If +Barbara's heart beat fast when her eyes first fell upon the lines, how +much more disturbed was she when she read their contents, as follows: + + +"Your wife is false to you, and is carrying on with a Mr. Beresford. +They meet every day, ride together, and deceive you. Watch them, and +you will find this out. It has been going on for some time--for +months. It is a thing that Beresford has meant for a long time; and he +always carries out what he means. I know him well. + +"A FRIEND." + + +It was, then, the receipt of this letter which had had such fatal +effect on poor Mr. Schröder. He had fallen, pierced to the heart by +this anonymous stab. Any excitement, any worry, or anxiety, coming +suddenly on him, might have ended his life at any time, Dr. Prater had +said; and so--Dr. Prater? It was he who had picked up this paper from +the library-floor, on to which it had fallen from the dead man's hand. +The doctor had asked her whether there had been any cause for sudden +excitement; had suggested that the paper should not be shown to Mrs. +Schröder; that its existence need not be mentioned before the coroner. +He had read it, then. Barbara had no need to think twice to assure +herself on that point. That the imputations on Alice which the +anonymous letter conveyed were unfounded, Barbara had not the smallest +doubt. She knew that her friend, though thoughtless, had never, even +in thought, been guilty; and knew that she now bitterly repented her +levity and silliness. It would be worse than cruel to let her know of +the existence of this document; it must be kept from her at all +hazards. Alice's horror of Mr. Beresford was now so great as to +require no fanning; and Barbara was certain that of her own free will +the widow would never see him again. But in the event of Mr. +Beresford's demanding an interview, what was to be done then? Poor +Barbara found it impossible to answer this self-proposed question; and +there was no one to whom she could apply for advice. Captain Lyster +had been her mainstay in several cases; but this was a delicate +matter, which it was impossible to make him acquainted with. Oh, if +she only had Frank to turn to! and that sent her thoughts reverting to +the handwriting. Whose could it be?--who could be the owner of that +fatal _griffe_, which seemed to bring desolation with it wherever it +arrived? And at the end of her reverie, finding herself no clearer in +her suspicions than she was at first, Barbara locked the note into her +desk, and determined to leave to chance the use she might eventually +make of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. +ET TU BRUTE! + + +On the morning succeeding the day on which Mr. Schröder died, Mr. +Simnel sat in his room in the Tin-Tax Office, deep in a reverie. The +newspaper lay on the floor at his feet; he was slowly rubbing the knee +from which it had just fallen, and his other hand supported his chin. +The news had come upon him suddenly; and he was calmly thinking to +what results the occurrence might tend. Had he been at his club the +night before, he would have heard the whisper which, thanks to Dr. +Prater, was then permeating the West End; but on his return from Kate +Mellon's, Mr. Simnel had quietly dined in his own rooms, and there +remained for the rest of the evening, arranging his plans. Thus the +first intimation which he had received of the event was from the +columns of the newspaper then lying at his feet; in which a paragraph +headed "Sudden death of a City-merchant" had speedily claimed his +attention. Matters of weighty importance had Mr. Simnel to filter +through his mind in the course of that reverie. He was a +worldly-minded man, but by no means a bad man at heart; and the fact of +the rich man's death at that particular time struck him as specially +touching and softening. The newspaper described the anguish of the +dead man's widow as "inexpressible;" and though Simnel, from his +experience, was not inclined to lay much stress on the exactness of +that statement, yet he felt that in all probability the little woman +of whom he had heard so much, would probably be very much distressed. +From all he had learned, he believed that of late the relations +between her and her husband had been very much deepened and +strengthened. He guessed somewhat of this from the fact that Beresford +had been more than infrequent and shy in his allusions to that +_ménage_, and to the pursuit he was engaged in in that quarter. +Beresford? By Jove! then his chance was come much sooner than either +of them had anticipated! the great obstacle was removed, and he had +the course clear before him. No, not exactly clear; the manner of her +husband's death, the suddenness of it, would create a great revulsion +in Mrs. Schröder's mind, and greatly imperil Mr. Beresford's chances, +however strong they might be. Whether they were strong or not was a +matter of doubt in Mr. Simnel's mind; he had a great contempt for +Beresford's word, knowing him to be possessed of a happy inability to +speak truth; and sometimes he doubted whether his colleague had really +made any play worth mentioning at the house in Saxe-Coburg Square. +Then Mr. Simnel began rubbing his knee more violently than ever, as he +thought that the whole affair from first to last was very +disreputable, and one which redounded to the credit of no one engaged +in it. Would it not be better to drop Mr. Beresford altogether, and +leave him to fight his own way in the matter? It certainly would be +more honourable and satisfactory in every way; but then--why then, if +Mr. Beresford did not marry some rich woman (and Mrs. Schröder was his +best chance), he would go to the dogs; and then what would become of +his, Simnel's, eight hundred and twenty five pounds? Worse still, if +Beresford did not succeed with Mrs. Schröder, he might suddenly veer +round, and on the impulse of the moment, and under the pressure of +creditors, go up and declare for Kate Mellon's hand. And Simnel was by +no means certain that that young woman would decline such an offer, +even after all that had occurred; on the contrary, being naturally +suspicious, and on the present occasion jealous and in love, the +thought sent such a twinge through him, that he shrugged his +shoulders, and made up his mind that things must take their course. + +As he sat there, rubbing his leg much more calmly after arriving at +this determination, the door opened, and Mr. Beresford entered the +room. He nodded airily, and, pointing to the newspaper on the floor, +said, "You've seen it, of course? That chattering doctor-fellow was +right, you see. What do you think of it?" + +"Of it? of what? of Mr. Schröder's death, do you mean? I think it a +very sad thing." + +"The devil you do!" said Mr. Beresford with a sneering laugh; "the +door's shut, Simnel; don't you think you'd better drop that innocence +when you and I tire alone together?" + +He was a cur, this man, and instinctively a cad; he had been as +miserable as possible for weeks; but he thought he saw the breaking-up +of the dark clouds now, and immediately began to swagger and hector on +the strength of it. + +"Be good enough to understand, Mr. Beresford, that that is language +which I don't permit _any body_ to use to me!" said Simnel, through +his shut teeth, and with a very white face; "I repeat that I think Mr. +Schröder's death a very sad thing. Why do you choose to sneer when I +say so?" + +"No, no, not sneer: hang it, old fellow! you take one up so infernally +sharp. Bad thing, of course it is, for him, poor devil; but good thing +for me; and as you know rather more of me than you did of him, I +fancied I should have had your congratulations." + +"Oh, I see," said Simnel; "you fancy you ought to have received my +congratulations: on what, may I ask?" + +"Look here, Simnel!" said Beresford, turning savagely round; "drop +this infernal nonsense; it doesn't do here, and it's ill-timed. Don't +come the _non-mi-ricorde_ business, after having been arch-conspirator +and suggested every thing. Plainly, the death of this unfortunate man +is in my favour, because he was the principal obstacle in my way to +the success of our scheme; and he is removed." + +"Well; looking at it in that way--" + +"In that way! in what other way would you look at it? It's in a +remarkably _£ s.d_. kind of way that it presents itself to me, I can +tell you. I don't mind mentioning now, Simnel, what I shouldn't have +let on otherwise; that I'm tremendously dipped; in for--ay, I daresay, +three thousand more than you know any thing about; and here's the +chance come just in the nick of time." + +"Where did you get in for this? and where did you get the money?" + +"Get in for it? Doncaster, the Cæsarewitch, the Cambridgeshire! each +infernal thing went to the bad. I stood a cracker on the first; then +tried a pull through with the other two; and was all wrong with the +lot. Scadgers, Parkinson, and a new man, Barnett, of Stamford Street, +over the water, did the advances; but I should have looked very blue, +if this hadn't come off, I can tell you." + +"You're a little sanguine, are you not? It _hasn't_ come off yet, has +it?" + +"What a wet blanket you are, Simnel! No, of course not. Indeed there's +been a strong element of virtue and duty, and all that sort of thing, +introduced of late. But now there's no necessity for that. The actual +fancy and liking always existed, I flatter myself; and now all that +can be indulged in without the slightest suspicion of vice." + +"To be sure, to be sure," muttered Mr. Simnel, ruminating; "you'll +have to proceed very cautiously; but that you'll of course +understand." Mr. Beresford, by this time half way to the door, nodded +his head and went out. + +Some few days afterwards Mr. Simnel was again honoured by a visit in +his room from the Commissioner. The latter gentleman looked worn and +tired; he threw himself into a chair and began beating his boot with +his cane, and seemed altogether out of sorts. Mr. Simnel noticed all +this, and was tolerably prepared for what was coming. "What's the +matter, sir?" he asked quietly; "have you had too many papers to sign; +or are you annoyed at having to come down to this plebeian part of the +town so early as two o'clock; or haven't you had your lunch; or what +is it?" + +"Don't chaff Simnel; I'm not in the humour for chaff just now. I'm +afraid I'm getting into a hole at last." + +"What's the matter now?" + +"Oh, these infernal fellows are putting on the screw--lawyer's +letters, writs, and all that rascally machinery; and I don't see a +chance of staving them off. If I could have said any thing about a +rich marriage now--" + +"That's exactly what I was coming to. How about Saxe-Coburg Square?" + +"Well, fishy, very fishy. I've called there three times; the last time +sending in specially and particularly to say that I wanted to speak to +her; and still the same answer--compliments--not kind regards, you +know--compliments, and utterly unable to see me. No hint of a future +opportunity--nothing!" + +"That looks badly, certainly. What do you intend to do?" + +"Do! Go there again. Have it out by hook or by crook. By Jove, I will +see her! I'll remind her that--" + +"Doesn't this strike you as devilish low behaviour? Don't you see that +to thrust yourself in where you are evidently not wanted, to break in +upon the privacy of a lady, who is in the beginning of her first great +sorrow--" + +"Oh, drop that, please. Doesn't it strike you that I owe you nearly +nine hundred pounds, and other people a great deal more; and that if +they're not paid, I shall be arrested and sold up? And don't you see, +therefore, that I _must_--No, by Jove! I don't see why I should; +you're quite right; it is an ungentlemanly business, and I'm sick of +all this dodging and duffing and forcing myself down the throat of a +woman whose liking for me seems to have gone off. But there's one who +would still seem to care about me, Simnel, my boy, I'll wager any +money; and one whom I've been a fool not to think of before--Kate +Mellon!" + +385 + +"Kate Mellon?" echoed Mr. Simnel with scowling brows. + +"Yes, Kate Mellon! She's got ready-money enough to pay off all my +ticks and set me square; and then I could keep square. I'm sure she'd +forget all that stupid business of which I told you; though I've never +seen her since. I could put that right in a minute; and--" + +"I don't think it would do," said Mr. Simnel earnestly--"I don't think +it would do. Miss Mellon's status in society would be fatal to all +your hopes of advancement. Your aunt Lady Lowndes and the bishop would +cut you dead; and remember," added he, after a pause, and with an +attempt at a smile, very ghastly and gummy and forced, "I am +interested in this matter to the extent of eight hundred pounds, and I +don't think it would do. I'm disposed to recommend you to hold to the +other, which appears to me to want only a little patience, and--if I +understand from you the security of your position--an undoubted +declaration to bring to a favourable issue." + +"And what would you advise?" + +"A letter. I will draft you what I should suggest; and if you approve, +you can copy it, or embody it in any thing else you have to say to +Mrs. Schröder;" and Mr. Simnel sat down at once at his desk and began +to write. Mr. Beresford sat watching him the while. Not a change in +Simnel's face, not an inflexion of his voice, had escaped him; and he +wondered what it all meant, and in what Kate Mellon's fortunes could +have influence over the impassible secretary of the Tin-Tax Office. + + +Two days after this interview, Mr. Beresford called in Saxe-Coburg +Square and sent up his card, requesting an interview with Mrs. +Schröder. The usual message of excuse being returned to him, he gave +the servant a letter which he had brought with him, and begged that +the man would take it to his mistress; he would await the answer. Mrs. +Schröder, seated in her boudoir, read the note, seemed greatly +disturbed, told the man that she would send an answer downstairs by +her maid, and immediately rushed off to the adjacent bedroom, where +Barbara Churchill was lamenting all that had happened, and wondering +what was to be the end of her life. + +"O Barbara, Barbara darling, what shall I do?" exclaimed the poor +little woman; "here is Mr. Beresford come again, and he wanted to see +me, and I said no, as we had determined, and then he sent me up this +dreadful letter! Oh, what shall I say to him, dear? oh, do help me, +there's a darling." + +Barbara took the letter from Alice's shaking hand and read it. It was +not a pleasing composition; it began in an injured tone, and then grew +mysterious, and then almost threatening. The writer demanded an +interview, and justified his demand by referring to certain bygone +circumstances which the reader would readily remember; and the whole +tone was sentimentally prurient and offensive and objectionable in the +highest degree. Poor little Alice had not seen any thing of this kind +in it; she had merely found it "horrid" and "impertinent;" but +Barbara's cheek flamed as she perused it, and the tone of her voice +was rather sharp as she said, "Is the man still here, Alice?" + +"What man, dear? Mr. Beresford?" + +"Of course!--is there any other? Oh, he is here. Very well, then, +leave me this letter, and I will go down and speak to him about it." + +"You'll see him, Barbara?" + +"Yes," said Barbara, who was already opening her desk and looking for +something therein. "It will be the best way. You'll find he won't +trouble you any more." She kissed Alice at the door, and walking down +stairs and into the drawing-room, confronted Mr. Beresford. + +That gentleman was seated near the window with book of photographs, at +which he was not looking, in his hand. He rose as he heard the door +open, and advanced rapidly when he saw the female figure: the room was +somewhat darkened by heavy curtains, and he could not clearly make out +who it was. When Barbara, stopping, pulled herself to her fall height, +he stopped, too, disappointed; he expected some one far less majestic. + +"You wished to see Mrs. Schröder, I believe, Mr. Beresford," said +Barbara, after the first salutation: "I come as her representative." + +"I am very sensible of the honour you do me, Mrs. Churchill," replied +Beresford; "but I fear that no representative will do. I want to speak +to Mrs. Schröder herself." + +"That is impossible," said Barbara, calmly. + +"Impossible is a very strong word, Mrs. Churchill. I sent Mrs. +Schröder a letter--" + +"Oh, yes, here it is; it is about this letter that I have come to you. +You'll sit, Mr. Beresford, please; for this is likely to be a +prolonged talk. Now you know that I am Mrs. Schröder's oldest and most +intimate friend, and as such I am deputed to answer this letter." + +"Pardon me, I have no grounds for believing the latter part--" + +"Except my word; and you won't doubt that? No! I thought not! Now, Mr. +Beresford, I am about to speak very plainly to you, always relying on +you as a gentleman. Mrs. Schröder is very young, and rather +thoughtless and not too much gifted with brains. Since you have been +acquainted with her, both before and after marriage, you have paid her +small attentions, such as no woman dislikes. They were attentions such +as the rigidly-censorious might shake their heads at; but which no +woman, knowing her own rectitude and conscious of the proper +understanding existing between her husband and herself, need have been +afraid of. But the case is altered now! Poor Alice is unfortunately +in the position of having no husband as her guide and safeguard, +and--these attentions must cease!" + +"You speak as Mrs. Schröder's mouthpiece, Mrs. Churchill?" + +"Precisely! In this letter which I have here, there is a tone which I +am sure you did not intend to convey; but about which it is my duty to +speak to you plainly. Under present circumstances Mrs. Schröder feels +it necessary to limit her knowledge of you to that of the merest +acquaintance. There is no other footing on which you can know each +other. If you were not what I know you to be, a gentleman, I should +point out that there is not, nor ever has been, any thing between you +which could lead you to any other supposition--no letters, no any +thing which ill-natured persons could lay hold of--you follow me?" + +"Ye-es, ye-es!" said Beresford, feeling that he was outwitted. + +"That is right--so, as you are a gentleman, I don't mind telling you +the urgent necessity for the adoption of this course. Notwithstanding +the absence of any such evidence as I have spoken of, the world has +chosen to talk." + +"Ah, ah!" said Mr. Beresford, with a smile of returning satisfaction. + +"Yes, in its usual base and unfounded manner. Here is an anonymous +letter which was addressed to the late Mr. Schröder." + +"Let me look at it!" said Beresford, eagerly. + +"It is here;" and Barbara handed to him the paper picked off the +library-floor by Dr. Prater. + +Mr. Beresford took the letter from her hand. The instant his eye fell +on the handwriting, Barbara, who was looking at him steadfastly, saw +his colour change and his hand shake. But he read it through without +saying a word, and returned it to her with a bow. + +"You will see now, Mr. Beresford, the utter impossibility of Mrs. +Schröder's permitting her acquaintance with you to continue," said +Barbara. "You will see that the note which you addressed to her can +have no answer but that which I have already given you; and that +henceforth, as a gentleman, you are bound in honour not to--" + +"Of course! of course!" replied Beresford; "it is of the other letter +I am thinking now." And he set his teeth and struck his ungloved hand +violently with his cane. "You have introduced a new element into the +discussion, Mrs. Churchill, and you must pardon me if I close it here. +What my future course may be, circumstances must determine: I make no +promise, as I make no threats; but--" + +"We will close the discussion at once, sir, if you please!" said +Barbara, haughtily. + +"At once," said Beresford, with a bow. "Believe me that the advocacy +of that anonymous person--whose handwriting I recognise--though useful +perhaps, as time may prove--is by no means flattering." + +He bowed again and left the room. "By no means flattering!" echoed +Barbara after he had gone; "it is, then, as I suspected, some horrible +wretch who has east this shadow over my life!