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diff --git a/33500-0.txt b/33500-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd648c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/33500-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,24432 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 33500 *** + + + + +AYALA'S ANGEL + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE, + +Author of "Doctor Thorne," "The Prime Minister," "Orley Farm," +&c., &c. + +In Three Volumes. + +VOL. I. + + + + + + + +London: +Chapman and Hall (Limited), +11, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. +1881. +[All Rights Reserved.] + +Westminster: +J. B. Nichols and Sons, Printers. +25, Parliament Street. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. I. + + I. THE TWO SISTERS. + II. LUCY WITH HER AUNT DOSETT. + III. LUCY'S TROUBLES. + IV. ISADORE HAMEL. + V. AT GLENBOGIE. + VI. AT ROME. + VII. TOM TRINGLE IN EARNEST. + VIII. THE LOUT. + IX. THE EXCHANGE. + X. AYALA AND HER AUNT MARGARET. + XI. TOM TRINGLE COMES TO THE CRESCENT. + XII. "WOULD YOU?" + XIII. HOW THE TRINGLES FELL INTO TROUBLE. + XIV. FRANK HOUSTON. + XV. AYALA WITH HER FRIENDS. + XVI. JONATHAN STUBBS. + XVII. LUCY IS VERY FIRM. + XVIII. DOWN IN SCOTLAND. + XIX. ISADORE HAMEL IS ASKED TO LUNCH. + XX. STUBBS UPON MATRIMONY. + XXI. AYALA'S INDIGNATION. + XXII. AYALA'S GRATITUDE. + + + + +AYALA'S ANGEL. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE TWO SISTERS. + + +When Egbert Dormer died he left his two daughters utterly penniless +upon the world, and it must be said of Egbert Dormer that nothing +else could have been expected of him. The two girls were both +pretty, but Lucy, who was twenty-one, was supposed to be simple and +comparatively unattractive, whereas Ayala was credited,--as her +somewhat romantic name might show,--with poetic charm and a taste for +romance. Ayala when her father died was nineteen. + +We must begin yet a little earlier and say that there had been,--and +had died many years before the death of Egbert Dormer,--a clerk in +the Admiralty, by name Reginald Dosett, who, and whose wife, had been +conspicuous for personal beauty. Their charms were gone, but the +records of them had been left in various grandchildren. There had +been a son born to Mr. Dosett, who was also a Reginald and a clerk +in the Admiralty, and who also, in his turn, had been a handsome +man. With him, in his decadence, the reader will become acquainted. +There were also two daughters, whose reputation for perfect feminine +beauty had never been contested. The elder had married a city man of +wealth,--of wealth when he married her, but who had become enormously +wealthy by the time of our story. He had when he married been simply +Mister, but was now Sir Thomas Tringle, Baronet, and was senior +partner in the great firm of Travers and Treason. Of Traverses and +Treasons there were none left in these days, and Mr. Tringle was +supposed to manipulate all the millions with which the great firm in +Lombard Street was concerned. He had married old Mr. Dosett's eldest +daughter, Emmeline, who was now Lady Tringle, with a house at the top +of Queen's Gate, rented at £1,500 a year, with a palatial moor in +Scotland, with a seat in Sussex, and as many carriages and horses as +would suit an archduchess. Lady Tringle had everything in the world; +a son, two daughters, and an open-handed stout husband, who was said +to have told her that money was a matter of no consideration. + +The second Miss Dosett, Adelaide Dosett, who had been considerably +younger than her sister, had insisted upon giving herself to Egbert +Dormer, the artist, whose death we commemorated in our first line. +But she had died before her husband. They who remembered the two +Miss Dosetts as girls were wont to declare that, though Lady Tringle +might, perhaps, have had the advantage in perfection of feature and +in unequalled symmetry, Adelaide had been the more attractive from +expression and brilliancy. To her Lord Sizes had offered his hand +and coronet, promising to abandon for her sake all the haunts of his +matured life. To her Mr. Tringle had knelt before he had taken the +elder sister. For her Mr. Program, the popular preacher of the day, +for a time so totally lost himself that he was nearly minded to go +over to Rome. She was said to have had offers from a widowed Lord +Chancellor and from a Russian prince. Her triumphs would have quite +obliterated that of her sister had she not insisted on marrying +Egbert Dormer. + +Then there had been, and still was, Reginald Dosett, the son of old +Dosett, and the eldest of the family. He too had married, and was now +living with his wife; but to them had no children been born, luckily, +as he was a poor man. Alas, to a beautiful son it is not often that +beauty can be a fortune as to a daughter. Young Reginald Dosett,--he +is anything now but young,--had done but little for himself with his +beauty, having simply married the estimable daughter of a brother +clerk. Now, at the age of fifty, he had his £900 a year from his +office, and might have lived in fair comfort had he not allowed a +small millstone of debt to hang round his neck from his earlier +years. But still he lived creditably in a small but very genteel +house at Notting Hill, and would have undergone any want rather than +have declared himself to be a poor man to his rich relations the +Tringles. + +Such were now the remaining two children of old Mr. Dosett,--Lady +Tringle, namely, and Reginald Dosett, the clerk in the Admiralty. +Adelaide, the beauty in chief of the family, was gone; and now +also her husband, the improvident artist, had followed his wife. +Dormer had been by no means a failing artist. He had achieved +great honour,--had at an early age been accepted into the Royal +Academy,--had sold pictures to illustrious princes and more +illustrious dealers, had been engraved and had lived to see his own +works resold at five times their original prices. Egbert Dormer might +also have been a rich man. But he had a taste for other beautiful +things besides a wife. The sweetest little phaeton that was to +cost nothing, the most perfect bijou of a little house at South +Kensington,--he had boasted that it might have been packed without +trouble in his brother-in-law Tringle's dining-room,--the simplest +little gem for his wife, just a blue set of china for his dinner +table, just a painted cornice for his studio, just satin hangings for +his drawing-room,--and a few simple ornaments for his little girls; +these with a few rings for himself, and velvet suits of clothing +in which to do his painting; these, with a few little dinner +parties to show off his blue china, were the first and last of his +extravagances. But when he went, and when his pretty things were +sold, there was not enough to cover his debts. There was, however, a +sweet savour about his name. When he died it was said of him that his +wife's death had killed him. He had dropped his pallette, refused +to finish the ordered portrait of a princess, and had simply turned +himself round and died. + +Then there were the two daughters, Lucy and Ayala. It should be +explained that though a proper family intercourse had always been +maintained between the three families, the Tringles, the Dormers, and +the Dosetts, there had never been cordiality between the first and +the two latter. The wealth of the Tringles had seemed to convey with +it a fetid odour. Egbert Dormer, with every luxury around him which +money could purchase, had affected to despise the heavy magnificence +of the Tringles. It may be that he affected a fashion higher than +that which the Tringles really attained. Reginald Dosett, who was +neither brilliant nor fashionable, was in truth independent, and, +perhaps, a little thin-skinned. He would submit to no touch of +arrogance from Sir Thomas; and Sir Thomas seemed to carry arrogance +in his brow and in his paunch. It was there rather, perhaps, than in +his heart; but there are men to whom a knack of fumbling their money +in their pockets and of looking out from under penthouse brows over +an expanse of waistcoat, gives an air of overweening pride which +their true idiosyncracies may not justify. To Dosett had, perhaps, +been spoken a word or two which on some occasion he had inwardly +resented, and from thenceforward he had ever been ready to league +with Dormer against the "bullionaire," as they agreed to call Sir +Thomas. Lady Tringle had even said a word to her sister, Mrs. Dormer, +as to expenses, and that had never been forgiven by the artist. So +things were when Mrs. Dormer died first; and so they remained when +her husband followed her. + +Then there arose a sudden necessity for action, which, for a while, +brought Reginald Dosett into connexion with Sir Thomas and Lady +Tringle. Something must be done for the poor girls. That the +something should come out of the pocket of Sir Thomas would have +seemed to be natural. Money with him was no object,--not at all. +Another girl or two would be nothing to him,--as regarded simple +expenditure. But the care of a human being is an important matter, +and so Sir Thomas knew. Dosett had not a child at all, and would be +the better for such a windfall. Dosett he supposed to be,--in his, +Dosett's way,--fairly well off. So he made this proposition. He would +take one girl and let Dosett take the other. To this Lady Tringle +added her proviso, that she should have the choice. To her nerves +affairs of taste were of such paramount importance! To this Dosett +yielded. The matter was decided in Lady Tringle's back drawing-room. +Mrs. Dosett was not even consulted in that matter of choice, having +already acknowledged the duty of mothering a motherless child. Dosett +had thought that the bullionaire should have said a word as to some +future provision for the penniless girl, for whom he would be able +to do so little. But Sir Thomas had said no such word, and Dosett, +himself, lacked both the courage and the coarseness to allude to the +matter. Then Lady Tringle declared that she must have Ayala, and so +the matter was settled. Ayala the romantic; Ayala the poetic! It was +a matter of course that Ayala should be chosen. Ayala had already +been made intimate with the magnificent saloons of the Tringles, +and had been felt by Lady Tringle to be an attraction. Her long +dark black locks, which had never hitherto been tucked up, which +were never curled, which were never so long as to be awkward, were +already known as being the loveliest locks in London. She sang as +though Nature had intended her to be a singing-bird,--requiring no +education, no labour. She had been once for three months in Paris, +and French had come naturally to her. Her father had taught her +something of his art, and flatterers had already begun to say that +she was born to be the one great female artist of the world. Her +hands, her feet, her figure were perfect. Though she was as yet but +nineteen, London had already begun to talk about Ayala Dormer. Of +course Lady Tringle chose Ayala, not remembering at the moment that +her own daughters might probably be superseded by their cousin. + +And, therefore, as Lady Tringle said herself to Lucy with her +sweetest smile--Mrs. Dosett had chosen Lucy. The two girls were old +enough to know something of the meaning of such a choice. Ayala, +the younger, was to be adopted into immense wealth, and Lucy was to +be given up to comparative poverty. She knew nothing of her uncle +Dosett's circumstances, but the genteel house at Notting Hill,--No. +3, Kingsbury Crescent,--was known to her, and was but a poor affair +as compared even with the bijou in which she had hitherto lived. Her +aunt Dosett never rose to any vehicle beyond a four-wheeler, and +was careful even in thinking of that accommodation. Ayala would be +whirled about the park by a wire-wig and a pair of brown horses which +they had heard it said were not to be matched in London. Ayala would +be carried with her aunt and her cousin to the show-room of Madame +Tonsonville, the great French milliner of Bond Street, whereas she, +Lucy, might too probably be called on to make her own gowns. All the +fashion of Queen's Gate, something, perhaps, of the fashion of Eaton +Square, would be open to Ayala. Lucy understood enough to know that +Ayala's own charms might probably cause still more August gates to +be opened to her, whereas Aunt Dosett entered no gates. It was quite +natural that Ayala should be chosen. Lucy acknowledged as much to +herself. But they were sisters, and had been so near! By what a chasm +would they be dissevered, now so far asunder! + +Lucy herself was a lovely girl, and knew her own loveliness. She +was fairer than Ayala, somewhat taller, and much more quiet in her +demeanour. She was also clever, but her cleverness did not show +itself so quickly. She was a musician, whereas her sister could only +sing. She could really draw, whereas her sister would rush away into +effects in which the drawing was not always very excellent. Lucy was +doing the best she could for herself, knowing something of French +and German, though as yet not very fluent with her tongue. The two +girls were, in truth, both greatly gifted; but Ayala had the gift of +showing her talent without thought of showing it. Lucy saw it all, +and knew that she was outshone; but how great had been the price of +the outshining! + +The artist's house had been badly ordered, and the two girls were of +better disposition and better conduct than might have been expected +from such fitful training. Ayala had been the father's pet, and Lucy +the mother's. Parents do ill in making pets, and here they had done +ill. Ayala had been taught to think herself the favourite, because +the artist, himself, had been more prominent before the world than +his wife. But the evil had not been lasting enough to have made bad +feeling between the sisters. Lucy knew that her sister had been +preferred to her, but she had been self-denying enough to be aware +that some such preference was due to Ayala. She, too, admired Ayala, +and loved her with her whole heart. And Ayala was always good to +her,--had tried to divide everything,--had assumed no preference as a +right. The two were true sisters. But when it was decided that Lucy +was to go to Kingsbury Crescent the difference was very great. The +two girls, on their father's death, had been taken to the great red +brick house in Queen's Gate, and from thence, three or four days +after the funeral, Lucy was to be transferred to her Aunt Dosett. +Hitherto there had been little between them but weeping for their +father. Now had come the hour of parting. + +The tidings had been communicated to Lucy, and to Lucy alone, by Aunt +Tringle,--"As you are the eldest, dear, we think that you will be +best able to be a comfort to your aunt," said Lady Tringle. + +"I will do the best I can, Aunt Emmeline," said Lucy, declaring to +herself that, in giving such a reason, her aunt was lying basely. + +"I am sure you will. Poor dear Ayala is younger than her cousins, and +will be more subject to them." So in truth was Lucy younger than her +cousins, but of that she said nothing. "I am sure you will agree with +me that it is best that we should have the youngest." + +"Perhaps it is, Aunt Emmeline." + +"Sir Thomas would not have had it any other way," said Lady Tringle, +with a little severity, feeling that Lucy's accord had hardly been +as generous as it should be. But she recovered herself quickly, +remembering how much it was that Ayala was to get, how much that Lucy +was to lose. "But, my dear, we shall see you very often, you know. +It is not so far across the park; and when we do have a few parties +again--" + +"Oh, aunt, I am not thinking of that." + +"Of course not. We can none of us think of it just now. But when +the time does come of course we shall always have you, just as if +you were one of us." Then her aunt gave her a roll of bank-notes, a +little present of twenty-five pounds, to begin the world with, and +told her that the carriage should take her to Kingsbury Crescent +on the following morning. On the whole Lucy behaved well and left +a pleasant impression on her aunt's mind. The difference between +Queen's Gate and Kingsbury Crescent,--between Queen's Gate and +Kingsbury Crescent for life,--was indeed great! + +"I wish it were you, with all my heart," said Ayala, clinging to her +sister. + +"It could not have been me." + +"Why not!" + +"Because you are so pretty and you are so clever." + +"No!" + +"Yes! If we were to be separated of course it would be so. Do not +suppose, dear, that I am disappointed." + +"I am." + +"If I can only like Aunt Margaret,"--Aunt Margaret was Mrs. Dosett, +with whom neither of the girls had hitherto become intimate, and who +was known to be quiet, domestic, and economical, but who had also +been spoken of as having a will of her own,--"I shall do better with +her than you would, Ayala." + +"I don't see why." + +"Because I can remain quiet longer than you. It will be very quiet. +I wonder how we shall see each other! I cannot walk across the park +alone." + +"Uncle Reg will bring you." + +"Not often, I fear. Uncle Reg has enough to do with his office." + +"You can come in a cab." + +"Cabs cost money, Ayey dear." + +"But Uncle Thomas--" + +"We had better understand one or two things, Ayala. Uncle Thomas will +pay everything for you, and as he is very rich things will come as +they are wanted. There will be cabs, and if not cabs, carriages. +Uncle Reg must pay for me, and he is very very kind to do so. But +as he is not rich, there will be no carriages, and not a great many +cabs. It is best to understand it all." + +"But they will send for you." + +"That's as they please. I don't think they will very often. I would +not for the world put you against Uncle Thomas, but I have a feeling +that I shall never get on with him. But you will never separate +yourself from me, Ayala!" + +"Separate myself!" + +"You will not--not be my sister because you will be one of these rich +ones?" + +"Oh, I wish,--I wish that I were to be the poor one. I'm sure I +should like it best. I never cared about being rich. Oh, Lucy, can't +we make them change?" + +"No, Ayey, my own, we can't make them change. And if we could, we +wouldn't. It is altogether best that you should be a rich Tringle and +that I should be a poor Dosett." + +"I will always be a Dormer," said Ayala, proudly. + +"And I will always be so too, my pet. But you should be a bright +Dormer among the Tringles, and I will be a dull Dormer among the +Dosetts. I shall begrudge nothing, if only we can see each other." + +So the two girls were parted, the elder being taken away to Kingsbury +Crescent and the latter remaining with her rich relations at Queen's +Gate. Ayala had not probably realized the great difference of their +future positions. To her the attractions of wealth and the privations +of comparative poverty had not made themselves as yet palpably plain. +They do not become so manifest to those to whom the wealth falls,--at +any rate, not in early life,--as to the opposite party. If the other +lot had fallen to Ayala she might have felt it more keenly. + +Lucy felt it keenly enough. Without any longing after the +magnificence of the Tringle mansion she knew how great was the fall +from her father's well-assorted luxuries and prettinesses down to the +plain walls, tables, and chairs of her Uncle Dosett's house. Her aunt +did not subscribe to Mudie's. The old piano had not been tuned for +the last ten years. The parlour-maid was a cross old woman. Her aunt +always sat in the dining-room through the greater part of the day, +and of all rooms the dining-room in Kingsbury Crescent was the +dingiest. Lucy understood very well to what she was going. Her father +and mother were gone. Her sister was divided from her. Her life +offered for the future nothing to her. But with it all she carried a +good courage. There was present to her an idea of great misfortune; +but present to her at the same time an idea also that she would do +her duty. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LUCY WITH HER AUNT DOSETT. + + +For some days Lucy found herself to be absolutely crushed,--in the +first place, by a strong resolution to do some disagreeable duty, +and then by a feeling that there was no duty the doing of which was +within her reach. It seemed to her that her whole life was a blank. +Her father's house had been a small affair and considered to be poor +when compared with the Tringle mansion, but she now became aware that +everything there had in truth abounded. In one little room there +had been two or three hundred beautifully bound books. That Mudie's +unnumbered volumes should come into the house as they were wanted +had almost been as much a provision of nature as water, gas, and hot +rolls for breakfast. A piano of the best kind, and always in order, +had been a first necessary of life, and, like other necessaries, of +course, forthcoming. There had been the little room in which the +girls painted, joining their father's studio and sharing its light, +surrounded by every pretty female appliance. Then there had always +been visitors. The artists from Kensington had been wont to gather +there, and the artists' daughters, and perhaps the artists' sons. +Every day had had its round of delights,--its round of occupations, +as the girls would call them. There had been some reading, some +painting, some music,--perhaps a little needlework and a great deal +of talking. + +How little do we know how other people live in the houses close to +us! We see the houses looking like our own, and we see the people +come out of them looking like ourselves. But a Chinaman is not more +different from the English John Bull than is No. 10 from No. 11. +Here there are books, paintings, music, wine, a little dilettanti +getting-up of subjects of the day, a little dilettanti thinking on +great affairs, perhaps a little dilettanti religion; few domestic +laws, and those easily broken; few domestic duties, and those easily +evaded; breakfast when you will, with dinner almost as little +binding, with much company and acknowledged aptitude for idle luxury. +That is life at No. 10. At No. 11 everything is cased in iron. There +shall be equal plenty, but at No. 11 even plenty is a bondage. Duty +rules everything, and it has come to be acknowledged that duty is to +be hard. So many hours of needlework, so many hours of books, so many +hours of prayer! That all the household shall shiver before daylight, +is a law, the breach of which by any member either augurs sickness or +requires condign punishment. To be comfortable is a sin; to laugh is +almost equal to bad language. Such and so various is life at No. 10 +and at No. 11. + +From one extremity, as far removed, to another poor Lucy had been +conveyed; though all the laws were not exactly carried out in +Kingsbury Crescent as they have been described at No. 11. The +enforced prayers were not there, nor the early hours. It was simply +necessary that Lucy should be down to breakfast at nine, and had +she not appeared nothing violent would have been said. But it was +required of her that she should endure a life which was altogether +without adornment. Uncle Dosett himself, as a clerk in the Admiralty, +had a certain position in the world which was sufficiently maintained +by decent apparel, a well-kept, slight, grey whisker, and an umbrella +which seemed never to have been violated by use. Dosett was popular +at his office, and was regarded by his brother clerks as a friend. +But no one was acquainted with his house and home. They did not +dine with him, nor he with them. There are such men in all public +offices,--not the less respected because of the quiescence of their +lives. It was known of him that he had burdens, though it was not +known what his burdens were. His friends, therefore, were intimate +with him as far as the entrance into Somerset House,--where his +duties lay,--and not beyond it. Lucy was destined to know the other +side of his affairs, the domestic side, which was as quiet as the +official side. The link between them, which consisted of a journey by +the Underground Railway to the Temple Station, and a walk home along +the Embankment and across the parks and Kensington Gardens, was the +pleasantest part of Dosett's life. + +Mr. Dosett's salary has been said to be £900 per annum. What a fund +of comfort there is in the word! When the youth of nineteen enters +an office how far beyond want would he think himself should he ever +reach the pecuniary paradise of £900 a-year! How he would see all his +friends, and in return be seen of them! But when the income has been +achieved its capabilities are found to be by no means endless. And +Dosett in the earlier spheres of his married life had unfortunately +anticipated something of such comforts. For a year or two he had +spent a little money imprudently. Something which he had expected +had not come to him; and, as a result, he had been forced to +borrow, and to insure his life for the amount borrowed. Then, +too, when that misfortune as to the money came,--came from the +non-realization of certain claims which his wife had been supposed +to possess,--provision had also to be made for her. In this way an +assurance office eat up a large fraction of his income, and left him +with means which in truth were very straitened. Dosett at once gave +up all glories of social life, settled himself in Kingsbury Crescent, +and resolved to satisfy himself with his walk across the park and +his frugal dinner afterwards. He never complained to any one, nor +did his wife. He was a man small enough to be contented with a thin +existence, but far too great to ask any one to help him to widen it. +Sir Thomas Tringle never heard of that £175 paid annually to the +assurance office, nor had Lady Tringle, Dosett's sister, even heard +of it. When it was suggested to him that he should take one of the +Dormer girls, he consented to take her and said nothing of the +assurance office. + +Mrs. Dosett had had her great blow in life, and had suffered more +perhaps than her husband. This money had been expected. There had +been no doubt of the money,--at any rate on her part. It did not +depend on an old gentleman with or without good intentions, but +simply on his death. There was to be ever so much of it, four or five +hundred a-year, which would last for ever. When the old gentleman +died, which took place some ten years after Dosett's marriage, it +was found that the money, tied tight as it had been by half-a-dozen +lawyers, had in some fashion vanished. Whither it had gone is little +to our purpose, but it had gone. Then there came a great crash upon +the Dosetts, which she for a while had been hardly able to endure. + +But when she had collected herself together after the crash, and +had made up her mind, as had Dosett also, to the nature of the life +which they must in future lead, she became more stringent in it even +than he. He could bear and say nothing; but she, in bearing, found +herself compelled to say much. It had been her fault,--the fault of +people on her side,--and she would fain have fed her husband with +the full flowery potato while she ate only the rind. She told him, +unnecessarily, over and over again, that she had ruined him by her +marriage. No such idea was ever in his head. The thing had come, and +so it must be. There was food to eat, potatoes enough for both, and a +genteel house in which to live. He could still be happy if she would +not groan. A certain amount of groaning she did postpone while in his +presence. The sewing of seams, and the darning of household linen, +which in his eyes amounted to groaning, was done in his absence. +After their genteel dinner he would sleep a little, and she would +knit. He would have his glass of wine, but would make his bottle of +port last almost for a week. This was the house to which Lucy Dormer +was brought when Mr. Dosett had consented to share with Sir Thomas +the burden left by the death of the improvident artist. + +When a month passed by Lucy began to think that time itself would +almost drive her mad. Her father had died early in September. The +Tringles had then, of course, been out of town, but Sir Thomas +and his wife had found themselves compelled to come up on such an +occasion. Something they knew must be done about the girls, and they +had not chosen that that something should be done in their absence. +Mr. Dosett was also enjoying his official leave of absence for +the year, but was enjoying it within the economical precincts of +Kingsbury Crescent. There was but seldom now an excursion for him or +his wife to the joys of the country. Once, some years ago, they had +paid a visit to the palatial luxuries of Glenbogie, but the delights +of the place had not paid for the expense of the long journey. They, +therefore, had been at hand to undertake their duties. Dosett and +Tringle, with a score of artists, had followed poor Dormer to his +grave in Kensal Green, and then Dosett and Tringle had parted again, +probably not to see each other for another term of years. + +"My dear, what do you like to do with your time?" Mrs. Dosett said to +her niece, after the first week. At this time Lucy's wardrobe was not +yet of a nature to need much work over its ravages. The Dormer girls +had hardly known where their frocks had come from when they wanted +frocks,--hardly with more precision than the Tringle girls. Frocks +had come--dark, gloomy frocks, lately, alas! And these, too, had now +come a second time. Let creditors be ever so unsatisfied, new raiment +will always be found for mourning families. Everything about Lucy was +nearly new. The need of repairing would come upon her by degrees, but +it had not come as yet. Therefore there had seemed, to the anxious +aunt, to be a necessity for some such question as the above. + +"I'll do anything you like, aunt," said Lucy. + +"It is not for me, my dear. I get through a deal of work, and am +obliged to do so." She was, at this time, sitting with a sheet in her +lap, which she was turning. Lucy had, indeed, once offered to assist, +but her assistance had been rejected. This had been two days since, +and she had not renewed the proposal as she should have done. This +had been mainly from bashfulness. Though the work would certainly be +distasteful to her, she would do it. But she had not liked to seem to +interfere, not having as yet fallen into ways of intimacy with her +aunt. "I don't want to burden you with my task-work," continued Mrs. +Dosett, "but I am afraid you seem to be listless." + +"I was reading till just before you spoke," said Lucy, again turning +her eyes to the little volume of poetry, which was one of the few +treasures which she had brought away with her from her old home. + +"Reading is very well, but I do not like it as an