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. +BALTHAZAR. + + +Mr. Simnel sat calmly over his breakfast in his rooms in Piccadilly, +little dreaming of all that had occurred on the previous day in +Saxe-Coburg Square. He skimmed the newspaper; he dallied with his +toast; he laid down his knife and fork and paused in his meal, smiling +to himself with the air of a man who had reason for self-gratulation. +Such reason had Mr. Simnel. He had fought a very long and arduous and +up-hill fight--a fight in which the odds were all against him, and +which he had won entirely by patience and excellent generalship. And +now the difficulties were surmounted; the land lay straight before +him; and he was just about to clutch the prize which, with so much +trouble, he had won. "You shall have it, Robert!" those were the last +words which she had said to him; words which haunted his memory, which +he found himself repeating over and aver again. The woman he had loved +so long and so quietly, who at one time appeared far beyond the power +of his grasp, had succumbed; he had won her honestly, and by his own +tact and perseverance; and she would be his own! There would be a bar +sinister in her escutcheon, but what of that? Against herself, against +the propriety of her conduct, no one had ever dared to drop a hint. +Her father should make such a settlement on her as, coupled with his +own money, would relieve her from the necessity of pursuing her then +occupation, of doing any thing but play her part as mistress of her +house, and enjoy herself. What a fool was Beresford!--ah, that opened +up a fresh vein of thought! He had said yesterday that, failing in his +pursuit of Mrs. Schröder, should fall back on Kate Mellon, and try and +patch up that severed alliance. Simnel's heart beat loudly as this +recurred to his mind; he knew how deep had been the attachment which +Kate had formed for Beresford, and he was not sure that she would not +be even yet willing to listen to proposals of peace. She must not have +the chance--that was what he determined; and he rang his bell +hurriedly, and sat biting his nails until it was answered. + +"You saw Mr. Scadgers?" he demanded of his servant. + +"Yes, sir; he will be at your office at one o'clock." + +"Good; now go over at once to Austin Friars to Mr. Townshend's office. +Tell the head-clerk," said he, taking a telegraphic despatch from his +pocket, "that his master will arrive at London Bridge at half-past +one, and that he must send some one to meet him. Say that I shall be +with Mr. Townshend at three sharp. You understand?" The valet answered +in the affirmative and left the room, returning in a few minutes and +ushering in Mr. Beresford. That gentleman looked any thing but happy; +his face was of a dull leaden hue, his eyes were dull and red-rimmed, +and the tell-tale muscles of his mouth were working visibly. He flung +himself into, a chair, and as soon as the door closed, said: "Here's a +devil of a go!" + +"What's the matter, man?" asked Simnel. "Look here--you're all out of +sorts--lips going and hands shaking--just steady yourself before you +speak. Here!" and he unlocked a sideboard and placed a liqueur-stand +before his friend. + +"That's better!" said Beresford, draining a wine-glass of brandy. "I am +all wrong, and enough to make me! Thought I'd catch you here before +you went down to work. I've no end to tell you--" + +"Tell on!" said Mr. Simnel; and, so encouraged, Beresford narrated +every thing that had occurred between him and Barbara the preceding +day, respecting the anonymous letter and the conversation that had +ensued thereanent, word for word. + +As Mr. Simnel listened his heart sunk within him, and it was with the +greatest difficulty that he prevented himself from displaying his +emotion. He succeeded, however, so admirably, that though the colour +of his face might have gone a shade or two paler, not a muscle of it +moved, and when Beresford stopped, he said, without a tremor in his +voice, "What do you intend to do?" + +"To do!" screamed Beresford--"well, upon my soul, Simnel, you are a +wonderful man! I tell you this tremendous story, which, for heartless +villany, beats any thing I ever heard--and done by a woman too!--and +all you ask is, what I intend to do! Do!--I intend to punish that +she-devil, cost what it may! to--" + +"Steady, sir! you're using strong language--" + +"Oh! what! Kate Mellon, I mean; not Mrs. Schröder--my mind's made up +with regard to her! I shall--" + +"Look here, Beresford; did you come here to rave and storm before me, +or to ask my advice?--which?" + +"I don't know what the deuce you mean by raving and storming! You'd do +the same if you'd been treated in this way by a--there, never mind, +I'll take your advice if--" + +"If it agrees with your own plans! generous creature! Now look here; +you're in a horrible state of rage and fever, in which you can do no +good. My advice to you is, to go away straight at once. Go out of town +somewhere for a fortnight, and then come back and see how the land +lies." + +"And so lose every chance I've got! No, thank ye. You know all that +business yesterday was Mrs. Churchill, not Mrs. Schröder. I don't +believe the widow knows a word about that cursed letter; and there may +be a chance of getting over her yet, though that Churchill woman is as +deep as the Whissendine. She and I always hated each other, I think, +and I don't intend to let her beat me now; no! I've sent a line to +Mrs. Schröder marked private, without any flummery of former days, or +any thing of that sort,--simply begging her to meet me in the Row this +afternoon and give me five minutes' talk. If she does that, I think I +can put matters square; and if not--" + +"And if not?" + +"Well, if not, by George, Simnel, up goes the sponge, and no mistake. +There are three writs out against me, and I fancy some of Sloman's +people are on. There have been some fellows hanging about my door in +South Audley Street; and I fancy, from what Stephens says, they were +any thing but the right sort. What are you thinking about?" + +"I was thinking," said Mr. Simnel slowly, "that if this Schröder +business does not come off,--and I don't think it will,--you'd better +send in a certificate from Prater or some one, and get away to the +Continent for six months." + +"Well, we'll wait and see what to-day brings forth, at all events. If +it don't do, I'll very likely take your advice." + +After Mr. Beresford had gone, Mr. Simnel sat with his feet on the +fender, slowly rubbing his knee. "It must be hurried through at once," +he said to himself. "I'll square the settlement to-day; and if +Beresford fails with Mrs. Schröder, he must be got out of town and +abroad. Vengeance, eh? no, not quite that, my fine fellow. Long before +you come back, there'll be somebody with a right to interfere, if any +thing like vengeance is threatened." + + +And how fared it with Kate Mellon all this while? what had happened to +the pivot on which so many schemes of love and hate, of worship and +revenge, were turning? In a bad way was Kate Mellon mentally and +thence physically. The news of Mr. Schröder's death, which she +had read accidentally in an "odds and ends" column of a cheap +sporting-paper, had come upon her with a terrific shock. She had +compared dates, and found that it had happened on the day after the +despatch of her letter; and though there was nothing to create any +connexion between the circumstances, she felt a kind of horrible +impression that by her act she had hastened his end. This preyed upon +her mind; and as she had no one in whom to confide--(had Simnel come +up in the interval, it is probable that she would have told him all, +for the sake of getting a scrap of consolation, of advice--of mere +talk--so weightily did the retention of the secret lie on her),--she +fretted and worried herself, and each day grew more feverish, more +unsettled, more discontented. One horrible thought she had, which +swallowed up all the rest--might not she unconsciously have helped her +rival to her happiness! If this fair-haired woman cared for Charley, +as had been stated (and as she had seen with her own eyes), she could +not have cared for her husband. He was now removed, and there was +nothing to prevent a marriage between them. Here was a phantom which +nothing could lay; a spectre which would haunt her day and night, ever +mocking and gibing at her; and she tossed in ceaseless torture, and +grew paler and thinner, and took less interest in her business every +day. + +On the day on which Mr. Beresford and Mr. Simnel had the conversation +just narrated, Kate Mellon lay on the sofa in her little drawing-room, +listless and drowsy, as was her wont nowadays, and with her head +buried in her hands. She roused herself at a loud knock at the door, +and bade the person enter. It was old Freeman, the stud-groom. + +"Here's Hockley, miss, just coom down from town staäbles. Black harse +from Ireland, 'raived last neet." + +"What horse, Freeman?" + +"Waät harse, eh? Mai bairn, thee'rt gangin' daft wi' soommut; ai +heeard not waät! Waät harse? why, black harse we bought of Markis +Clonmel--black hoonter which Johnson wrote aboot last week." + +"Ay, ay, I recollect! What does Hockley say of him?" + +"Hockley says he's tearer! groom as browt him to steamer said as nowt +could hold him! I'se warrant we teach him manners!" + +"Yes; I'll do that myself, and at once too! I want a little rousing. +Put a pair into the wagonette, Freeman, and drive me down to Down +Street. I'll give this horse a turn at once!" + +Besides her establishment at The Den, Kate Mellon had a set of stables +near Piccadilly, which were mainly devoted to the reception of new +arrivals from the country, and as temporary resting-places for the +horses required for Rotten-Row pupils. These stables were equally +perfectly appointed with The Den; and when the wagonette containing +Kate and her head-groom drove in, she found a portion of her staff +ready to receive her. + +"What's this new Irish horse like, Tanner?" said she to her town +manager. + +"A bad 'un, miss; a rank bad 'un as ever stepped! Good 'oss, fine-made +'oss jump any think; good slopin' shoulders, and henormous quarters; +but the temper of--savin' your presence--the devil! He pinned one of +the men when he was a-dressin' him this morning, and his hi rolls +fearful;" and Mr. Tanner, who, though a thorough horseman, was an +undeniable Cockney, led the way towards the loose box where the new +arrival was standing. "They calls 'im Balthazar," said he; "and if +that means a out-an'-out bad 'un, they're right." + +They found him in a loose box at the end of the yard, a big +brown-black horse, sixteen and a half, six off, with a long lean head, +deep neck, round barrel, deep chest, low back, short forehand, big +broad foot. As the door of the box opened he turned his eye round, +showing an inflamed white, put back his ears, and lashed out savagely. + +"Hold on, mon!" said old Freeman; "steady, boy; let's look at thee;" +and the old man went fearlessly up to the horse's head, and placing +his hand in the head-collar, commenced turning him about. + +"Send one of your men for my saddle, Tanner, and put No. 3 bridle on +him. Is No. 3 the one with the deep port? Yes, that's it," said she, +touching it with her whip. "I'll just see what he's made of in the +Row." + +"Miss," said old Freeman, coming up close to her, and whispering, +"better wait till t'see waät's made of oop in tan-ride at +whoom--naästy brute, I'm thinkin' 't 'ill prove." + +"Ah, never mind, Freeman; there's room in the Row to give him a very +good bucketing. Bring him out." + +He came out with a bound, and backed and reared and kicked when any +one approached him, so that fully five minutes had elapsed before +Kate, with all her readiness and agility, found herself on his back. +Once mounted he started off at once, pelting over the uneven stones, +and slipping about in a manner that made old Freeman hold up his hands +and curse the Paving Commissioners, with even more than his usual +energy. + +Down one incline of Piccadilly and up the other went Balthazar, now +and then trying his chance of a buck-jump, occasionally manifesting +his inclination to rear. So through the Arch and into the Row. There +Kate thought he might have his fling; there was no one within sight; +and "to take it out" of a brute like this was a feat in which at one +time she would have taken infinite pleasure; even now it promised some +excitement. So quietly drawing the curb and simultaneously touching +him with her heel, she felt the big brute give one tremendous plunge +and snort, and then dart off like lightning. And now Kate's colour +came again, and her heart leapt within her as she felt once more the +ecstasy of tearing speed. Away he goes, easy as a chair when once he +has settled into his stride, and with more real go in him than she has +felt in any horse she has ridden for months. Bravo, Balthazar! Whoop, +boy! get along! and the blue habit floats behind, and the gravel flies +round her, and she is going the real pace now, and no mistake! Who is +this rider creeping out across her path from beneath the trees? +Steady, boy, steady! by Jove, he's got the bit between his teeth, and +there's no stopping him! Soho, soho, man! a shake--another; that's +done it! the bit's free, and she pulls him up easily; and to her +pulling him rides up a man, flushed, with working lips and scarlet +face--Charles Beresford. She stares at him with starting eyes and +compressed lips, through which comes the word "Charley!" + +"It _is_ you, you she-devil, is it?" said Beresford: "I thought it +must be. This is fate that has sent you here to hear me curse you. I +know what you've done, fast enough. You thought you could stab in +secret, did you, you Jezabel? and without its being known where the +blow came from! But I saw your infernal hand, and when I saw it, I +cursed you as I curse you now!" + +"Charley! Charley! oh, for God's sake; oh, if ever you cared for me--" + +"Cared for you! I never did! I told you so--told you at least as +plainly as a man could tell a woman; and then in sheer revenge--in +dirty, low, mean revenge--you do this; but I'll be even with you. +I'll--stand off, curse you! take your hand off, I say--" + +She had laid her hand on his arm. He shook it off roughly, and in +shaking it off raised his whip-hand spasmodically, and struck +Balthazar sharply in the mouth. The Irish horse reared up on end +straight as a dart, forced to his feet, plunged for an instant, +and then started off in a mad gallop. Kate sat like a rock, +pulling--pulling without the slightest effect. Then looking down she +saw he had his eye turned back towards her, and held the bit in a firm +grip between his teeth. This time the shake was no use; he would not +loose his grip, and the bit was useless. They are nearing the end of +the Row, and she remembers, shudderingly, the heavy iron gates, +between which it would be impossible to steer him. If she could but +turn him into the Drive, and so head up towards the Serpentine bridge! +A touch with her leg and a sharp tug at the rein; the Irish horse +rises like a bird at the iron bars, but touches them with his +fore-feet, and falls headlong into the Drive, rolling over on to his +rider, who lies there crushed and motionless. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. +"BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT." + + +When Mr. Scadgers walked into the lobby of the Tin-Tax Office soon +after noon on the day on which Mr. Beresford had announced to Mr. +Simnel his intention of taking some decisive step in the Schröder +business, he asked to be shown to Mr. Simnel. The abruptness and +audacity of this demand struck dismay into the breasts of the +attendant messengers; they could scarcely believe their ears. Mr. +Scadgers was not unknown in the classic regions of Rutland House: in +all the various departments of that grand governmental hive he drove a +roaring trade; and though it was mostly carried on by correspondence, +or through agents, yet he occasionally appeared in person on the +scene, notably on Quarter-days, for the purpose of "bouncing" an +instalment out of recalcitrant debtors. So, had he inquired for any of +the junior clerks, or for any recognised black sheep of higher +standing, he would have been quietly shown into the waiting-room +apportioned for the reception of the public, and a light-heeled +Mercury would have been torn from the perusal of the newspaper, and, +with his tongue in his cheek, have been started off to summon the +indebted one. But when Mr. Simnel's name was mentioned, it was quite a +different thing. The head messenger, who had never before attended to +Mr. Scadgers, condescended to listen to what he had to say, at the +same time deadening any hopes which might have been entertained with a +chilling shoulder-shrug. "I'll see, sir," said he,---"I'll see; but I +think the Seckittary is partic'lar engaged just now: if you'll take a +seat, sir, I'll let him have your name; but--" "That's all; you tell +him I'm here," said Mr. Scadgers, simply; "I'll stand the racket about +his seeing me or not." The chief messenger shook his head as he walked +slowly towards the secretarial apartment: he knew that no business in +Mr. Scadgers's peculiar line could be on foot between that worthy and +Mr. Simnel; for did not he, the chief messenger, take the Secretary's +pass-book to the bank; did he not pay-in moneys, and get cash for his +master's cheques; and was he not consequently aware that a very +capital balance was always standing in Mr. Simnel's name? What could +it be? The chief messenger's astonishment was increased when he +received his orders to show the "party of the name of Scadgers" in at +once to the secretarial presence; was at its height when, bidden to +send for a cab, he saw the Secretary and Mr. Scadgers drive away +together. + +Arrived at Austin Friars, Mr. Simnel bade his companion wait in the +outer office, while he himself was shown into the sanctum. He found +Mr. Townshend somewhat aged and broken, but invested with all such +relics of his former haughtiness as he could command. He received his +visitor with studied cold politeness, pointed him to a chair, and +waited for him to speak. + +"I was sorry," began Simnel, "to be compelled to ask you to return +home; but the fact is that the business was urgent, and I had no +alternative. You comprehend?" + +"I comprehend, sir," answered Mr. Townshend, "that the last time I saw +you you proved yourself possessed of a secret, on the keeping of which +depends my--almost my life! The possession of this secret enables you +to dictate terms to me at your own convenience. Your convenience is +now. You ordered me to come here to hear your terms, and I am here. +Isn't that so?" + +"You put matters a little harshly, Mr. Townshend; as, when you have +heard what you are pleased to call my terms, I think you will allow. I +do not come merely to dictate terms to you, as I at one time thought I +should. There are wheels within wheels in my scheme; and I must take +off the front, and show you the whole scheme at work before you will +be able to see the mechanism of it. The last time I had the pleasure +of talking with you, you asked me what I wanted; I told you nothing. +Since then I have made up my mind. I want justice!" + +"Justice!" echoed the old man, turning deadly white; "justice!" + +"Justice!" said Simnel; "not _on_ any one though, merely _for_ +somebody. Pardon my again asking about that door. Nobody to listen, +eh? All right! Last time I was here I had a notion in my head, which +has since resolved itself into a certainty, and into the pivot on +which all my action turns. I must bore you with old memories once +more, I'm afraid. You recollect that, while you were at Combcardingham +with our old friends Piggott and Wells, you formed an acquaintance +with a very pretty girl--a 'hand' in one of the factories? You shake +your head, eh? it _is_ a long time since, and these sort of things get +pushed from one's mind by other affairs, and--however, I think you'll +recollect her when I mention her name. Does the name Ann Moore convey +to you--Ah! I thought so! I'll wait a minute, if you please; there's +no hurry." + +"Go on, sir; go on!" said Mr. Townshend, whose face was hidden in, and +supported by, his hands. + +"An attachment sprung up between you and Ann Moore, I think, which was +the cause of great distress to her only relation, a