excuse, Lucy." +Lucy's anger boiled within her when she was told of an excuse, and +she declared to herself that she could never like her aunt. "I am +quite sure that for young girls, as well as for old women, there +must be a great deal of waste time unless there be needle and thread +always about. And I know, too, unless ladies are well off, they +cannot afford to waste time any more than gentlemen." + +In the whole course of her life nothing so much like scolding as +this had ever been addressed to her. So at least thought Lucy at +that moment. Mrs. Dosett had intended the remarks all in good part, +thinking them to be simply fitting from an aunt to a niece. It was +her duty to give advice, and for the giving of such advice some day +must be taken as the beginning. She had purposely allowed a week to +run by, and now she had spoken her word,--as she thought in good +season. + +To Lucy it was a new and most bitter experience. Though she was +reading the "Idylls of the King," or pretending to read them, she +was, in truth, thinking of all that had gone from her. Her mind had, +at that moment, been intent upon her mother, who, in all respects, +had been so different from this careful, sheet-darning housewife of a +woman. And in thinking of her mother there had no doubt been regrets +for many things of which she would not have ventured to speak as +sharing her thoughts with the memory of her mother, but which were +nevertheless there to add darkness to the retrospective. Everything +behind had been so bright, and everything behind had gone away from +her! Everything before was so gloomy, and everything before must last +for so long! After her aunt's lecture about wasted time Lucy sat +silent for a few minutes, and then burst into uncontrolled tears. + +"I did not mean to vex you," said her aunt. + +"I was thinking of my--darling, darling mamma," sobbed Lucy. + +"Of course, Lucy, you will think of her. How should you not? And of +your father. Those are sorrows which must be borne. But sorrows such +as those are much lighter to the busy than to the idle. I sometimes +think that the labourers grieve less for those they love than we do +just because they have not time to grieve." + +"I wish I were a labourer then," said Lucy, through her tears. + +"You may be if you will. The sooner you begin to be a labourer the +better for yourself and for those about you." + +That Aunt Dosett's voice was harsh was not her fault,--nor that in +the obduracy of her daily life she had lost much of her original +softness. She had simply meant to be useful, and to do her duty; but +in telling Lucy that it would be better that the labouring should be +commenced at once for the sake of "those about you,"--who could only +be Aunt Dosett herself,--she had seemed to the girl to be harsh, +selfish, and almost unnatural. The volume of poetry fell from her +hand, and she jumped up from the chair quickly. "Give it me at once," +she said, taking hold of the sheet,--which was not itself a pleasant +object; Lucy had never seen such a thing at the bijou. "Give it me at +once," she said, and clawed the long folds of linen nearly out of her +aunt's lap. + +"I did not mean anything of the kind," said Aunt Dosett. "You should +not take me up in that way. I am speaking only for your good, because +I know that you should not dawdle away your existence. Leave the +sheet." + +Lucy did leave the sheet, and then, sobbing violently, ran out of the +room up to her own chamber. Mrs. Dosett determined that she would +not follow her. She partly forgave the girl because of her sorrows, +partly reminded herself that she was not soft and facile as had been +her sister-in-law, Lucy's mother; and then, as she continued her +work, she assured herself that it would be best to let her niece +have her cry out upstairs. Lucy's violence had astonished her for a +moment, but she had taught herself to think it best to allow such +little ebullitions to pass off by themselves. + +Lucy, when she was alone, flung herself upon her bed in absolute +agony. She thought that she had misbehaved, and yet how cruel,--how +harsh had been her aunt's words! If she, the quiet one, had +misbehaved, what would Ayala have done? And how was she to find +strength with which to look forward to the future? She struggled hard +with herself for a resolution. Should she determine that she would +henceforward darn sheets morning, noon, and night till she worked +her fingers to the bone? Perhaps there had been something of truth +in that assertion of her aunt's that the labourers have no time to +grieve. As everything else was shut out from her, it might be well +for her to darn sheets. Should she rush down penitent and beg her +aunt to allow her to commence at once? + +She would have done it as far as the sheets were concerned, but she +could not do it as regarded her aunt. She could put herself into +unison with the crumpled soiled linen, but not with the hard woman. + +Oh, how terrible was the change! Her father and her mother who had +been so gentle to her! All the sweet prettinesses of her life! All +her occupations, all her friends, all her delights! Even Ayala +was gone from her! How was she to bear it? She begrudged Ayala +nothing,--no, nothing. But yet it was hard! Ayala was to have +everything. Aunt Emmeline,--though they had not hitherto been very +fond of Aunt Emmeline,--was sweetness itself as compared with this +woman. "The sooner you begin to labour the better for yourself and +those about you." Would it not have been fitter that she should have +been sent at once to some actual poor-house in which there would have +been no mistake as to her position? + +That it should all have been decided for her, for her and Ayala, not +by any will of their own, not by any concert between themselves, but +simply by the fantasy of another! Why should she thus be made a slave +to the fantasy of any one! Let Ayala have her uncle's wealth and her +aunt's palaces at her command, and she would walk out simply a pauper +into the world,--into some workhouse, so that at least she need not +be obedient to the harsh voice and the odious common sense of her +Aunt Dosett! But how should she take herself to some workhouse? In +what way could she prove her right to be admitted even then? It +seemed to her that the same decree which had admitted Ayala into the +golden halls of the fairies had doomed her not only to poverty, but +to slavery. There was no escape for her from her aunt and her aunt's +sermons. "Oh, Ayala, my darling,--my own one; oh, Ayala, if you did +but know!" she said to herself. What would Ayala think, how would +Ayala bear it, could she but guess by what a gulf was her heaven +divided from her sister's hell! "I will never tell her," she said to +herself. "I will die, and she shall never know." + +As she lay there sobbing all the gilded things of the world were +beautiful in her eyes. Alas, yes, it was true. The magnificence of +the mansion at Queen's Gate, the glories of Glenbogie, the closely +studied comforts of Merle Park, as the place in Sussex was called, +all the carriages and horses, Madame Tonsonville and all the +draperies, the seats at the Albert Hall into which she had been +accustomed to go with as much ease as into her bed-room, the box at +the opera, the pretty furniture, the frequent gems, even the raiment +which would make her pleasing to the eyes of men whom she would like +to please--all these things grew in her eyes and became beautiful. +No. 3, Kingsbury Crescent, was surely, of all places on the earth's +surface, the most ugly. And yet,--yet she had endeavoured to do her +duty. "If it had been the workhouse I could have borne it," she said +to herself; "but not to be the slave of my Aunt Dosett!" Again she +appealed to her sister, "Oh, Ayala, if you did but know it!" Then she +remembered herself, declaring that it might have been worse to Ayala +than even to her. "If one had to bear it, it was better for me," she +said, as she struggled to prepare herself for her uncle's dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LUCY'S TROUBLES. + + +The evening after the affair with the sheet went off quietly, as did +many days and many evenings. Mrs. Dosett was wise enough to forget +the little violence and to forget also the feeling which had been +displayed. When Lucy first asked for some household needlework, which +she did with a faltering voice and shame-faced remembrance of her +fault, her aunt took it all in good part and gave her a task somewhat +lighter as a beginning than the handling of a sheet. Lucy sat at it +and suffered. She went on sitting and suffering. She told herself +that she was a martyr at every stitch she made. As she occupied the +seat opposite to her aunt's accustomed chair she would hardly speak +at all, but would keep her mind always intent on Ayala and the joys +of Ayala's life. That they who had been born together, sisters, with +equal fortunes, who had so closely lived together, should be sundered +so utterly one from the other; that the one should be so exalted and +the other so debased! And why? What justice had there been? Could it +be from heaven or even from earth that the law had gone forth for +such a division of the things of the world between them? + +"You have got very little to say to a person?" said Aunt Dosett, one +morning. This, too, was a reproach. This, too, was scolding. And yet +Aunt Dosett had intended to be as pleasant as she knew how. + +"I have very little to say," replied Lucy, with repressed anger. + +"But why?" + +"Because I am stupid," said Lucy. "Stupid people can't talk. You +should have had Ayala." + +"I hope you do not envy Ayala her fortune, Lucy?" A woman with any +tact would not have asked such a question at such a time. She should +have felt that a touch of such irony might be natural, and that +unless it were expressed loudly, or shown actively, it might be left +to be suppressed by affection and time. But she, as she had grown +old, had taught herself to bear disappointment, and thought it wise +to teach Lucy to do the same. + +"Envy!" said Lucy, not passionately, but after a little pause for +thought. "I sometimes think it is very hard to know what envy is." + +"Envy, hatred, and malice," said Mrs. Dosett, hardly knowing what she +meant by the use of the well-worn words. + +"I do know what hatred and malice are," said Lucy. "Do you think I +hate Ayala?" + +"I am sure you do not." + +"Or that I bear her malice?" + +"Certainly not." + +"If I had the power to take anything from her, would I do it? I love +Ayala with my whole heart. Whatever be my misery I would rather bear +it than let Ayala have even a share of it. Whatever good things she +may have I would not rob her even of a part of them. If there be joy +and sorrow to be divided between us I would wish to have the sorrow +so that she might have the joy. That is not hatred and malice." Mrs. +Dosett looked at her over her spectacles. This was the girl who had +declared that she could not speak because she was too stupid! "But, +when you ask me whether I envy her, I hardly know," continued Lucy. +"I think one does covet one's neighbour's house, in spite of the +tenth commandment, even though one does not want to steal it." + +Mrs. Dosett repented herself that she had given rise to any +conversation at all. Silence, absolute silence, the old silence which +she had known for a dozen years before Lucy had come to her, would +have been better than this. She was very angry, more angry than she +had ever yet been with Lucy; and yet she was afraid to show her +anger. Was this the girl's gratitude for all that her uncle was doing +for her,--for shelter, food, comfort, for all that she had in the +world? Mrs. Dosett knew, though Lucy did not, of the little increased +pinchings which had been made necessary by the advent of another +inmate in the house; so many pounds of the meat in the week, and so +much bread, and so much tea and sugar! It had all been calculated. +In genteel houses such calculation must often be made. And when by +degrees,--degrees very quick,--the garments should become worn which +Lucy had brought with her, there must be something taken from the +tight-fitting income for that need. Arrangements had already been +made of which Lucy knew nothing, and already the two glasses of port +wine a day had been knocked off from poor Mr. Dosett's comforts. His +wife had sobbed in despair when he had said that it should be so. He +had declared gin and water to be as supporting as port wine, and the +thing had been done. Lucy inwardly had been disgusted by the gin and +water, knowing nothing of its history. Her father, who had not always +been punctual in paying his wine-merchant's bills, would not have +touched gin and water, would not have allowed it to contaminate his +table! Everything in Mr. Dosett's house was paid for weekly. + +And now Lucy, who had been made welcome to all that the genteel house +could afford, who had been taken in as a child, had spoken of her +lot as one which was all sorrowful. Bad as it is,--this living in +Kingsbury Crescent,--I would rather bear it myself than subject Ayala +to such misery! It was thus that she had, in fact, spoken of her new +home when she had found it necessary to defend her feelings towards +her sister. It was impossible that her aunt should be altogether +silent under such treatment. "We have done the best for you that is +in our power, Lucy," she said, with a whole load of reproach in her +tone. + +"Have I complained, aunt?" + +"I thought you did." + +"Oh, no! You asked me whether I envied Ayala. What was I to say? +Perhaps I should have said nothing, but the idea of envying Ayala was +painful to me. Of course she--" + +"Well?" + +"I had better say nothing more, aunt. If I were to pretend to be +cheerful I should be false. It is as yet only a few weeks since papa +died." Then the work went on in silence between them for the next +hour. + +And the work went on in solemn silence between them through the +winter. It came to pass that the sole excitement of Lucy's life +came from Ayala's letters,--the sole excitement except a meeting +which took place between the sisters one day. When Lucy was taken to +Kingsbury Crescent Ayala was at once carried down to Glenbogie, and +from thence there came letters twice a week for six weeks. Ayala's +letters, too, were full of sorrow. She, too, had lost her mother, +her father, and her sister. Moreover, in her foolish petulance she +said things of her Aunt Emmeline, and of the girls, and of Sir +Thomas, which ought not to have been written of those who were +kind to her. Her cousin Tom, too, she ridiculed,--Tom Tringle, the +son-and-heir,--saying that he was a lout who endeavoured to make eyes +at her. Oh, how distasteful, how vulgar they were after all that +she had known. Perhaps the eldest girl, Augusta, was the worst. She +did not think that she could put up with the assumed authority of +Augusta. Gertrude was better, but a simpleton. Ayala declared herself +to be sad at heart. But then the sweet scenery of Glenbogie, and the +colour of the moors, and the glorious heights of Ben Alchan, made +some amends. Even in her sorrow she would rave about the beauties of +Glenbogie. Lucy, as she read the letters, told herself that Ayala's +grief was a grief to be borne, a grief almost to be enjoyed. To sit +and be sad with a stream purling by you, how different from the +sadness of that dining-room in the Crescent. To look out upon the +glories of a mountain, while a tear would now and again force itself +into the eye, how much less bitter than the falling of salt drops +over a tattered towel. + +Lucy, in her answers, endeavoured to repress the groans of her +spirit. In the first place she did acknowledge that it did not become +her to speak ill of those who were, in truth, her benefactors; and +then she was anxious not to declare to Ayala her feeling of the +injustice by which their two lots had been defined to them. Though +she had failed to control herself once or twice in speaking to her +aunt she did control herself in writing her letters. She would never, +never, write a word which should make Ayala unnecessarily unhappy. On +that she was determined. She would say nothing to explain to Ayala +the unutterable tedium of that downstairs parlour in which they +passed their lives, lest Ayala should feel herself to be wounded by +the luxurious comforts around her. + +It was thus she wrote. Then there came a time in which they were to +meet,--just at the beginning of November. The Tringles were going to +Rome. They generally did go somewhere. Glenbogie, Merle Park, and the +house in Queen's Gate, were not enough for the year. Sir Thomas was +to take them to Rome, and then return to London for the manipulation +of the millions in Lombard Street. He generally did remain nine +months out of the twelve in town, because of the millions, making his +visits at Merle Park very short; but Lady Tringle found that change +of air was good for the girls. It was her intention now to remain at +Rome for two or three months. + +The party from Scotland reached Queen's Gate late one Saturday +evening, and intended to start early on the Monday. To Ayala, who had +made it quite a matter of course that she should see her sister, Lady +Tringle had said that in that case a carriage must be sent across. +It was awkward, because there were no carriages in London. She had +thought that they had all intended to pass through London just as +though they were not stopping. Sunday, she had thought, was not to +be regarded as being a day at all. Then Ayala flashed up. She had +flashed up some times before. Was it supposed that she was not going +to see Lucy? Carriage! She would walk across Kensington Gardens, and +find the house out all by herself. She would spend the whole day with +Lucy, and come back alone in a cab. She was strong enough, at any +rate, to have her way so far, that a carriage, wherever it came from, +was sent for Lucy about three in the afternoon, and did take her back +to Kingsbury Crescent after dinner. + +Then at last the sisters were together in Ayala's bed-room. "And now +tell me about everything," said Ayala. + +But Lucy was resolved that she would not tell anything. "I am so +wretched!" That would have been all; but she would not tell her +wretchedness. "We are so quiet in Kingsbury Crescent," she said; "you +have so much more to talk of." + +"Oh, Lucy, I do not like it." + +"Not your aunt?" + +"She is not the worst, though she sometimes is hard to bear. I +can't tell you what it is, but they all seem to think so much of +themselves. In the first place they never will say a word about +papa." + +"Perhaps that is from feeling, Ayey." + +"No, it is not. One would know that. But they look down upon papa, +who had more in his little finger than they have with all their +money." + +"Then I should hold my tongue." + +"So I do,--about him; but it is very hard. And then Augusta has a way +with me, as though she had a right to order me. I certainly will not +be ordered by Augusta. You never ordered me." + +"Dear Ayey!" + +"Augusta is older than you,--of course, ever so much. They make her +out twenty-three at her last birthday, but she is twenty-four. But +that is not difference enough for ordering,--certainly between +cousins. I do hate Augusta." + +"I would not hate her." + +"How is one to help one's-self? She has a way of whispering to +Gertrude, and to her mother, when I am there, which almost kills me. +'If you'll only give me notice I'll go out of the room at once,' I +said the other day, and they were all so angry." + +"I would not make them angry if I were you, Ayey." + +"Why not?" + +"Not Sir Thomas, or Aunt Emmeline." + +"I don't care a bit for Sir Thomas. I am not sure but he is the most +good-natured, though he is so podgy. Of course, when Aunt Emmeline +tells me anything I do it." + +"It is so important that you should be on good terms with them." + +"I don't see it at all," said Ayala, flashing round. + +"Aunt Emmeline can do so much for you. We have nothing of our +own,--you and I." + +"Am I to sell myself because they have got money! No, indeed! No one +despises money so much as I do. I will never be other to them than if +I had the money, and they were the poor relations." + +"That will not do, Ayey." + +"I will make it do. They may turn me out if they like. Of course, I +know that I should obey my aunt, and so I will. If Sir Thomas told +me anything I should do it. But not Augusta." Then, while Lucy was +thinking how she might best put into soft words advice which was so +clearly needed, Ayala declared another trouble. "But there is worse +still." + +"What is that?" + +"Tom!" + +"What does Tom do?" + +"You know Tom, Lucy?" + +"I have seen him." + +"Of all the horrors he is the horridest." + +"Does he order you about?" + +"No; but he--" + +"What is it, Ayey?" + +"Oh! Lucy, he is so dreadful. He--" + +"You don't mean that he makes love to you?" + +"He does. What am I to do, Lucy?" + +"Do they know it?" + +"Augusta does, I'm sure; and pretends to think that it is my fault. +I am sure that there will be a terrible quarrel some day. I told him +the day before we left Glenbogie that I should tell his mother. I did +indeed. Then he grinned. He is such a fool. And when I laughed he +took it all as kindness. I couldn't have helped laughing if I had +died for it." + +"But he has been left behind." + +"Yes, for the present. But he is to come over to us some time after +Christmas, when Uncle Tringle has gone back." + +"A girl need not be bothered by a lover unless she chooses, Ayey." + +"But it will be such a bother to have to talk about it. He looks at +me, and is such an idiot. Then Augusta frowns. When I see Augusta +frowning I am so angry that I feel like boxing her ears. Do you know, +Lucy, that I often think that it will not do, and that I shall have +to be sent away. I wish it had been you that they had chosen." + +Such was the conversation between the girls. Of what was said +everything appertained to Ayala. Of the very nature of Lucy's life +not a word was spoken. As Ayala was talking Lucy was constantly +thinking of all that might be lost by her sister's imprudence. Even +though Augusta might be disagreeable, even though Tom might be a +bore, it should all be borne,--borne at any rate for a while,--seeing +how terrible would be the alternative. The alternative to Lucy seemed +to be Kingsbury Crescent and Aunt Dosett. It did not occur to her to +think whether in any possible case Ayala would indeed be added to the +Crescent family, or what in that case would become of herself, and +whether they two might live with Aunt Dosett, and whether in that +case life would not be infinitely improved. Ayala had all that money +could do for her, and would have such a look-out into the world from +a wealthy house as might be sure at last to bring her some such +husband as would be desirable. Ayala, in fact, had everything before +her, and Lucy had nothing. Wherefore it became Lucy's duty to warn +Ayala, so that she should bear with much, and throw away nothing. If +Ayala could only know what life might be, what life was at Kingsbury +Crescent, then she would be patient, then she would softly make a +confidence with her aunt as to Tom's folly, then she would propitiate +Augusta. Not care for money! Ayala had not yet lived in an ugly room +and darned sheets all the morning. Ayala had never sat for two hours +between the slumbers of Uncle Dosett and the knitting of Aunt Dosett. +Ayala had not been brought into contact with gin and water. + +"Oh, Ayala!" she said, as they were going down to dinner together, +"do struggle; do bear it. Tell Aunt Emmeline. She will like you to +tell her. If Augusta wants you to go anywhere, do go. What does it +signify? Papa and mamma are gone, and we are alone." All this she +said without a word of allusion to her own sufferings. Ayala made a +half promise. She did not think she would go anywhere for Augusta's +telling; but she would do her best to satisfy Aunt Emmeline. Then +they went to dinner, and after dinner Lucy was taken home without +further words between them. + +Ayala wrote long letters on her journey, full of what she saw, and +full of her companions. From Paris she wrote, and then from Turin, +and then again on their immediate arrival at Rome. Her letters were +most imprudent as written from the close vicinity of her aunt and +cousin. It was such a comfort that that oaf Tom had been left behind. +Uncle Tringle was angry because he did not get what he liked to eat. +Aunt Emmeline gave that courier such a terrible life, sending for him +every quarter of an hour. Augusta would talk first French and then +Italian, of which no one could understand a word. Gertrude was so +sick with travelling that she was as pale as a sheet. Nobody seemed +to care for anything. She could not get her aunt to look at the +Campanile at Florence, or her cousins to know one picture from +another. "As for pictures, I am quite sure that Mangle's angels would +do as well as Raffael's." Mangle was a brother academician whom their +father had taught them to despise. There was contempt, most foolish +contempt, for all the Tringles; but, luckily, there had been no +quarrelling. Then it seemed that both in Paris and in Florence Ayala +had bought pretty things, from which it was to be argued that her +uncle had provided her liberally with money. One pretty thing had +been sent from Paris to Lucy, which could not have been bought for +less than many franks. It would not be fair that Ayala should take so +much without giving something in return. + +Lucy knew that she too should give something in return. Though +Kingsbury Crescent was not attractive, though Aunt Dosett was not to +her a pleasant companion, she had begun to realise the fact that it +behoved her to be grateful, if only for the food she ate, and for the +bed on which she slept. As she thought of all that Ayala owed she +remembered also her own debts. As the winter went on she struggled to +pay them. But Aunt Dosett was a lady not much given to vacillation. +She had become aware at first that Lucy had been rough to her, and +she did not easily open herself to Lucy's endearments. Lucy's life at +Kingsbury Crescent had begun badly, and Lucy, though she understood +much about it, found it hard to turn a bad beginning to a good +result. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ISADORE HAMEL. + + +It was suggested to Lucy before she had been long in Kingsbury +Crescent that she should take some exercise. For the first week she +had hardly been out of the house; but this was attributed to her +sorrow. Then she had accompanied her aunt for a few days during the +half-hour's marketing which took place every morning, but in this +there had been no sympathy. Lucy would not interest herself in +the shoulder of mutton which must be of just such a weight as to +last conveniently for two days,--twelve pounds,--of which, it was +explained to her, more than one-half was intended for the two +servants, because there was always a more lavish consumption in the +kitchen than in the parlour. Lucy would not appreciate the fact that +eggs at a penny a piece, whatever they might be, must be used for +puddings, as eggs with even a reputation of freshness cost twopence. +Aunt Dosett, beyond this, never left the house on week-days except +for a few calls which were made perhaps once a month, on which +occasion the Sunday gloves and the Sunday silk dress were used. On +Sunday they all went to church. But this was not enough for exercise, +and as Lucy was becoming pale she was recommended to take to walking +in Kensington Gardens. + +It is generally understood that there are raging lions about the +metropolis, who would certainly eat up young ladies whole if young +ladies were to walk about the streets or even about the parks by +themselves. There is, however, beginning to be some vacillation as +to the received belief on this subject as regards London. In large +continental towns, such as Paris and Vienna, young ladies would be +devoured certainly. Such, at least, is the creed. In New York and +Washington there are supposed to be no lions, so that young ladies +go about free as air. In London there is a rising doubt, under which +before long, probably, the lions will succumb altogether. Mrs. Dosett +did believe somewhat in lions, but she believed also in exercise. And +she was aware that the lions eat up chiefly rich people. Young ladies +who must go about without mothers, brothers, uncles, carriages, or +attendants of any sort, are not often eaten or even roared at. It +is the dainty darlings for whom the roarings have to be feared. Mrs. +Dosett, aware that daintiness was no longer within the reach of her +and hers, did assent to these walkings in Kensington Gardens. At some +hour in the afternoon Lucy would walk from the house by herself, and +within a quarter of an hour would find herself on the broad gravel +path which leads down to the Round Pond. From thence she would go by +the back of the Albert Memorial, and then across by the Serpentine +and return to the same gate, never leaving Kensington Gardens. Aunt +Dosett had expressed some old-fashioned idea that lions were more +likely to roar in Hyde Park than within the comparatively retired +purlieus of Kensington. + +Now the reader must be taken back for a few moments to the bijou, as +the bijou was before either the artist or his wife had died. In those +days there had been a frequent concourse of people in the artist's +house. Society there had not consisted chiefly of eating and +drinking. Men and women would come in and out as though really for +a purpose of talking. There would be three or four constantly with +Dormer in his studio, helping him but little perhaps in the real +furtherance of his work, though discussing art subjects in a manner +calculated to keep alive art-feeling among them. A novelist or two of +a morning might perhaps aid me in my general pursuit, but would, I +think, interfere with the actual tally of pages. Egbert Dormer did +not turn out from his hand so much work as some men that I know, but +he was overflowing with art up to his ears;--and with tobacco, so +that, upon the whole, the bijou was a pleasant rendezvous. + +There had come there of late, quite of late, a young sculptor, named +Isadore Hamel. Hamel was an Englishman, who, however, had been +carried very early to Rome and had been bred there. Of his mother +question never was made, but his father had been well known as an +English sculptor resident at Rome. The elder Hamel had been a man of +mark, who had a fine suite of rooms in the city and a villa on one +of the lakes, but who never came to England. English connections +were, he said, to him abominable, by which he perhaps meant that the +restrictions of decent life were not to his taste. But his busts +came, and his groups in marble, and now and again some great work for +some public decoration: so that money was plentiful with him, and +he was a man of note. It must be acknowledged of him that he spared +nothing in bringing up his son, giving him such education as might +best suit his future career as an artist, and that money was always +forthcoming for the lad's wants and fantasies. + +Then young Hamel also became a sculptor of much promise; but early in +life differed from his father on certain subjects of importance. The +father was wedded to Rome and to Italy. Isadore gradually expressed +an opinion that the nearer a man was to his market the better for +him, that all that art could do for a man in Rome was as nothing +to the position which a great artist might make for himself in +London,--that, in fact, an Englishman had better be an Englishman. At +twenty-six he succeeded in his attempt, and became known as a young +sculptor with a workshop at Brompton. He became known to many both +by his work and his acquirements; but it may not be surprising that +after a year he was still unable to live, as he had been taught to +live, without drawing upon his father. Then his father threw his +failure in his teeth, not refusing him money indeed, but making the +receipt of it unpleasant to him. + +At no house had Isadore Hamel been made so welcome as at Dormer's. +There was a sympathy between them both on that great question of +art, whether to an artist his art should be a matter to him of more +importance than all the world besides. So said Dormer,--who simply +died because his wife died, who could not have touched his brush if +one of his girls had been suffering, who, with all his genius, was +but a faineant workman. His art more than all the world to him! +No, not to him. Perhaps here and again to some enthusiast, and him +hardly removed from madness! Where is the painter who shall paint a +picture after his soul's longing though he shall get not a penny for +it,--though he shall starve as he put his last touch to it, when he +knows that by drawing some duchess of the day he shall in a fortnight +earn a ducal price? Shall a wife and child be less dear to him than +to a lawyer,--or to a shoemaker; or the very craving of his hunger +less obdurate? A man's self, and what he has within him and his +belongings, with his outlook for this and other worlds,--let that +be the first, and the work, noble or otherwise, be the second. +To be honest is greater than to have painted the San Sisto, or +to have chiselled the Apollo; to have assisted in making others +honest,--infinitely greater. All of which were discussed at great +length at the bijou, and the bijouites always sided with the +master of the house. To an artist, said Dormer, let his art be +everything,--above wife and children, above money, above health, +above even character. Then he would put out his hand with his +jewelled finger, and stretch forth his velvet-clad arm, and soon +after lead his friend away to the little dinner at which no luxury +had been spared. But young Hamel agreed with the sermons, and not the +less because Lucy Dormer had sat by and listened to them with rapt +attention. + +Not a word of love had been spoken to her by the sculptor when her +mother died, but there had been glances and little feelings of which +each was half conscious. It is so hard for a young man to speak of +love, if there be real love,--so impossible that a girl should do so! +Not a word had been spoken, but each had thought that the other must +have known. To Lucy a word had been spoken by her mother,--"Do not +think too much of him till you know," the mother had said,--not +quite prudently. "Oh, no! I will think of him not at all," Lucy had +replied. And she had thought of him day and night. "I wonder why Mr. +Hamel is so different with you?" Ayala had said to her sister. "I am +sure he is not different with me," Lucy had replied. Then Ayala had +shaken her full locks and smiled. + +Things came quickly after that. Mrs. Dormer had sickened and died. +There was no time then for thinking of that handsome brow, of +that short jet black hair, of those eyes so full of fire and +thoughtfulness, of that perfect mouth, and the deep but yet soft +voice. Still even in her sorrow this new god of her idolatry was not +altogether forgotten. It was told to her that he had been summoned +off to Rome by his father, and she wondered whether he was to find +his home at Rome for ever. Then her father was ill, and in his +illness Hamel came to say one word of farewell before he started. + +"You find me crushed to the ground," the painter said. Something the +young man whispered as to the consolation which time would bring. +"Not to me," said Dormer. "It is as though one had lost his eyes. One +cannot see without his eyes." It was true of him. His light had been +put out. + +Then, on the landing at the top of the stairs, there had been one +word between Lucy and the sculptor. "I ought not to have intruded on +you perhaps," he said; "but after so much kindness I could hardly go +without a word." + +"I am sure he will be glad that you have come." + +"And you?" + +"I am glad too,--so that I may say good-bye." Then she put out her +hand, and he held it for a moment as he looked into her eyes. There +was not a word more, but it seemed to Lucy as though there had been +so many words. + +Things went on quickly. Egbert Dormer died, and Lucy was taken away +to Kingsbury Crescent. When once Ayala had spoken about Mr. Hamel, +Lucy had silenced her. Any allusion to the idea of love wounded her, +as though it was too impossible for dreams, too holy for words. How +should there be words about a lover when father and mother were both +dead? He had gone to his old and natural home. He had gone, and of +course he would not return. To Ayala, when she came up to London +early in November, to Ayala, who was going to Rome, where Isadore +Hamel now was, Isadore Hamel's name was not mentioned. But through +the long mornings of her life, through the long evenings, through the +long nights, she still thought of him,--she could not keep herself +from thinking. To a girl whose life is full of delights her lover +need not be so very much,--need not, at least, be everything. +Though he be a lover to be loved at all points, her friends will be +something, her dancing, her horse, her theatre-going, her brothers +and sisters, even her father and mother. But Lucy had nothing. The +vision of Isadore Hamel had passed across her life, and had left with +her the only possession that she had. It need hardly be said that +she never alluded to that possession at Kingsbury Crescent. It was +not a possession from which any enjoyment could come except that of +thinking of it. He had passed away from her, and there was no point +of life at which he could come across her again. There was no longer +that half-joint studio. If it had been her lot to be as was Ayala, +she then would have been taken to Rome. Then again he would have +looked into her eyes and taken her hand in his. Then perhaps--. +But now, even though he were to come back to London, he would know +nothing of her haunts. Even in that case nothing would bring them +together. As the idea was crossing her mind,--as it did cross it +so frequently,--she saw him turning from the path on which she was +walking, making his way towards the steps of the Memorial. + +Though she saw no more than his back she was sure that it was Isadore +Hamel. For a moment there was an impulse on her to run after him and +to call his name. It was then early in January, and she was taking +her daily walk through Kensington Gardens. She had walked there daily +now for the last two months and had never spoken a word or been +addressed,--had never seen a face that she had recognised. It had +seemed to her that she had not an acquaintance in the world except +Uncle Reg and Aunt Dosett. And now, almost within reach of her hand, +was the one being in all the world whom she most longed to see. She +did stand, and the word was formed within her lips; but she could not +speak it. Then came the thought that she would run after him, but the +thought was expelled quickly. Though she might lose him again and for +ever she could not do that. She stood almost gasping till he was out +of sight, and then she passed on upon her usual round. + +She never omitted her walks after that, and always paused a moment +as the path turned away to the Memorial. It was not that she thought +that she might meet him there,--there rather than elsewhere,--but +there is present to us often an idea that when some object has passed +from us that we have desired then it may be seen again. Day after +day, and week after week, she did not see him. During this time there +came letters from Ayala, saying that their return to England was +postponed till the first week in February,--that she would certainly +see Lucy in February,--that she was not going to be hurried through +London in half-an-hour because her aunt wished it; and that she would +do as she pleased as to visiting her sister. Then there was a word +or two about Tom,--"Oh, Tom--that idiot Tom!" And another word or +two about Augusta. "Augusta is worse than ever. We have not spoken +to each other for the last day or two." This came but a day or two +before the intended return of the Tringles. + +No actual day had been fixed. But on the day before that on which +Lucy thought it probable that the Tringles might return to town she +was again walking in the Gardens. Having put two and two together, +as people do, she felt sure that the travellers could not be away +more than a day or two longer. Her mind was much intent upon Ayala, +feeling that the imprudent girl was subjecting herself to great +danger, knowing that it was wrong that she and Augusta should be +together in the house without speaking,--thinking of her sister's +perils,--when, of a sudden, Hamel was close before her! There was no +question of calling to him now,--no question of an attempt to see him +face to face. She had been wandering along the path with eyes fixed +upon the ground, when her name was sharply called, and they two were +close to each other. Hamel had a friend with him, and it seemed to +Lucy at once, that she could only bow to him, only mutter something, +and then pass on. How can a girl stand and speak to a gentleman in +public, especially when that gentleman has a friend with him? She +tried to look pleasant, bowed, smiled, muttered something, and was +passing on. But he was not minded to lose her thus immediately. "Miss +Dormer," he said, "I have seen your sister at Rome. May I not say a +word about her?" + +Why should he not say a word about Ayala? In a minute he had left +his friend, and was walking back along the path with Lucy. There was +not much that he had to say about Ayala. He had seen Ayala and the +Tringles, and did manage to let it escape him that Lady Tringle +had not been very gracious to himself when once, in public, he had +claimed acquaintance with Ayala. But at that he simply smiled. Then +he had asked of Lucy where she lived. "With my uncle, Mr. Dosett," +said Lucy, "at Kingsbury Crescent." Then, when he asked whether he +might call, Lucy, with many blushes, had said that her aunt did not +receive many visitors,--that her uncle's house was different from +what her father's had been. + +"Shall I not see you at all, then?" he asked. + +She did not like to ask him after his own purposes of life, whether +he was now a resident in London, or whether he intended to return to +Rome. She was covered with bashfulness, and dreaded to seem even to +be interested in his affairs. "Oh, yes," she said; "perhaps we may +meet some day." + +"Here?" he asked. + +"Oh, no; not here! It was only an accident." As she said this she +determined that she must walk no more in Kensington Gardens. It would +be dreadful, indeed, were he to imagine that she would consent to +make an appointment with him. It immediately occurred to her that the +lions were about, and that she must shut herself up. + +"I have thought of you every day since I have been back," he said, +"and I did not know where to hear of you. Now that we have met am I +to lose you again!" Lose her! What did he mean by losing her? She, +too, had found a friend,--she who had been so friendless! Would it +not be dreadful to her, also, to lose him? "Is there no place where I +may ask of you?" + +"When Ayala is back, and they are in town, perhaps I shall sometimes +be at Lady Tringle's," said Lucy, resolved that she would not tell +him of her immediate abode. This was, at any rate, a certain address +from where he might commence further inquiries, should he wish to +make inquiry; and as such he accepted it. "I think I had better go +now," said Lucy, trembling at the apparent impropriety of her present +conversation. + +He knew that it was intended that he should leave her, and he went. +"I hope I have not offended you in coming so far." + +"Oh, no." Then again she gave him her hand, and again there was the +same look as he took his leave. + +When she got home, which was before the dusk, having resolved that +she must, at any rate, tell her aunt that she had met a friend, she +found that her uncle had returned from his office. This was a most +unusual occurrence. Her uncle, she knew, left Somerset House exactly +at half-past four, and always took an hour and a quarter for his +walk. She had never seen him in Kingsbury Crescent till a quarter +before six. "I have got letters from Rome," he said, in a solemn +voice. + +"From Ayala?" + +"One from Ayala, for you. It is here. And I have had one from my +sister, also; and one, in the course of the day, from your uncle +in Lombard Street. You had better read them!" There was something +terribly tragic in Uncle Dosett's voice as he spoke. + +And so must the reader read the letters; but they must be delayed for +a few chapters. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AT GLENBOGIE. + + +We must go back to Ayala's life during the autumn and winter. She was +rapidly whirled away to Glenbogie amidst the affectionate welcomings +of her aunt and cousins. All manner of good things were done for her, +as to presents and comforts. Young as she was, she had money given to +her, which was not without attraction; and though she was, of course, +in the depth of her mourning, she was made to understand that even +mourning might be made becoming if no expense were spared. No expense +among the Tringles ever was spared, and at first Ayala liked the +bounty of profusion. But before the end of the first fortnight there +grew upon her a feeling that even bank notes become tawdry if you are +taught to use them as curl-papers. It may be said that nothing in the +world is charming unless it be achieved at some trouble. If it rained +"'64 Leoville,"--which I regard as the most divine of nectars,--I +feel sure that I should never raise it to my lips. Ayala did not +argue the matter out in her mind, but in very early days she began to +entertain a dislike to Tringle magnificence. There had been a good +deal of luxury at the bijou, but always with a feeling that it ought +not to be there,--that more money was being spent than prudence +authorised,--which had certainly added a savour to the luxuries. A +lovely bonnet, is it not more lovely because the destined wearer +knows that there is some wickedness in achieving it? All the bonnets, +all the claret, all the horses, seemed to come at Queen's Gate and at +Glenbogie without any wickedness. There was no more question about +them than as to one's ordinary bread and butter at breakfast. Sir +Thomas had a way,--a merit shall we call it or a fault?--of pouring +out his wealth upon the family as though it were water running in +perpetuity from a mountain tarn. Ayala the romantic, Ayala the +poetic, found very soon that she did not like it. + +Perhaps the only pleasure left to the very rich is that of thinking +of the deprivations of the poor. The bonnets, and the claret, and the +horses, have lost their charm; but the Gladstone, and the old hats, +and the four-wheeled cabs of their neighbours, still have a little +flavour for them. From this source it seemed to Ayala that the +Tringles drew much of the recreation of their lives. Sir Thomas +had his way of enjoying this amusement, but it was a way that did +not specially come beneath Ayala's notice. When she heard that +Break-at-last, the Huddersfield manufacturer, had to sell his +pictures, and that all Shoddy and Stuffgoods' grand doings for +the last two years had only been a flash in the pan, she did not +understand enough about it to feel wounded; but when she heard her +aunt say that people like the Poodles had better not have a place +in Scotland than have to let it, and when Augusta hinted that Lady +Sophia Smallware had pawned her diamonds, then she felt that her +nearest and dearest relatives smelt abominably of money. + +Of all the family Sir Thomas was most persistently the kindest to +her, though he was a man who did not look to be kind. She was pretty, +and though he was ugly himself he liked to look at things pretty. He +was, too, perhaps, a little tired of his own wife and daughters,--who +were indeed what he had made them, but still were not quite to his +taste. In a general way he gave instructions that Ayala should +be treated exactly as a daughter, and he informed his wife that +he intended to add a codicil to his will on her behalf. "Is that +necessary?" asked Lady Tringle, who began to feel something like +natural jealousy. "I suppose I ought to do something for a girl if +I take her by the hand," said Sir Thomas, roughly. "If she gets a +husband I will give her something, and that will do as well." Nothing +more was said about it, but when Sir Thomas went up to town the +codicil was added to his will. + +Ayala was foolish rather than ungrateful, not understanding the +nature of the family to which she was relegated. Before she had been +taken away she had promised Lucy that she would be "obedient" to her +aunt. There had hardly been such a word as obedience known at the +bijou. If any were obedient, it was the mother and the father to the +daughters. Lucy, and Ayala as well, had understood something of this; +and therefore Ayala had promised to be obedient to her aunt. "And to +Uncle Thomas," Lucy had demanded, with an imploring embrace. "Oh, +yes," said Ayala, dreading her uncle at that time. She soon learned +that no obedience whatsoever was exacted from Sir Thomas. She had to +kiss him morning and evening, and then to take whatever presents he +made her. An easy uncle he was to deal with, and she almost learned +to love him. Nor was Aunt Emmeline very exigeant, though she was +fantastic and sometimes disagreeable. But Augusta was the great +difficulty. Lucy had not told her to obey Augusta, and Augusta she +would not obey. Now Augusta demanded obedience. + +"You never ordered me," Ayala had said to Lucy when they met in +London as the Tringles were passing through. At the bijou there had +been a republic, in which all the inhabitants and all the visitors +had been free and equal. Such republicanism had been the very +mainspring of life at the bijou. Ayala loved equality, and she +specially felt that it should exist among sisters. Do anything for +Lucy? Oh, yes, indeed, anything; abandon anything; but for Lucy as a +sister among sisters, not for an elder as from a younger! And if she +were not bound to serve Lucy then certainly not Augusta. But Augusta +liked to be served. On one occasion she sent Ayala upstairs, and on +another she sent Ayala down-stairs. Ayala went, but determined to +be equal with her cousin. On the morning following, in the presence +of Aunt Emmeline and of Gertrude, in the presence also of two other +ladies who were visiting at the house, she asked Augusta if she would +mind running upstairs and fetching her scrap-book! She had been +thinking about it all the night and all the morning, plucking up her +courage. But she had been determined. She found a great difficulty in +saying the words, but she said them. The thing was so preposterous +that all the ladies in the room looked aghast at the proposition. "I +really think that Augusta has got something else to do," said Aunt +Emmeline. "Oh, very well," said Ayala, and then they were all silent. +Augusta, who was employed on a silk purse, sat still and did not say +a word. + +Had a great secret, or rather a great piece of news which pervaded +the family, been previously communicated to Ayala, she would not +probably have made so insane a suggestion. Augusta was engaged to +be married to the Honourable Septimus Traffick, the member for Port +Glasgow. A young lady who is already half a bride is not supposed +to run up and down stairs as readily as a mere girl. For running up +and down stairs at the bijou Ayala had been proverbial. They were a +family who ran up and down with the greatest alacrity. "Oh, papa, my +basket is out on the seat"--for there had been a seat in the two-foot +garden behind the house. Papa would go down in two jumps and come up +with three skips, and there was the basket, only because his girl +liked him to do something for her. But for him Ayala would run about +as though she were a tricksy Ariel. Had the important matrimonial +news been conveyed to Ariel, with a true girl's spirit she would have +felt that during the present period Augusta was entitled to special +exemption from all ordering. Had she herself been engaged she would +have run more and quicker than ever,--would have been excited thereto +by the peculiar vitality of her new prospects; but to even Augusta +she would be subservient, because of her appreciation of bridal +importance. She, however, had not been told till that afternoon. + +"You should not have asked Augusta to go up stairs," said Aunt +Emmeline, in a tone of mitigated reproach. + +"Oh! I didn't know," said Ayala. + +"You had meant to say that because she had sent you you were to send +her. There is a difference, you know." + +"I didn't know," said Ayala, beginning to think that she would fight +her battle if told of such differences as she believed to exist. + +"I had meant to tell you before, but I may as well tell you now, +Augusta is engaged to be married to the Honourable Mr. Septimus +Traffick. He is second son of Lord Boardotrade, and is in the House." + +"Dear me!" said Ayala, acknowledging at once within her heart that +the difference alleged was one against which she need not rouse +herself to the fight. Aunt Emmeline had, in truth, intended to insist +on that difference--and another; but her courage had failed her. + +"Yes, indeed. He is a man very much thought of just now in public +life, and Augusta's mind is naturally much occupied. He writes all +those letters in The Times about supply and demand." + +"Does he, aunt?" Ayala did feel that if Augusta's mind was entirely +occupied with supply and demand she ought not to be made to go +upstairs to fetch a scrap-book. But she had her doubts about +Augusta's mind. Nevertheless, if the forthcoming husband were true, +that might be a reason. "If anybody had told me before I wouldn't +have asked her," she said. + +Then Lady Tringle explained that it had been thought better not to +say anything heretofore as to the coming matrimonial hilarities +because of the sadness which had fallen upon the Dormer family. Ayala +accepted this as an excuse, and nothing further was said as to the +iniquity of her request to her cousin. But there was a general +feeling among the women that Ayala, in lieu of gratitude, had +exhibited an intention of rebelling. + +On the next day Mr. Traffick arrived, whose coming had probably +made it necessary that the news should be told. Ayala was never so +surprised in her life as when she saw him. She had never yet had a +lover of her own, had never dreamed of a lover, but she had her own +idea as to what a lover ought to be. She had thought that Isadore +Hamel would be a very nice lover--for her sister. Hamel was young, +handsome, with a great deal to say on such a general subject as art, +but too bashful to talk easily to the girl he admired. Ayala had +thought that all that was just as it should be. She was altogether +resolved that Hamel and her sister should be lovers, and was +determined to be devoted to her future brother-in-law. But the +Honourable Septimus Traffick! It was a question to her whether her +Uncle Tringle would not have been better as a lover. + +And yet there was nothing amiss about Mr. Traffick. He was very much +like an ordinary hard-working member of the House of Commons, over +perhaps rather than under forty years of age. He was somewhat bald, +somewhat grey, somewhat fat, and had lost that look of rosy plumpness +which is seldom, I fear, compatible with hard work and late hours. He +was not particularly ugly, nor was he absurd in appearance. But he +looked to be a disciple of business, not of pleasure, nor of art. "To +sit out on the bank of a stream and have him beside one would not be +particularly nice," thought Ayala to herself. Mr. Traffick no doubt +would have enjoyed it very well if he could have spared the time; but +to Ayala it seemed that such a man as that could have cared nothing +for love. As soon as she saw him, and realised in her mind the fact +that Augusta was to become his wife, she felt at once the absurdity +of sending Augusta on a message. + +Augusta that evening was somewhat more than ordinarily kind to her +cousin. Now that the great secret was told, her cousin no doubt +would recognise her importance. "I suppose you had not heard of him +before?" she said to Ayala. + +"I never did." + +"That's because you have not attended to the debates." + +"I never have. What are debates?" + +"Mr. Traffick is very much thought of in the House of Commons on all +subjects affecting commerce." + +"Oh!" + +"It is the most glorious study which the world affords." + +"The House of Commons. I don't think it can be equal to art." + +Then Augusta turned up her nose with a double turn,--first as against +painters, Mr. Dormer having been no more, and then at Ayala's +ignorance in supposing that the House of Commons could have been +spoken of as a study. "Mr. Traffick will probably be in the +government some day," she said. + +"Has not he been yet?" asked Ayala. + +"Not yet." + +"Then won't he be very old before he gets there?" This was a terrible +question. Young ladies of five-and-twenty, when they marry gentlemen +of four-and-fifty, make up their minds for well-understood and +well-recognised old age. They see that they had best declare their +purpose, and they do declare it. "Of course, Mr. Walker is old enough +to be my father, but I have made up my mind that I like that better +than anything else." Then the wall has been jumped, and the thing can +go smoothly. But at forty-five there is supposed to be so much of +youth left that the difference of age may possibly be tided over and +not made to appear abnormal. Augusta Tringle had determined to tide +it over in this way. The forty-five had been gradually reduced to +"less than forty,"--though all the Peerages were there to give the +lie to the assertion. She talked of her lover as Septimus, and was +quite prepared to sit with him beside a stream if only half-an-hour +for the amusement could be found. When, therefore, Ayala suggested +that if her lover wanted to get into office he had better do so +quickly, lest he should be too old, Augusta was not well pleased. + +"Lord Boardotrade was much older when he began," said Augusta. "His +friends, indeed, tell Septimus that he should not push himself +forward too quickly. But I don't think that I ever came across any +one who was so ignorant of such things as you are, Ayala." + +"Perhaps he is not so old as he looks," said Ayala. After this it may +be imagined that there was not close friendship between the cousins. +Augusta's mind was filled with a strong conception as to Ayala's +ingratitude. The houseless, penniless orphan had been taken in, and +had done nothing but make herself disagreeable. Young! No doubt she +was young. But had she been as old as Methuselah she could not have +been more insolent. It did not, however, matter to her, Augusta. +She was going away; but it would be terrible to her mamma and to +Gertrude! Thus it was that Augusta spoke of her cousin to her mother. + +And then there came another trouble, which was more troublesome to +Ayala even than the other. Tom Tringle, who was in the house in +Lombard Street, who was the only son, and heir to the title and no +doubt to much of the wealth, had chosen to take Ayala's part and to +enlist himself as her special friend. Ayala had, at first, accepted +him as a cousin, and had consented to fraternise with him. Then, on +some unfortunate day, there had been some word or look which she had +failed not to understand, and immediately she had become afraid of +Tom. Tom was not like Isadore Hamel,--was very far, indeed, from that +idea of a perfect lover which Ayala's mind had conceived; but he was +by no means a lout, or an oaf, or an idiot, as Ayala in her letters +to her sister had described him. He had been first at Eton and then +at Oxford, and having spent a great deal of money recklessly, and +done but little towards his education, had been withdrawn and put +into the office. His father declared of him now that he would do +fairly well in the world. He had a taste for dress, and kept four or +five hunters which he got but little credit by riding. He made a fuss +about his shooting, but did not shoot much. He was stout and awkward +looking,--very like his father, but without that settled air which +age gives to heavy men. In appearance he was not the sort of lover +to satisfy the preconceptions of such a girl as Ayala. But he was +good-natured and true. At last he became to her terribly true. His +love, such as it seemed at first, was absurd to her. "If you make +yourself such a fool, Tom, I'll never speak to you again," she had +said, once. Even after that she had not understood that it was +more than a stupid joke. But the joke, while it was considered as +such, was very distasteful to her; and afterwards, when a certain +earnestness in it was driven in upon her, it became worse than +distasteful. + +She repudiated his love with such power as she had, but she could not +silence him. She could not at all understand that a young man, who +seemed to her to be an oaf, should really be in love,--honestly in +love with her. But such was the case. Then she became afraid lest +others should see it,--afraid, though she often told herself that she +would appeal to her aunt for protection. "I tell you I don't care a +bit about you, and you oughtn't to go on," she said. But he did go +on, and though her aunt did not see it Augusta did. + +Then Augusta spoke a word to her in scorn. "Ayala," she said, "you +should not encourage Tom." + +Encourage him! What a word from one girl to another! What a world +of wrong there was in the idea which had created the word! What an +absence of the sort of feeling which, according to Ayala's theory +of life, there should be on such a matter between two sisters, two +cousins, or two friends! Encourage him! When Augusta ought to have +been the first to assist her in her trouble! "Oh, Augusta," she said, +turning sharply round, "what a spiteful creature you are." + +"I suppose you think so, because I do not choose to approve." + +"Approve of what! Tom is thoroughly disagreeable. Sometimes he makes +my life such a burden to me that I think I shall have to go to my +aunt. But you are worse. Oh!" exclaimed Ayala, shuddering as she +thought of the unwomanly treachery of which her cousin was guilty +towards her. + +Nothing more came of it at Glenbogie. Tom was required in Lombard +Street, and the matter was not suspected by Aunt Emmeline,--as far, +at least, as Ayala was aware. When he was gone it was to her as +though there would be a world of time before she would see him again. +They were to go to Rome, and he would not be at Rome till January. +Before that he might have forgotten his folly. But Ayala was quite +determined that she would never forget the ill offices of Augusta. +She did hate Augusta, as she had told her sister. Then, in this frame +of mind, the family was taken to Rome. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AT ROME. + + +During her journeying and during her sojourn at Rome Ayala did enjoy +much; but even these joys did not come to her without causing some +trouble of spirit. At Glenbogie everybody had known that she was a +dependent niece, and that as such she was in truth nobody. On that +morning when she had ordered Augusta to go upstairs the two visitors +had stared with amazement,--who would not have stared at all had +they heard Ayala ordered in the same way. But it came about that in +Rome Ayala was almost of more importance than the Tringles. It was +absolutely true that Lady Tringle and Augusta and Gertrude were asked +here and there because of Ayala; and the worst of it was that the +fact was at last suspected by the Tringles themselves. Sometimes they +would not always be asked. One of the Tringle girls would only be +named. But Ayala was never forgotten. Once or twice an effort was +made by some grand lady, whose taste was perhaps more conspicuous +than her good-nature, to get Ayala without burdening herself with any +of the Tringles. When this became clear to the mind of Augusta,--of +Augusta, engaged as she was to the Honourable Septimus Traffick, +Member of Parliament,--Augusta's feelings were--such as may better +be understood than described! "Don't let her go, mamma," she said to +Lady Tringle one morning. + +"But the Marchesa has made such a point of it." + +"Bother the Marchesa! Who is the Marchesa? I believe it is all +Ayala's doing because she expects to meet that Mr. Hamel. It is +dreadful to see the way she goes on." + +"Mr. Hamel was a very intimate friend of her father's." + +"I don't believe a bit of it." + +"He certainly used to be at his house. I remember seeing him." + +"I daresay; but that doesn't justify Ayala in running after him as +she does. I believe that all this about the Marchesa is because of +Mr. Hamel." This was better than believing that Ayala was to be asked +to sing, and that Ayala was to be fêted and admired and danced with, +simply because Ayala was Ayala, and that they, the Tringles, in spite +of Glenbogie, Merle Park, and Queen's Gate, were not wanted at all. +But when Aunt Emmeline signified to Ayala that on that particular +morning she had better not go to the Marchesa's picnic, Ayala simply +said that she had promised;--and Ayala went. + +At this time no gentleman of the family was with them. Sir Thomas +had gone, and Tom Tringle had not come. Then, just at Christmas, the +Honourable Septimus Traffick came for a short visit,--a very short +visit, no more than four or five days, because Supply and Demand were +requiring all his services in preparation for the coming Session +of Parliament. But for five halcyon days he was prepared to devote +himself to the glories of Rome under the guidance of Augusta. He +did not of course sleep at the Palazzo Ruperti, where it delighted +Lady Tringle to inform her friends in Rome that she had a suite of +apartments "au première," but he ate there and drank there and almost +lived there; so that it became absolutely necessary to inform the +world of Rome that it was Augusta's destiny to become in course of +time the Honourable Mrs. Traffick, otherwise the close intimacy +would hardly have been discreet,--unless it had been thought, as the +ill-natured Marchesa had hinted, that Mr. Traffick was Lady Tringle's +elder brother. Augusta, however, was by no means ashamed of her +lover. Perhaps she felt that when it was known that she was about +to be the bride of so great a man then doors would be open for her +at any rate as wide as for her cousin. At this moment she was very +important to herself. She was about to convey no less a sum than +£120,000 to Mr. Traffick, who, in truth, as younger son of Lord +Boardotrade, was himself not well endowed. Considering her own +position and her future husband's rank and standing, she did not +know how a young woman could well be more important. She was very +important at any rate to Mr. Traffick. She was sure of that. When, +therefore, she learned that Ayala had been asked to a grand ball at +the Marchesa's, that Mr. Traffick was also to be among the guests, +and that none of the Tringles had been invited,--then her anger +became hot. + +She must have been very stupid when she took it into her head to be +jealous of Mr. Traffick's attention to her cousin; stupid, at any +rate, when she thought that her cousin was laying out feminine lures +for Mr. Traffick. Poor Ayala! We shall see much of her in these +pages, and it may be well to declare of her at once that her ideas +at this moment about men,--or rather about a possible man,--were +confined altogether to the abstract. She had floating in her young +mind some fancies as to the beauty of love. That there should be a +hero must of course be necessary. But in her day-dreams this hero was +almost celestial,--or, at least, æthereal. It was a concentration +of poetic perfection to which there was not as yet any appanage of +apparel, of features, or of wealth. It was a something out of heaven +which should think it well to spend his whole time in adoring her +and making her more blessed than had ever yet been a woman upon the +earth. Then her first approach to a mundane feeling had been her +acknowledgment to herself that Isadore Hamel would do as a lover for +Lucy. Isadore Hamel was certainly very handsome,--was possessed of +infinite good gifts; but even he would by no means have come up to +her requirements for her own hero. That hero must have wings tinged +with azure, whereas Hamel had a not much more ætherealised than +ordinary coat and waistcoat. She knew that heroes with azure wings +were not existent save in the imagination, and, as she desired a real +lover for Lucy, Hamel would do. But for herself her imagination was +too valuable then to allow her to put her foot upon earth. Such as +she was, must not Augusta have been very stupid to have thought that +Ayala should become fond of her Mr. Traffick! + +Her cousin Tom had come to her, and had been to her as a Newfoundland +dog is when he jumps all over you just when he has come out of a +horsepond. She would have liked Tom had he kept his dog-like gambols +at a proper distance. But when he would cover her with muddy water +he was abominable. But this Augusta had not understood. With Mr. +Traffick there would be no dog-like gambols; and, as he was not harsh +to her, Ayala liked him. She had liked her uncle. Such men were, to +her thinking, more like dogs than lovers. She sang when Mr. Traffick +asked her, and made a picture for him, and went with him to the +Coliseum, and laughed at him about Supply and Demand. She was very +pretty, and perhaps Mr. Traffick did like to look at her. + +"I really think you were too free with Mr. Traffick last night," +Augusta said to her one morning. + +"Free! How free?" + +"You were--laughing at him." + +"Oh, he likes that," said Ayala. "All that time we were up at the top +of St. Peter's I was quizzing him about his speeches. He lets me say +just what I please." + +This was wormwood. In the first place there had been a word or two +between the lovers about that going up of St. Peter's, and Augusta +had refused to join them. She had wished Septimus to remain down with +her,--which would have been tantamount to preventing any of the party +from going up; but Septimus had persisted on ascending. Then Augusta +had been left for a long hour alone with her mother. Gertrude had no +doubt gone up, but Gertrude had lagged during the ascent. Ayala had +skipped up the interminable stairs and Mr. Traffick had trotted after +her with admiring breathless industry. This itself, with the thoughts +of the good time which Septimus might be having at the top, was very +bad. But now to be told that she, Ayala, should laugh at him; and +that he, Septimus, should like it! "I suppose he takes you to be a +child," said Augusta; "but if you are a child you ought to conduct +yourself." + +"I suppose he does perceive the difference," said Ayala. + +She had not in the least known what the words might convey,--had +probably meant nothing. But to Augusta it was apparent that Ayala +had declared that her lover, her Septimus, had preferred her extreme +youth to the more mature charms of his own true love,--or had, +perhaps, preferred Ayala's raillery to Augusta's serious demeanour. +"You are the most impertinent person I ever knew in my life," said +Augusta, rising from her chair and walking slowly out of the room. +Ayala stared after her, not above half comprehending the cause of the +anger. + +Then came the very serious affair of the ball. The Marchesa had asked +that her dear little friend Ayala Dormer might be allowed to come +over to a little dance which her own girls were going to have. Her +own girls were so fond of Ayala! There would be no trouble. There +was a carriage which would be going somewhere else, and she would be +fetched and taken home. Ayala at once declared that she intended to +go, and her Aunt Emmeline did not refuse her sanction. Augusta was +shocked, declaring that the little dance was to be one of the great +balls of the season, and pronouncing the whole to be a falsehood; but +the affair was arranged before she could stop it. + +But Mr. Traffick's affair in the matter came more within her range. +"Septimus," she said, "I would rather you would not go to that +woman's party." Septimus had been asked only on the day before the +party,--as soon, indeed, as his arrival had become known to the +Marchesa. + +"Why, my own one?" + +"She has not treated mamma well,--nor yet me." + +"Ayala is going." He had no right to call her Ayala. So Augusta +thought. + +"My cousin is behaving badly in the matter, and mamma ought not to +allow her to go. Who knows anything about the Marchesa Baldoni?" + +"Both he and she are of the very best families in Rome," said Mr. +Traffick, who knew everything about it. + +"At any rate they are behaving very badly to us, and I will take it +as a favour that you do not go. Asking Ayala, and then asking you, as +good as from the same house, is too marked. You ought not to go." + +Perhaps Mr. Traffick had on some former occasion felt some little +interference with his freedom of action. Perhaps he liked the +acquaintance of the Marchesa. Perhaps he liked Ayala Dormer. Be that +as it might, he would not yield. "Dear Augusta, it is right that I +should go there, if it be only for half-an-hour." This he said in a +tone of voice with which Augusta was already acquainted, which she +did not love, and which, when she heard it, would make her think of +her £120,000. When he had spoken he left her, and she began to think +of her £120,000. + +They both went, Ayala and Mr. Traffick,--and Mr. Traffick, instead +of staying half-an-hour, brought Ayala back at three o'clock in the +morning. Though Mr. Traffick was nearly as old as Uncle Tringle, yet +he could dance. Ayala had been astonished to find how well he could +dance, and thought that she might please her cousin Augusta by +praising the juvenility of her lover at luncheon the next day. She +had not appeared at breakfast, but had been full of the ball at +lunch. "Oh, dear, yes, I dare say there were two hundred people +there." + +"That is what she calls a little dance," said Augusta, with scorn. + +"I suppose that is the Italian way of talking about it," said Ayala. + +"Italian way! I hate Italian ways." + +"Mr. Traffick liked it very much. I'm sure he'll tell you so. I had +no idea he would care to dance." + +Augusta only shook herself and turned up her nose. Lady Tringle +thought it necessary to say something in defence of her daughter's +choice. "Why should not Mr. Traffick dance like any other gentleman?" + +"Oh, I don't know. I thought that a man who makes so many speeches +in Parliament would think of something else. I was very glad he did, +for he danced three times with me. He can waltz as lightly as--" As +though he were young, she was going to say, but then she stopped +herself. + +"He is the best dancer I ever danced with," said Augusta. + +"But you almost never do dance," said Ayala. + +"I suppose I may know about it as well as another," said Augusta, +angrily. + +The next day was the last of Mr. Traffick's sojourn in Rome, and on +that day he and Augusta so quarrelled that, for a certain number of +hours, it was almost supposed in the family that the match would be +broken off. On the afternoon of the day after the dance Mr. Traffick +was walking with Ayala on the Pincian, while Augusta was absolutely +remaining behind with her mother. For a quarter-of-an-hour,--the +whole day, as it seemed to Augusta,--there was a full two hundred +yards between them. It was not that the engaged girl could not bear +the severance, but that she could not endure the attention paid to +Ayala. On the next morning "she had it out," as some people say, with +her lover. "If I am to be treated in this way you had better tell me +so at once," she said. + +"I know no better way of treating you," said Mr. Traffick. + +"Dancing with that chit all night, turning her head, and then walking +with her all the next day! I will not put up with such conduct." + +Mr. Traffick valued £120,000 very highly, as do most men, and would +have done much to keep it; but he believed that the best way of +making sure of it would be by showing himself to be the master. "My +own one," he said, "you are really making an ass of yourself." + +"Very well! Then I will write to papa, and let him know that it must +be all over." + +For three hours there was terrible trouble in the apartments in the +Palazzo Ruperti, during which Mr. Traffick was enjoying himself by +walking up and down the Forum, and calculating how many Romans could +have congregated themselves in the space which is supposed to have +seen so much of the world's doings. During this time Augusta was +very frequently in hysterics; but, whether in hysterics or out of +them, she would not allow Ayala to come near her. She gave it to be +understood that Ayala had interfered fatally, foully, damnably, with +all her happiness. She demanded, from fit to fit, that telegrams +should be sent over to bring her father to Italy for her protection. +She would rave about Septimus, and then swear that, under no +consideration whatever, would she ever see him again. At the end +of three hours she was told that Septimus was in the drawing-room. +Lady Tringle had sent half-a-dozen messengers after him, and at last +he was found looking up at the Arch of Titus. "Bid him go," said +Augusta. "I never want to behold him again." But within two minutes +she was in his arms, and before dinner she was able to take a stroll +with him on the Pincian. + +He left, like a thriving lover, high in the good graces of his +beloved; but the anger which had fallen on Ayala had not been +removed. Then came a rumour that the Marchesa, who was half English, +had called Ayala Cinderella, and the name had added fuel to the fire +of Augusta's wrath. There was much said about it between Lady Tringle +and her daughter, the aunt really feeling that more blame was being +attributed to Ayala than she deserved. "Perhaps she gives herself +airs," said Lady Tringle, "but really it is no more." + +"She is a viper," said Augusta. + +Gertrude rather took Ayala's part, telling her mother, in private, +that the accusation about Mr. Traffick was absurd. "The truth is," +said Gertrude, "that Ayala thinks herself very clever and very +beautiful, and Augusta will not stand it." Gertrude acknowledged +that Ayala was upsetting and ungrateful. Poor Lady Tringle, in her +husband's absence, did not know what to do about her niece. + +Altogether, they were uncomfortable after Mr. Traffick went and +before Tom Tringle had come. On no consideration whatsoever would +Augusta speak to her cousin. She declared that Ayala was a viper, and +would give no other reason. In all such quarrelings the matter most +distressing is that the evil cannot be hidden. Everybody at Rome who +knew the Tringles, or who knew Ayala, was aware that Augusta Tringle +would not speak to her cousin. When Ayala was asked she would shake +her locks, and open her eyes, and declare that she knew nothing about +it. In truth she knew very little about it. She remembered that +passage-at-arms about the going upstairs at Glenbogie, but she could +hardly understand that for so small an affront, and one so distant, +Augusta would now refuse to speak to her. That Augusta had always +been angry with her, and since Mr. Traffick's arrival more angry than +ever, she had felt; but that Augusta was jealous in respect to her +lover had never yet at all come home to Ayala. That she should have +wanted to captivate Mr. Traffick,--she with her high ideas of some +transcendental, more than human, hero! + +But she had to put up with it, and to think of it. She had sense +enough to know that she was no more than a stranger in her aunt's +family, and that she must go if she made herself unpleasant to them. +She was aware that hitherto she had not succeeded with her residence +among them. Perhaps she might have to go. Some things she would +bear, and in them she would endeavour to amend her conduct. In other +matters she would hold her own, and go, if necessary. Though her +young imagination was still full of her unsubstantial hero,--though +she still had her castles in the air altogether incapable of +terrestrial foundation,--still there was a common sense about her +which told her that she must give and take. She would endeavour to +submit herself to her aunt. She would be kind,--as she had always +been kind,--to Gertrude. She would in all matters obey her uncle. Her +misfortune with the Newfoundland dog had almost dwindled out of her +mind. To Augusta she could not submit herself. But then Augusta, +as soon as the next session of Parliament should be over, would be +married out of the way. And, on her own part, she did think that her +aunt was inclined to take her part in the quarrel with Augusta. + +Thus matters were going on in Rome when there came up another and a +worse cause for trouble. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TOM TRINGLE IN EARNEST. + + +Tom Tringle, though he had first appeared to his cousin Ayala as a +Newfoundland dog which might perhaps be pleasantly playful, and then, +as the same dog, very unpleasant because dripping with muddy water, +was nevertheless a young man with so much manly truth about him as to +be very much in love. He did not look like it; but then perhaps the +young men who do fall most absolutely into love do not look like it. +To Ayala her cousin Tom was as unloveable as Mr. Septimus Traffick. +She could like them both well enough while they would be kind to +her. But as to regarding cousin Tom as a lover,--the idea was so +preposterous to her that she could not imagine that any one else +should look upon it as real. But with Tom the idea had been real, +and was, moreover, permanent. The black locks which would be shaken +here and there, the bright glancing eyes which could be so joyous and +could be so indignant, the colour of her face which had nothing in it +of pink, which was brown rather, but over which the tell-tale blood +would rush with a quickness which was marvellous to him, the lithe +quick figure which had in it nothing of the weight of earth, the +little foot which in itself was a perfect joy, the step with all the +elasticity of a fawn,--these charms together had mastered him. Tom +was not romantic or poetic, but the romance and poetry of Ayala had +been divine to him. It is not always like to like in love. Titania +loved the weaver Bottom with the ass's head. Bluebeard, though a +bad husband, is supposed to have been fond of his last wife. The +Beauty has always been beloved by the Beast. To Ayala the thing +was monstrous;--but it was natural. Tom Tringle was determined to +have his way, and when he started for Rome was more intent upon his +love-making than all the glories of the Capitol and the Vatican. + +When he first made his appearance before Ayala's eyes he was bedecked +in a manner that was awful to her. Down at Glenbogie he had affected +a rough attire, as is the custom with young men of ample means when +fishing, shooting, or the like, is supposed to be the employment +then in hand. The roughness had been a little overdone, but it had +added nothing to his own uncouthness. In London he was apt to run a +little towards ornamental gilding, but in London his tastes had been +tempered by the ill-natured criticism of the world at large. He had +hardly dared at Queen's Gate to wear his biggest pins; but he had +taken upon himself to think that at Rome an Englishman might expose +himself with all his jewelry. "Oh, Tom, I never saw anything so +stunning," his sister Gertrude said to him. He had simply frowned +upon her, and had turned himself to Ayala, as though Ayala, being +an artist, would be able to appreciate something beautiful in art. +Ayala had looked at him and had marvelled, and had ventured to hope +that, with his Glenbogie dress, his Glenbogie manners and Glenbogie +propensities would be changed. + +At this time the family at Rome was very uncomfortable. Augusta would +not speak to her cousin, and had declared to her mother and sister +her determination never to speak to Ayala again. For a time Aunt +Emmeline had almost taken her niece's part, feeling that she might +best bring things back to a condition of peace in this manner. Ayala, +she had thought, might thus be decoyed into a state of submission. +Ayala, so instigated, had made her attempt. "What is the matter, +Augusta," she had said, "that you are determined to quarrel with me?" +Then had followed a little offer that bygones should be bygones. + +"I have quarrelled with you," said Augusta, "because you do not know +how to behave yourself." Then Ayala had flashed forth, and the little +attempt led to a worse condition than ever, and words were spoken +which even Aunt Emmeline had felt to be irrevocable, irremediable. + +"Only that you are going away I would not consent to live here," said +Ayala. Then Aunt Emmeline had asked her where she would go to live +should it please her to remove herself. Ayala had thought of this for +a moment, and then had burst into tears. "If I could not live I could +die. Anything would be better than to be treated as she treats me." +So the matters were when Tom came to Rome with all his jewelry. + +Lady Tringle had already told herself that, in choosing Ayala, she +had chosen wrong. Lucy, though not so attractive as Ayala, was +pretty, quiet, and ladylike. So she thought now. And as to Ayala's +attractions, they were not at all of a nature to be serviceable to +such a family as hers. To have her own girls outshone, to be made +to feel that the poor orphan was the one person most worthy of note +among them, to be subjected to the caprices of a pretty, proud, +ill-conditioned minx;--thus it was that Aunt Emmeline was taught +to regard her own charity and good-nature towards her niece. There +was, she said, no gratitude in Ayala. Had she said that there was no +humility she would have been more nearly right. She was entitled, she +thought, to expect both gratitude and humility, and she was sorry +that she had opened the Paradise of her opulent home to one so little +grateful and so little humble as Ayala. She saw now her want of +judgment in that she had not taken Lucy. + +Tom, who was not a fool, in spite of his trinkets, saw the state of +the case, and took Ayala's part at once. "I think you are quite +right," he said to her, on the first occasion on which he had +contrived to find himself alone with her after his arrival. + +"Right about what?" + +"In not giving up to Augusta. She was always like that when she was a +child, and now her head is turned about Traffick." + +"I shouldn't grudge her her lover if she would only let me alone." + +"I don't suppose she hurts you much?" + +"She sets my aunt against me, and that makes me unhappy. Of course I +am wretched." + +"Oh, Ayala, don't be wretched." + +"How is one to help it? I never said an ill-natured word to her, +and now I am so lonely among them!" In saying this,--in seeking to +get one word of sympathy from her cousin, she forgot for a moment +his disagreeable pretensions. But, no sooner had she spoken of her +loneliness, than she saw that ogle in his eye of which she had spoken +with so much ludicrous awe in her letters from Glenbogie to her +sister. + +"I shall always take your part," said he. + +"I don't want any taking of parts." + +"But I shall. I am not going to see you put upon. You are more to me, +Ayala, than any of them." Then he looked at her, whereupon she got up +and ran away. + +But she could not always run away, nor could she always refuse when +he asked her to go with him about the show-places of the city. To +avoid starting alone with him was within her power; but she found +herself compelled to join herself to Gertrude and her brother in +some of those little excursions which were taken for her benefit. At +this time there had come to be a direct quarrel between Lady Tringle +and the Marchesa, which, however, had arisen altogether on the part +of Augusta. Augusta had forced her mother to declare that she was +insulted, and then there was no more visiting between them. This had +been sad enough for Ayala, who had struck up an intimacy with the +Marchesa's daughters. But the Marchesa had explained to her that +there was no help for it. "It won't do for you to separate yourself +from your aunt," she had said. "Of course we shall be friends, and +at some future time you shall come and see us." So there had been a +division, and Ayala would have been quite alone had she declined the +proffered companionship of Gertrude. + +Within the walls and arches and upraised terraces of the Coliseum +they were joined one day by young Hamel, the sculptor, who had not, +as yet, gone back to London,--and had not, as yet, met Lucy in the +gardens at Kensington; and with him there had been one Frank Houston, +who had made acquaintance with Lady Tringle, and with the Tringles +generally, since they had been at Rome. Frank Houston was a young man +of family, with a taste for art, very good-looking, but not specially +well off in regard to income. He had heard of the good fortune of +Septimus Traffick in having prepared for himself a connection with so +wealthy a family as the Tringles, and had thought it possible that a +settlement in life might be comfortable for himself. What few soft +words he had hitherto been able to say to Gertrude had been taken +in good part, and when, therefore, they met among the walls of the +Coliseum, she had naturally straggled away to see some special wonder +which he had a special aptitude for showing. Hamel remained with +Ayala and Tom, talking of the old days at the bijou, till he found +himself obliged to leave them. Then Tom had his opportunity. + +"Ayala," he said, "all this must be altered." + +"What must be altered?" + +"If you only knew, Ayala, how much you are to me." + +"I wish you wouldn't, Tom. I don't want to be anything to anybody in +particular." + +"What I mean is, that I won't have them sit upon you. They treat +you as--as,--well, as though you had only half a right to be one of +them." + +"No more I have. I have no right at all." + +"But that's not the way I want it to be. If you were my wife--" + +"Tom, pray don't." + +"Why not? I'm in earnest. Why ain't I to speak as I think? Oh, Ayala, +if you knew how much I think of you." + +"But you shouldn't. You haven't got a right." + +"I have got a right." + +"But I don't want it, Tom, and I won't have it." He had carried her +away now to the end of the terrace, or ruined tier of seats, on which +they were walking, and had got her so hemmed into a corner that she +could not get away from him. She was afraid of him, lest he should +put out his hand to take hold of her,--lest something even more +might be attempted. And yet his manner was manly and sincere, and +had it not been for his pins and his chains she could not but have +acknowledged his goodness to her, much as she might have disliked his +person. "I want to get out," she said. "I won't stay here any more." +Mr. Traffick, on the top of St. Peter's, had been a much pleasanter +companion. + +"Don't you believe me when I tell you that I love you better than +anybody?" pleaded Tom. + +"No." + +"Not believe me? Oh, Ayala!" + +"I don't want to believe anything. I want to get out. If you go on, +I'll tell my aunt." + +Tell her aunt! There was a want of personal consideration to himself +in this way of receiving his addresses which almost angered him. Tom +Tringle was not in the least afraid of his mother,--was not even +afraid of his father as long as he was fairly regular at the office +in Lombard Street. He was quite determined to please himself in +marriage, and was disposed to think that his father and mother would +like him to be settled. Money was no object. There was, to his +thinking, no good reason why he should not marry his cousin. For her +the match was so excellent that he hardly expected she would reject +him when she could be made to understand that he was really in +earnest. "You may tell all the world," he said proudly. "All I want +is that you should love me." + +"But I don't. There are Gertrude and Mr. Houston, and I want to go to +them." + +"Say one nice word to me, Ayala." + +"I don't know how to say a nice word. Can't you be made to understand +that I don't like it?" + +"Ayala." + +"Why don't you let me go away?" + +"Ayala,--give me--one--kiss." Then Ayala did go away, escaping by +some kid-like manoeuvre among the ruins, and running quickly, while +he followed her, joined herself to the other pair of lovers, who +probably were less in want of her society than she of theirs. "Ayala, +I am quite in earnest," said Tom, as they were walking home, "and I +mean to go on with it." + +Ayala thought that there was nothing for it but to tell her aunt. +That there would be some absurdity in such a proceeding she did +feel,--that she would be acting as though her cousin were a naughty +boy who was merely teasing her. But she felt also the peculiar danger +of her own position. Her aunt must be made to understand that she, +Ayala, was innocent in the matter. It would be terrible to her to +be suspected even for a moment of a desire to inveigle the heir. +That Augusta would bring such an accusation against her she thought +probable. Augusta had said as much even at Glenbogie. She must +therefore be on the alert, and let it be understood at once +that she was not leagued with her cousin Tom. There would be an +absurdity;--but that would be better than suspicion. + +She thought about it all that afternoon, and in the evening she came +to a resolution. She would write a letter to her cousin and persuade +him if possible to desist. If he should again annoy her after that +she would appeal to her aunt. Then she wrote and sent her letter, +which was as follows;-- + + + DEAR TOM, + + You don't know how unhappy you made me at the Coliseum + to-day. I don't think you ought to turn against me when + you know what I have to bear. It is turning against me + to talk as you did. Of course it means nothing; but you + shouldn't do it. It _never never_ could mean anything. I + hope you will be good-natured and kind to me, and then I + shall be so much obliged to you. If you won't say anything + more like that I will forget it altogether. + + Your affectionate cousin, + + AYALA. + + +The letter ought to have convinced him. Those two underscored nevers +should have eradicated from his mind the feeling which had been +previously produced by the assertion that he had "meant nothing." +But he was so assured in his own meanings that he paid no attention +whatever to the nevers. The letter was a delight to him because it +gave him the opportunity of a rejoinder,--and he wrote his rejoinder +on a scented sheet of note-paper and copied it twice;-- + + + DEAREST AYALA, + + Why do you say that it means nothing? It means everything. + No man was ever more in earnest in speaking to a lady than + I am with you. Why should I not be in earnest when I am so + deeply in love? From the first moment in which I saw you + down at Glenbogie I knew how it was going to be with me. + + As for my mother I don't think she would say a word. Why + should she? But I am not the sort of man to be talked out + of my intentions in such a matter as this. I have set my + heart upon having you and nothing will ever turn me off. + + Dearest Ayala, let me have one look to say that you will + love me, and I shall be the happiest man in England. I + think you so beautiful! I do, indeed. The governor has + always said that if I would settle down and marry there + should be lots of money. What could I do better with it + than make my darling look as grand as the best of them. + + Yours, always meaning it, + Most affectionately, + + T. TRINGLE. + + +It almost touched her,--not in the way of love but of gratitude. He +was still to her like Bottom with the ass's head, or the Newfoundland +dog gambolling out of the water. There was the heavy face, and there +were the big chains and the odious rings, and the great hands and +the clumsy feet,--making together a creature whom it was impossible +even to think of with love. She shuddered as she remembered the +proposition which had been made to her in the Coliseum. + +And now by writing to him she had brought down upon herself this +absolute love-letter. She had thought that by appealing to him as +"Dear Tom," and by signing herself his affectionate cousin, she might +have prevailed. If he could only be made to understand that it could +never mean anything! But now, on the other hand, she had begun to +understand that it did _mean_ a great deal. He had sent to her a +regular offer of marriage! The magnitude of the thing struck her at +last. The heir of all the wealth of her mighty uncle wanted to make +her his wife! + +But it was to her exactly as though the heir had come to her wearing +an ass's head on his shoulders. Love him! Marry him!