brother, with whom +she lived. This brother and you exchanged words--if not blows--on this +subject, and the result was that the girl left her brother and went to +live with you. Did you speak?" + +If he had spoken, he did not repeat what he had said, but sat there +still and silent. + +"She had been living with you for about a year when that unfortunate +affair of the acceptance happened. You were obliged to leave +Combcardingham; but you were not obliged, so far as I can make out, to +leave it as you did--without giving her the least notion of your +intention; without leaving her one shilling to support herself or your +little child! She could not go back to the factory; she had not been +there since the child's birth; and she was weak and ill, and unable to +do the work. So she and the child starved." + +"Great God!" cried the old man, looking up in horror--"starved?" + +"Well--for all you had to do with it! You're just as much a murderer +as if they actually had perished of want, leaving them as you did But +they didn't. Neighbours found them out only just in time; found out +her brother; and he, when he found you'd gone off, came round and took +his sister to his heart again. He was a printer just starting for +himself, and he took his sister--she'd always been his favourite--to +his new home; and there she died three weeks after her arrival." + +"Died? Ann died? not of--" + +"No, not of starvation, if you mean that; they said she died of a +broken heart at having been deserted by the man she worshipped; but we +know by medical science that that's an impossibility--don't we? At all +events, she died; and then the printer, who was a rising man, looked +after the little girl. He looked after her in an odd way. He had a +foster-brother, who was a rider in a circus; and when the little girl +was six years old he placed her with the circus-people, where she +remained until he started her in life on her own account." + +"She lived, then?" + +"Oh dear, yes; lived considerably; lives now and flourishes, and does +extremely well. You have heard of a riding-mistress and horsebreaker, +Miss Kate Mellon?" + +"I have heard of such a person; and I have not heard--" + +"Steady, please! Kate Mellon is Ann Moore's daughter. I need not point +out her relationship to you. You shake your head. Proofs of course you +want? I've taken the liberty of ringing the bell. Be good enough," +added Mr. Simnel, to the clerk who appeared, "to tell that person who +is waiting outside to step in. Do you recognise him?" he asked of Mr. +Townshend, as Scadgers entered the room. + +Mr. Townshend, shading his eyes with his hand, looked long at the +new-comer, and then said, "It is George Moore!" + +"Right enough, sir," said Mr. Scadgers; "though it's many a long day +since we met; and we're neither of us so young as then. Lord bless me! +when I look at the Runner--we used to call him the 'Runner' because of +Townshend of Bow Street, which was a nickname for him," added he, +turning to Mr. Simnel,--"when I look at the Runner, and think how long +it is since I left my mark on him about--" + +"We won't trouble you for details," interrupted Mr. Simnel; "this +gentleman acknowledges you as George Moore. Will you state whether you +are the brother of Ann Moore; and if so, what became of her and her +child?" + +"Ann Moore was my sister," said Scadgers in a low voice, "as this man +knows well enough. After he left the town suddenly and without giving +her any notice, without leaving her any money, without--there, though +it's so long ago, it makes me mad now when I think of it. When he left +her starving and penniless, I took such care of her and the little one +as best I could. Then--poor Ann died, and the child came to me. Young +Phil Fox was my foster-brother; and he saw the little girl, and his +wife took a sort of fancy to her, having none of their own. So I +apprenticed her to old Fox, and she was with him for years, until I +had got on in life and made some money; and then I thought I'd do what +was right by the child, not letting myself be known in the matter, for +I couldn't get over poor Ann's disgrace; and I fetched her away and +had her put to business for herself." + +"You didn't have her called by her mother's or her father's name, I +believe?" + +"No; her mother's name was shame to me; her father's would have been +worse; so I called her Kate Mellon, after my mother's people; and by +that name she's gone ever since." + +"Thank you. You hear this testimony, Mr. Townshend; you--" + +"I hear! I hear!" said the old man testily. "I hear what may possibly +be a clever story arranged between two men for the purposes of +extortion--" + +The black cloud settled on Mr. Simnel's face; but before he could +speak, Scadgers burst in: "Extortion: if I'd wanted any thing of you, +Mr. George Townshend, shouldn't I have had it years ago? I've known +where you've been and what money you've been making for the last +eighteen years; and if I'd wanted any thing of you, I could have come +down on you at any time. But I scorned it for me or for my sister's +flesh and blood, just as I scorn it now! Extortion! why--" + +"There! you're very naturally annoyed and excited, my good sir; but I +think we shall bring Mr. Townshend to reason," said Mr. Simnel. "I +don't think I need detain you any longer. I shall see you in a very +short time, and, I hope, have some satisfactory news to communicate. +Good-day!" and Mr. Simnel shook hands with Mr. Scadgers, who made a +very curt bow to Mr. Townshend, and departed. Then Simnel turned to +the old man, and said, "I make every allowance for your annoyance in +this matter, Mr. Townshend; but you can no longer really doubt the +truth of this statement." + +"And suppose I admit it, sir; what then? To what end have you hunted +up this story and--and the other, which you hold _in terrorem_ over +me? What views of yours am I to meet: What price am I to pay for past +follies?" + +"Follies is an easy word," said Simnel, with a grim smile; "but I +don't think my proposition is a hard one. I am attached to Miss +Moore--Kate Mellon--call her what you like--your daughter, I +mean--honourably attached to her; but you, as a man of the world, will +see that it would be impossible for me to marry a girl who is simply +known for her eccentricity and her daring; who has no position in +society--no relations--no any thing which the world demands, save +money, and even of that she has not sufficient. You follow me?" + +"Yes, sir, yes," said Mr. Townshend, who had again buried his face in +his hands. + +"Well, then, what I propose," said Simnel, who was getting annoyed at +the old man's manner, "and what, moreover, I intend, by means of the +hold which I have over you, to carry out, is this: you must +acknowledge this young lady as your daughter; take her to your house, +and let her live there for a month or two; let our wedding--a formal +wedding, with all friends invited--take place from there; and you must +give her ten thousand pounds." + +"I refuse!" said Mr. Townshend; "I entirely refuse; I--" + +"Oh, no, you don't," interrupted Mr. Simnel; "you'll think better of +it. Why shouldn't you? You gave Mrs. Schröder, who didn't want it at +all, twenty thousand; but you're not so well off just now, I know." + +"How do you know that, you who are so well-informed on all my +affairs?" + +"Well, I think I know pretty nearly every shilling you have out," said +Simnel, rubbing his knee; "and Cotopaxis and Tierra del Fuegos have +gone down like water lately. No; as matters stand, I'll be content +with ten thousand." + +"I did not so much mean about the money. I do not say that I would not +pay the sum you name to be rid of the annoyance; but I will never +undergo the humiliation of acknowledging that connexion." + +"Better that than the humiliation of standing in the Old-Bailey dock! +Better that than stone-quarrying at Portland at your time of life, +sir, I can tell you, besides humiliation. Nonsense! It is not as if +the acknowledging this daughter would hurt the prospects of the other. +She has done with you now. If she marries again, it will be as Mr. +Schröder's widow, without reference to you. Don't you understand?" +("He didn't like that allusion to Portland," said Simnel to himself. +"I distinctly heard his teeth chatter as I said the word.") + +"I did not so much mean about the money. I do not say that I would not +pay the sum you name to be rid of the annoyance; but I will never +undergo the humiliation of acknowledging that connexion." + +"Better that than the humiliation of standing in the Old-Bailey dock! +Better that than stone-quarrying at Portland at your time of life, +sir, I can tell you, besides humiliation. Nonsense! It is not as if +the acknowledging this daughter would hurt the prospects of the other. +She has done with you now. If she marries again, it will be as Mr. +Schröder's widow, without reference to you. Don't you understand?" +("He didn't like that allusion to Portland," said Simnel to himself. +"I distinctly heard his teeth chatter as I said the word.") +"And suppose I were to consent to this proposition, sir," said the old +man in a tremulous voice, "what guarantee have I that you might not +come upon me at some future time for more money, or the gratification +of some other wish; and that, on my refusal, you might not betray that +horrible secret which you hold?" + +"Now, my dear sir, there your usual sound common-sense has for once +deserted you. Is it likely that, when once you are my father-in-law, I +should proclaim a gentleman whose connexion with me I had taken so +much pains to make public, as--pardon me--as a felon?" + +Mr. Townshend cowered back in his chair, as Simnel, leaning forward to +impart additional earnestness to his manner, uttered these last words. +For a minute or two there was a dead silence; then the old-man, with a +terrible effort at collecting himself, asked, "When do you require an +answer to this demand?" + +"An answer? Immediately! I cannot conceive that there can be any +question as to the answer to be returned. I am sure that you, my good +sir, could not be mad enough to object to what is, under all the +circumstances, really a very reasonable proposition. I merely +want you to pass your word to agree to what I have placed before you, +and we will then settle the time for carrying the arrangement into +effect." + +"What delay will you grant me?" + +"Now, upon my word, Mr. Townshend," said Simnel, in a semi-offended +tone, "this is scarcely polite. You ask for delay, as though you were +ordered for execution, instead of having what might have been a very +unpleasant affair settled in a thoroughly satisfactory manner." + +"You must pardon me, sir," said Mr. Townshend; "I am an old man now. I +am broken with illness; and this interview has been too much for me. +Pray end it as speedily as possible." Indeed he looked as wan and +haggard as a corpse. + + +"Poor devil!" thought Simnel, "I pity him thoroughly. But there must +be no shrinking now, and no delay, or that Schröder-Beresford business +may fall through; and then--" "I must get you to act at once, then, +Mr. Townshend, if you please," he said aloud. "Your daughter had +better come to you at once, and we can then be married in a month or +six weeks' time." + +Mr. Townshend bowed his head. "As you please, sir; perhaps you will +see me again to-morrow, or the day after. Just now I can settle +nothing; my head is gone." And so the interview ended. + +"I must keep him to it, by Jove!" soliloquised Mr. Simnel; "and pretty +tight too, or it will fall through yet. He looked horribly ill, and +he'll be going off the hooks without any recognition or any +settlement, and then we should be neatly in the hole; for, of course, +not one single soul would believe the story of Kitty's birth, though +told by me and sworn to by Scadgers. And now I must let her know the +whole truth, and ask for the reward. It's been a hard fight, and it +isn't won yet." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. +MINISTERING ANGELS. + + +A crowd gathered round her in an instant. A nursery-maid, with her +shrieking, frightened, inquisitive charges; a man who had been reading +a book, and who still retained it open in his hand; a Life-guardsman +who, jauntily striding along with a cane under his arm, had seen the +horse jump and fall, and had him by the bridle so soon as he staggered +to his feet, after rolling; a few vagrant boys, who came whooping from +under the trees where they had been at play; and two old gentlemen, +who had been silently pacing up and down together. Flecked with foam, +covered with gravel, and bleeding at the knees and mouth, Balthazar +stood trembling all over; and now and then looking down in wonder at +his mistress who lay there, her head supported on a man's knee, her +face deadly white, with one small thread of blood trickling down her +forehead. The man on whose knee she lay passed his hand rapidly down +her side and in the region of her heart. He was a park-keeper--a big +brown-bearded man, whose decorated breast showed what deadly service +he had seen--a stalwart giant with the heart of a child, for the tears +were in his eyes, and his voice was any thing but steady as he looked +up and said, "It beats yet!" It was to the guardsman he said it--the +guardsman, who gave Balthazar's bit a wrench, and who muttered hearty +curses on the horse for spoiling the beauty of such a comely lass. + +"All your fault, you blunder-headed brute, it was! The lady sat him +like a bird, but he got the bit between his teeth and came bolting +down the Row; and when she tried to turn him over the rails, he jumped +short, the beast, and went slap on to his head. Yarr!" and he gave the +horse another chuck in the mouth, and looked as if he would have liked +nothing so well as to punish him on the spot. + +As he spoke, a carriage drawn by a pair of horses came whirling down +the Drive. It contained two ladies, one of whom, seeing the crowd, sat +up, and pointed it out to her companion. Then they both looked eagerly +out, and checked the coachman just as they reached the spot. By his +mistress's orders the footman descended, inquired what had happened, +and returned to the carriage to report. The next minute Alice +Schröder, closely followed by Barbara Churchill, was kneeling by Kate +Mellon's side. + +What was it?--how had it happened?--who was the lady?--did any one +know her?--had a doctor been sent for? These questions were asked in a +breath, and almost as speedily answered. The story of the accident, so +much of it at least as had been witnessed, was narrated. The +park-keeper knew the lady by sight as a constant rider in the Row, +always splendidly mounted, generally with other ladies, who, he +thought, were pupils like; real ladies, the latter, and no doubt +about it; for he thought he saw a glimmer of distrust in Barbara's +eye; and this poor lady regularly like one of themselves. Poor lady! +always so affable, giving "Good morning" to him and the other +park-keepers--never knew her name, no; but no harm in her--one of the +right sort, take his word for it. Had a doctor been sent for? Yes; two +of the vagrant boys had been started off by the man with the book to +fetch the nearest surgeon; but in the mean time several other persons +had come up; among them a tall thin gentleman on an old white horse. +This gentleman dismounted at once, quietly pushed his way through the +crowd, knelt down by poor Kate Mellon's senseless body, and placed his +finger on her pulse; then, looking up with a grave, thoughtful, +professional smile into Mrs. Schröder's face, said: + +"You are a friend of this lady's?" + +"Only in my desire to serve her," said poor little Alice, who was the +best-hearted little creature in the world, and who was bursting with +philanthropy. "Why do you ask?" + +"Simply that she must be moved to the nearest house as quietly and as +quickly as possible. I am Dr. B.," continued the gentleman, naming a +well-known physician; "but this is a surgeon's case, and should be +seen by a surgeon at once. I fear St. George's is almost too far off." + +"St. George's!" said Alice. "Oh, she must not go to an hospital; +she--" + +"My dear lady," said the old physician, "she could not go to any place +so good; but it is a little far off." + +"Then let her go to my house," said Alice. "I live close here--in +Saxe-Coburg Square--just through Queen's Gate. Let us take her there +at once, and--" + +"My dear young lady," said Dr. B., "you scarcely know what trouble you +are entailing on yourself. This poor girl is in a very bad way, I am +sure, from the mere cursory examination I have been able to make. +And--and, pardon me," he added, glancing at Alice's widow's-cap, "but +you, surely, have seen enough trouble already for one so young." + +"Will you be kind enough to superintend her being lifted into the +carriage?" was all Alice said in reply. And the doctor bowed, and +looked at her with a wonderfully benevolent expression out of his keen +gray eyes. + +Where had Barbara been during this colloquy? Where, but at the side of +the prostrate figure, staunching the little stream of blood that welled +slowly from the wound in the forehead, and bathing the deadly-cold +brow and the limp hands with water that had been fetched from the +neighbouring Serpentine. And then, at the doctor's suggestion, the +park-keeper fetched a hurdle from the enclosure, and this they +stretched across the seats of the carriage, and, covering it with +Shawls and cloaks and wraps, lifted on to it the prostrate form of +Kate Mellon, and with Alice and Barbara attendant on her, and the +doctor riding close by, they drove slowly away. + +Informed by the doctor that it would be dangerous to attempt to carry +the patient upstairs, Mrs. Schröder had sent the footman on with +instructions; and by the time they arrived at the house they found +that a bed had been prepared in the library, a room on the ground +floor, unused since Mr. Schröder's death. As they passed through +Queen's Gate Dr. B. had cantered off, promising to return in a minute, +and they had scarcely laid poor Kitty on the bed before he appeared, +followed by a handsome bald-headed man, with a keen eye and a smile of +singular sweetness, wham he introduced as Mr. Slade, the celebrated +surgeon of St. Vitus's. + +"I thought I recognised Slade's cab standing at a door in +Prince's Terrace. He drives the most runaway horse in the most easily +over-turned vehicle in London; but I suppose he thinks he can set his +own neck when he breaks it, which he is safe to do sooner or later; so +I rode round, and fortunately caught him just as he was coming out. And +now I'll leave the case in his hands; it would be impossible to leave +it in better." And so saying, Dr. B. bowed to the ladies, exchanged a +laugh and a pinch of snuff with his brother-professional, and took his +leave. + +Mr. Slade then approached the bed, and made a rapid examination of the +patient, the others watching him anxiously. His face revealed nothing, +nor did he speak until he sent one of the servants for a small square +box, which was, he said, in his carriage. While waiting for this, +Alice took heart to speak to him, and ask him if the case was very +serious. + +"Very," was his quiet reply. "Could scarcely be worse." + +"But there _is_ hope?" + +"There is always hope," said the old man, his lace lighting up with +his sweet grave smile; "but this is a very bad case. The poor girl's +ribs are severely fractured, and there is concussion here," pointing +to the head, "which causes her insensibility. The box--thank you. Now, +ladies, will you kindly leave the room, and I will join you +presently." + +When he came into the drawing-room, he said, "It is a compound +fracture, and of a very bad kind. I fear she will never pull through; +if she does, she must never dream of work again. I presume you ladies +have been pupils of hers?" + +"Pupils!" said Alice; "no, indeed; was she a governess?" + +"We do not even know this poor lady's name," said Barbara; "we saw the +accident, and Mrs. Schröder had her brought here at once." + +"Mrs. Schröder is an angel of mercy," said Mr. Slade, with an +old-fashioned bow. "This poor girl lying downstairs is Miss Mellon, a +riding-mistress; a most correct and proper person, I've always heard, +and one who had a great deal to do in breaking and training horses. +I've often seen her in the Park; she rode splendidly; and I cannot +conceive how this accident occurred." + +"Do you think her senses will return--that she will be able to express +any wishes--before--" + +"I should think so," said Mr. Slade, not permitting Barbara to finish +the sentence; "I think she will probably recover from the concussion, +and then she will be sensible. It is the fracture I fear. I'll send a +man to her place in Down Street, to let them know where she is, and +I'll look round again this evening." + +SO there Kate Mellon lay helpless, senseless, motionless, watched over +unconsciously by two women, one of whom she hated deeply, and by the +other of whom she was held in the greatest detestation. There she lay +through the dreary afternoon, through the long evening,--when Mr. +Slade came again bringing with him one of the hospital-nurses,--and +through the dead solemn night. Very early the next morning, between +seven and eight, Barbara, on her way from her bedroom to the library, +was surprised to see Mr. Slade enter the hall, and expressed her +surprise. + +"Well, it _is_ early," said the kind-hearted surgeon; "but, my dear +Mrs. Churchill, I've taken a great interest in this poor girl; and as +I always take a constitutional round the Park before breakfast, I +thought I'd just run across and see her.--Well, nurse, what news? +None, eh? Just raise that curtain the least bit--that'll do. Hm! +she'll get rid of the concussion; but--hm! well, well, not our will, +but Thine; hm, hm! Any body come after her yesterday?" + +"An old bailiff or stud-groom," said Barbara, "came down in the +evening, and entreated to be allowed to see his Mistress. I told him +that was impossible, and explained the state of things to him myself. +Poor fellow, he was dreadfully overcome, the tears rolled down his +cheeks, and he bemoaned his mistress's fate most bitterly." + +"Hm! right not to let him see her then; could have done no good. But +she'll probably come to her senses during the day, and then, if she +asks to see any body--well, send for them. The refusal might irritate +her, and--and it can make very little difference." + +"You think then she is--in danger?" asked Barbara. + +"My dear young lady," said he, taking her hand, "in the greatest +danger. If inflammation of the lungs sets in, as I much fear it will, +nothing can save her.--Nurse, I'll write a prescription for a cordial. +If she speaks, and sends for any one, give it to her just before they +come. It will revive her for a time." + +About midday, when Alice had gone out for a little air, and Barbara +was left alone with the nurse and the patient, there came a groan from +the bed, and running up together, they found Kate with her eyes open, +staring vaguely before her. After a few minutes she spoke, in a hoarse +strange voice. + +"What's this?" she said. "Have I missed my tip at the ribbons and had +a spill? Lord, how old Fox will give it me! A-h, my side! This must +have been a bad cropper, eh? Hollo! I was fancying I was at the old +circus, again. Where am I? who are you? what has happened?" + +"You are, with friends," said Barbara, kneeling by the bed; "you have +had an accident, and--" + +"Ah, now I recollect! the Irish horse bolted and blundered at the +rails! How long ago was it?" + +"Yesterday, about this time." + +"And I was brought here--to your house! What a kind voice you've got! +and I'm bad, eh? I know I must be from the pain I'm in; my side +hurts me most awful. Has the doctor seen me? what doctor?" + +"Mr. Slade: you've heard of him?" + +"Oh, yes, seen him often; drives a rat-tailed bay in a D'Orsay cab; +goes the pace; often wondered he didn't break his neck. What does +he--oh! my side!" She groaned deeply, and while groaning seemed to +drop off into a heavy stertorous slumber. + +When she roused again Mr. Slade was standing over her holding her +pulse. "Well," he asked in a gentle voice, "you know me? Ah, of course +you do! I've seen you taking stock of my old rattletrap, as you've +spun by me, and laughing at my nag. Pain still? kind of pressure, eh? +Yes, yes, my poor lass, I know what you mean; so dreadfully weak too; +yes, yes. What, danger? Wen, my dear, there's always danger in these +cases; and one never knows. Not afraid? no, my brave girl, I know your +courage; but--well, there's no harm in settling any little matters +which--eh? if in God's will we come all right, there's no harm done, +and,---yes, yes; rest now a bit; I'll see you again to-night." And Mr. +Slade hurried into his carriage, blowing his Rose very loudly indeed +with his red-silk pocket-handkerchief, and with two large tears on his +spectacle-glasses.. + +When the door had shut behind him, Kate called the nurse in a feeble +voice, and bade her send for the lady to whom she had previously +spoken. In answer to this call, Barbara was speedily by the bedside. + +"You--you don't mind my sending for you! do you, dear?" asked Kate, in +a low tremulous voice. + +"Mind, my poor child,--mind! of course not. What is it, dear?" + +"I want you to--do you mind, giving me your hand? I can't reach it +myself--so, dear; thank you. I want you to do something for me. I--I'm +dying, dear--oh, don't shrink from me--I know it; he tried to hide it +from me, that kind old man, and bless him for it! but I saw how he +looked at the nurse, and I heard her whispering to him behind the +screen. I don't fear it, dear. I know--well, never mind! I want to see +two people before I go; and I want you to send for them and let them +come here, and let me talk to them--will you, dear?" + +"Why, of course, of course," said Barbara, the tears streaming down +her cheeks; "but you mustn't talk in this way,--you mustn't give way +so--no one can tell how this will turn out." + +"_I_ can," said Kate quietly. "I seemed to know it when I heard the +click of that horse's shoes against the iron railing. It all rose +before me in an instant, and I knew I was a dead woman. You can't +conceive--I haven't said much--but you can't conceive what torture I'm +going through with my side. It burns and burns, and presses--there! I +won't say any more about it. Now, dear, will you put down the names of +the people who are to be sent to?" + +"I shall recollect them; tell me now." + +"Well, Mr. Simnel, Tin-Tax Office, Rutland House--" + +"Yes; and--" + +"And Frank Churchill, Esq.--oh, how your grasp tightens on my hand! +Frank Churchill, Esq., _Statesman_ newspaper-office--in the City +somewhere--they'll find it. What is the matter, dear? You heard me?" + +"Yes," said Barbara faintly; "they shall be sent for at once." + +"At last," said she to herself when she had regained her own room, +after despatching the messenger--"at last I shall be enabled to fathom +this horrible mystery, and to show those who have doubted, that I was +not wrong, after all, in taking the decisive step which I did. If this +wretched creature prove to be--as I suppose she will--Frank's +correspondent both at Bissett and at home; if--and yet Mr. Slade said +he believed her to be a perfectly correct and proper person, else he +would not have permitted her to be received here. Mr. Slade's +belief--what is that worth? Is it possible that--no! Here is a woman, +poor creature, believing herself to be on her deathbed, and sending +for my husband,--a woman of whose existence I have never heard, who is +obviously not a person of society, and yet who--great Heavens, if it +be proved!--if the worst that I have dared to imagine be proved! And +yet lately I have felt that that is impossible, in thinking over +Frank's character and ways of life, in thinking over all he has said +of dishonour and deception, I have felt certain that--and yet here is +this woman sending for him not to his private house,--'_Statesman_ +office, somewhere in the City--they'll find it.' _Statesman_ Office! +That's where the first letter was addressed, and redirected to +Bissett; and the second letter,--the envelope, I mean,--now I think of +it, was sent to the same place. It _must_ be the same. And yet how +sweet, and patient, and resigned she is! how quiet and calm, +and--Frank Churchill, Esq.--no mistake in both the names! Who is the +other man, I wonder? Frank Churchill! what an extraordinary fate has +planned this for us! I'll see their interview, and hear all that she +has to say; and then if--of course it can't be otherwise--what other +solution can there be? If Frank has intrigued with this--and she going +to die too; lying there at the point of death, and looking up into my +face with so much gratitude and affection--oh, Heaven direct me! I'm +at my wits'-end!" and Barbara threw herself on her bed and wept +bitterly. + +The short dim twilight had faded into dusk before the cab containing +the messenger and the two gentlemen whom he had been sent to fetch +arrived at the house. They were ushered at once into the dining-room, +where they were received by Pilkington the butler, who produced +refreshment. That being declined, they were shown into the library. In +the middle of the room stood the bed in deep shadow; across the far +end of the room stood a large folding screen, almost hidden by which +was a woman with her back to them, bending over a table and apparently +engaged in compounding some medicine or drink. A shaded lamp placed on +a table between the bed and the screen shed a dim light throughout the +room. As the door opened, Mr. Simnel entered first, with a faltering +step, strode swiftly to the bedside, and then dropped on to his knees, +burying his face in his hands. Kate moved her arm with great +difficulty until her hand rested on his head, and then she said, half +trustingly, half reproachfully, "Robert!" There was no spoken reply, +but the man's big strong frame heaved up and down convulsively, and +the tears came rushing thick as rain through his closed fingers. + +"Robert, my poor fellow! you must not give way so; you'll break me +down. I hadn't a notion you--and yet how faithfully you've served! I +saw it, Robert; I knew it long ago, when--ah, well, all over now; all +over now, Robert, eh?--What, Guardy, you here too! That's well. Ah, I +feel so much more composed now I see your dear solemn old face. You +came at once." + +"Came at once, my poor child--my poor dear child--" and Churchill's +voice failed him and he stopped. + +"Now, Guardy, come! You won't have much more trouble with your +bothering charge, and you must be steady now. It gives me fresh +courage, I declare, to hear your solemn voice and to know that you're +at my very side for all sorts of serious advice.--Now, Robert, you +know that I'm in a bad way; that I'm going to--no, no, be a man, +Robert; you'll upset me, if you give way so,--Guardy, this gentleman, +Mr. Simnel, has been very, very kind to me for a long, long time. He +wanted to marry me, Guardy; and wanted me to have a proper place as +his wife, and so he's been hunting up all about my friends and my +birth and that, and he's found out a lot. But he doesn't know about +you, Guardy; and as I wanted to tell him about that, and to settle one +other thing, I sent for you both to-night. The--the medicine!--ask +nurse--I'm a little faint!" + +Both men rose; but Simnel was nearest, and it was into his hand that +the woman behind the screen placed the glass. When Kate had swallowed +the cordial, she said, in firmer tones: + +"I told you, Robert, that when I left old Fox's circus I was fetched +away by two gentlemen, an old fellow and another. This is the other. +When we got to the hotel that night, the old man said to me, 'Never +you mind who I am, my lass; you won't see me any more after I've once +started you in town; but you will see this gentleman, and you'll have +to send to him whenever you want advice or any thing else. He's your +guardian,' he said, 'and he'll look after you.' I recollect I laughed, +and said he looked very young, and giggled out some girl's nonsense; +but he--I can see you now, Guardy!--put his hand on my head and told +me he was much older than I, and that he'd had plenty of experience to +teach him the ways of the world. I've never seen the old man since; +but, oh, how often I've sent for Guardy! I've worried him day and +night, written to him whenever I wanted to know any thing: how to +treat swells who wouldn't pay, or who were getting troublesome in +other ways; when I wanted the landlord seen, or fresh land bought; +when--good Lord! when I lost heart over--something--and thought of +giving the place up, and selling off and going away, he's kept me as +straight as a die; he's never shown the least ill-temper with all my +worryings and fidgettings; he's always shown me what to do for the +best--and has been my kindest and least selfish and best friend." + +"You say too much, Kate," said Churchill; "any thing I have done you +have repaid long since by your good sense and docility." + +"You could never be repaid, sir, I see plainly enough," said Simnel; +"there are few men who would have so acquitted themselves of each a +charge, and I shall ever honour and esteem you for it. But may I ask +how you came to be known to the other person of this story, who from +some knowledge I guess to be Scadgers the bill-discounter?" + +"It is easily explained. When I arrived in London from Germany, and +determined to make my bread by literature, I wrote where I could, and +for what I could get. Some article of mine was seen by Mr. Scadgers. +who then owned, amongst other lucrative speculations, a weekly +newspaper and a cheap periodical. Pleased with what he had read--or +had recommended to him more likely--he sent for me, and after a little +discussion, made me editor and manager of both his literary +speculations. He paid liberally, and seemed pleased with all I did; +then wanted me to undertake the management of others of his affairs, +which I declined. But one night in his office he told me the story of +this girl--incidentally, as a suggestion for a tale for the paper, I +believe; and so interested me that I suggested his removing her from +the life she was then leading, and giving her a chance of doing +something for herself. After some discussion he agreed, on the +understanding that he should never appear in the matter; but that if +he provided the necessary funds, I would manage the whole business and +undertake a kind of guardianship of the girl. I hesitated, until I saw +her at the circus; then, being somewhat of a physiognomist, and +thinking I saw in her face promise of what was wanted--honesty, +endurance, and a power of keeping straight in front of adverse +circumstances--I consented. The rest you know." + +"Will you take my hand, Mr. Churchill?" said Simnel in a low voice; +"God Almighty bless you for--for your kindness and your trust!" + +"That's right!" said Kate on whom the action had not passed +unobserved--"shake hands, you two, good fellows both of you! And now +look here--but one word! I didn't catch all you said, Guardy, but you +and Robert seem to have made it all right. And now I want to tell you +about something--about--when I'm gone, you know--oh, you silly fellow, +Robert, how can I speak if you go on so!--I've put away some money, +you know; and I want you to have it, Guardy. You're married, some one +told me; and you'll want all that; and you won't despise it, eh? You +know it's all honestly come by, and you've seen how it's been made--my +accounts, you know, you used to say they were very decently kept; and +there'll be no shame in taking it--your wife, I mean, and that sort of +thing; you can tell her about it. I wonder what she's like. I should +have liked to have seen her, Guardy, though perhaps she wouldn't have +cared for such as I. Oh, poor old Freeman and the men at The Den--let +them have a year's wages; I've put it all regular in a will which I +made last year; you'll find it in the desk; and sell the stud--high +prices, most of them. I--my side's awful now; don't go yet; let me +have a little--just a little rest. I'm faint, and in such--such +dreadful pain!" + +She fell back exhausted. Simnel still knelt by the bedside convulsed +with grief; but Frank Churchill looked round the screen to summon the +nurse. No one was there, so he went to the door and called softly. The +nurse responded at once and passed by him; but as he turned back he +saw the butler, who beckoned to him. + +"Will you please to step this way, sir?" said the man; "you're wanted +in the dining-room." + +Churchill followed him; and as the dining-room door shut behind him, +found himself face to face with his wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. +UNDER PRESSURE. + + +The dulness of the autumnal season causing a heavy depression every +where, by no means relaxed its maleficent influence in room No. 120 of +the Tin-Tax Office. The gentlemen therein located had each, as has +every man in the world, his own private griefs, anxieties, and +worries; and these never blossomed into such full vigour as in the +autumn. In the first place, there was no more leave of absence to look +forward to, which was, in itself, a dreadful thing; and then there was +looming in the future the approach of Christmas, a dread season which +each of the different denizens of No. 120, for different reasons, +regarded with dismay. To kind genial Mr. Kinchenton the coming +Christmas was specially fearful; for after a long struggle between +inclination and duty, a struggle resulting in the victory of the +latter, he had decided upon sending his boy Percy, the apple of his +eye, to school after the Christmas holidays; and in the shadow of that +coming event he was sitting moping and melancholy. Mr. Dibb was always +bad in the autumn; his liver, always rebellious, was thoroughly +intractable at that season known as the "fall of the leaf," and +remained perfectly quiet, declining to perform any one of the +functions intrusted to it, and calmly spurning any attempt to call it +into action. So Mr. Dibb's complexion grew more and more like that of +the cover of a well-worn school-copy of Ainsworth's Dictionary; and +Mr. Dibb's temper became so cranky, that Mr. Crump, the extra-clerk, +lived in a perfect cyclone of torn-up letters and accounts to "do over +again;" so that said Crump bemoaned his hard fate, and expressed +himself as perfectly certain that he should have an earlier attack of +chilblains than usual that year. Mr. Boppy too had his private grief, +in the shape of a visitor at his establishment, Mrs. Boppy's mamma, a +lady of vast size from the manufacturing districts, who had arrived on +a month's visit, had monopolised the best portion of Mr. Boppy's +house, and who demanded to have life shown to her. So Mrs. Boppy had +instructed Mr. Boppy to convey her and her mamma to the Thames Tunnel, +the top of the Monument, the Crypt of St. Paul's, to the Tower, to +Madame Tussaud's wax-work, and other exhibitions much sought after by +country people, but seldom visited by Londoners; and had moreover +stimulated her husband to ask for various half-holidays, which Mr. +Kinchenton would readily have granted, but which were never obtained +without a hand-to-hand combat with Mr. Dibb. "Very well, Mr. +Kinchenton," he would say, "Mr. Boppy must go, sir, if you say so, of +course. You're the head of this room, I believe; though how the work's +to be got through with Mr. Prescott absent on leave, Mr. Crump next to +useless, and Mr. Pringle, who always takes three-quarters of an hour +to his lunch--" + +"What's that you're saying about me, Mr. Dibb?" Mr. Pringle would ask +from over the top of his desk. + +"Says you take three-quarters of an hour for your lunch," would repeat +the revengeful Boppy. + +"All right! better do that than make yourself a wretched +hypochondriac, like some people. Let digestion wait on appetite, and +health on both, Boppy! Mr. Dibb's got none of the three; doesn't know +what any of them mean; so we must excuse him." And then Mr. Boppy +would get his leave, and go away and do dismal duty with his +relatives. + +Nor was Mr. Pringle in any thing like his usual flow of spirits. He +was very mercurial, tremendously affected by the weather; and black +skies, cold winds, and empty streets sent him down to zero. Moreover +his other-half, his chum, his bosom-friend, Mr. Prescott, was away on +leave, paying his long-promised visit to old Mr. Murray of Brooklands; +and so Mr. Pringle was left to himself, and sat in his chambers +smoking solitary pipes, and learning whole pages of the Comic +Song-Book, and perpetually falling asleep over the first page of the +volume of Boswell's _Life of Johnson_. For Mr. Kinchenton, who