--or even touch +him? Oh, no. They might ill-use her; they might scold her; they might +turn her out of the house; but no consideration would induce her to +think of Tom Tringle as a lover. + +And yet he was in earnest, and honest, and good. And some +answer,--some further communication must be made to him. She +did recognise some nobility in him, though personally he was so +distasteful to her. Now his appeal to her had taken the guise of an +absolute offer of marriage he was entitled to a discreet and civil +answer. Romantic, dreamy, poetic, childish as she was, she knew as +much as that. "Go away, Tom, you fool, you," would no longer do for +the occasion. As she thought of it all that night it was borne in +upon her more strongly than ever that her only protection would be in +telling her aunt, and in getting her aunt to make Tom understand that +there must be no more of it. Early on the following morning she found +herself in her aunt's bedroom. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE LOUT. + + +"Aunt Emmeline, I want you to read this letter." So it was that Ayala +commenced the interview. At this moment Ayala was not on much better +terms with her aunt than she was with her cousin Augusta. Ayala was +a trouble to her,--Lady Tringle,--who was altogether perplexed with +the feeling that she had burdened herself with an inmate in her house +who was distasteful to her and of whom she could not rid herself. +Ayala had turned out on her hands something altogether different +from the girl she had intended to cherish and patronise. Ayala +was independent; superior rather than inferior to her own girls; +more thought of by others; apparently without any touch of that +subservience which should have been produced in her by her position. +Ayala seemed to demand as much as though she were a daughter of the +house, and at the same time to carry herself as though she were more +gifted than the daughters of the house. She was less obedient even +than a daughter. All this Aunt Emmeline could not endure with a +placid bosom. She was herself kind of heart. She acknowledged her +duty to her dead sister. She wished to protect and foster the orphan. +She did not even yet wish to punish Ayala by utter desertion. She +would protect her in opposition to Augusta's more declared malignity; +but she did wish to be rid of Ayala, if she only knew how. + +She took her son's letter and read it, and as a matter of course +misunderstood the position. At Glenbogie something had been whispered +to her about Tom and Ayala, but she had not believed much in it. +Ayala was a child, and Tom was to her not much more than a boy. But +now here was a genuine love-letter,--a letter in which her son had +made a distinct proposition to marry the orphan. She did not stop to +consider why Ayala had brought the letter to her, but entertained at +once an idea that the two young people were going to vex her very +soul by a lamentable love affair. How imprudent she had been to let +the two young people be together in Rome, seeing that the matter had +been whispered to her at Glenbogie! "How long has this been going +on?" she asked, severely. + +"He used to tease me at Glenbogie, and now he is doing it again," +said Ayala. + +"There must certainly be put an end to it. You must go away." + +Ayala knew at once that her aunt was angry with her, and was +indignant at the injustice. "Of course there must be put an end to +it, Aunt Emmeline. He has no right to annoy me when I tell him not." + +"I suppose you have encouraged him." + +This was too cruel to be borne! Encouraged him! Ayala's anger was +caused not so much by a feeling that her aunt had misappreciated the +cause of her coming as that it should have been thought possible that +she should have "encouraged" such a lover. It was the outrage to her +taste rather than to her conduct which afflicted her. "He is a lout," +she said; "a stupid lout!" thus casting her scorn upon the mother as +well as on the son, and, indeed, upon the whole family. "I have not +encouraged him. It is untrue." + +"Ayala, you are very impertinent." + +"And you are very unjust. Because I want to put a stop to it I come +to you, and you tell me that I encourage him. You are worse than +Augusta." + +This was too much for the good nature even of Aunt Emmeline. Whatever +may have been the truth as to the love affair, however innocent Ayala +may have been in that matter, or however guilty Tom, such words +from a niece to her aunt,--from a dependent to her superior,--were +unpardonable. The extreme youthfulness of the girl, a peculiar look +of childhood which she still had with her, made the feeling so much +the stronger. "You are worse than Augusta!" + +And this was said to her who was specially conscious of her +endeavours to mitigate Augusta's just anger. She bridled up, and +tried to look big and knit her brows. At that moment she could not +think what must be the end of it, but she felt that Ayala must be +crushed. "How dare you speak to me like that, 'Miss'?" she said. + +"So you are. It is very cruel. Tom will go on saying all this +nonsense to me, and when I come to you you say I encourage him! I +never encouraged him. I despise him too much. I did not think my own +aunt could have told me that I encouraged any man. No, I didn't. You +drive me to it, so that I have got to be impertinent." + +"You had better go to your room," said the aunt. Then Ayala, lifting +her head as high as she knew how, walked towards the door. "You had +better leave that letter with me." Ayala considered the matter for +a moment, and then handed the letter a second time to her aunt. It +could be nothing to her who saw the letter. She did not want it. +Having thus given it up she stalked off in silent disdain and went to +her chamber. + +Aunt Emmeline, when she was left alone, felt herself to be enveloped +in a cloud of doubt. The desirableness of Tom as a husband first +forced itself upon her attention, and the undesirableness of Ayala as +a wife for Tom. She was perplexed at her own folly in not having seen +that danger of this kind would arise when she first proposed to take +Ayala into the house. Aunts and uncles do not like the marriage of +cousins, and the parents of rich children do not, as a rule, approve +of marriages with those which are poor. Although Ayala had been so +violent, Lady Tringle could not rid herself of the idea that her +darling boy was going to throw himself away. Then her cheeks became +red with anger as she remembered that her Tom had been called a +lout,--a stupid lout. There was an ingratitude in the use of such +language which was not alleviated even by the remembrance that it +tended against that matrimonial danger of which she was so much +afraid. Ayala was behaving very badly. She ought not to have coaxed +Tom to be her lover, and she certainly ought not to have called Tom a +lout. And then Ayala had told her aunt that she was unjust and worse +than Augusta! It was out of the question that such a state of things +should be endured. Ayala must be made to go away. + +Before the day was over Lady Tringle spoke to her son, and was +astonished to find that the "lout" was quite in earnest,--so much +in earnest that he declared his purpose of marrying his cousin in +opposition to his father and mother, in opposition even to Ayala +herself. He was so much in earnest that he would not be roused to +wrath even when he was told that Ayala had called him a lout. And +then grew upon the mother a feeling that the young man had never been +so little loutish before. For there had been, even in her maternal +bosom, a feeling that Tom was open to the criticism expressed on him. +Tom had been a hobble-de-hoy, one of those overgrown lads who come +late to their manhood, and who are regarded by young ladies as louts. +Though he had spent his money only too freely when away, his sisters +had sometimes said that he could not say "bo to a goose" at home. But +now,--now Tom was quite an altered young man. When his own letter was +shown to him he simply said that he meant to stick to it. When it was +represented to him that his cousin would be quite an unfit wife for +him he assured his mother that his own opinion on that matter was +very different. When his father's anger was threatened he declared +that his father would have no right to be angry with him if he +married a lady. At the word "lout" he simply smiled. "She'll come to +think different from that before she's done with me," he said, with a +smile. Even the mother could not but perceive that the young man had +been much improved by his love. + +But what was she to do? Two or three days went on, during which there +was no reconciliation between her and Ayala. Between Augusta and +Ayala no word was spoken. Messages were taken to her by Gertrude, +the object of which was to induce her to ask her aunt's pardon. But +Ayala was of opinion that her aunt ought to ask her pardon, and could +not be beaten from it. "Why did she say that I encouraged him?" she +demanded indignantly of Gertrude. "I don't think she did encourage +him," said Gertrude to her mother. This might possibly be true, but +not the less had she misbehaved. And though she might not yet have +encouraged her lover it was only too probable that she might do so +when she found that her lover was quite in earnest. + +Lady Tringle was much harassed. And then there came an additional +trouble. Gertrude informed her mother that she had engaged herself +to Mr. Francis Houston, and that Mr. Houston was going to write to +her father with the object of proposing himself as a son-in-law. Mr. +Houston came also to herself, and told her, in the most natural tone +in the world, that he intended to marry her daughter. She had not +known what to say. It was Sir Thomas who managed all matters of +money. She had an idea that Mr. Houston was very poor. But then so +also had been Mr. Traffick, who had been received into the family +with open arms. But then Mr. Traffick had a career, whereas Mr. +Houston was lamentably idle. She could only refer Mr. Houston to Sir +Thomas, and beg him not to come among them any more till Sir Thomas +had decided. Upon this Gertrude also got angry, and shut herself up +in her room. The apartments Ruperti were, therefore, upon the whole, +an uncomfortable home to them. + +Letters upon letters were written to Sir Thomas, and letters upon +letters came. The first letter had been about Ayala. He had been +much more tender towards Ayala than her aunt had been. He talked +of calf-love, and said that Tom was a fool; but he had not at once +thought it necessary to give imperative orders for Tom's return. As +to Ayala's impudence, he evidently regarded it as nothing. It was not +till Aunt Emmeline had spoken out in her third letter that he seemed +to recognise the possibility of getting rid of Ayala altogether. And +this he did in answer to a suggestion which had been made to him. "If +she likes to change with her sister Lucy, and you like it, I shall +not object," said Sir Thomas. Then there came an order to Tom that +he should return to Lombard Street at once; but this order had been +rendered abortive by the sudden return of the whole family. Sir +Thomas, in his first letter as to Gertrude, had declared that the +Houston marriage would not do at all. Then, when he was told that +Gertrude and Mr. Houston had certainly met each other more than once +since an order had been given for their separation, he desired the +whole family to come back at once to Merle Park. + +The proposition as to Lucy had arisen in this wise. Tom being in the +same house with Ayala, of course had her very much at advantage, and +would carry on his suit in spite of any abuse which she might lavish +upon him. It was quite in vain that she called him lout. "You'll +think very different from that some of these days, Ayala," he said, +more seriously. + +"No, I shan't; I shall think always the same." + +"When you know how much I love you, you'll change." + +"I don't want you to love me," she said; "and if you were anything +that is good you wouldn't go on after I have told you so often. It is +not manly of you. You have brought me to all manner of trouble. It is +your fault, but they make me suffer." + +After that Ayala again went to her aunt, and on this occasion the +family misfortune was discussed in more seemly language. Ayala was +still indignant, but she said nothing insolent. Aunt Emmeline was +still averse to her niece, but she abstained from crimination. They +knew each as enemies, but recognised the wisdom of keeping the peace. +"As for that, Aunt Emmeline," Ayala said, "you may be quite sure that +I shall never encourage him. I shall never like him well enough." + +"Very well. Then we need say no more about that, my dear. Of course, +it must be unpleasant to us all, being in the same house together." + +"It is very unpleasant to me, when he will go on bothering me like +that. It makes me wish that I were anywhere else." + +Then Aunt Emmeline began to think about it very seriously. It was +very unpleasant. Ayala had made herself disagreeable to all the +ladies of the family, and only too agreeable to the young gentleman. +Nor did the manifest favour of Sir Thomas do much towards raising +Ayala in Lady Tringle's estimation. Sir Thomas had only laughed when +Augusta had been requested to go upstairs for the scrap-book. Sir +Thomas had been profuse with his presents even when Ayala had been +most persistent in her misbehaviour. And then all that affair of the +Marchesa, and even Mr. Traffick's infatuation! If Ayala wished that +she were somewhere else would it not be well to indulge her wish! +Aunt Emmeline certainly wished it. "If you think so, perhaps some +arrangement can be made," said Aunt Emmeline, very slowly. + +"What arrangement?" + +"You must not suppose that I wish to turn you out?" + +"But what arrangement?" + +"You see, Ayala, that unfortunately we have not all of us hit it off +nicely; have we?" + +"Not at all, Aunt Emmeline. Augusta is always angry with me. And +you,--you think that I have encouraged Tom." + +"I am saying nothing about that, Ayala." + +"But what arrangement is it, Aunt Emmeline?" The matter was one of +fearful import to Ayala. She was prudent enough to understand that +well. The arrangement must be one by which she would be banished from +all the wealth of the Tringles. Her coming among them had not been a +success. She had already made them tired of her by her petulance and +independence. Young as she was she could see that, and comprehend the +material injury she had done herself by her folly. She had been very +wrong in telling Augusta to go upstairs. She had been wrong in the +triumph of her exclusive visits to the Marchesa. She had been wrong +in walking away with Mr. Traffick on the Pincian. She could see that. +She had not been wrong in regard to Tom,--except in calling him a +lout; but whether wrong or right she had been most unfortunate. But +the thing had been done, and she must go. + +At this moment the wealth of the Tringles seemed to be more to her +than it had ever been before,--and her own poverty and destitution +seemed to be more absolute. When the word "arrangement" was whispered +to her there came upon her a clear idea of all that which she was +to lose. She was to be banished from Merle Park, from Queen's Gate, +and from Glenbogie. For her there were to be no more carriages, and +horses, and pretty trinkets;--none of that abandon of the luxury +of money among which the Tringles lived. But she had done it for +herself, and she would not say a word in opposition to the fate which +was before her. "What arrangement, aunt?" she said again, in a voice +which was intended to welcome any arrangement that might be made. + +Then her aunt spoke very softly. "Of course, dear Ayala, we do not +wish to do less than we at first intended. But as you are not happy +here--" Then she paused, almost ashamed of herself. + +"I am not happy here," said Ayala, boldly. + +"How would it be if you were to change,--with Lucy?" + +The idea which had been present to Lady Tringle for some weeks past +had never struck Ayala. The moment she heard it she felt that she +was more than ever bound to assent. If the home from which she was +to be banished was good, then would that good fall upon Lucy. Lucy +would have the carriages and the horses and the trinkets, Lucy, who +certainly was not happy at Kingsbury Crescent. "I should be very +glad, indeed," said Ayala. + +Her voice was so brave and decided that, in itself, it gave fresh +offence to her aunt. Was there to be no regret after so much +generosity? But she misunderstood the girl altogether. As the words +were coming from her lips,--"I should be very glad, indeed,"--Ayala's +heart was sinking with tenderness as she remembered how much after +all had been done for her. But as they wished her to go there should +be not a word, not a sign of unwillingness on her part. + +"Then perhaps it can be arranged," said Lady Tringle. + +"I don't know what Uncle Dosett may say. Perhaps they are very fond +of Lucy now." + +"They wouldn't wish to stand in her way, I should think." + +"At any rate, I won't. If you, and my uncles, and Aunt Margaret, will +consent, I will go whenever you choose. Of course I must do just as +I'm told." + +Aunt Emmeline made a faint demur to this; but still the matter was +held to be arranged. Letters were written to Sir Thomas, and letters +came, and at last even Sir Thomas had assented. He suggested, in +the first place, that all the facts which would follow the exchange +should be explained to Ayala; but he was obliged after a while to +acknowledge that this would be inexpedient. The girl was willing; and +knew no doubt that she was to give up the great wealth of her present +home. But she had proved herself to be an unfit participator, and it +was better that she should go. + +Then the departure of them all from Rome was hurried on by the +indiscretion of Gertrude. Gertrude declared that she had a right to +her lover. As to his having no income, what matter for that. Everyone +knew that Septimus Traffick had no income. Papa had income enough for +them all. Mr. Houston was a gentleman. Till this moment no one had +known of how strong a will of her own Gertrude was possessed. When +Gertrude declared that she would not consent to be separated from Mr. +Houston then they were all hurried home. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE EXCHANGE. + + +Such was the state of things when Mr. Dosett brought the three +letters home with him to Kingsbury Crescent, having been so much +disturbed by the contents of the two which were addressed to himself +as to have found himself compelled to leave his office two hours +before the proper time. The three letters were handed together by her +uncle to Lucy, and she, seeing the importance of the occasion, read +the two open ones before she broke the envelope of her own. That from +Sir Thomas came first, and was as follows;-- + + + Lombard Street, January, 187--. + + MY DEAR DOSETT, + + I have had a correspondence with the ladies at Rome which + has been painful in its nature, but which I had better + perhaps communicate to you at once. Ayala has not got on + as well with Lady Tringle and the girls as might have been + wished, and they all think it will be better that she and + Lucy should change places. I chiefly write to give my + assent. Your sister will no doubt write to you. I may as + well mention to you, should you consent to take charge of + Ayala, that I have made some provision for her in my will, + and that I shall not change it. I have to add on my own + account that I have no complaint of my own to make against + Ayala. + + Yours sincerely, + + T. TRINGLE. + + +Lucy, when she had read this, proceeded at once to the letter from +her aunt. The matter to her was one of terrible importance, but the +importance was quite as great to Ayala. She had been allowed to go +up alone into her own room. The letters were of such a nature that +she could hardly have read them calmly in the presence of her Aunt +Dosett. It was thus that her Aunt Emmeline had written;-- + + + Palazzo Ruperti, Rome, Thursday. + + MY DEAR REGINALD, + + I am sure you will be sorry to hear that we are in great + trouble here. This has become so bad that we are obliged + to apply to you to help us. Now you must understand that + I do not mean to say a word against dear Ayala;--only she + does not suit. It will occur sometimes that people who + are most attached to each other do not suit. So it has + been with dear Ayala. She is not happy with us. She has + not perhaps accommodated herself to her cousins quite as + carefully as she might have done. She is fully as sensible + of this as I am, and is, herself, persuaded that there had + better be a change. + + Now, my dear Reginald, I am quite aware that when poor + Egbert died it was I who chose Ayala, and that you took + Lucy partly in compliance with my wishes. Now I write to + suggest that there should be a change. I am sure you will + give me credit for a desire to do the best I can for both + the poor dear girls. I did think that this might be best + done by letting Ayala come to us. I now think that Lucy + would do better with her cousins, and that Ayala would be + more attractive without the young people around her. + + When I see you I will tell you everything. There has been + no great fault. She has spoken a word or two to me which + had been better unsaid, but I am well convinced that it + has come from hot temper and not from a bad heart. Perhaps + I had better tell you the truth. Tom has admired her. She + has behaved very well; but she could not bear to be spoken + to, and so there have been unpleasantnesses. And the girls + certainly have not got on well together. Sir Thomas quite + agrees with me that if you will consent there had better + be a change. + + I will not write to dear Lucy herself because you and + Margaret can explain it all so much better,--if you will + consent to our plan. Ayala also will write to her sister. + But pray tell her from me that I will love her very dearly + if she will come to me. And indeed I have loved Ayala + almost as though she were my own, only we have not been + quite able to hit it off together. + + Of course neither has Sir Thomas or have I any idea of + escaping from a responsibility. I should be quite unhappy + if I did not have one of poor dear Egbert's girls with me. + Only I do think that Lucy would be the best for us; and + Ayala thinks so too. I should be quite unhappy if I were + doing this in opposition to Ayala. + + We shall be in England almost as soon as this letter, and + I should be so glad if this could be decided at once. If + a thing like this is to be done it is so much better for + all parties that it should be done quickly. Pray give my + best love to Margaret, and tell her that Ayala shall bring + everything with her that she wants. + + Your most affectionate sister, + + EMMELINE TRINGLE. + + +The letter, though it was much longer than her uncle's, going into +details, such as that of Tom's unfortunate passion for his cousin, +had less effect upon Lucy, as it did not speak with so much authority +as that from Sir Thomas. What Sir Thomas said would surely be done; +whereas Aunt Emmeline was only a woman, and her letter, unsupported, +might not have carried conviction. But, if Sir Thomas wished it, +surely it must be done. Then, at last, came Ayala's letter;-- + + + Rome, Thursday. + + DEAREST, DEAREST LUCY, + + Oh, I have such things to write to you! Aunt Emmeline has + told it all to Uncle Reginald. You are to come and be the + princess, and I am to go and be the milkmaid at home. I am + quite content that it should be so because I know that it + will be the best. You ought to be a princess and I ought + to be a milkmaid. + + It has been coming almost ever since the first day that I + came among them,--since I told Augusta to go upstairs for + the scrap-book. I felt from the very moment in which the + words were uttered that I had gone and done for myself. + But I am not a bit sorry, as you will come in my place. + Augusta will very soon be gone now, and Aunt Emmeline + is not bad at all if you will only not contradict her. + I always contradicted her, and I know that I have been a + fool. But I am not a bit sorry, as you are to come instead + of me. + + But it is not only about Augusta and Aunt Emmeline. There + has been that oaf Tom. Poor Tom! I do believe that he is + the most good-natured fellow alive. And if he had not so + many chains I should not dislike him so very much. But he + will go on saying horrible things to me. And then he wrote + me a letter! Oh dear! I took the letter to Aunt Emmeline, + and that made the quarrel. She said that I had--encouraged + him! Oh, Lucy, if you will think of that! I was so angry + that I said ever so much to her,--till she sent me out of + the room. She had no business to say that I encouraged + him. It was shameful! But she has never forgiven me, + because I scolded her. So they have decided among them + that I am to be sent away, and that you are to come in my + place. + + My own darling Lucy, it will be ever so much better. I + know that you are not happy in Kingsbury Crescent, and + that I shall bear it very much better. I can sit still and + mend sheets. + + +Poor Ayala, how little she knew herself! + + + And you will make a beautiful grand lady, quiescent and + dignified as a grand lady ought to be. At any rate it + would be impossible that I should remain here. Tom is bad + enough, but to be told that I encourage him is more than I + can bear. + + I shall see you very soon, but I cannot help writing and + telling it to you all. Give my love to Aunt Dosett. If she + will consent to receive me I will endeavour to be good to + her. In the meantime good-bye. + + Your most affectionate sister, + + AYALA. + + +When Lucy had completed the reading of the letters she sat for a +considerable time wrapped in thought. There was, in truth, very much +that required thinking. It was proposed that the whole tenour of +her life should be changed, and changed in a direction which would +certainly suit her taste. She had acknowledged to herself that she +had hated the comparative poverty of her Uncle Dosett's life, hating +herself in that she was compelled to make such acknowledgment. But +there had been more than the poverty which had been distasteful to +her,--a something which she had been able to tell herself that she +might be justified in hating without shame. There had been to her an +absence of intellectual charm in the habits and manners of Kingsbury +Crescent which she had regarded as unfortunate and depressing. There +had been no thought of art delights. No one read poetry. No one heard +music. No one looked at pictures. A sheet to be darned was the one +thing of greatest importance. The due development of a leg of mutton, +the stretching of a pound of butter, the best way of repressing the +washerwoman's bills,--these had been the matters of interest. And +they had not been made the less irritating to her by her aunt's +extreme goodness in the matter. The leg of mutton was to be developed +in the absence of her uncle,--if possible without his knowledge. He +was to have his run of clean linen. Lucy did not grudge him anything, +but was sickened by that partnership in economy which was established +between her and her aunt. Undoubtedly from time to time she had +thought of the luxuries which had been thrown in Ayala's way. There +had been a regret,--not that Ayala should have them but that she +should have missed them. Money she declared that she despised;--but +the easy luxury of the bijou was sweet to her memory. + +Now it was suggested to her suddenly that she was to exchange the +poverty for the luxury, and to return to a mode of life in which +her mind might be devoted to things of beauty. The very scenery of +Glenbogie,--what a charm it would have for her! Judging from her +uncle's manner, as well as she could during that moment in which he +handed to her the letter, she imagined that he intended to make no +great objection. Her aunt disliked her. She was sure that her aunt +disliked her in spite of the partnership. Only that there was one +other view of the case--how happy might the transfer be. Her uncle +was always gentle to her, but there could hardly as yet have grown up +any strong affection for her. To him she was grateful, but she could +not tell herself that to part from him would be a pang. There was, +however, another view of the case. + +Ayala! How would it be with Ayala! Would Ayala like the partnership +and the economies? Would Ayala be cheerful as she sat opposite to +her aunt for four hours at a time! Ayala had said that she could sit +still and mend sheets, but was it not manifest enough that Ayala knew +nothing of the life of which she was speaking. And would she, Lucy, +be able to enjoy the glories of Glenbogie while she thought that +Ayala was eating out her heart in the sad companionship of Kingsbury +Crescent? For above an hour she sat and thought; but of one aspect +which the affair bore she did not think. She did not reflect that she +and Ayala were in the hands of Fate, and that they must both do as +their elders should require of them. + +At last there came a knock at the door, and her aunt entered. She +would sooner that it should have been her uncle: but there was no +choice but that the matter should be now discussed with the woman +whom she did not love,--this matter that was so dreadful to herself +in all its bearings, and so dreadful to one for whom she would +willingly sacrifice herself if it were possible! She did not know +what she could say to create sympathy with Aunt Dosett. "Lucy," said +Aunt Dosett, "this is a very serious proposal." + +"Very serious," said Lucy, sternly. + +"I have not read the letters, but your uncle has told me about it." +Then Lucy handed her the two letters, keeping that from Ayala to +herself, and she sat perfectly still while her aunt read them both +slowly. "Your Aunt Emmeline is certainly in earnest," said Mrs. +Dosett. + +"Aunt Emmeline is very good-natured, and perhaps she will change her +mind if we tell her that we wish it." + +"But Sir Thomas has agreed to it." + +"I am sure my uncle will give way if Aunt Emmeline will ask him. +He says he has no complaint to make against Ayala. I think it is +Augusta, and Augusta will be married, and will go away very soon." + +Then there came a change, a visible change, over the countenance of +Aunt Dosett, and a softening of the voice,--so that she looked and +spoke as Lucy had not seen or heard her before. There are people +apparently so hard, so ungenial, so unsympathetic, that they who only +half know them expect no trait of tenderness, think that features +so little alluring cannot be compatible with softness. Lucy had +acknowledged her Aunt Dosett to be good, but believed her to be +incapable of being touched. But a word or two had now conquered +her. The girl did not want to leave her,--did not seize the first +opportunity of running from her poverty to the splendour of the +Tringles! "But, Lucy," she said, and came and placed herself nearer +to Lucy on the bed. + +"Ayala--," said Lucy, sobbing. + +"I will be kind to her,--perhaps kinder than I have been to you." + +"You have been kind, and I have been ungrateful. I know it. But I +will do better now, Aunt Dosett. I will stay, if you will have me." + +"They are rich and powerful, and you will have to do as they direct." + +"No! Who are they that I should be made to come and go at their +bidding? They cannot make me leave you." + +"But they can rid themselves of Ayala. You see what your uncle says +about money for Ayala." + +"I hate money." + +"Money is a thing which none of us can afford to hate. Do you think +it will not be much to your Uncle Reginald to know that you are both +provided for? Already he is wretched because there will be nothing to +come to you. If you go to your Aunt Emmeline, Sir Thomas will do for +you as he has done for Ayala. Dear Lucy, it is not that I want to +send you away." Then for the first time Lucy put her arm round her +aunt's neck. "But it had better be as is proposed, if your aunt still +wishes it, when she comes home. I and your Uncle Reginald would not +do right were we to allow you to throw away the prospects that are +offered you. It is natural that Lady Tringle should be anxious about +her son." + +"She need not, in the least," said Lucy, indignantly. + +"But you see what they say." + +"It is his fault, not hers. Why should she be punished?" + +"Because he is Fortune's favourite, and she is not. It is no good +kicking against the pricks, my dear. He is his father's son and heir, +and everything must give way to him." + +"But Ayala does not want him. Ayala despises him. It is too hard that +she is to lose everything because a young man like that will go on +making himself disagreeable. They have no right to do it after having +accustomed Ayala to such a home. Don't you feel that, Aunt Dosett?" + +"I do feel it." + +"However it might have been arranged at first, it ought to remain +now. Even though Ayala and I are only girls, we ought not to be +changed about as though we were horses. If she had done anything +wrong,--but Uncle Tom says that she has done nothing wrong." + +"I suppose she has spoken to her aunt disrespectfully." + +"Because her aunt told her that she had encouraged this man. What +would you have a girl say when she is falsely accused like that? +Would you say it to me merely because some horrid man would come and +speak to me?" Then there came a slight pang of conscience as she +remembered Isadore Hamel in Kensington Gardens. If the men were not +thought to be horrid, then perhaps the speaking might be a sin worthy +of most severe accusation. + +There was nothing more said about it that night, nor till the +following afternoon, when Mr. Dosett returned home at the usual +hour from his office. Then Lucy was closeted with him for a +quarter-of-an-hour in the drawing-room. He had been into the City and +seen Sir Thomas. Sir Thomas had been of opinion that it would be much +better that Lady Tringle's wishes should be obeyed. It was quite true +that he himself had no complaint to make against Ayala, but he did +think that Ayala had been pert; and, though it might be true that +Ayala had not encouraged Tom, there was no knowing what might grow +out of such a propensity on Tom's part. And then it could not be +pleasant to Lady Tringle or to himself that their son should be +banished out of their house. When something was hinted as to the +injustice of this, Sir Thomas endeavoured to put all that right by +declaring that, if Lady Tringle's wishes could be attended to in +this matter, provision would be made for the two girls. He certainly +would not strike Ayala's name out of his will, and as certainly would +not take Lucy under his wing as his own child without making some +provision for her. Looking at the matter in this light he did not +think that Mr. Dosett would be justified in robbing Lucy of the +advantages which were offered to her. With this view Mr. Dosett found +himself compelled to agree, and with these arguments he declared to +Lucy that it was her duty to submit herself to the proposed exchange. + +Early in February all the Tringle family were in Queen's Gate, and +Lucy on her first visit to the house found that everyone, including +Ayala, looked upon the thing as settled. Ayala, who under these +circumstances was living on affectionate terms with all the Tringles, +except Tom, was quite radiant. "I suppose I had better go to-morrow, +aunt?" she said, as though it were a matter of most trivial +consequence. + +"In a day or two, Ayala, it will be better." + +"It shall be Monday, then. You must come over here in a cab, Lucy." + +"The carriage shall be sent, my dear." + +"But then it must go back with me, Aunt Emmeline." + +"It shall, my dear." + +"And the horses must be put up, because Lucy and I must change all +our things in the drawers." Lucy at the time was sitting in the +drawing-room, and Augusta, with most affectionate confidence, was +singing to her all the praises of Mr. Traffick. In this way it was +settled, and the change, so greatly affecting the fortunes of our two +sisters, was arranged. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AYALA AND HER AUNT MARGARET. + + +Till the last moment for going Ayala seemed to be childish, +triumphant, and indifferent. But, till that last moment, she was +never alone with Lucy. It was the presence of her aunt and cousins +which sustained her in her hardihood. Tom was never there,--or +so rarely as not to affect her greatly. In London he had his own +lodgings, and was not encouraged to appear frequently till Ayala +should have gone. But Aunt Emmeline and Gertrude were perseveringly +gracious, and even Augusta had somewhat relaxed from her wrath. With +them Ayala was always good-humoured, but always brave. She affected +to rejoice at the change which was to be made. She spoke of Lucy's +coming and of her own going as an unmixed blessing. This she did so +effectually as to make Aunt Emmeline declare to Sir Thomas, with +tears in her eyes, that the girl was heartless. But when, at the +moment of parting, the two girls were together, then Ayala broke +down. + +They were in the room, together, which one had occupied and the other +was to occupy, and their boxes were still upon the floor. Though less +than six months had passed since Ayala had come among the rich things +and Lucy had been among the poor, Ayala's belongings had become +much more important than her sister's. Though the Tringles had been +unpleasant they had been generous. Lucy was sitting upon the bed, +while Ayala was now moving about the room restlessly, now clinging +to her sister, and now sobbing almost in despair. "Of course I know," +she said. "What is the use of telling stories about it any longer?" + +"It is not too late yet, Ayala. If we both go to Uncle Tom he will +let us change it." + +"Why should it be changed? If I could change it by lifting up my +little finger I could not do it. Why should it not be you as well +as me? They have tried me, and,--as Aunt Emmeline says,--I have not +suited." + +"Aunt Dosett is not ill-natured, my darling." + +"No, I dare say not. It is I that am bad. It is bad to like pretty +things and money, and to hate poor things. Or, rather, I do not +believe it is bad at all, because it is so natural. I believe it is +all a lie as to its being wicked to love riches. I love them, whether +it is wicked or not." + +"Oh, Ayala!" + +"Do not you? Don't let us be hypocritical, Lucy, now at the last +moment. Did you like the way in which they lived in Kingsbury +Crescent?" + +Lucy paused before she answered. "I like it better than I did," she +said. "At any rate, I would willingly go back to Kingsbury Crescent." + +"Yes,--for my sake." + +"Indeed I would, my pet." + +"And for your sake I would rather die than stay. But what is the good +of talking about it, Lucy. You and I have no voice in it, though +it is all about ourselves. As you say, we are like two tame birds, +who have to be moved from one cage into another just as the owner +pleases. We belong either to Uncle Tom or Uncle Dosett, just as they +like to settle it. Oh, Lucy, I do so wish that I were dead." + +"Ayala, that is wicked." + +"How can I help it, if I am wicked? What am I to do when I get there? +What am I to say to them? How am I to live? Lucy, we shall never see +each other." + +"I will come across to you constantly." + +"I meant to do so, but I didn't. They are two worlds, miles asunder. +Lucy, will they let Isadore Hamel come here?" Lucy blushed and +hesitated. "I am sure he will come." + +Lucy remembered that she had given her friend her address at Queen's +Gate, and felt that she would seem to have done it as though she +had known that she was about to be transferred to the other uncle's +house. "It will make no difference if he does," she said. + +"Oh, I have such a dream,--such a castle-in-the-air! If I could think +it might ever be so, then I should not want to die." + +"What do you dream?" But Lucy, though she asked the question, knew +the dream. + +"If you had a little house of your own, oh, ever so tiny; and if you +and he--?" + +"There is no he." + +"There might be. And, if you and he would let me have any corner for +myself, then I should be happy. Then I would not want to die. You +would, wouldn't you?" + +"How can I talk about it, Ayala? There isn't such a thing. But +yet,--but yet; oh, Ayala, do you not know that to have you with me +would be better than anything?" + +"No;--not better than anything;--second best. He would be best. I do +so hope that he may be 'he.' Come in." There was a knock at the door, +and Aunt Emmeline, herself, entered the room. + +"Now, my dears, the horses are standing there, and the men are coming +up for the luggage. Ayala, I hope we shall see you very often. And +remember that, as regards anything that is unpleasant, bygones shall +be bygones." Then there was a crowd of farewell kisses, and in a few +minutes Ayala was alone in the carriage on her road up to Kingsbury +Crescent. + +The thing had been done so quickly that hitherto there had hardly +been time for tears. To Ayala herself the most remarkable matter in +the whole affair had been Tom's persistence. He had, at last, been +allowed to bring them home from Rome, there having been no other +gentleman whose services were available for the occasion. He had been +watched on the journey very closely, and had had no slant in his +favour, as the young lady to whom he was devoted was quite as anxious +to keep out of his way as had been the others of the party to +separate them. But he had made occasion, more than once, sufficient +to express his intention. "I don't mean to give you up, you know," he +had said to her. "When I say a thing I mean it. I am not going to be +put off by my mother. And as for the governor he would not say a word +against it if he thought we were both in earnest." + +"But I ain't in earnest," said Ayala; "or rather, I am very much in +earnest." + +"So am I. That's all I've got to say just at present." From this +there grew up within her mind a certain respect for the "lout," +which, however, made him more disagreeable to her than he might have +been had he been less persistent. + +It was late in the afternoon, not much before dinner, when Ayala +reached the house in Kingsbury Crescent. Hitherto she had known +almost nothing of her Aunt Dosett, and had never been intimate even +with her uncle. They, of course, had heard much of her, and had been +led to suppose that she was much less tractable than the simple Lucy. +This feeling had been so strong that Mr. Dosett himself would hardly +have been led to sanction the change had it not been for that promise +from Sir Thomas that he would not withdraw the provision he had made +for Ayala, and would do as much for Lucy if Lucy should become an +inmate of his family. Mrs. Dosett had certainly been glad to welcome +any change, when a change was proposed to her. There had grown up +something of affection at the last moment, but up to that time she +had certainly disliked her niece. Lucy had appeared to her to be at +first idle and then sullen. The girl had seemed to affect a higher +nature than her own, and had been wilfully indifferent to the little +things which had given to her life whatever interest it possessed. +Lucy's silence had been a reproach to her, though she herself had +been able to do so little to abolish the silence. Perhaps Ayala might +be better. + +But they were both afraid of Ayala,--as they had not been afraid of +Lucy before her arrival. They made more of preparation for her in +their own minds, and, as to their own conduct, Mr. Dosett was there +himself to receive her, and was conscious in doing so that there had +been something of failure in their intercourse with Lucy. Lucy had +been allowed to come in without preparation, with an expectation that +she would fall easily into her place, and there had been failure. +There had been no regular consultation as to this new coming, but +both Mr. and Mrs. Dosett were conscious of an intended effort. + +Lady Tringle and Mr. Dosett had always been Aunt Emmeline and +Uncle Reginald, by reason of the nearness of their relationship. +Circumstances of closer intercourse had caused Sir Thomas to be Uncle +Tom. But Mrs. Dosett had never become more than Aunt Dosett to either +of the girls. This in itself had been matter almost of soreness to +her, and she had intended to ask Lucy to adopt the more endearing +form of her Christian name; but there had been so little endearment +between them that the moment for doing so had never come. She was +thinking of all this up in her own room, preparatory to the reception +of this other girl, while Mr. Dosett was bidding her welcome to +Kingsbury Crescent in the drawing-room below. + +Ayala had been dissolved in tears during the drive round by +Kensington to Bayswater, and was hardly able to repress her sobs as +she entered the house. "My dear," said the uncle, "we will do all +that we can to make you happy here." + +"I am sure you will; but--but--it is so sad coming away from Lucy." + +"Lucy I am sure will be happy with her cousins." If Lucy's happiness +were made to depend on her cousins, thought Ayala, it would not be +well assured. "And my sister Emmeline is always good-natured." + +"Aunt Emmeline is very good, only--" + +"Only what?" + +"I don't know. But it is such a sudden change, Uncle Reginald." + +"Yes, it is a very great change, my dear. They are very rich and we +are poor enough. I should hardly have consented to this, for your +sake, but that there are reasons which will make it better for you +both." + +"As to that," said Ayala, stoutly, "I had to come away. I didn't +suit." + +"You shall suit us, my dear." + +"I hope so. I will try. I know more now than I did then. I thought I +was to be Augusta's equal." + +"We shall all be equal here." + +"People ought to be equal, I think,--except old people and young +people. I will do whatever you and my aunt tell me. There are no +young people here, so there won't be any trouble of that kind." + +"There will be no other young person, certainly. You shall go +upstairs now and see your aunt." + +Then there was the interview upstairs, which consisted chiefly in +promises and kisses, and Ayala was left alone to unpack her boxes and +prepare for dinner. Before she began her operations she sat still for +a few moments, and with an effort collected her energies and made her +resolution. She had said to Lucy in her passion that she would that +she were dead. That that should have been wicked was not matter of +much concern to her. But she acknowledged to herself that it had been +weak and foolish. There was her life before her, and she would still +endeavour to be happy though there had been so much to distress her. +She had flung away wealth. She was determined to fling it away still +when it should present itself to her in the shape of her cousin Tom. +But she had her dreams,--her day-dreams,--those castles in the air +which it had been the delight of her life to construct, and in the +building of which her hours had never run heavy with her. Isadore +Hamel would, of course, come again, and would, of course, marry Lucy, +and then there would be a home for her after her own heart. With +Isadore as her brother, and her own own Lucy close to her, she would +not feel the want of riches and of luxury. If there were only some +intellectual charm in her life, some touch of art, some devotion +to things beautiful, then she could do without gold and silver and +costly raiment. Of course, Isadore would come; and then--then--in the +far distance, something else would come, something of which in her +castle-building she had not yet developed the form, of which she did +not yet know the bearing, or the manner of its beauty, or the music +of its voice; but as to which she was very sure that its form would +be beautiful and its voice full of music. It can hardly be said that +this something was the centre of her dreams, or the foundation of +her castles. It was the extreme point of perfection at which she +would arrive at last, when her thoughts had become sublimated by the +intensity of her thinking. It was the tower of the castle from which +she could look down upon the inferior world below,--the last point +of the dream in arranging which she would all but escape from earth +to heaven,--when in the moment of her escape the cruel waking back +into the world would come upon her. But this she knew,--that this +something, whatever might be its form or whatever its voice, would be +exactly the opposite of Tom Tringle. + +She had fallen away from her resolution to her dreams for a time, +when suddenly she jumped up and began her work with immense energy. +Open went one box after another, and in five minutes the room was +strewed with her possessions. The modest set of drawers which was to +supply all her wants was filled with immediate haste. Things were +deposited in whatever nooks might be found, and every corner was +utilized. Her character for tidiness had never stood high. At the +bijou Lucy, or her mother, or the favourite maid, had always been at +hand to make good her deficiencies with a reproach which had never +gone beyond a smile or a kiss. At Glenbogie and even on the journey +there had been attendant lady's maids. But here she was all alone. + +Everything was still in confusion when she was called to dinner. As +she went down she recalled to herself her second resolution. She +would be good;--whereby she intimated to herself that she would +endeavour to do what might be pleasing to her Aunt Dosett. She had +little doubt as to her uncle. But she was aware that there had been +differences between her aunt and Lucy. If Lucy had found it difficult +to be good how great would be the struggle required from her! + +She sat herself down at table a little nearer to her aunt than her +uncle, because it was specially her aunt whom she wished to win, and +after a few minutes she put out her little soft hand and touched +that of Mrs. Dosett. "My dear," said that lady. "I hope you will be +happy." + +"I am determined to be happy," said Ayala, "if you will let me love +you." + +Mrs. Dosett was not beautiful, nor was she romantic. In appearance +she was the very reverse of Ayala. The cares of the world, the +looking after shillings and their results, had given her that look of +commonplace insignificance which is so frequent and so unattractive +among middle-aged women upon whom the world leans heavily. But there +was a tender corner in her heart which was still green, and from +which a little rill of sweet water could be made to flow when it +was touched aright. On this occasion a tear came to her eye as +she pressed her niece's hand; but she said nothing. She was sure, +however, that she would love Ayala much better than she had been able +to love Lucy. + +"What would you like me to do?" asked Ayala, when her aunt +accompanied her that night to her bed room. + +"To do, my dear? What do you generally do?" + +"Nothing. I read a little and draw a little, but I do nothing useful. +I mean it to be different now." + +"You shall do as you please, Ayala." + +"Oh, but I mean it. And you must tell me. Of course things have to be +different." + +"We are not rich like your uncle and aunt Tringle." + +"Perhaps it is better not to be rich, so that one may have something +to do. But I want you to tell me as though you really cared for me." + +"I will care for you," said Aunt Dosett, sobbing. + +"Then first begin by telling me what to do. I will try and do it. Of +course I have thought about it, coming away from all manner of rich +things; and I have determined that it shall not make me unhappy. I +will rise above it. I will begin to-morrow and do anything if you +will tell me." Then Aunt Dosett took her in her arms and kissed her, +and declared that on the morrow they would begin their work together +in perfect confidence and love with each other. + +"I think she will do better than Lucy," said Mrs. Dosett to her +husband that night. + +"Lucy was a dear girl too," said Uncle Reginald. + +"Oh, yes;--quite so. I don't mean to say a word against Lucy; but I +think that I can do better with Ayala. She will be more diligent." +Uncle Reginald said nothing to this, but he could not but think that +of the two Lucy would be the one most likely to devote herself to +hard work. + +On the next morning Ayala went out with her aunt on the round to the +shopkeepers, and listened with profound attention to the domestic +instructions which were given to her on the occasion. When she came +home she knew much of which she had known nothing before. What was +the price of mutton, and how much mutton she was expected as one of +the family to eat per week; what were the necessities of the house in +bread and butter, how far a pint of milk might be stretched,--with a +proper understanding that her Uncle Reginald as head of the family +was to be subjected to no limits. And before their return from that +walk,--on the first morning of Ayala's sojourn,--Ayala had undertaken +always to call Mrs. Dosett Aunt Margaret for the future. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +TOM TRINGLE COMES TO THE CRESCENT. + + +During the next three months, up to the end of the winter and through +the early spring, things went on without any change either in Queen's +Gate or Kingsbury Crescent. The sisters saw each other occasionally, +but not as frequently as either of them had intended. Lucy was not +encouraged in the use of cabs, nor was the carriage lent to her often +for the purpose of going to the Crescent. The reader may remember +that she had been in the habit of walking alone in Kensington +Gardens, and a walk across Kensington Gardens would carry her the +greater part of the distance to Kingsbury Crescent. But Lucy, in +her new circumstances, was not advised,--perhaps, I may say, was +not allowed,--to walk alone. Lady Tringle, being a lady of rank and +wealth, was afraid, or pretended to be afraid, of the lions. Poor +Ayala was really afraid of the lions. Thus it came to pass that the +intercourse was not frequent. In her daily life Lucy was quiet and +obedient. She did not run counter to Augusta, whose approaching +nuptials gave her that predominance in the house which is always +accorded to young ladies in her recognised position. Gertrude was at +this time a subject of trouble at Queen's Gate. Sir Thomas had not +been got to approve of Mr. Frank Houston, and Gertrude had positively +refused to give him up. Sir Thomas was, indeed, considerably troubled +by his children. There had been a period of disagreeable obstinacy +even with Augusta before Mr. Traffick had been taken into the bosom +of the family. Now Gertrude had her own ideas, and so also had +Tom. Tom had become quite a trouble. Sir Thomas and Lady Tringle, +together, had determined that Tom must be weaned; by which they meant +that he must be cured of his love. But Tom had altogether refused to +be weaned. Mr. Dosett had been requested to deny him admittance to +the house in Kingsbury Crescent, and as this request had been fully +endorsed by Ayala herself orders had been given to the effect to the +parlour-maid. Tom had called more than once, and had been unable to +obtain access to his beloved. But yet he resolutely refused to be +weaned. He told his father to his face that he intended to marry +Ayala, and abused his mother roundly when she attempted to interfere. +The whole family was astounded by his perseverance, so that there had +already sprung up an idea in the minds of some among the Tringles +that he would be successful at last. Augusta was very firm, declaring +that Ayala was a viper. But Sir Thomas, himself, began to inquire, +within his own bosom, whether Tom should not be allowed to settle +down in the manner desired by himself. In no consultation held at +Queen's Gate on the subject was there the slightest expression of an +opinion that Tom might be denied the opportunity of settling down as +he wished through any unwillingness on the part of Ayala. + +When things were in this position, Tom sought an interview one +morning with his father in Lombard Street. They rarely saw each other +at the office, each having his own peculiar branch of business. Sir +Thomas manipulated his millions in a little back room of his own, +while Tom, dealing probably with limited thousands, made himself +useful in an outer room. They never went to, or left, the office +together, but Sir Thomas always took care to know that his son +was or was not on the premises. "I want to say a word or two, Sir, +about--about the little affair of mine," said Tom. + +"What affair?" said Sir Thomas, looking up from his millions. + +"I think I should like to--marry." + +"The best thing you can do, my boy; only it depends upon who the +young lady may be." + +"My mind is made up about that, Sir; I mean to marry my cousin. I +don't see why a young man isn't to choose for himself." Then Sir +Thomas preached his sermon, but preached it in the manner which men +are wont to use when they know that they are preaching in vain. There +is a tone of refusal, which, though the words used may be manifestly +enough words of denial, is in itself indicative of assent. Sir Thomas +ended the conference by taking a week to think over the matter, and +when the week was over gave way. He was still inclined to think that +marriages with cousins had better be avoided; but he gave way, and at +last promised that if Tom and Ayala were of one mind an income should +be forthcoming. + +For the carrying out of this purpose it was necessary that the door +of Uncle Dosett's house should be unlocked, and with the object of +turning the key Sir Thomas himself called at the Admiralty. "I find +my boy is quite in earnest about this," he said to the Admiralty +clerk. + +"Oh; indeed." + +"I can't say I quite like it myself." Mr. Dosett could only shake his +head. "Cousins had better be cousins, and nothing more." + +"And then you would probably expect him to get money?" + +"Not at all," said Sir Thomas, proudly. "I have got money enough for +them both. It isn't an affair of money. To make a long story short, +I have given my consent; and, therefore, if you do not mind, I shall +be glad if you will allow Tom to call at the Crescent. Of course, +you may have your own views; but I don't suppose you can hope to do +better for the girl. Cousins do marry, you know, very often." Mr. +Dosett could only say that he could not expect to do anything for the +girl nearly so good, and that, as far as he was concerned, his nephew +Tom should be made quite welcome at Kingsbury Crescent. It was not, +he added, in his power to answer for Ayala. As to this, Sir Thomas +did not seem to have any doubts. The good things of the world, which +it was in his power to offer, were so good, that it was hardly +probable that a young lady in Ayala's position should refuse them. + +"My dear," said Aunt Margaret, the next morning, speaking in her most +suasive tone, "your Cousin Tom is to be allowed to call here." + +"Tom Tringle?" + +"Yes, my dear. Sir Thomas has consented." + +"Then he had better not," said Ayala, bristling up in hot anger. +"Uncle Tom has got nothing to do with it, either in refusing or +consenting. I won't see him." + +"I think you must see him if he calls." + +"But I don't want. Oh, Aunt Margaret, pray make him not come. I +don't like him a bit. We are doing so very well. Are we not, Aunt +Margaret?" + +"Certainly, my dear, we are doing very well;--at least, I hope so. +But you are old enough now to understand that this is a very serious +matter." + +"Of course it is serious," said Ayala, who certainly was not guilty +of the fault of making light of her future life. Those dreams of +hers, in which were contained all her hopes and all her aspirations, +were very serious to her. This was so much the case that she had +by no means thought of her Cousin Tom in a light spirit, as though +he were a matter of no moment to her. He was to her just what the +Beast must have been to the Beauty, when the Beast first began to +be in love. But her safety had consisted in the fact that no one +had approved of the Beast being in love with her. Now she could +understand that all the horrors of oppression might fall upon her. Of +course it was serious; but not the less was she resolved that nothing +should induce her to marry the Beast. + +"I think you ought to see him when he comes, and to remember how +different it will be when he comes with the approval of his father. +It is, of course, saying that they are ready to welcome you as their +daughter." + +"I don't want to be anybody's daughter." + +"But, Ayala, there are so many things to be thought of. Here is a +young man who is able to give you not only every comfort but great +opulence." + +"I don't want to be opulent." + +"And he will be a baronet." + +"I don't care about baronets, Aunt Margaret." + +"And you will have a house of your own in which you may be of service +to your sister." + +"I had rather she should have a house." + +"But Tom is not in love with Lucy." + +"He is such a lout! Aunt Margaret, I won't have anything to say to +him. I would a great deal sooner die. Uncle Tom has no right to send +him here. They have got rid of me, and I am very glad of it; but +it isn't fair that he should come after me now that I'm gone away. +Couldn't Uncle Reginald tell him to stay away?" + +A great deal more was said, but nothing that was said had the +slightest effect on Ayala. When she was told of her dependent +position, and of the splendour of the prospects offered, she declared +that she would rather go into the poor-house than marry her cousin. +When she was told that Tom was good-natured, honest, and true, she +declared that good-nature, honesty, and truth had nothing to do with +it. When she was asked what it was that she looked forward to in the +world she could merely sob and say that there was nothing. She could +not tell even her sister Lucy of those dreams and castles. How, then, +could she explain them to her Aunt Margaret? How could she make her +aunt understand that there could be no place in her heart for Tom +Tringle seeing that it was to be kept in reserve for some angel of +light who would surely make his appearance in due season,--but who +must still be there, present to her as her angel of light, even +should he never show himself in the flesh. How vain it was to talk +of Tom Tringle to her, when she had so visible before her eyes that +angel of light with whom she was compelled to compare him! + +But, though she could not be brought to say that she would listen +patiently to his story, she was nevertheless made to understand that +she must see him when he came to her. Aunt Margaret was very full on +that subject. A young man who was approved of by the young lady's +friends, and who had means at command, was, in Mrs. Dosett's opinion, +entitled to a hearing. How otherwise were properly authorised +marriages to be made up and arranged? When this was going on there +was in some slight degree a diminished sympathy between Ayala and her +aunt. Ayala still continued her household duties,--over which, in the +privacy of her own room, she groaned sadly; but she continued them +in silence. Her aunt, upon whom she had counted, was, she thought, +turning against her. Mrs. Dosett, on the other hand, declared to +herself that the girl was romantic and silly. Husbands with every +immediate comfort, and a prospect of almost unlimited wealth, are not +to be found under every hedge. What right could a girl so dependent +as Ayala have to refuse an eligible match? She therefore in this way +became an advocate on behalf of Tom,--as did also Uncle Reginald, +more mildly. Uncle Reginald merely remarked that Tom was attending +to his business, which was a great thing in a young man. It was not +much, but it showed Ayala that in this matter her uncle was her +enemy. In this, her terrible crisis, she had not a friend, unless it +might be Lucy. + +Then a day was fixed on which Tom was to come, which made the matter +more terrible by anticipation. "What can be the good?" Ayala said to +her aunt when the hour named for the interview was told her, "as I +can tell him everything just as well without his coming at all." But +all that had been settled. Aunt Margaret had repeated over and over +again that such an excellent young man as Tom, with such admirable +intentions, was entitled to a hearing from any young lady. In reply +to this Ayala simply made a grimace, which was intended to signify +the utter contempt in which she held her cousin Tom with all his +wealth. + +Tom Tringle, in spite of his rings and a certain dash of vulgarity, +which was, perhaps, not altogether his own fault, was not a bad +fellow. Having taken it into his heart that he was very much in love +he was very much in love. He pictured to himself a happiness of a +wholesome cleanly kind. To have the girl as his own, to caress her +and foster her, and expend himself in making her happy; to exalt her, +so as to have it acknowledged that she was, at any rate, as important +as Augusta; to learn something from her, so that he, too, might +become romantic, and in some degree poetical;--all this had come +home to him in a not ignoble manner. But it had not come home to him +that Ayala might probably refuse him. Hitherto Ayala had been very +persistent in her refusals; but then hitherto there had existed the +opposition of all the family. Now he had overcome that, and he felt +therefore that he was entitled to ask and to receive. + +On the day fixed, and at the hour fixed, he came in the plenitude of +all his rings. Poor Tom! It was a pity that he should have had no +one to advise him as to his apparel. Ayala hated his jewelry. She +was not quite distinct in her mind as to the raiment which would be +worn by the angel of light when he should come, but she was sure +that he would not be chiefly conspicuous for heavy gilding; and Tom, +moreover, had a waistcoat which would of itself have been suicidal. +Such as he was, however, he was shown up into the drawing-room, where +he found Ayala alone. It was certainly a misfortune to him that no +preliminary conversation was possible. Ayala had been instructed +to be there with the express object of listening to an offer of +marriage. The work had to be done,--and should be done; but it would +not admit of other ordinary courtesies. She was very angry with +him, and she looked her anger. Why should she be subjected to this +terrible annoyance? He had sense enough to perceive that there was no +place for preliminary courtesy, and therefore rushed away at once to +the matter in hand. "Ayala!" he exclaimed, coming and standing before +her as she sat upon the sofa. + +"Tom!" she said, looking boldly up into his face. + +"Ayala, I love you better than anything else in the world." + +"But what's the good of it?" + +"Of course it was different when I told you so before. I meant to +stick to it, and I was determined that the governor should give way. +But you couldn't know that. Mother and the girls were all against +us." + +"They weren't against me," said Ayala. + +"They were against our being married, and so they squeezed you out +as it were. That is why you have been sent to this place. But they +understand me now, and know what I am about. They have all given +their consent, and the governor has promised to be liberal. When he +says a thing he'll do it. There will be lots of money." + +"I don't care a bit about money," said Ayala, fiercely. + +"No more do I,--except only that it is comfortable. It wouldn't do to +marry without money,--would it?" + +"It would do very well if anybody cared for anybody." The angel of +light generally appeared "in formâ pauperis," though there was always +about him a tinge of bright azure which was hardly compatible with +the draggle-tailed hue of everyday poverty. + +"But an income is a good thing, and the governor will come down like +a brick." + +"The governor has nothing to do with it. I told you before that it +is all nonsense. If you will only go away and say nothing about it I +shall always think you very good-natured." + +"But I won't go away," said Tom speaking out boldly, "I mean to stick +to it. Ayala, I don't believe you understand that I am thoroughly in +earnest." + +"Why shouldn't I be in earnest, too?" + +"But I love you, Ayala. I have set my heart upon it. You don't know +how well I love you. I have quite made up my mind about it." + +"And I have made up my mind." + +"But Ayala--" Now the tenor of his face changed, and something of the +look of a despairing lover took the place of that offensive triumph +which had at first sat upon his brow. "I don't suppose you care for +any other fellow yet." + +There was the angel of light. But even though she might be most +anxious to explain to him that his suit was altogether impracticable +she could say nothing to him about the angel. Though she was sure +that the angel would come, she was not certain that she would ever +give herself altogether even to the angel. The celestial castle +which was ever being built in her imagination was as yet very much +complicated. But had it been ever so clear it would have been quite +impossible to explain anything of this to her cousin Tom. "That has +nothing to do with it," she said. + +"If you knew how I love you!" This came from him with a sob, and as +he sobbed he went down before her on his knees. + +"Don't be a fool, Tom,--pray don't. If you won't get up I shall go +away. I must go away. I have heard all that there is to hear. I told +them that there is no use in your coming." + +"Ayala!" with this there were veritable sobs. + +"Then why don't you give it up and let us be good friends." + +"I can't give it up. I won't give it up. When a fellow means it as I +do he never gives it up. Nothing on earth shall make me give it up. +Ayala, you've got to do it, and so I tell you." + +"Nobody can make me," said Ayala, nodding her head, but somewhat +tamed by the unexpected passion of the young man. + +"Then you won't say one kind word to me?" + +"I can't say anything kinder." + +"Very well. Then I shall go away and come again constantly till you +do. I mean to have you. When you come to know how very much I love +you I do think you will give way at last." With that he picked +himself up from the ground and hurried out of the house without +saying another word. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"WOULD YOU?" + + +The scene described in the last chapter took place in March. For +three days afterwards there was quiescence in Kingsbury Crescent. +Then there came a letter from Tom to Ayala, very pressing, full of +love and resolution, offering to wait any time,--even a month,--if +she wished it, but still persisting in his declared intention of +marrying her sooner or later;--not by any means a bad letter had +there not been about it a little touch of bombast which made it +odious to Ayala's sensitive appreciation. To this. Ayala wrote a +reply in the following words: + + + When I tell you that I won't, you oughtn't to go on. It + isn't manly. + + AYALA. + + Pray do not write again for I shall never answer another. + + +Of this she said nothing to Mrs. Dosett, though the arrival of Tom's +letter must have been known to that lady. And she posted her own +epistle without a word as to what she was doing. + +She wrote again and again to Lucy imploring her sister to come to +her, urging that as circumstances now were she could not show herself +at the house in Queen's Gate. To these Lucy always replied; but she +did not reply by coming, and hardly made it intelligible why she did +not come. Aunt Emmeline hoped, she said, that Ayala would very soon +be able to be at Queen's Gate. Then there was a difficulty about the +carriage. No one would walk across with her except Tom; and walking +by herself was forbidden. Aunt Emmeline did not like cabs. Then there +came a third or fourth letter, in which Lucy was more explanatory, +but yet not sufficiently so. During the Easter recess, which would +take place in the middle of April, Augusta and Mr. Traffick would +be married. The happy couple were to be blessed with a divided +honeymoon. The interval between Easter and Whitsuntide would require +Mr. Traffick's presence in the House, and the bride with her +bridegroom were to return to Queen's Gate. Then they would depart +again for the second holidays, and when they were so gone Aunt +Emmeline hoped that Ayala would come to them for a visit. "They quite +understand," said Lucy, "that it will not do to have you and Augusta +together." + +This was not at all what Ayala wanted. "It won't at all do to have me +and him together," said Ayala to herself, alluding of course to Tom +Tringle. But why did not Lucy come over to her? Lucy, who knew so +well that her sister did not want to see any one of the Tringles, who +must have been sure that any visit to Queen's Gate must have been +impossible, ought to have come to her. To whom else could she say +a word in her trouble? It was thus that Ayala argued with herself, +declaring to herself that she must soon die in her misery,--unless +indeed that angel of light might come to her assistance very quickly. + +But Lucy had troubles of her own in reference to the family at +Queen's Gate, which did, in fact, make it almost impossible to visit +her sister for some weeks. Sir Thomas had given an unwilling but a +frank consent to his son's marriage,--and then expected simply to be +told that it would take place at such and such a time, when money +would be required. Lady Tringle had given her consent,--but not quite +frankly. She still would fain have forbidden the banns, had any power +of forbidding remained in her hands. Augusta was still hot against +the marriage, and still resolute to prevent it. That proposed journey +upstairs after the scrap-book at Glenbogie, that real journey up to +the top of St. Peter's, still rankled in her heart. That Tom should +make Ayala a future baronet's wife; that Tom should endow Ayala with +the greatest share of the Tringle wealth; that Ayala should become +powerful in Queen's Gate, and dominant probably at Merle Park and +Glenbogie,--was wormwood to her. She was conscious that Ayala was +pretty and witty, though she could affect to despise the wit and the +prettiness. By instigating her mother, and by inducing Mr. Traffick +to interfere when Mr. Traffick should be a member of the family, +she thought that she might prevail. With her mother she did in part +prevail. Her future husband was at present too much engaged with +Supply and Demand to be able to give his thoughts to Tom's affairs. +But there would soon be a time when he naturally would be compelled +to divide his thoughts. Then there was Gertrude. Gertrude's own +affairs had not as yet been smiled upon, and the want of smiles she +attributed very much to Augusta. Why should Augusta have her way and +not she, Gertrude, nor her brother Tom? She therefore leagued herself +with Tom, and declared herself quite prepared to receive Ayala into +the house. In this way the family was very much divided. + +When Lucy first made her petition for the carriage, expressing her +desire to see Ayala, both her uncle and her aunt were in the room. +Objection was made,--some frivolous objection,--by Lady Tringle, who +did not in truth care to maintain much connection between Queen's +Gate and the Crescent. Then Sir Thomas, in his burly authoritative +way, had said that Ayala had better come to them. That same evening +he had settled or intended to settle it with his wife. Let Ayala come +as soon as the Trafficks,--as they then would be,--should have gone. +To this Lady Tringle had assented, knowing more than her husband as +to Ayala's feelings, and thinking that in this way a breach might be +made between them. Ayala had been a great trouble to her, and she was +beginning to be almost sick of the Dormer connection altogether. It +was thus that Lucy was hindered from seeing her sister for six weeks +after that first formal declaration of his love made by Tom to Ayala. +Tom had still persevered and had forced his way more than once into +Ayala's presence, but Ayala's answers had been always the same. "It's +a great shame, and you have no right to treat me in this way." + +Then came the Traffick marriage with great éclat. There were no less +than four Traffick bridesmaids, all of them no doubt noble, but none +of them very young, and Gertrude and Lucy were bridesmaids,--and two +of Augusta's friends. Ayala, of course, was not of the party. Tom was +gorgeous in his apparel, not in the least depressed by his numerous +repulses, quite confident of ultimate success, and proud of his +position as a lover with so beautiful a girl. He talked of his +affairs to all his friends, and seemed to think that even on this +wedding-day his part was as conspicuous as that of his sister, +because of his affair with his beautiful cousin. "Augusta doesn't hit +it off with her," he said to one of his friends, who asked why Ayala +was not at the wedding,--"Augusta is the biggest fool out, you know. +She's proud of her husband because he's the son of a lord. I wouldn't +change Ayala for the daughter of any duchess in Europe;"--thus +showing that he regarded Ayala as being almost his own already. Lord +Boardotrade was there, making a semi-jocose speech, quite in the +approved way for a cognate paterfamilias. Perhaps there was something +of a thorn in this to Sir Thomas, as it had become apparent at last +that Mr. Traffick himself did not purpose to add anything from his +own resources to the income on which he intended to live with his +wife. Lord Boardotrade had been obliged to do so much for his eldest +son that there appeared to be nothing left for the member for Port +Glasgow. Sir Thomas was prepared with his £120,000, and did not +perhaps mind this very much. But a man, when he pays his money, likes +to have some return for it, and he did not quite like the tone with +which the old nobleman, not possessed of very old standing in the +peerage, seemed to imply that he, like a noble old Providence, had +enveloped the whole Tringle family in the mantle of his noble blood. +He combined the jocose and the paternal in the manner appropriate to +such occasions; but there did run through Sir Thomas's mind as he +heard him an idea that £120,000 was a sufficient sum to pay, and that +it might be necessary to make Mr. Traffick understand that out of the +income thenceforth coming he must provide a house for himself and his +wife. It had been already arranged that he was to return to Queen's +Gate with his wife for the period between Easter and Whitsuntide. +It had lately,--quite lately,--been hinted to Sir Thomas that the +married pair would run up again after the second holidays. Mr. +Septimus Traffick had once spoken of Glenbogie as almost all his own, +and Augusta had, in her father's hearing, said a word intended to be +very affectionate about "dear Merle Park." Sir Thomas was a father +all over, with all a father's feelings; but even a father does not +like to be done. Mr. Traffick, no doubt, was a member of Parliament +and son of a peer;--but there might be a question whether even Mr. +Traffick had not been purchased at quite his full value. + +Nevertheless the marriage was pronounced to have been a success. +Immediately after it,--early, indeed, on the following morning,--Sir +Thomas inquired when Ayala was coming to Queen's Gate. "Is it +necessary that she should come quite at present?" asked Lady Tringle. + +"I thought it was all settled," said Sir Thomas, angrily. This had +been said in the privacy of his own dressing-room, but downstairs +at the breakfast-table, in the presence of Gertrude and Lucy, he +returned to the subject. Tom, who did not live in the house, was +not there. "I suppose we might as well have Ayala now," he said, +addressing himself chiefly to Lucy. "Do you go and manage it with +her." There was not a word more said. Sir Thomas did not always have +his own way in his family. What man was ever happy enough to do that? +But he was seldom directly contradicted. Lady Tringle when the order +was given pursed up her lips, and he, had he been observant, might +have known that she did not intend to have Ayala if she could help +it. But he was not observant,--except as to millions. + +When Sir Thomas was gone, Lady Tringle discussed the matter with +Lucy. "Of course, my dear," she said, "if we could make dear Ayala +happy--" + +"I don't think she will come, Aunt Emmeline." + +"Not come!" This was not said at all in a voice of anger, but simply +as eliciting some further expression of opinion. + +"She's afraid of--Tom." Lucy had never hitherto expressed a positive +opinion on that matter at Queen's Gate. When Augusta had spoken of +Ayala as having run after Tom, Lucy had been indignant, and had +declared that the running had been all on the other side. In a side +way she had hinted that Ayala, at any rate at present, was far from +favourable to Tom's suit. But she had never yet spoken out her mind +at Queen's Gate as Ayala had spoken it to her. + +"Afraid of him?" said Aunt Emmeline. + +"I mean that she is not a bit in love with him, and when a girl is +like that I suppose she is--is afraid of a man, if everybody else +wants her to marry him." + +"Why should everybody want her to marry Tom?" asked Lady Tringle, +indignantly. "I am sure I don't want her." + +"I suppose it is Uncle Tom, and Aunt Dosett, and Uncle Reginald," +said poor Lucy, finding that she had made a mistake. + +"I don't see why anybody should want her to marry Tom. Tom is carried +away by her baby face, and makes a fool of himself. As to everybody +wanting her, I hope she does not flatter herself that there is +anything of the kind." + +"I only meant that I think she would rather not be brought here, +where she would have to see him daily." + +After this the loan of the carriage was at last made, and Lucy was +allowed to visit her sister at the Crescent. "Has he been there?" was +almost the first question that Ayala asked. + +"What he do you mean?" + +"Isadore Hamel." + +"No; I have not seen him since I met him in the Park. But I do not +want to talk about Mr. Hamel, Ayala. Mr. Hamel is nothing." + +"Oh, Lucy." + +"He is nothing. Had he been anything, he has gone, and there would be +an end to it. But he is nothing." + +"If a man is true he may go, but he will come back." Ayala had her +ideas about the angel of light very clearly impressed upon her mind +in regard to the conduct of the man, though they were terribly +vague as to his personal appearance, his condition of life, his +appropriateness for marriage, and many other details of his +circumstances. It had also often occurred to her that this angel of +light, when he should come, might not be in love with herself,--and +that she might have to die simply because she had seen him and loved +him in vain. But he would be a man sure to come back if there were +fitting reasons that he should do so. Isadore Hamel was not quite an +angel of light, but he was nearly angelic,--at any rate very good, +and surely would come back. + +"Never mind about Mr. Hamel, Ayala. It is not nice to talk about a +man who has never spoken a word." + +"Never spoken a word! Oh, Lucy!" + +"Mr. Hamel has never spoken a word, and I will not talk about him. +There! All my heart is open to you, Ayala. You know that. But I will +not talk about Mr. Hamel. Aunt Emmeline wants you to come to Queen's +Gate." + +"I will not." + +"Or rather it is Sir Thomas who wants you to come. I do like Uncle +Tom. I do, indeed." + +"So do I." + +"You ought to come when he asks you." + +"Why ought I? That lout would be there,--of course." + +"I don't know about his being a lout, Ayala." + +"He comes here, and I have to be perfectly brutal to him. You can't +guess the sort of things I say to him, and he doesn't mind it a bit. +He thinks that he has to go on long enough, and that I must give way +at last. If I were to go to Queen's Gate it would be just as much as +to say that I had given way." + +"Why not?" + +"Lucy!" + +"Why not? He is not bad. He is honest, and true, and kind-hearted. I +know you can't be happy here." + +"No." + +"Aunt Dosett, with all her affairs, must be trouble to you. I could +not bear them patiently. How can you?" + +"Because they are better than Tom Tringle. I read somewhere about +there being seven houses of the Devil, each one being lower and worse +than the other. Tom would be the lowest,--the lowest,--the lowest." + +"Ayala, my darling." + +"Do not tell me that I ought to marry Tom," said Ayala, almost +standing off in anger from the proferred kiss. "Do you think that I +could love him?" + +"I think you could if you tried, because he is loveable. It is so +much to be good, and then he loves you truly. After all, it is +something to have everything nice around you. You have not been made +to be poor and uncomfortable. I fear that it must be bad with you +here." + +"It is bad." + +"I wish I could have stayed, Ayala. I am more tranquil than you, and +could have borne it better." + +"It is bad. It is one of the houses,--but not the lowest. I can eat +my heart out here, peaceably, and die with a great needle in my hand +and a towel in my lap. But if I were to marry him I should kill +myself the first hour after I had gone away with him. Things! What +would things be with such a monster as that leaning over one? Would +you marry him?" In answer to this, Lucy made no immediate reply. "Why +don't you say? You want me to marry him. Would you?" + +"No." + +"Then why should I?" + +"I could not try to love him." + +"Try! How can a girl try to love any man? It should come because she +can't help it, let her try ever so. Trying to love Tom Tringle! Why +can't you try?" + +"He doesn't want me." + +"But if he did? I don't suppose it would make the least difference to +him which it was. Would you try if he asked?" + +"No." + +"Then why should I? Am I so much a poorer creature than you?" + +"You are a finer creature. You know that I think so." + +"I don't want to be finer. I want to be the same." + +"You are free to do as you please. I am not--quite." + +"That means Isadore Hamel." + +"I try to tell you all the truth, Ayala; but pray do not talk about +him even to me. As for you, you are free; and if you could--" + +"I can't. I don't know that I am free, as you call it." Then Lucy +started, as though about to ask the question which would naturally +follow. "You needn't look like that, Lucy. There isn't any one to be +named." + +"A man not to be named?" + +"There isn't a man at all. There isn't anybody. But I may have my +own ideas if I please. If I had an Isadore Hamel of my own I could +compare Tom or Mr. Traffick, or any other lout to him, and could say +how infinitely higher in the order of things was my Isadore than +any of them. Though I haven't an Isadore can't I have an image? And +can't I make my image brighter, even higher, than Isadore? You won't +believe that, of course, and I don't want you to believe it yourself. +But you should believe it for me. My image can make Tom Tringle just +as horrible to me as Isadore Hamel can make him to you." Thus it was +that Ayala endeavoured to explain to her sister something of the +castle which she had built in the air, and of the angel of light who +inhabited the castle. + +Then it was decided between them that Lucy should explain to Aunt +Emmeline that Ayala could not make a prolonged stay at Queen's Gate. +"But how shall I say it?" asked Lucy. + +"Tell her the truth, openly. 