took +great interest in honest George, had told him that no man was worth +any thing unless he read something besides trashy novels and Little +Warblers; and Mr. Pringle, determining to "go-in for something heavy," +had selected the life of Dr. Johnson, whose ._Rasselas_ he had read as +a child, remembering it as "the adventures of a young cove and an old +cove, with a doosid good bit about a bridge, or something, in it." +Moreover George Pringle was by no means comfortable as to the state of +his friend's money-matters. He had himself "ignored," as he phrased +it, all his own transactions with Scadgers; but he was in with +Prescott on one bill, and he knew that his friend had involved himself +with several other pieces of stamped paper in the hands of the same +worthy. And George had a strange notion that some of these were +overdue; and knowing that the Long Vacation was rapidly drawing to a +close, and that Term-time was coming on, he feared that the mighty +engines of the law might be set to work, and come a general smash. He +had written to Prescott about it; but had only received a couple of +lines in reply, to say that he was very jolly, and that the things +would be all right; so that all he could do was patiently to await his +friend's return to town. + +That happened one night, when Pringle and Boswell had had a severe +disagreement, and Pringle had let Boswell drop into the fender, and +had gone to sleep with his pipe in the corner of his mouth. There came +a heavy bang at the oak, and Pringle, starting up and opening it, +found himself face to face with James Prescott,--rosy, stout, jolly, +and beaming, with a big portmanteau in his hand. + +"Hallo! old man!" + +"Hallo! old man! been asleep, eh? lazy old beggar! wanted me to rouse +you up! give us a hand to the portmanteau, George, and help him in! +that's it! Well," taking off his coat and making a dive at his friend, +and catching him by the shoulders, and peering inquiringly into his +face, "and how goes it? what's the news? how are all the buffers at +the shop? any body dead? any body got the sack? no promotion? always +our luck!" + +"Things are much the same, I think; no news any where; they'll be glad +to see you back, for they've been grumbling about the work--not that +you'll be much help at that, though. And what have you been doing? had +a good time?" + +"Good time? stunning!" and Mr. Prescott kissed his fingers and waved +them in the air. "Never put in such a time in my life. Old boy was +splendaceous, did every mortal thing one wanted,--good nag to ride, +good shooting, capital cellar, let you smoke where you like--no end! +My old governor was there too, as happy as a bird!" + +"And the young lady--Miss Murray?" + +"Oh, Emily! oh, I can't tell you how good that has turned out! She's +out and away nicer than any thing that ever was; no nonsense about +her; quiet, ladylike, sweet, affectionate little thing! You know, +George, there are some women--" + +"Yes," interrupted Mr. Pringle--"I know there are! and there are some +men who want a glass of grog--and I'm one; and there are others who +are mad spoony--and you're another! I'll mix for you, and we'll light +our pipes, and then I shall be in a better frame of mind to listen to +jour dilation on Miss Murray's excellences." + +Mr. Prescott, so soon as their glasses were before them, their pipes +in their mouths, and they were established one on either side of the +fireplace, lost no time in availing himself of his friend's +permission, and plunged into those amatory raptures which we have all +of us suffered under at our friends' hands. The singular difference of +the young lady to, and her superiority over, every one else, the +mixture of sense and sensibility which she displayed, the clever +things she said and did, her delicacy, firmness, bashfulness, presence +of mind,--all these were dilated on at full length by one gentleman, +and listened to with becoming patience by the other. At last, when his +friend fairly stopped for want of breath, Mr. Pringle asked, + +"And have you put it all right, Jim? of course you're not carrying on +this kind of thing without meaning it; have you squared it with them +all?" + +"Well, Emily and I understand each other thoroughly; and it's all +arranged between us, I think. I mean that I haven't said anything, you +know; but people don't say any thing now in such cases. There's a kind +of a--a--" + +"Yes," interrupted Pringle--"yes; I suppose there is. But what about +her father?" + +"I haven't spoken to the old boy yet. Not that I think he'd make much +objection, turn rusty, or any thing of that sort, for he's +tremendously kind and jolly; but I don't like to talk to him while +I've got these infernal debts hanging over me. I don't think it's +fair; and yet--Have you heard any thing from old Scadgers, George?" + +"No, I haven't heard any thing; but--Never mind, we'll talk about him +to-morrow, when you've had a rest, and we're both clearer and cooler +than we are now. Now turn in and get a sleep, old man; good-night!" + +The next morning, however, when Mr. Pringle introduced the subject of +Mr. Scadgers and the acceptances which he held, Mr. Prescott showed a +remarkable alacrity in changing the conversation, an alacrity which he +exhibited on two or three subsequent occasions. He was in the habit, +Pringle observed, of receiving every morning with the greatest +regularity a pink-coloured note with a country postmark, and after +reading its contents he became very much absorbed, slightly ethereal, +and generally indisposed to converse on mundane matters. But honest +George Pringle, who had no such pleasant distractions, knew perfectly +well that time was running on, and that some positive step must be +taken; so on the fourth morning after his friend's return he tackled +him resolutely. + +"I say, Jim, about those bills? No good fencing about the business any +longer; we _must_ go into it, or we shall come to grief. I've a notion +that some of them are overdue already, and I wonder Scadgers hasn't +been here pressing for either a settlement or a renewal." + +"To tell you the truth, George, I'm in a funk about them myself. I saw +a very suspicious-looking Jew outside the office as I came in this +morning,--a fellow in rusty black, with a blazing nose; and when he +came towards me my heart jumped into my mouth. However, he only asked +me which was Mr. Beresford's office--" + +"Mr. Beresford's?" + +"Yes, our swell Commissioner, you know; so I got off easy." + +"What's the entire figure that you're liable for--including mine, and +all the rest of them, I mean?" + +"The entire figure? well, it can't be far off a couple of hundred. I +had to spend such a lot when Emily was in town; pit-stalls whenever +she went to the Opera, to be near her, and hire of horses, and my +share of two or three Greenwich dinners, and all that, walked into no +end of tin. I don't know where the deuce I'm to get it, and that's the +fact." + +"Do you owe any thing else? tailors or boot-makers, or any fellows of +that sort?" + +"Not a sixpence! I cleared what little bills I had of that kind with +part of old Scadgers' money. And since I got that rise here last +month, I could go on as straight as possible on what I get. But it's +the infernal millstone of a back debt round my neck. I don't know what +to do! I can't go and ask the dear old governor to advance; he's got +quite enough to do with his income, and he'd be awfully knocked over +to hear I was in for such a lot." + +"Of course you can't. Now, look here; I'll tell you what you must do. +You must first pledge your word to me and to yourself--not that any +thing can be raised upon it, but it's the right thing to do--that you +won't borrow another sixpence. And then you must go to old Scadgers +and tell him that you're in a fix; that you can't pay him in a lump: +but that you'll let him have so much every quarter of the principal, +and pay decent interest until it's cleared off. You must draw-in your +horns a little, and live quietly on the remainder. I'll go security +for you to old Scadgers." + +"You're a trump, George; but do you think he'll do it?" + +"Do it? he must. He makes far too good an income out of the fellows in +this place and other government-offices to have any public row made +about him and his goings-on. If it got blown, they'd have a leader on +him in the _Scourge_ that would take the skin off his old back, and, +worse than that, stop his business entirely. No, no; he'll do it fast +enough. But we must go to him in a regular business manner. Now what +are the dates and amounts of these different things?" + +"I've got a memorandum of them in my desk, that I made at the time. +I'll get it out. Hallo!" said Prescott, opening his desk, and taking +therefrom a sealed letter; "what's this?" holding it up. + +"Oh, by Jove, I forgot to tell you! that came while you were away, and +I put it in your desk, thinking to name it to you directly you +returned. Nothing particular, I hope?" + +"I don't know; it's very thick, and I don't know the hand. It cannot +be a writ, eh?" and Prescott turned very pale. + +"Writ, nonsense! they don't send writs by post. Don't you know the +handwriting? it's not round enough for a lawyer's. Open it, man; open +it at once!" + +And so, wanting to know the contents of the letter, they actually +thought of opening it. + +As Prescott opened the envelope he drew from it a thick roll of +papers, and unfolding them, looked at them with wonder. Pringle, +looking over his shoulder, started; and, taking them from his friend's +hand, exclaimed, + +"Bills, by Jove! cancelled bills look here, the signature torn off and +hanging. The very bills you gave to Scadgers; mine, Compter's, your +IOU, and the lot! You've been chaffing me, Jim--getting a rise out of +me all this time, eh?" + +"What do you mean by getting a rise? I'm as innocent in this matter as +yourself." + +"But do you mean to say that you didn't pay them?" + +"I mean to say that I've never paid Scadgers one individual sixpence!" + +"Then I mean to say that you're a devilish lucky fellow; for somebody +else has." + +"Are these bills paid, then?" + +"Oh, don't be so preposterously green, Jim. Are the bills paid? Of +course they are! paid and returned to you to put in the fire, or do +what you like with; you can never be called on for another penny. +Well, you're a lucky fellow. No one ever paid any thing for me. Who +the deuce can have done this for you?" + +"I haven't the remotest idea. It couldn't be Scadgers himself?" + +"N--no!" said Mr. Pringle, grinning from ear to ear. "No, I don't +think it was Scadgers; he's not entirely in that line. Who is there +that knew you were in a fix?" + +"No one, not a soul but yourself, and--" + +"No, old fellow; I've not paid them, I'll take my oath. Should have +been delighted to help you, but hadn't the wherewith." + +"Then I'm done. I haven't a notion who can have helped me." + +"Well, it doesn't matter, so long as it's done. You're in luck's way, +my boy. All this horrible excitement and doubt brought to an end, and +you free as air. I say, how about the keeping quiet and not launching +into any extra expense, now? Will you hold to it?" + +"I'll swear I will. And, what's more, now I am free, I'll strike while +the iron's hot. To-day's Friday; to-morrow a half-holiday. I'll go down +to Brooklands by the 2.40 train." + +"I think you're right, Jim," said Pringle, quietly. "You've had your +fling, and you seem to have a chance of settling well in life just +now. Tell the old father all about yourself--your income and your +chances, I mean,--and don't give him the opportunity of flinging any +thing in your teeth hereafter. Well, whoever paid that amount of stuff +for you did you a good turn, and no mistake. I wonder who it could be. +No use asking Scadgers, he'd be as close as death about it; indeed, if +there were any hanky-panky, any mystery, I mean, he'd always swear he +was out whenever one called, for fear it should be bullied out of +him." + +Indeed, Mr. Pringle, not being of a very impulsive temperament, and +not having very much to think about, bestowed far more wonderment on +the question as to who could have been Mr. Prescott's anonymous +benefactor than did Mr. Prescott himself. That gentleman, in love over +head and ears, simply thought of the transaction as a means to an end; +in any other position he would have bestowed upon it a certain amount +of astonishment, but now all he cared for was to avail himself of the +chance it had opened up to him. He had determined that, so soon as he +found himself unfettered by debt, he would inform Mr. Murray of his +attachment to his daughter, and ask the old gentleman's consent to +their getting married. He knew well enough that his own official +salary was by no means sufficient to maintain a wife--notably a wife, +the daughter of a rich country squire--in the manner to which she had +been accustom; but he knew equally well that the rich country squire +would, in all probability, make a handsome settlement on his daughter; +and to this he thoroughly looked forward. Not that there should be +urged against him the least suspicion of an _arrière pensée_; he loved +the girl with all his heart and soul and strength; but as in these +days he would never have thought of riding forth into Fleet Street and +proclaiming her beauty and virtue, and challenging all who might feel +inclined to gainsay them to single combat,--in like manner, in these +days would he never have thought of marrying a woman without money. +And this was the youth who would have taken Kate Mellon in her +unrecognised position, and, so far as he knew, penniless! Yes, but +Kate Mellon was his first love; those were his earliest salad days; he +has had much experience of the world since then, and is not honester +or fresher from the contest. + +There was, however, no doubt about his love for Miss Murray and his +desire to see her, so he started off by the first train after +business-hours on the next day, and was whirled off to Havering +Station. One may suppose that he had found time to communicate the +fact of his intended arrival; for he had scarcely proceeded a few +paces up the steep hill which leads from the railway to the village +before he saw coming spinning towards him a low basket-chaise drawn by +a pair of roan galloways in plain black harness. And seated in the +basket, driving the roans, was a young lady in the prettiest little +round hat, and with the nicest short sealskin jacket and the daintiest +dogskin driving-gauntlets, who gave the knowingest salute with her +whip when she saw Prescott, while the groom behind her jumped down and +relieved the young gentleman of his portmanteau. + +"Punctual, sir, I think!" was the young lady's salutation after +she had rescued the right-hand dogskin gauntlet from a prolonged +pressure--"punctual, I think! I say, James, what on earth has brought +you down again so quickly? You didn't give a hint in your note." + +"You, of course," said Mr. Prescott, looking at her with the greatest +delight. + +"No, but really! Papa, when he read your note, said he was delighted +to have you again, and that he supposed you must have obtained some +farther leave of absence. But I knew that was not likely, and I felt +certain you were coming on some special business. Oh, James, there's +no bad news, is there?" + +"No, my darling pet, no bad news,--good, splendid, excellent news! I'd +tell you what it is now, but I can't, because it's news that's +impossible to be told except with action; and if I were to take +action, I should astonish the worthy person who is sitting behind us, +and who is taking such care of my portmanteau." + +"Oh, James, how can you! You'll drive, of course. I can't fancy any +thing more horrible than seeing a gentleman driven by a lady. Now, +Bagshaw, all right. And so you won't tell me, James?" + +"Not yet, Emily, not yet; and yet I don't see why on earth I +shouldn't. Bagshaw seems to be paying the greatest attention to the +landscape, and, moreover, has established a wall of portmanteau +between us and him of the most satisfactory. So I don't mind telling +you, that I have come down to propose for you to your father, and to +ask his consent to our marriage." + +"Oh, James, I never did! And ask papa's consent, indeed! Do you know +that you've never asked mine, sir?" + +"Haven't I? Well, then, darling, I'll ask it now. No, no what +nonsense! Bagshaw can't see under the rug, and I can hold the ponies +perfectly with one hand: give it me! So; and now about papa; what do +you think? what do you advise?" + +"I--I think he won't make any fuss, James; he's always fall of your +praises, and he's not like those horrid fathers in books, who never +will let their daughters marry the people they love--I didn't mean to +say that--I meant the people who love them! But I think I'd speak to +him after dinner." + +"After dinner?" + +"Yes, you know, when you're left alone together. He's pleasanter then, +I think. And then you can come to me in the drawing-room and tell me +all about it." + +Mr. Murray received James Prescott with the greatest cordiality; and +when dinner was over, and the cloth was removed, the old gentleman +instructed Banks the butler to bring up a bottle of the '20 and some +devilled biscuits. Banks, an old and faithful retainer, muttered +something in his master's ear as to what Dr. Harwood had said; on +which his master told him to go to the devil, and mind his own +business. So the '20 was brought; and Miss Murray had half a glass, +and then retired to the drawing-room; and Mr. Murray bade his guest +pull his chair round to the fire and prepare for serious drinking. + +Then James Prescott knew that the crisis of his fate was approaching, +so he filled a bumper of port, drank half of it, looked the old +gentleman steadily in the face, and said, "I wanted to speak to you, +sir." + +"All right!" said the old gentleman, helping himself; "speak on." + +"About your daughter, Miss Murray, sir," said Prescott, beginning to +feel himself all aglow,--"about Miss Murray, sir." + +"All right!" said the old gentleman, with perfect calmness--"what +about her?" + +"Well, sir--I--the truth is--that I--I've formed an attachment to her, +sir--she's--she's a most delightful girl, sir," said Prescott, falling +into hopeless bathos at once. + +"She is, James," said the old gentleman,--like the sphynx, 'staring +straight on with calm eternal eyes,'--"she is." + +"She is, indeed, sir. I believe I may say that Miss Murray is aware of +my entertaining this notion, sir--and that--that she's not displeased +at it." + +"Of course not, of course not, James; what girl would be displeased at +the notion that a young fellow found her delightful?" + +"Confound it! he won't give me a leg up, any how," said poor Prescott +to himself. Then aloud, "If I could gain Emily's--Miss Murray's +consent, sir, would you have any objection to me for her husband?" + +"Ah, ha! ah, ha! James," laughed the old gentleman in great +delight--"got it out at last, eh, my boy?--been beating about the bush +this ten minutes. I saw you, I knew what was coming, but I wouldn't +help you. You're not so good at this kind of business as your father +would have been. The vicar would have had it all out in a minute; and +if the girl's father had said no, he'd have run away with her that +night. Desperate fellow Alan is--was, I mean; we're all stupid enough +now! And so you want to marry Emily? and you say, if she consents, +will I? If she consents?--nonsense, James Prescott! do you think I've +forgotten that alphabet? or that it has changed during the last forty +years? It's just the same as it was, sir, and I recollect every letter +of it. You and Emily have understood each other this long time. No, +I've no objection to make. I'd sooner your father's son would marry my +daughter than any duke in the land. You've not much money, but I've +plenty, and none to care for but her. One thing, how much are you in +debt?" + +"Not a sixpence." + +"On your honour?" + +"On my honour." + +"That's enough for me! Your father knows of this." + +"Not yet, sir. I haven't mentioned it to him; but--" + +"But I have! We talked it all over when he was here. So you see we old +people are not so blind as you think us. Now, you're dying to go to +Emily, and I'm dying to have a nap. Let us oblige each other." + +Mr. Prescott did not need a repetition of the hint. In the course of +the next two minutes he was in the drawing-room; and the selections +from _Lucia_, with which the piano was resounding, were suddenly +stopped, and were heard no more until the advent of the old gentleman +caused a necessity for candles and calm propriety. I do not think it +is necessary for me to reproduce the dialogue which was carried on +during the interval. It was very silly and very pleasant; perfectly +easy to be imagined, and ought never to be described. Only one bit of +it is worth preservation. + +"Were you ever in love before, James?" + +"Once, dearest; only once in my life." (If he had been the age of old +Parr instead of six-and-twenty, he could not have said it with more +earnestness.) + +"And why did you not marry her?" + +"It would not have done, darling. She was not of our grade in life. It +would have been a wretched business. She felt that, and told me so." + +"Poor girl, poor girl!" said little Emily; "I wonder where she is +now!" + +Prescott did not answer. He was too full of his present happiness to +think of his former love, who was at that moment lying with her life's +breath ebbing fast away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. +"WE KISSED AGAIN WITH TEARS." + + +As Frank Churchill advanced into the dining-room in the fading light, +he saw Barbara standing by the mantelpiece. Her face was turned +towards him, but her eyes were dropped to the ground. She did not +raise them as her husband entered, but remained in the same attitude, +while he stopped short as the butler closed the door behind him. Frank +Churchill was not entirely taken by surprise; he knew that his wife +had been staying with her friend Mrs. Schröder, and this fact flashed +across him when he first received Kate Mellon's summons: but he +thought that she might have left the house; that she might have gone +probably to her aunt Miss Lexden--at all events, that there was no +earthly reason to prevent him from obeying that summons, and going to +one who had always understood that she had a claim upon him. If his +wife were there, it was not likely that he would come across her. She +had now been absent some weeks from her home, and during that time she +had not made the slightest sign, had not shown the least contrition, +the least desire for a reconciliation; had not made the smallest +advance in any one shape or way; consequently, she would be as opposed +to any interview as he could be, and would take care to prevent it. As +opposed as he could be? Yes; that was giving it a very definite range; +he felt that he could trust himself now under any influence. All that +had been ductile within him had gradually been growing hard and rigid; +all his love and tenderness, his devotion to and pride in his wife had +gradually died out; his very nature seemed to have changed: where he +had been trusting, he had become sceptical, where he had been hopeful, +he had become doubtful; where he had been generous, he had become +cynical. All his good aspirations, his domestic virtues, seemed to +have deserted him. What his mother had fondly hoped, when the +separation between husband and wife came,--that her son would be +restored to her as he was before his marriage,--never had been +realised. For the first few days, fearing the gossip of the world, he +came home regularly to the house in Great Adullam Street, where the +old lady had been reinstalled; dined, and remained at home during the +evening, until he went down to see the proof of his article at the +_Statesman_ office. But while at home, he was any thing but his old +self. In the bygone days he had been full of chat and rattle, keeping +his mother alive to all the current gossip of the day, talking to her +of new books, new men, new opinions. Now he sat moody and silent over +the dinner-table--moody and silent over his meerschaum-pipe after +dinner over the fire, resting his chin on his hand, dreaming vaguely +of the past, vaguely of the future. Then, after a little time, he +began to tire of the sameness, to want excitement and variety, and he +commenced to dine at the Retrenchment night after night, sitting long +over his wine in the coffee-room, then going up and sitting in the +smoke-room until late hours of the night. He never joined tables with +any one at dinner; he never gave or accepted any further courtesy with +his friends than the interchange of a short nod; but occasionally at +night he would launch out into conversation in the smoke-room, where +he began to gain some renown as a sayer of harsh sayings and bitter +jests. + +Yes, this was what remained of the genial, kind-hearted, easy-going +Frank Churchill. His friends were in despair. His mother, poor old +lady, felt that the state of things now was infinitely worse than when +Barbara was in the home; for then, though she only saw her son +occasionally, she believed him to be happy; but now she scarcely ever +saw him at all, and knew him to be thoroughly wretched. She had no +satisfaction in keeping house for him; there was no use in ordering +dinner which he did not eat; in "tidying" a house which he did not +look at; in hunting up and hustling into order servants who might have +been as servile as Eastern slaves, or as insolent as American helps, +for all their master cared. The old lady's occupation was gone, and +she knew it; she felt even more than ever that her position was lost, +that she could not hope to supply the place of her who was absent now, +however well she and her son might have got on before his marriage; +and she was proportionably miserable and disappointed. George Harding +too was greatly annoyed at Frank's conduct. His loyal soul allowed +that his friend had been hardly dealt by; but he contended boldly that +since Barbara's first false step, Frank had been entirely in the +wrong. He contended that the husband should have gone to seek his +erring wife, and should have endeavoured, by every means in his power, +to bring her back to his home. When you talked of pride and that sort +of thing to George Harding in a matter of this kind, he snapped his +fingers loudly and said, "stuff!" There was no hint at any crime, at +even any lightness of conduct, was there? Well then, there was but one +course to pursue. When Frank distinctly refused to follow this advice, +Harding shrugged his shoulders and left him to himself; but when he +saw the dreary, vapid, aimless life that his friend was pursuing, the +change that had come over him in every way, he prayed for an +opportunity of once more taking him to task in an affectionate and +friendly spirit. This opportunity had not been given, and Harding +could find no chance of fault-finding in his friend's work, which, +though horribly bitter and slashing, was cleverer than ever. + +The noise of the closing door rang drearily through the room, and +Barbara keeping silence, Churchill felt it incumbent on him to speak. +His throat was quite dry, his lips parched and quivering; but he made +an effort, and the words came out. "You sent for me?" he said. + +"I did," replied Barbara, still keeping her head bent and her eyes +downcast: "I wished to speak with you." + +"I am here," said Churchill coldly. + +"I wished to tell you that--that I have learned a bitter lesson. I +wished to tell you that, only to-night, only within the last few +minutes, I have discovered that I have been deceived in--in certain +matters that have passed between us--that I have done you--done you +wrong." + +Churchill merely bowed his head. + +"I was present in the next room when what has just passed there took +place. I was present, and I heard every word. It was by no chance, by +no accident, I heard it; I was there intentionally and for the +purpose. When that poor girl now lying there sent for you, I felt +assured that I should gain the key to that mystery which ruined our +married happiness; I felt assured that I should arrive at a solution +of that mystery; and now it is solved. You, who know my pride, may +judge what fearful interest that question must have had for me when I +descended to such means to gain my ends." + +Churchill bowed again, but said not a word. + +"I have heard it," continued Barbara--"heard the story from first to +last. That poor stricken creature lying there, on what we both know to +be her deathbed, is ignorant even of my name far more of my +relationship to you. From her lips I stand convicted of my mistake; +from her lips I learn that I have done you an injustice. I asked you +to come in here that I might acknowledge this to you." For the first +time during the interview, she raised her eyes; they met those of her +husband, which were cold and pitiless. + +"You are very good; but don't you think your admission comes rather +late? Pardon me one minute,"--Barbara had made a sign as though about +to speak,--"I'll not detain you more than one minute. I wooed you as +humbly as any rightminded man could, more humbly than some would think +fit and proper; but let that pass. Before I asked you to share my +life, I showed you plainly what that life was; I did not withhold one +jot of its difficulties, its restrictions, its poverty, if you will. I +pointed out to you plainly and unsparingly the sacrifices you would +have to make, certain luxuries--little perhaps in themselves, but +difficult to do without, from constant use--which you would have to +give up. I put before you what I knew would prove (as it has proved) +the fact, that, if you married me, the set of people amongst whom you +had always lived would consider you had demeaned yourself, and would +give you up. I pointed all this plainly out to you,--did I not?" + +"You did." + +"And you, having heard it all, and weighed it as much as women with +any thing like heart in them do weigh such matters, agreed to link +your lot with mine. Good. We married, and I brought you to your home; +not a brilliant home by any means, not a fairy bower likely to catch +the fancy of a young girl, but still, I make bold to say, a +comfortable enough home, and one out of which, mind you, my +mother--one of the common-minded, commonplace people so sneered at by +your superior race--removed, of her own free will, in order that you +might be its sole mistress. You follow me?" he asked, for her head had +drooped again and he could not see her face. + +She murmured some indistinct answer, and as he looked across he +thought he saw the trace of tears upon her cheeks. + +"What was the result?" he continued. "From that time out, you began to +change. There were great allowances to be made for you, I grant. The +place was dull, the house small, the furniture meagre; the persons +amongst whom you were thrown strange and entirely different from any +you had previously mixed with. But the house was your own; the +furniture sufficient for our wants; the people anxious to receive you +kindly and hospitably, to make you feel welcome, to do any thing for +you for my sake. My mother, in some respects a peculiar woman, came +out of the semi-seclusion in which she had lived for years, to show +her regard for you; she wanted you to share in that wealth of +affection which she lavished on me; she wanted you to be as much her +daughter as I was her son. Did you respond to this in any way? No. Did +you try to content yourself with the lot which you had accepted? No. +Did you, knowing full well how all were striving for you, endeavour to +accommodate yourself to, and make the best of, circumstances? No, no, +no! You sit moping and indolent in your house, leaving things to go on +as they best can; nursing your grief and disappointment and rage until +you see every thing through a distorted medium; you alienate my +friends by your undisguised contempt; you affront my mother by openly +spurning her proffered affection. All this you do, wilfully or +foolishly ignoring the fact that in each and every act you inflict a +stab on me--on me, slaving for you, loving you, adoring you!" + +"Oh, Frank, Frank!" + +"Yet one minute, if you please; I will not detain you longer; I should +never have sought this opportunity,"--Barbara winced,--"but having it, +I must in self defence avail myself of it to the utmost. Not merely do +you pursue the line of conduct I have just described, but you forget +yourself and annoy me in a far greater degree. I am told of your +constantly receiving visits from a gentleman during the hours of my +absence from home. I mention this mildly, and beg you to hint to him +to call at some other time. You are offended at this; and after a +discussion, I acknowledge I may have been hasty, and the subject is +dropped. I take you to a party where you meet some of your old +friends; your spirits revive; you are more like your old self than you +have been since your marriage; and you walk off; away from all the +rest of the party, with this same gentleman, with whom I myself see +you in singularly earnest conversation. I again speak to you on this +point; you deny that I have any occasion for complaint, and I again +give way. And now what return do you make me for my kindness, my +trust, my confidence? You accuse me of receiving letters, which as +your husband I should not receive: and you demand to know the purport +of the letters, and the name of the writer. I give a general denial to +your suspicions; but as to telling you what you require, my pride--" + +"Oh, even you have pride, then?" said Barbara, with a half-sneer. + +"Proper pride! my honour, if you will,--for my honour was pledged +in the matter--forbade it. Then, acting on a wild and miserable +impulse,--without one thought or care for me, for yourself, for our +name and reputation,--you took a step which has brought misery on my +life. You left my house, your home,--left it and left me to be the +talk, the object of the gossip, and the pity of all who heard the +wretched story. Not content with that, you come to this house, and I +am given to understand that, since you have been here, you have been +constantly visited by the man I have before spoken of--Captain +Lyster!" + +No drooping head now! Barbara is standing erect as a dart. Her cheeks +dead white, her lips compressed, her eyes flaming fire. + +"You have been told lies!" she said; "lies which, were it not to cure +your madness, and to show you how weak you are, and how mercilessly +you have been played upon, I would scorn to answer! So these dear +delightful people have started that story about me, have they; have +tried to degrade me in my husband's eyes by such a miserable +concoction as that; and my husband has believed them. It is only on a +par with the rest of the generous sympathy they have shown me, and +like all the rest of their wretched machinations, it has some slight +shadow of a foundation. Captain Lyster _has_ been here; has been here +frequently,--oh, you need not raise your eyebrows,--it was not to see +me he came. I will tell you, in self-defence, what I would not have +mentioned otherwise. Ever since Mrs. Schröder's trouble, Captain +Lyster has been her kindest and most active friend. Before she was +married he took the greatest interest in her; and it was only her +father's incontrovertible desire that she should marry as she did, +that prevented him from proposing for her. More; when you saw us +walking together at that garden-party at Uplands, it was of Alice he +was speaking; it was to tell me of how her reputation had been +imperilled by false and cowardly reports, that he had sought me out; +and it was to ask my advice and assistance, to enlist me on her side, +that he was so urgent." + +"How can I be sure of this?" + +"How can you be sure of it! Did I ever tell you a falsehood in my +life? You know perfectly well,--you would know, at least, if you had +not been blinded by ridiculous jealousy, springing from suspicions +artfully sown,--that I am incapable of deceiving you in any way." + +"What brought Captain. Lyster so frequently to my house, in the early +days,--before the garden-party at Uplands, I mean,--and why did he +always come when I was away?" + +"Shall I tell you what I believe brought Captain Lyster so frequently +to your house, Frank Churchill? I did not intend to mention it; I +intended to have spared you. Mind you, he never said as much to +me,--he is too true and too honourable a gentleman to cast a slur on +any one; but I honestly believe that Captain Lyster's visits to me +were paid through sheer pity." + +"Pity!" + +"Ay, pity! He is a keen observer, a shrewd man of the world, for all +his vapidity and his drawl; and I firmly believe that he pitied me +from his soul. He had known me in other days, recollect; he had seen +me when--well, there is no vanity in saying it; you know it as well as +I do--when I was thought and made much of; when the world was to me a +very light and pleasant place, in which I moved about as one of the +favoured ones; when I did not know what it was to be checked or +thwarted, and when all paths were made smooth for me. He found me +solitary, dull, wretched; in a dreary quarter of the town, which was +utterly unknown to me; my only acquaintance, people with whom I had +not one single thing in common,--people looking with horror on all I +had been accustomed to enjoy, and enjoying all I had heartily +detested. He found me _triste_ and low; he thought I was becoming +dejected and unhappy; not that I ever told him so, of course,--my +pride is as great as his; but he is, as I have said, no fool, and he +found it out. What did he do? In the most delicate manner possible, he +tried to rouse me, and to show me what source of happiness I had in my +new position and in your love. He was the only link between my old and +my new life; the only person I used to see, who went among the people +with whom I had formerly lived. Was it very extraordinary for a girl +to ask news of those with whom the whole of her life had been spent? I +used to ask Captain Lyster for such news; and he would give it me, +always in the gentlest and most delicate manner; telling me, of +course, of gaieties that had taken place, but pointing out how silly +they were, and how happy the most fêted girls at them would be to +settle down into a calm happy love, such as--such as he thought I +possessed." + +"Did he say all this?" + +"He did; and more--much more. Since I have been here, Alice Schröder +has told me that on several occasions when your name has been freely +commented upon, Captain Lyster has defended you with the utmost +warmth, and with a spirit which one can scarcely imagine so naturally +indolent a man to be capable of exercising. More than this: when the +unhappy story of our separation became public scandal, I, having +hitherto refrained from speaking to Captain Lyster about it, but +knowing that he must now have heard all, was about one day to ask his +advice. He stopped me at once. 'Pardon me, my dear Mrs. Churchill,' he +said; 'this is a topic on which I cannot and must not enter. The time +will come when--when it will be all happily settled again; and you +would then very much regret having discussed the subject with me. If +it should ever be my luck to be married, and I had--as undoubtedly I +should have--a dispute with my wife, I would lock the door until we +had settled it, and returned to our usual equable state. Not one +living soul should ever be able to jeer me about a matrimonial +quarrel.'" + +"He was right; God knows he was right!" said Churchill, bitterly. + +"And yet this is the man whom you have chosen to misrepresent in such +a matter. Believe me, that people unfortunately situated as we are, +could have found very few friends with the kind heart, the tact, and +delicacy of Captain Lyster." + +And then Barbara, heated and fatigued with her defence, stopped, and +her head drooped again, and she was silent. There was an awkward +pause; then Churchill said, + +"You sent for me to--" + +"As I have told you--to confess that I had heard the statement made in +the next room, and to admit that I was in error in imagining that +those letters came from an improper source." + +Now was Frank Churchill's time. One kind word from him, and the misery +of his life was at an end. But with that strange perversity which not +unfrequently is a characteristic of good and clever men, he fell into +the snare of saying and doing exactly what he should not. + +"And you are prepared to come home--" he commenced, in a hard voice. + +"Not if invited in that tone," broke in Barbara abruptly. + +"To come home," continued Churchill, not noticing the +interruption,--"to come home confessing that you were entirely in the +wrong, and that you had no shadow of excuse for leaving as you did. +To come home--" + +"Stop, Frank!" burst out Barbara, unable any longer to control +herself; "this is not the way to win a person of my temperament to +agree to any measures which you may propose. To come home, confessing +this and acknowledging that,--why, you know perfectly that you +yourself were equally to blame in the preposterous jealousy which you +showed of Captain Lyster! I will confess and acknowledge nothing. I +will come home to you as your wife,--to be the first in your +regard,--to devote myself to you; but I will make no pledges as to +accepting other people's interference, or submitting to--" + +"In fact," said Frank, "as to being any thing different from what you +were. Now that will not do. Much as--as I may have loved you"--his +voice broke here--"I would sooner live away from you than undergo the +torture of those last few weeks at home again. It would be better for +us both that--well, I will not say more about it. God's will be done! +One thing, I shall be able to make you now some definite allowance, on +which you can live comfortably without being a burden on your +relatives or friends. Sir Marmaduke Wentworth is dead; and I +understand from his lawyer that I am a legatee, though to what extent +I do not yet know. I had hoped that--" + +He was interrupted by a soft knock at the door. Presently the door +opened, and the nurse put in her head, with an alarmed expression of +face. "Come, come!" said she; "quickly! both of you!" and withdrew. + +Frank stopped, and motioned Barbara to pass before him. + +"Oh, no!" she exclaimed wildly, clasping her hands and looking +piteously into his face; "not into the presence of Death!--we cannot +go into the presence of Death with these wild words on our lips, this +wicked rage at our hearts! Frank, Frank, my darling! fancy if either +of us were summoned while feeling so to each other. It is a horrible +madness, this; a wild inexplicable torture; but let it end--oh, let it +end! I will pray for forgiveness; I will be humble; I will do all you +wish! Oh, Frank, Frank, take me once more to yourself!" + +His strong arms are round her once again; once more her head is +pillowed on his breast; while between his sobs he says, "Forgive you, +my darling! Oh, ought not I also to implore your forgiveness!" + + + + +CHAPTER XL. +GOING HOME. + + +The room lay in deep shadow, the lamp having been moved behind the +screen. On its handsome bracket the Louis-Quatorze ormolu clock ticked +solemnly away, registering the death of each minute audibly, and +indefinably forcing itself upon the attention of those sitting by, in +connexion with the rapidly-closing earthly career of the sufferer on +the bed. She lay there, having again fallen into deep heavy slumber, +broken occasionally by a fitful cry, a moan of anguish, then relapsing +once more into stertorous breathing and seemingly placid rest. In a +large arm-chair close by the head of the bed sat Robert Simnel, his +eyes tear-blurred, his cheeks swollen and flushed, his lips +compressed, his hands stretched straight out before him and rigidly +knit together over his knee. This was the end of it, then; the result +of all his hopes and fears, his toiling and his scheming. Just as the +prize was in his grasp, it melted into thin air. Bitter, frightfully +bitter, as were his reflections at that moment, they were tinged with +very little thought of self. Grief, unspeakable grief, plucked at his +heartstrings as he looked upon the mangled wreck of the only thing he +had ever really cherished in the course of his busy life. There lay +the beautiful form which he had seen, so round and plump, swaying from +side to side in graceful inflections, wit every movement of her horse, +now crushed out of shape and swathed with bandages and splints. The +fair hair, which he recollected tightly knotted under the comely hat, +lay floating over the pillow dank with death-dew; the strong white +hands, against the retaining grasp of which the fieriest horses had +pulled and plunged in vain, lay helpless on the coverlet, cut and +scored by the gravel, and without an infant's power in them. A fresh +burst of tears clouded Robert Simnel's eyes as he looked on this sad +sight; and his heart sunk within him as he felt that his one chance in +life, his one chance of love and peace and happiness, was rapidly +vanishing before him. Then the expression of his face changed, his +eyes flashed, he set his teeth, and drove his nails into the palms +of his hands; for in listening to poor Kate's incoherent exclamations +and broken phrases, Simnel had gathered sufficient to give him +reason to suspect that she had met Beresford, and that he had +somehow or other,--whether intentionally or not, Simnel could not make +out,--been connected with, if not the primary cause of, the accident. +And then Simnel's chest heaved, and his breath came thick, and he +inwardly swore that he would be revenged on this man, who, to the +last, had proved himself the evil genius of her who once so fondly +loved him. + +When Barbara and Frank entered the room together, Simnel looked up, +and the bad expression faded out of his face. He, in common with the +rest of the world, had heard some garbled story of the separation, and +he saw at a glance that poor Kitty's accident had been the means of +throwing them together again, and of effecting a reconciliation. What +he had just heard from the girl's month of Churchill had inspired in +him a sense of gratitude and regard; and as he noticed Barbara +clinging closely to her husband's arm, as she threw a half-frightened +glance towards the bed, he felt himself dimly acknowledging the +mysterious workings of that Providence, which, in its own good time, +brings all things to their appointed end. + +Frank and Barbara, after casting a hurried look at the bed, had seated +themselves on the other side; the nurse, tired out with watching, had +drawn her large chair close to the fire and fallen into that horrible +state of nodding and catching herself up again, of struggling with +sleep, then succumbing, then diving forward with a nod and pulling +herself rigid in an instant--a state so common in extra-fatigue; and +Simnel had dropped into his old desolate attitude. So they sat, no one +speaking. Ah, the misery of that watching in a sick-room! the solemn +silence scarcely broken by the ticking of the clock, the crackling of +the fire, the occasional dropping of the coals, the smothered hum of +wheels outside; the horrible thoughts that at such times get the +mastery of the mind and riot in full sway,--thoughts of the sick +person there being watched, doubts as to the chances of their +recovery, wonderings as to whether they themselves are conscious of +their danger, as to whether they are what is commonly called +"prepared" to die. Then a dreamy state, in which we begin to wonder +when we shall be in similar extreme plight; and where? Shall we have +had time for the realisation of those schemes which now so much occupy +us, or shall we be cut off suddenly? Shall we outlive Tom and Dick and +Harry, who are now our intimates; or will they eat cake and wine +before they step into the mourning-coach, and canvass our character, +and be tenderly garrulous on our foibles? Shall we be able to bear it +calmly and bravely when the doctor makes that dread announcement, and +tells us that if we have any earthly affairs to settle, it were best +to do it at once; for it is impossible to deny that there is a certain +amount of danger, &c. &c. And the boys, with life before them, and no +helping, guiding hand to point out the proper path? Ah, Tom and Dick +and Harry, our old friends, boon-companions, trusted intimates, they +surely would have the heart to look after the children? And the wife, +dearest helpmate, true in all her wifely duties, but ah how unfitted +to combat with the world, to have the responsibilities of the +household to bear alone? And then the end itself!--the Shadow-cloaked +from head to foot! the great hereafter! "Behold, we know not any +thing!" Happy are we to arouse from that dismal reverie at the sound +of the wheels of the doctor's carriage, and gaze into his eyes, +trusting there to read a growing hope. + +The reflections of the four persons assembled round poor Kate Mellon's +sick-bed were not entirely of this kind. The minds of Frank and +Barbara were naturally full of all that had just occurred, in which +they were most interested; full of thoughts of past storms and future +happiness--full of such pleasurable emotions, that the actual scene +before them had but a minor influence. Simnel was pondering over his +shattered idol and his dreams of vengeance; while the nurse, when for +a few seconds' interval between her naps she roused herself +sufficiently to think at all, was full of a cheering consciousness of +earning eighteenpence a-day more in her present place than in one in +which she had been previously. And then came the sound of the wheels +and the smothered knock, and then the gentle opening of the door, and +Mr. Slade's pleasant presence in the room. + +He approached the bed, and surveyed the sleeper; crossed the room with +the softest footsteps, and asked a few whispered questions of the +nurse; then turned quietly back, and seated himself by Frank and +Barbara. + +"How do you find her?" asked the latter. + +Mr. Slade simply shook his head, without making any verbal reply. + +"The nurse summoned us hurriedly about half-an-hour ago," whispered +Churchill; "but when we came in, we found her in the state in which +you now see her; she has not moved since, scarcely." + +"Poor child! poor child!" said Mr. Slade, plying his +pocket-handkerchief very vigorously; "she'll not move much more." + +"Is she--is she very bad to-night?" asked Barbara. + +"Yes, my dear," said the old gentleman, taking a large pinch of snuff +to correct his emotion; "yes, my dear, she is very bad, as you would +say. There is a worn pinched look in her face which is unmistakable. +She is going home rapidly, poor girl!" + +The sense of the last observation, though he had not heard the words, +seemed to have reached Mr. Simnel's ears, for he rose hurriedly, and +crossing to Mr. Slade, took him by the arm and led him on one side. + +"Did you say she was dying?" he asked in a hoarse whisper, when they +had moved some distance from the rest. + +"I did not say so, though I implied it," said the old man; then +peering at him from under his spectacles, "May I ask are you any +relation of the lady's?" + +"No, no relation; only I--I was going to be married to her, that was +all." He said these words in a strange hard dry voice; and Mr. Slade +felt him clutch his wrist tight as he went on to say, "Is there no +position; but still in some cases, a second opinion--if there is any +thing that money can do--" + +"My dear sir," said Mr. Slade "I understand perfectly what you mean; +and God knows if there were any thing to be done, I wouldn't stand in +the way; but in this case, if you had the whole College of Surgeons +before you, and the gold-fields of Australia at your back, there could +be but one result." + +Mr. Simnel bowed his head, while one great shiver ran through his +frame. Then he looked up and said, "And when?" + +"Immediately--to-night; in two or three hours at most. She will +probably rouse from this lethargy, have some moments of consciousness, +and then--" + +"And then?" + +Mr. Slade made no direct answer, but he shrugged his shoulders and +turned on his heel. Silently he shook hands with Barbara and +Churchill, then with Simnel, placing one hand on his shoulder, and +gripping him tightly with the other; then he walked to the bed, and +bent over it, peering into poor Kitty's puckered face, while two large +tears fell on the coverlet. Then he stooped and lightly kissed the +hand which lay outstretched, and then hurried noiselessly from the +room. Mr. Slade saw several patients that night before going to a +scientific _conversazione_ at the Hanover-Square Rooms--a noble lord, +who had softening of the brain, and who passed his days in a big +arm-chair, and made a moaning noise, and wept when turned away from +the fire; a distinguished commoner, who had given way to brandy, and +was raving in delirium; and a young gentleman, who, in attempting to +jump the mess-room table after dinner, had slipped, and sustained a +compound fracture of his leg. But at each of these visits he was +haunted by the pallid tortured face of the dying girl. At the +_conversazione_ it got between the microscope and a most delicious +preparation; and was by his side as he drew on his nightcap and +prepared for his hard-earned slumbers. + +Slowly, slowly wore away the night: Simnel still sat rigid and erect; +but the nurse was sound asleep, and Barbara's head had drooped upon +Frank's shoulder, when suddenly the room rang with a shrill startling +cry. In an instant all rushed to the bedside. There lay Kate awake, +but still under the influence of some dreadful dream. + +"Keep him off! keep him off!" she cried. "It's unfair, it's cowardly, +Charley! I'm a woman and you hit so hard! Oh, Robert," she exclaimed, +vainly endeavouring to drag herself towards Simnel, "you'll keep him +off! you'll defend me!" + +"There's no one there, Kate," said Simnel, dropping on his knees by +the bedside, and taking her hand; "there's no one to hurt you, my +child." + +"I was dreaming then," said Kate; "oh, such a horrid dream! I thought +I---- Who are these?" she exclaimed, looking at Barbara and Frank. +"I'm scarcely awake yet, I think. Why, it's Guardy, of course! and +you, dear, who were so kind to me. But how are you here together? I +can't make that out." + +"This is my wife, Kate," said Churchill; "my wife, of whom you were +speaking this evening." + +"Your wife! ah, I'm so glad; I never thought of that; I never thought +of asking her who she was; I only knew she was, oh, so kind and so +affectionate with me; and it was because she was your wife, eh? Will +you kiss me again, dear? So; and again! What a sweet soft face it is! +Ah, he's been so good to me dear, this husband of yours; and I've +given him such trouble for so many years. So grave and so steady he's +always been, that I've looked upon him as quite an old fellow, and +never thought of his marrying. I--I'm much weaker to-night, I think; +the pain seems to have left my side; but I feel so weak, as though I +couldn't raise a finger. You're there Robert?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"Ay, I feel your hand-grip now! You must not mind what I'm going to +say, Robert; you took on so before; but you'll be brave now, eh, +Robert? I--I know I'm going home--to my long home, I mean; and I want +to say how happy, and peaceful, and grateful to the Lord, I am. I've +often thought of this time--often and often; and wondered--and I've +often thought it would be like this, and yet not quite in this way. +You used to talk to me about my rashness, Guardy,--in riding, I mean." + +"Yes, dear Kate; and you always promised, and you never did, my +headstrong child!" + +"No, Guardy, I didn't, and yet I tried hard; but I hadn't much +pleasure elsewise, had I? Robert knows that; and I _did_ so enjoy my +work! I've often thought it might come when I was with the hounds, and +that would have been dreadful! All the business and bother in the +field, and carried away somewhere, to some wretched place, where +there'd have been no one near to care for me; and now I've you all +here, and that kind old doctor; and, oh, thank God for all!" + +There was a little pause, and then she asked in, if any thing, a +weaker voice, "What's become of the horse? does any one know?--the +horse, I mean, that did this?" + +"He was taken home, Kate; so Freeman said. He's good deal cut; but--" + +"Oh, don't let him come to grief, Robert! It wasn't fault, poor +fellow! He was startled by the--ah, well; it's all over now! Don't +frown so, Robert; I ought to have known better. Lord Clonmel always +said he had a temper of his own; but I thought I could do any thing, +and--Some of them will crow over this, won't they? Those Jeffrey +girls, who always said I was a park-rider, and no good at fencing, eh? +Well, well, that's neither here nor there. You know all about the +will, Guardy,--in the desk, you know? and what I said about your +having--and Freeman--and the men's wages; and--" + +As she spoke she sunk back, and seemed to fall asleep at once. The +nurse, who had been hovering round, advanced and looked anxiously at +her, laying her finger on her pulse, and peering into her face. +Reassured, she retired again; and the others, save Simnel, who still +remained kneeling by the bed, resumed their places. Then, stretched +supine, and without addressing herself to any one, Kate Mellon began +to talk again. Fragmentary, disconnected, incoherent sentences they +were that she uttered; but, listening to them, Simnel and Frank +Churchill managed to make out that her head was wandering, and that +she was running through passages of her earlier life. + +"Ready!" she said. "All right, Dolphin! Now, band!--why don't they +play up? No hoop lit yet! Get along, Dolphin! Ribbons now! Stand up, +man!--why doesn't that man stand up? So; give him his head--that's it! +Chalk; more chalk!--this pad's so slippery, I shall never stand on it; +and--that's better. Now we go--one, two, three! All right, sir; all +right, madam; told you I should clear it. Ah, Charley! Hold the hoop +lower--lower yet. What's he at? I shall miss it--miss it! and +then--Slacken your curb, miss, or she'll rear! So; that's it--easy +does it. Courage now,--head and the heart up; hand and the heel down! +Oh, he's jumped short!--he's over! he's over!" + +She gave a sharp cry, and half-raised herself on to the pillow. The +nurse was by her in an instant; so were they all. Her eyes opened at +first dreamily; then she looked round and smiled sweetly. "Kiss me, +dear," she said to Barbara. "Guardy! Robert, Robert! kindest, dearest +Robert, I'm--going home!" + +Then, with tears streaming from both their eyes, Frank led Barbara +away; while, haggard and rigid, Simnel knelt by the bedside firmly +clutching a dead hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. +THE DAY AFTER. + + +When Mr. Simnel woke on the morning succeeding the night of Kate +Mellon's death, he felt a numbness in his limbs, a burning, throbbing +pain in his head, and a general sensation of prostration. He made an +attempt at getting up, thinking he would string himself into vigour +with his cold bath; but he found his head whirling--his legs shaking; +and, after a severe shivering fit, he was fain to forego the attempt, +and to get into bed again. Then he rang his bell, and told his servant +to ask Dr. Prater to step round at once, and then to go on to Mr. +Scadgers, whom he was to bring back with him. The servant despatched, +Mr. Simnel lay back in bed, and endeavoured to give himself up to +reflection. But the events of the last twenty-four hours had been far +too exciting for that; still lay stretched before his eyes the crushed +and mangled figure of his loved one; still her last broken words rung +upon his ears. + +"'Dearest, kindest Robert!' she called me that--my darling called me +that with her last breath. 'Dearest kindest Robert!'--the last words! +never to see her any more--never to hear her voice again! All over +now; all--No, not all; one thing to be done, and done at once +--a settlement with Charles Beresford!" + +Simnel smiled very grimly as this idea came into his mind. It was not +the first time that the idea had occurred to him. As, bit by bit, he +gleaned poor Kitty's incoherent story, as he knelt by her bed, he had +rapidly framed his course of action, and indeed carried it out in his +mind. He saw himself thrashing Beresford in the streets--saw the row +that would take place thereon consequent, the desperate confusion at +the Tin-Tax Office; and, through the perspective, had a distant vision +of a long stretch of sand on the Calais coast--he and Beresford +fronting each other as principals, a couple of soldiers from the +neighbouring _caserne_ as seconds, and an army medical man looking on. +He knew that Beresford was a man of courage; but he thought that he +would probably refuse to fight in such an affair as this; therefore +Simnel determined that no option should be given. He would not have a +friend of his wait on Beresford with a challenge. He (Simnel) would +pick a quarrel with him on some frivolous pretext, and insult him in +the street. That was what he had made up his mind to do, and that was +what he had intended to do that very day, if his sudden indisposition +had not prevented him. + +Little Dr. Prater found his patient very restless and tolerably +impatient. "Well, my dear sir, and how are we? Glad I was at home, and +able to come round at once. A fortunate chance to catch me, for there +is a _great_ deal of sickness just now amongst the upper classes. The +tongue? Thank you. The pulse? Ah; dear me, dear me! as I feared--a +galloping pulse, my dear sir, and a high state of fever! Have you +now--have you had any cause for excitement?" + +"Yes," said Simnel, shortly; "I was last night at the deathbed of one +very dear to me." + +"To be sure, my dear sir; how came I to forget it!--Miss Kate +Mellon's. Oh, my dear sir, of course I heard of it,--I hear every +thing,--at least, I heard of her being very ill--impossible to live. +Slade attended, didn't he? Ah, couldn't have a better man. One of the +rough diamonds of our profession, my dear sir; not polished, but--all +here!" and the little doctor laid his forefinger on his forehead. "And +so she's gone, poor young lady! Well, well! Now, my dear sir, it's my +duty to prescribe for you the utmost quietude. The least bit of +excitement may be highly prejudicial; in fact, I would not answer for +the consequences." + +"When shall I be able to go out?" asked Simnel impatiently. + +"Go out, my dear sir! Not for several days--perhaps longer. I will +send in a nurse to look after you; for you must be carefully watched, +and have your medicines at stated times; and I'll look in this +evening. Mind, my dear sir, perfect quiet." + +After letting out the doctor, the servant returned to his master. + +"Mr. Scadgers is here, sir," said he. + +"Then show him in," said Simnel, from the bed. "Beg your pardon, sir; +but the doctor's last words to me was that you was to see nobody but +the nuss." + +"Are you the doctor's servant, or mine, sir? Show him in!" and in Mr. +Scadgers was shown. + +"Hallo, sir!" said that worthy, regarding Mr. Simnel; "this is bad +news to find you ill." + +"There's worse than that, Scadgers; a good deal worse; as you'll hear. +Your niece,--Kate Mellon, you know,--about whom we've had all the talk +lately--" + +"Ay, I know; at the Runner's--I know--well?" + +"Dead." + +"Dead!" repeated Scadgers, with a blanched face--"dead! how? when?" + +"Last night; thrown from her horse; had some row with a man named +Beresford in the Park; horse was frightened; bolted, and fell with +her. It was this cursed Beresford's fault, and--" + +"What Beresford is it?" + +"Charles Beresford of my office,--Commissioner, you know. I'll make +him remember that day's work; I'll post him at his club; I'll +horsewhip him in the street; I'll--I'd have done it to-day, but for +this--this cold." + +"Charles Beresford, eh? And it's him that killed my niece, is it? +Horsewhip him, eh? you won't be able to leave your room yet; it's more +than a cold you've got, if I may judge by the look of your face and +the hot feel of your hands. Charles Beresford, eh? Ay, ay! ay, ay!" + +"I'm afraid you're right, Scadgers," said Simnel. "I begin to feel +deuced bad, much worse than when I woke. And to be lying here while +that scoundrel will be getting safe away--out of my reach!" + +"What do you mean, getting away?" + +"Why, he's off to the Continent! I myself recommended him to go there, +to lie quiet until his difficulties blew over; and he'll be off at +once,--to-night or to-morrow." + +"Will he, by Jove! no, no! don't you flurry yourself, sir. I'll put a +stopper on that. Charles Beresford shall be here whenever you want +him, I'll take my oath. Excuse me now; look in and see you to-morrow." +And despite Mr. Simnel's calling to him, Mr. Scadgers rushed off at +the top of his speed. + +Mr. Scadgers, albeit of a stout figure, and ill-adapted for exercise, +never ceased running until he ran into his own office in Berners +Street, when he sat himself down and fairly panted for breath. When he +had recovered a little, he called to him the wondering Jinks, and +said, "How does Beresford--Charles Beresford--stand with us?" + +The little man thought for a minute, and then said, "About a +hundred-and-thirty-seven on renewal; due the fifteenth next month." + +"What's his figure with Parkinson?" + +"Between eight and nine hundred; dessay more'an a thousand--renewals, +judges' orders, all sorts of things in that lot. Parkinson's clerk was +here yesterday, talking about it amongst other things." + +"Very good. Now look here, Jinks; you jump into a cab, and bowl away +to Parkinson's as hard as you can split. Tell him the game's up; that +I've just learnt Master Beresford's going to hook it abroad. Let +Parkinson, or his chief clerk, ran down and swear this before the +judge in chambers,--affidavy, you know,--and then let him instruct +Sloman's people to collar Master Beresford at once." + +"You want this done?" + +"Most certainly I do; and rely on you to have it done at once. Look +here, Jinks, you know me: Beresford must be quodded to-night!" + +"All right; look upon it as settled." + +"And more than that: learn, if you can, who holds his paper besides +Parkinson, and to what amount; and bring me a list. Tell Parkinson +that I've a feeling in this beyond mere business, and he'll +understand. And bring me the list of the others." + +Mr. Jinks nodded acquiescence and departed. As he went out of the +door, Mr. Scadgers rubbed his grimy hands together, and muttered, +"Better than all your horsewhippings and shootings. Master Beresford's +broke up root and branch,--stock, lock, and barrel. I'll never leave +him now until I've crushed him out. Insult my poor niece, did he? +better have put his head in the fire at once!" + +That afternoon, as Mr. Beresford walked jauntily from the Tin-Tax +Office, he was arrested on the _ne-exeat-regno_ affidavit of William +Parkinson, gentleman, attorney-at-law, and conveyed to the mansion of +Mr. Sloman in Cursitor Street, at which pleasant house detainers to +the amount of nearly five thousand pounds were lodged in the course of +the following day. + +Mr. Scadgers, going to communicate his cheering intelligence to Mr. +Simnel, found the portion of Piccadilly opposite that gentleman's door +thickly strewn with tan, and asking Dr. Prater, whom he met on the +threshold, for news of his patient, was informed that Mr. Simnel had a +severe attack of brain-fever, and that at that moment the doctor would +not answer for the result. + + +According to appointment, Frank Churchill presented himself at Mr. +Russell's offices in Lincoln's Inn; Mr. Russell, whose firm had been +solicitors to the Wentworths from time immemorial, and who himself had +enjoyed all the confidence of the late baronet. The old gentleman, +clad in his never-varying rusty black, and still as desirous as ever +to hide his hands under his coat-sleeves, received Frank in his usual +icy manner, and bade him sit down. "I have here," said he, "a letter +for you from the late Sir Marmaduke Wentworth, with the contents of +which I am not acquainted; but which refers, I believe, to the will, a +copy of which I also have here. Be good enough to read it, and see +whether you require any information." + +Frank broke the seal, and read the following, written in a trembling +hand: + + +"_Pau, Pyrenees, October_. + +"My Dear Professor, + +"Two lines, to tell you two things: I'm dying--that's one; I've always +honoured and respected, and recently I've liked, you--that's the +other. They tell me you're a deuced-clever fellow--which is nothing to +me. I've proved you to be a gentleman--which is every thing. I wish +you were my son and my heir; but I can't make you either. I haven't +got any son, and my heir is my nephew--I've no doubt a very +respectable fellow; a parson, who collects sea-anemones and other +fifths, in dirty water and a glass-bowl--a harmless fellow enough, but +not in my line. All I've been able to do is to leave you five thousand +pounds, which Russell, or some of them, will see that you're paid. +Don't be squeamish about taking it. I owe it you. I never gave you a +mug when you were christened. My love to your dear wife. God bless +you! + +"Marmaduke Wentworth." + + +When he had finished the reading of this characteristic epistle, he +told Mr. Russell of its purport; and heard from the old gentleman that +the legacy named therein had been provided for by the will. Then Frank +returned to Saxe-Coburg Square, and settled with Mrs. Schröder and +Barbara that they should at once leave for Brighton, whither, after +poor Kitty's funeral, he would follow them. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. +AND LAST. + + +Mr. Simnel was very ill indeed. Dr. Prater looked monstrous grave, and +began to talk about 'responsibility;' so they summoned other two +physicians high in esteem, who exchanged snuff-boxes, and looked out +of window together, and examined Dr. Prater's prescriptions through a +gold double-eyeglass and a pair of spectacles, and agreed that his +treatment of the case was every thing that could be wished, and +declined to commit themselves to any opinion as to whether the patient +might get better or not. Frank Churchill remaining in town until after +the funeral of poor Kate Mellon, and expecting some suggestions from +Mr. Simnel as to how and where the last rites should be performed, +called on that gentleman at his chambers in Piccadilly, and discovered +the state of affairs. Then Churchill, while he remained in London, +took to coming every day to see Mr. Simnel, and to learn whether any +thing was required for him; and, coming in to pay a farewell visit +after he had seen poor Kitty laid in the grave, he met Dr. Prater, and +heard from his lips that in all human probability the actual danger +was past, but that it might be months before the patient would be +himself again, so dreadfully had he been weakened and pulled down. So +Churchill went away in better spirits, leaving his address at +Brighton, in case Mr. Simnel required any thing done which Churchill +could do for him. Indeed Frank wanted a little rest and repose. As +though his own domestic worries had not been enough for him, he had +had to supervise the whole of the mortuary and testamentary +arrangements of poor Kate Mellon; and one other bit of business he had +had to perform, of a somewhat more pleasing character. + +In coming back in all humility to her husband's arms, Barbara had made +no stipulations; but when, holding her clasped in his strong embrace, +he was talking of her return home, she looked up imploringly in his +face, and said, + +"Oh, if possible, not to the old street! oh, Frank, let us retrench in +any way, but do let us leave that horrible neighbourhood!" + +All things considered, he too thought it better; and as Sir +Marmaduke's legacy had materially increased his income, he felt +himself justified in looking out for some pretty suburban place, and +half his days had been spent at house-agents' offices, and in +explorations of houses to which he had been remitted. + +Mr. Simnel's illness did not concern himself alone, but reflected +immediately on the Tin-Tax Office. For at that eminent establishment +things had been so long dependent on the one man, that so soon as he +was taken away, unmistakable symptoms of collapse began to show +themselves, and it seemed impossible that the business could be +carried on. For in the discharge of the business of the Tin-Tax Office +the grand thing was for every body to refer to every body else, +until the whole onus of setting the machine in gear, of supplying +steam-power, and starting the engine, fell upon Mr. Simnel; and when +he was not there to start it, it went off in a very lame and one-sided +manner. This was perceived by "one of the public," one of those +wondrous persons who, with nothing to do, are always on the look-out +to see Achilles' heel uncovered, or to spy the joints in Atrides' +armour; and the person in question, who had been overcharged +eighteenpence in a matter of tin-tax, and who had received, in reply +to an appeal, a letter from the Office in which the relative ignored +the existence of an antecedent, and the verb positively declined any +connexion with the nominative case sent the letter to the _Daily +Teaser_, where it was found so charming, that a leading article in the +richest and fullest-flavoured style of that journal was specially +devoted to it. This article was much quoted; and at the end of the +week the subject was honoured by the _Scourge_ with a yet more +ferocious attack. The _Scourge_ article happened to be read by the +Treasury Secretary on Sunday morning as he was dressing, and that +astute official at once saw that something was wrong. Early the next +morning his private secretary called at the Tin-Tax Office and learnt +of Simnel's illness--learned moreover that he had applied for six +months' leave of absence, thorough and entire rest and change being +reported as absolutely necessary in the certificate. The next man, a +political nominee, was worth nothing; and of the Commissioners none +of them had the least notion of business save Sir Hickory Maddox, who +was past his work, and Mr. Beresford, who had--well, there was no +doubt about it, all town was ringing with it--gone entirely to the bad +on racing matters, and was at that very time in Whitecross-Street +Prison. The Treasury Secretary was in a fix; he saw that the matter +was becoming serious; that the Tin-Tax--an important department--was +going to grief; that some member was safe to ask a question about the +mismanagement in the first week of the session; and that therefore +what he the Treasury Secretary had to do--and a deuced unpleasant job +it was, too--was to tell the Chancellor of the Exchequer how matters +stood, and wait for orders. The Chancellor of the Exchequer received +the news with a very bad grace; he was a nervous man and hated +newspaper-attacks; he was a strictly moral man and hated looseness of +any kind. He told the Treasury Secretary that Mr. Beresford must be +written to to resign his situation at once, or he would be removed; +and he stated that he was thoroughly sick of nepotism and 'influence' +in the choice of nominees, and that a man must be selected to fill +Beresford's berth, on whom they might really depend for the working of +the department during Simnel's absence. + +It was the result of these instructions that George Harding found +himself in Downing Street, in obedience to a strongly-worded +invitation, glaring over an old red despatch-box at the Treasury +Secretary, and receiving from him the offer of that vacant berth. It +was the result of his own honesty and straightforwardness that he +declined it. "It wouldn't do, Sir George; it wouldn't do. I'm cut out +for a newspaper-man, and nothing else; though I deeply feel the honour +you've done me. No; I must decline; but I know a man who would be +exactly what you require; who--" + +"Pardon me, Mr. Harding; I was only instructed to sound you as to +yourself; and--" + +"Pardon _me_, you know the man of whom I am speaking well enough; he +wrote those articles on the Russian question, for which Lord Hailey +supplied the material, and with which he was so pleased." + +"Ah, to be sure; I recollect; what's his name? one may make a note of +him, at any rate." + +"His name is Churchill. You'll find no better clearer-headed man." + +Then George Harding went away, and for the first and last time in his +life exerted his influence, and requested the return of favours which +he had frequently granted. He must have been well satisfied with the +result of his work. Three days after Harding's interview with the +Treasury Secretary, Churchill, idling at Brighton, was telegraphed for +to Downing Street. The next week the _London Gazette_ contained the +appointment of Francis Churchill, Esquire, to be one of the +Commissioners appointed for levying her Majesty's Tin-Tax, _vice_ +Charles Beresford, Esquire, retired. + + +Mr. Beresford, pursued with the most unrelenting animosity by +Scadgers, found himself opposed at every step,--even when, in sheer +despair, he petitioned the Court,--and opposed so successfully, that +he was remanded for two years. This period he passed in prison, and in +cultivating the mysteries of racket, _écarté_ and _piquet_, in the two +last of which he became a great proficient. It is to be hoped that +they will be of service to him on the Continent, whither, having +eventually obtained his release, he has repaired; and where his +gentlemanly bearing and knowledge of the world will probably enable +him to earn a very decent income from the innocent young Englishmen +always to be picked up in travelling. + +Mr. Prescott married Miss Murray, and, for a time, lived in London, +and attended his office with great regularity. But the old squire +found he could not live without his daughter, and simultaneously +discovered that it was absolutely necessary that his estate should be +more closely looked after than it had been. So, at his father-in-law's +desire, Mr. Prescott resigned his appointment, and took up his +quarters at Brooklands, where he and his wife are thoroughly happy; +and where he discharges his duties of shooting, fishing, and hunting, +to his own and his wife's great satisfaction. They have two sturdy +children; a girl Kate, to whom Mr. Simnel is sponsor, and a boy Jim, +who, under the guidance of his godfather Mr. Pringle, is already being +indoctrinated into all kinds of mischief. + +Dear honest old George Pringle is still single. "Time, sir," he +sometimes says to Prescott, "has bereft me of charms once divine," +laying his hand on a bald place about the size of a shilling on the +crown of his head; "but I defy him. I and Madame Rachel are the only +people who are beautiful for ever." He is very happy, having risen +well in his office, and he still hates Mr. Dibb with all the intensity +of former years. + +Mr. Simnel, after some months, came back cured of his illness, but +quite an altered man; his hair had become quite white, and his back +was bowed like that of a very old man. Occasionally he goes down to +see his colleague Mr. Churchill, or to spend Saturday and Sunday with +Mr. Prescott's family; but his ordinary life is a very quiet one, and +seems divided between his office and the True-Blue Club, in the +card-room of which he is to be found every night prepared to hold his +own at whist against all comers. + +Mr. Scadgers still pursues his trade; but I hear that he is now +considering the advances of a joint-stock company, who wish to buy his +business, under the title of The Government-Clerks' Own Friend and +Unlimited. Advance Company (limited), and who propose to make Jinks +manager with a large salary. + +There is no Mrs. Schröder now, and no house appertaining to any one of +that name in Saxe-Coburg Square. Captain and Mrs. Lyster live in a +large house at Maidenhead, known to their friends as "The Staircase," +from the enormous size of the _escalier_, but really known as +Wingroves,--a fine old-fashioned Queen-Anne mansion, facing the river, +where they are thoroughly happy. Their son Fred is supposed by his +parents to be a prodigy, and is really a healthy pleasant boy. + +Near them is a little cottage with a trim garden, passing by which in +the summer you will generally see a white-haired old lady, on a rustic +seat, reading a book and enjoying the sunlight. + +Then comes a shout, a clanging of the garden-gate, an irruption of +children, wild cries of "Granny!" and the old lady is hustled away to +find fruit or play at games. This is old Mrs. Churchill, who has never +been so happy in her life. + +And Barbara and Frank? They live close by in a charming house, with a +lawn sloping to the Thames. Barbara has her brougham again; and all +her old acquaintance have called on her, and expressed their delight +at her husband's good fortune with great enthusiasm. Miss Lexden, now +resident in Florence, and a confirmed invalid, is perhaps the only one +of her old set who has not so acted. But Barbara has not cared to +renew the old connexions. Thoroughly happy in her husband, doting on +her three children, her chief pleasure is in her home, of which she is +now the comfort and the pride. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Broken to Harness, by Edmund Yates + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59207 *** |