'Tom wants to marry Ayala, and Ayala +won't have him. Therefore, of course, she can't come, because it +would look as though she were going to change her mind,--which she +isn't.' Aunt Emmeline will understand that, and will not be a bit +sorry. She doesn't want to have me for a daughter-in-law. She had +quite enough of me at Rome." + +All this time the carriage was waiting, and Lucy was obliged to +return before half of all that was necessary had been said. What was +to be Ayala's life for the future? How were the sisters to see each +other? What was to be done when, at the end of the coming summer, +Lucy should be taken first to Glenbogie and then to Merle Park? +There is a support in any excitement, though it be in the excitement +of sorrow only. At the present moment Ayala was kept alive by the +necessity of her battle with Tom Tringle, but how would it be with +her when Tom should have given up the fight? Lucy knew, by sad +experience, how great might be the tedium of life in Kingsbury +Crescent, and knew, also, how unfitted Ayala was to endure it. There +seemed to be no prospect of escape in future. "She knows nothing of +what I am suffering," said Ayala, "when she gives me the things to +do, and tells me of more things, and more, and more! How can there +be so many things to be done in such a house as this?" But as Lucy +was endeavouring to explain how different were the arrangements in +Kingsbury Crescent from those which had prevailed at the bijou, the +offended coachman sent up word to say that he didn't think Sir Thomas +would like it if the horses were kept out in the rain any longer. +Then Lucy hurried down, not having spoken of half the things which +were down in her mind on the list for discussion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HOW THE TRINGLES FELL INTO TROUBLE. + + +After the Easter holidays the Trafficks came back to Queen's Gate, +making a combination of honeymoon and business which did very well +for a time. It was understood that it was to be so. During honeymoon +times the fashionable married couple is always lodged and generally +boarded for nothing. That opening wide of generous hands, which +exhibits itself in the joyous enthusiasm of a coming marriage, taking +the shape of a houseful of presents, of a gorgeous and ponderous +trousseau, of a splendid marriage feast, and not unfrequently of +subsidiary presents from the opulent papa,--presents which are +subsidiary to the grand substratum of settled dowry,--generously +extends itself to luxurious provision for a month or two. That Mr. +and Mrs. Traffick should come back to Queen's Gate for the six weeks +intervening between Easter and Whitsuntide had been arranged, and +arranged also that the use of Merle Park, for the Whitsun holidays, +should be allowed to them. This last boon Augusta, with her sweetest +kiss, had obtained from her father only two days before the wedding. +But when it was suggested, just before the departure to Merle Park, +that Mr. Traffick's unnecessary boots might be left at Queen's Gate, +because he would come back there, then Sir Thomas, who had thought +over the matter, said a word. + +It was in this way. "Mamma," said Augusta, "I suppose I can leave a +lot of things in the big wardrobe. Jemima says I cannot take them to +Merle Park without ever so many extra trunks." + +"Certainly, my dear. When anybody occupies the room, they won't want +all the wardrobe. I don't know that any one will come this summer." + +This was only the thin end of the wedge, and, as Augusta felt, was +not introduced successfully. The words spoken seemed to have admitted +that a return to Queen's Gate had not been intended. The conversation +went no further at the moment, but was recommenced the same evening. +"Mamma, I suppose Septimus can leave his things here?" + +"Of course, my dear; he can leave anything,--to be taken care of." + +"It will be so convenient if we can come back,--just for a few days." + +Now, there certainly had been a lack of confidence between the +married daughter and her mother as to a new residence. A word had +been spoken, and Augusta had said that she supposed they would go +to Lord Boardotrade when they left Queen's Gate, just to finish the +season. Now, it was known that his lordship, with his four unmarried +daughters, lived in a small house in a small street in Mayfair. The +locality is no doubt fashionable, but the house was inconvenient. Mr. +Traffick, himself, had occupied lodgings near the House of Commons, +but these had been given up. "I think you must ask your papa," said +Lady Tringle. + +"Couldn't you ask him?" said the Honourable Mrs. Traffick. Lady +Tringle was driven at last to consent, and then put the question to +Sir Thomas,--beginning with the suggestion as to the unnecessary +boots. + +"I suppose Septimus can leave his things here?" + +"Where do they mean to live when they come back to town?" asked Sir +Thomas, sharply. + +"I suppose it would be convenient if they could come here for a +little time," said Lady Tringle. + +"And stay till the end of the season,--and then go down to Glenbogie, +and then to Merle Park! Where do they mean to live?" + +"I think there was a promise about Glenbogie," said Lady Tringle. + +"I never made a promise. I heard Traffick say that he would like +to have some shooting,--though, as far as I know, he can't hit a +haystack. They may come to Glenbogie for two or three weeks, if they +like, but they shan't stay here during the entire summer." + +"You won't turn your own daughter out, Tom." + +"I'll turn Traffick out, and I suppose he'll take his wife with him," +said Sir Thomas, thus closing the conversation in wrath. + +The Trafficks went and came back, and were admitted into the bed-room +with the big wardrobe, and to the dressing-room where the boots +were kept. On the very first day of his arrival Mr. Traffick +was in the House at four, and remained there till four the next +morning,--certain Irish Members having been very eloquent. He was not +down when Sir Thomas left the next morning at nine, and was again at +the House when Sir Thomas came home to dinner. "How long is it to +be?" said Sir Thomas, that night, to his wife. There was a certain +tone in his voice which made Lady Tringle feel herself to be ill all +over. It must be said, in justice to Sir Thomas, that he did not +often use this voice in his domestic circle, though it was well known +in Lombard Street. But he used it now, and his wife felt herself to +be unwell. "I am not going to put up with it, and he needn't think +it." + +"Don't destroy poor Augusta's happiness so soon." + +"That be d----d," said the father, energetically. "Who's going to +destroy her happiness. Her happiness ought to consist in living in +her husband's house. What have I given her all that money for?" Then +Lady Tringle did not dare to say another word. + +It was not till the third day that Sir Thomas and his son-in-law met +each other. By that time Sir Thomas had got it into his head that his +son-in-law was avoiding him. But on the Saturday there was no House. +It was then just the middle of June,--Saturday, June 15,--and Sir +Thomas had considered, at the most, that there would be yet nearly +two months before Parliament would cease to sit and the time for +Glenbogie would come. He had fed his anger warm, and was determined +that he would not be done. "Well, Traffick, how are you?" he said, +encountering his son-in-law in the hall, and leading him into the +dining-room. "I haven't seen you since you've been back." + +"I've been in the House morning, noon, and night, pretty near." + +"I dare say. I hope you found yourself comfortable at Merle Park." + +"A charming house,--quite charming. I don't know whether I shouldn't +build the stables a little further from--" + +"Very likely. Nothing is so easy as knocking other people's houses +about. I hope you'll soon have one to knock about of your own." + +"All in good time," said Mr. Traffick, smiling. + +Sir Thomas was one of those men who during the course of a successful +life have contrived to repress their original roughnesses, and who +make a not ineffectual attempt to live after the fashion of those +with whom their wealth and successes have thrown them. But among such +will occasionally be found one whose roughness does not altogether +desert him, and who can on an occasion use it with a purpose. Such +a one will occasionally surprise his latter-day associates by the +sudden ferocity of his brow, by the hardness of his voice, and by an +apparently unaccustomed use of violent words. The man feels that he +must fight, and, not having learned the practice of finer weapons, +fights in this way. Unskilled with foils or rapier he falls back +upon the bludgeon with which his hand has not lost all its old +familiarity. Such a one was Sir Thomas Tringle, and a time for such +exercise had seemed to him to have come now. There are other men who +by the possession of imperturbable serenity seem to be armed equally +against rapier and bludgeon, whom there is no wounding with any +weapon. Such a one was Mr. Traffick. When he was told of knocking +about a house of his own, he quite took the meaning of Sir Thomas's +words, and was immediately prepared for the sort of conversation +which would follow. "I wish I might;--a Merle Park of my own for +instance. If I had gone into the city instead of to Westminster it +might have come in my way." + +"It seems to me that a good deal has come in your way without very +much trouble on your part." + +"A seat in the House is a nice thing,--but I work harder I take it +than you do, Sir Thomas." + +"I never have had a shilling but what I earned. When you leave this +where are you and Augusta going to live?" + +This was a home question, which would have disconcerted most +gentlemen in Mr. Traffick's position, were it not that gentlemen +easily disconcerted would hardly find themselves there. + +"Where shall we go when we leave this? You were so kind as to say +something about Glenbogie when Parliament is up." + +"No, I didn't." + +"I thought I understood it." + +"You said something and I didn't refuse." + +"Put it any way you like, Sir Thomas." + +"But what do you mean to do before Parliament is up? The long and the +short of it is, we didn't expect you to come back after the holidays. +I like to be plain. This might go on for ever if I didn't speak out." + +"And a very comfortable way of going on it would be." Sir Thomas +raised his eyebrows in unaffected surprise, and then again assumed +his frown. "Of course I'm thinking of Augusta chiefly." + +"Augusta made up her mind no doubt to leave her father's house when +she married." + +"She shows her affection for her parents by wishing to remain in it. +The fact, I suppose, is, you want the rooms." + +"But even if we didn't? You're not going to live here for ever, I +suppose." + +"That, Sir, is too good to be thought of, I fear. The truth is we +had an idea of staying at my father's. He spoke of going down to the +country and lending us the house. My sisters have made him change his +mind and so here we are. Of course we can go into lodgings." + +"Or to an hotel." + +"Too dear! You see you've made me pay such a sum for insuring my +life. I'll tell you what I'll do. If you'll let us make it out here +till the 10th of July we'll go into an hotel then." Sir Thomas, +surprised at his own compliance, did at last give way. "And then we +can have a month at Glenbogie from the 12th." + +"Three weeks," said Sir Thomas, shouting at the top of his voice. + +"Very well; three weeks. If you could have made it the month it would +have been convenient; but I hate to be disagreeable." Thus the matter +was settled, and Mr. Traffick was altogether well pleased with the +arrangement. + +"What are we to do?" said Augusta, with a very long face. "What are +we to do when we are made to go away?" + +"I hope I shall be able to make some of the girls go down by that +time, and then we must squeeze in at my father's." + +This and other matters made Sir Thomas in those days irritable and +disagreeable to the family. "Tom," he said to his wife, "is the +biggest fool that ever lived." + +"What is the matter with him now?" asked Lady Tringle, who did not +like to have her only son abused. + +"He's away half his time, and when he does come he'd better be away. +If he wants to marry that girl why doesn't he marry her and have done +with it?" + +Now this was a matter upon which Lady Tringle had ideas of her own +which were becoming every day stronger. "I'm sure I should be very +sorry to see it," she said. + +"Why should you be sorry? Isn't it the best thing a young man can do? +If he's set his heart that way all the world won't talk him off. I +thought all that was settled." + +"You can't make the girl marry him." + +"Is that it?" asked Sir Thomas, with a whistle. "You used to say she +was setting her cap at him." + +"She is one of those girls you don't know what she would be at. She's +full of romance and nonsense, and isn't half as fond of telling the +truth as she ought to be. She made my life a burden to me while she +was with us, and I don't think she would be any better for Tom." + +"But he's still determined." + +"What's the use of that?" said Lady Tringle. + +"Then he shall have her. I made him a promise and I'm not going to +give it up. I told him that if he was in earnest he should have her." + +"You can't make a girl marry a young man." + +"You have her here, and then we'll take her to Glenbogie. Now when I +say it I mean it. You go and fetch her, and if you don't I will. I'm +not going to have her turned out into the cold in that way." + +"She won't come, Tom." Then he turned round and frowned at her. + +The immediate result of this was that Lady Tringle herself did drive +across to Kingsbury Crescent accompanied by Gertrude and Lucy, and +did make her request in form. "My dear, your uncle particularly wants +you to come to us for the next month." Mrs. Dosett was sitting by. "I +hope Ayala may be allowed to come to us for a month." + +"Ayala must answer for herself," said Mrs. Dosett, firmly. There had +never been any warm friendship between Mrs. Dosett and her husband's +elder sister. + +"I can't," said Ayala, shaking her head. + +"Why not, my dear?" said Lady Tringle. + +"I can't," said Ayala. + +Lady Tringle was not in the least offended or annoyed at the refusal. +She did not at all desire that Ayala should come to Glenbogie. Ayala +at Glenbogie would make her life miserable to her. It would, of +course, lead to Tom's marriage, and then there would be internecine +fighting between Ayala and Augusta. But it was necessary that she +should take back to her husband some reply;--and this reply, if +in the form of refusal, must come from Ayala herself. "Your uncle +has sent me," said Lady Tringle, "and I must give him some reason. +As for expense, you know,"--then she turned to Mrs. Dosett with a +smile,--"that of course would be our affair." + +"If you ask me," said Mrs. Dosett, "I think that as Ayala has come +to us she had better remain with us. Of course things are very +different, and she would be only discontented." At this Lady Tringle +smiled her sweetest smile,--as though acknowledging that things +certainly were different,--and then turned to Ayala for a further +reply. + +"Aunt Emmeline, I can't," said Ayala. + +"But why, my dear? Can't isn't a courteous answer to a request that +is meant to be kind." + +"Speak out, Ayala," said Mrs. Dosett. "There is nobody here but your +aunts." + +"Because of Tom." + +"Tom wouldn't eat you," said Lady Tringle, again smiling. + +"It's worse than eating me," said Ayala. "He will go on when I tell +him not. If I were down there he'd be doing it always. And then you'd +tell me that I--encouraged him!" + +Lady Tringle felt this to be unkind and undeserved. Those passages +in Rome had been very disagreeable to every one concerned. The girl +certainly, as she thought, had been arrogant and impertinent. She had +been accepted from charity and had then domineered in the family. She +had given herself airs and had gone out into company almost without +authority, into company which had rejected her,--Lady Tringle. It had +become absolutely necessary to get rid of an inmate so troublesome, +so unbearable. The girl had been sent away,--almost ignominiously. +Now she, Lady Tringle, the offended aunt, the aunt who had so +much cause for offence, had been good enough, gracious enough, to +pardon all this, and was again offering the fruition of a portion +of her good things to the sinner. No doubt she was not anxious +that the offer should be accepted, but not the less was it made +graciously,--as she felt herself. In answer to this she had thrown +back upon her the only hard word she had ever spoken to the girl! +"You wouldn't be told anything of the kind, but you needn't come if +you don't like it." + +"Then I don't," said Ayala, nodding her head. + +"But I did think that after all that has passed, and when I am trying +to be kind to you, you would have made yourself more pleasant to me. +I can only tell your uncle that you say you won't." + +"Give my love to my uncle, and tell him that I am much obliged to him +and that I know how good he is; but I can't--because of Tom." + +"Tom is too good for you," exclaimed Aunt Emmeline, who could not +bear to have her son depreciated even by the girl whom she did not +wish to marry him. + +"I didn't say he wasn't," said Ayala, bursting into tears. "The +Archbishop of Canterbury would be too good for me, but I don't want +to marry him." Then she got up and ran out of the room in order that +she might weep over her troubles in the privacy of her own chamber. +She was thoroughly convinced that she was being ill-used. No one had +a right to tell her that any man was too good for her unless she +herself should make pretensions to the man. It was an insult to +her even to connect her name with that of any man unless she had +done something to connect it. In her own estimation her cousin Tom +was infinitely beneath her,--worlds beneath her,--a denizen of an +altogether inferior race, such as the Beast was to the Beauty! Not +that Ayala had ever boasted to herself of her own face or form. It +was not in that respect that she likened herself to the Beauty when +she thought of Tom as the Beast. Her assumed superiority existed in +certain intellectual or rather artistic and æsthetic gifts,--certain +celestial gifts. But as she had boasted of them to no one, as she +had never said that she and her cousin were poles asunder in their +tastes, poles asunder in their feelings, poles asunder in their +intelligence, was it not very, very cruel that she should be told, +first that she encouraged him, and then that she was not good enough +for him? Cinderella did not ask to have the Prince for her husband. +When she had her own image of which no one could rob her, and was +content with that, why should they treat her in this cruel way? + +"I am afraid you are having a great deal of trouble with her," said +Lady Tringle to Mrs. Dosett. + +"No, indeed. Of course she is romantic, which is very objectionable." + +"Quite detestable!" said Lady Tringle. + +"But she has been brought up like that, so that it is not her fault. +Now she endeavours to do her best." + +"She is so upsetting." + +"She is angry because her cousin persecutes her." + +"Persecutes her, indeed! Tom is in a position to ask any girl to be +his wife. He can give her a home of her own, and a good income. She +ought to be proud of the offer instead of speaking like that. But +nobody wants her to have him." + +"He wants it, I suppose." + +"Just taken by her baby face;--that's all. It won't last, and she +needn't think so. However, I've done my best to be kind, Mrs. Dosett, +and there's an end of it. If you please I'll ring the bell for the +carriage. Good-bye." After that she swam out of the room and had +herself carried back to Queen's Gate. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +FRANK HOUSTON. + + +Three or four days afterwards Sir Thomas asked whether Ayala was to +come to Glenbogie. "She positively refused," said his wife, "and +was so rude and impertinent that I could not possibly have her now." +Then Sir Thomas frowned and turned himself away, and said not a word +further on that occasion. + +There were many candidates for Glenbogie on this occasion. Among +others there was Mr. Frank Houston, whose candidature was not pressed +by himself,--as could not well have been done,--but was enforced by +Gertrude on his behalf. It was now July. Gertrude and Mr. Houston +had seen something of each other in Rome, as may be remembered, and +since then had seen a good deal of each other in town. Gertrude was +perfectly well aware that Mr. Houston was impecunious; but Augusta +had been allowed to have an impecunious lover, and Tom to throw +himself at the feet of an impecunious love. Gertrude felt herself to +be entitled to her £120,000; did not for a moment doubt but that she +would get it. Why shouldn't she give it to any young man she liked +as long as he belonged to decent people? Mr. Houston wasn't a Member +of Parliament,--but then he was young and good-looking. Mr. Houston +wasn't son to a lord, but he was brother to a county squire, and came +of a family much older than that of those stupid Boardotrade and +Traffick people. And then Frank Houston was very presentable, was not +at all bald, and was just the man for a girl to like as a husband. It +was dinned into her ears that Houston had no income at all,--just a +few hundreds a year on which he never could keep himself out of debt. +But he was a generous man, who would be more than contented with the +income coming from £120,000. He would not spunge upon the house at +Queen's Gate. He would not make use of Merle Park and Glenbogie. He +would have a house of his own for his old boots. Four-per-cent. would +give them nearly £5,000 a year. Gertrude knew all about it already. +They could have a nice house near Queen's Gate;--say somewhere about +Onslow Gardens. There would be quite enough for a carriage for three +months upon a mountain in Switzerland, and three more among the art +treasures of Italy. It was astonishing how completely Gertrude had +it all at her finger's ends when she discussed the matter with her +mother. Mr. Houston was a man of no expensive tastes. He didn't want +to hunt. He did shoot, no doubt, and perhaps a little shooting at +Glenbogie might be nice before they went to Switzerland. In that case +two months on the top of the mountain would suffice. But if he was +not asked he would never condescend to demand an entry at Glenbogie +as a part of his wife's dower. Lady Tringle was thus talked over, +though she did think that at least one of her daughters' husbands +ought to have an income of his own. There was another point which +Gertrude put forward very frankly, and which no doubt had weight with +her mother. "Mamma, I mean to have him," she said, when Lady Tringle +expressed a doubt. + +"But papa?" + +"I mean to have him. Papa can scold, of course, if he pleases." + +"But where would the income come from if papa did not give it?" + +"Of course he'll give it. I've a right to it as much as Augusta." +There was something in Gertrude's face as she said this which made +her mother think that she would have her way. + +But Sir Thomas had hitherto declined. When Frank Houston, after +the manner of would-be sons-in-law, had applied to Sir Thomas, Sir +Thomas, who already knew all about it, asked after his income, his +prospects, and his occupation. Fifty years ago young men used to +encounter the misery of such questions, and to live afterwards often +in the enjoyment of the stern questioner's money and daughters. But +there used in those days to be a bad quarter of an hour while the +questions were being asked, and not un-frequently a bad six months +afterwards, while the stern questioner was gradually undergoing a +softening process under the hands of the females of the family. But +the young man of to-day has no bad quarter of an hour. "You are a +mercantile old brick, with money and a daughter. I am a jeunesse +dorée,--gilded by blood and fashion, though so utterly impecunious! +Let us know your terms. How much is it to be, and then I can say +whether we can afford to live upon it." The old brick surrenders +himself more readily and speedily to the latter than to the former +manner;--but he hardly surrenders himself quite at once. Frank +Houston, when inquired into, declared at once, without blushing, +that he had no income at all to speak of in reference to matrimonial +life. As to family prospects he had none. His elder brother had four +blooming boys, and was likely to have more. As for occupation, he +was very fond of painting, very fond of art all round, could shoot a +little, and was never in want of anything to do as long as he had a +book. But for the earning of money he had no turn whatever. He was +quite sure of himself that he could never earn a shilling. But then +on the other hand he was not extravagant,--which was almost as good +as earning. It was almost incredible; but with his means, limited +as they were to a few hundreds, he did not owe above a thousand +pounds;--a fact which he thought would weigh much with Sir Thomas in +regard to his daughter's future happiness. + +Sir Thomas gave him a flat refusal. "I think that I may boast that +your daughter's happiness is in my charge," said Frank Houston. + +"Then she must be unhappy," said Sir Thomas. Houston shrugged his +shoulders. "A fool like that has no right to be happy." + +"There isn't another man in the world by whom I would allow her to be +spoken of like that," said Houston. + +"Bother!" + +"I regard her as all that is perfect in woman, and you must forgive +me if I say that I shall not abandon my suit. I may be allowed, at +any rate, to call at the house?" + +"Certainly not." + +"That is a kind of thing that is never done nowadays;--never," said +Houston, shaking his head. + +"I suppose my own house is my own." + +"Yours and Lady Tringle's, and your daughters', no doubt. At any +rate, Sir Thomas, you will think of this again. I am sure you will +think of it again. If you find that your daughter's happiness depends +upon it--" + +"I shall find nothing of the kind. Good morning." + +"Good morning, Sir Thomas." Then Mr. Houston, bowing graciously, left +the little back room in Lombard Street, and jumping into a cab, had +himself taken straight away to Queen's Gate. + +"Papa is always like that," said Gertrude. On that day Mrs. Traffick, +with all the boots, had taken herself away to the small house in +Mayfair, and Gertrude, with her mother, had the house to herself. At +the present moment Lady Tringle was elsewhere, so that the young lady +was alone with her lover. + +"But he comes round, I suppose." + +"If he doesn't have too much to eat,--which disagrees with him,--he +does. He's always better down at Glenbogie because he's out of doors +a good deal, and then he can digest things." + +"Then take him down to Glenbogie and let him digest it at once." + +"Of course we can't go till the 12th. Perhaps we shall start on the +10th, because the 11th is Sunday. What will you do, Frank?" There had +been a whisper of Frank's going to the Tyrol in August, there to join +the Mudbury Docimers, who were his far-away cousins. Imogene Docimer +was a young lady of marvellous beauty,--not possessed indeed of +£120,000,--of whom Gertrude had heard, and was already anxious that +her Frank should not go to the Tyrol this year. She was already aware +that her Frank had--just an artist's eye for feminine beauty in its +various shapes, and thought that in the present condition of things +he would be better at Glenbogie than in the Tyrol. + +"I am thinking of wandering away somewhere;--perhaps to the Tyrol. +The Mudbury Docimers are there. He's a pal of mine, besides being a +cousin. Mrs. Docimer is a very nice woman." + +"And her sister?" + +"A lovely creature. Such a turn of the neck! I've promised to make a +study of her back head." + +"Come down to Glenbogie," said Gertrude, sternly. + +"How can I do that when your governor won't let me enter his +house-door even in London?" + +"But you're here." + +"Well,--yes;--I am here. But he told me not. I don't see how I'm to +drive in at the gate at Glenbogie with all my traps, and ask to be +shown my room. I have cheek enough for a good deal, my pet." + +"I believe you have, Sir;--cheek enough for anything. But mamma must +manage it,--mamma and me, between us. Only keep yourself disengaged. +You won't go to the Tyrol,--eh?" Then Frank Houston promised that he +would not go to the Tyrol as long as there was a chance open that he +might be invited to Glenbogie. + +"I won't hear of it," said Sir Thomas to his wife. On that occasion +his digestion had perhaps failed him a little. "He only wants to get +my money." + +"But Gertrude has set her heart on it, and nothing will turn her +away." + +"Why can't she set her heart on some one who has got a decent income. +That man hasn't a shilling." + +"Nor yet has Mr. Traffick." + +"Mr. Traffick has, at any rate, got an occupation. Were it to do +again, Mr. Traffick would never see a shilling of my money. By ----, +those fellows, who haven't got a pound belonging to them, think that +they're to live on the fat of the land out of the sweat of the brow +of such men as me." + +"What is your money for, Tom, but for the children?" + +"I know what it's for. I'd sooner build a hospital than give it to an +idle fellow like that Houston. When I asked him what he did, he said +he was fond of 'picters!'" Sir Thomas would fall back from his usual +modes of expression when he was a little excited. + +"Of course he hasn't been brought up to work. But he is a gentleman, +and I do think he would make our girl happy." + +"My money would make him happy,--till he had spent it." + +"Tie it up." + +"You don't know what you're talking about. How are you to prevent a +man from spending his wife's income?" + +"At any rate, if you have him down at Glenbogie you can see what sort +of a man he is. You don't know him now." + +"As much as I wish to." + +"That isn't fair to the poor girl. You needn't give your consent to +a marriage because he comes to Glenbogie. You have only to say that +you won't give the money and then it must be off. They can't take +the money from you." His digestion could not have been very bad, for +he allowed himself to be persuaded that Houston should be asked to +Glenbogie for ten days. This was the letter of invitation;-- + + + MY DEAR MR. HOUSTON, + + We shall start for Glenbogie on the 10th of next month. + Sir Thomas wishes you to join us on the 20th if you can, + and stay till the end of the month. We shall be a little + crowded at first, and therefore cannot name an earlier + day. + + I am particularly to warn you that this means nothing more + than a simple invitation. I know what passed between you + and Sir Thomas, and he hasn't at all changed his mind. I + think it right to tell you this. If you like to speak to + him again when you are at Glenbogie of course you can. + + Very sincerely yours, + + EMMELINE TRINGLE. + + +At the same time, or within a post of it, he got another letter, +which was as follows;-- + + + DEAREST F, + + Papa, you see, hasn't cut up so very rough, after all. You + are to be allowed to come and help to slaughter grouse, + which will be better than going to that stupid Tyrol. + If you want to draw somebody's back head you can do it + there. Isn't it a joke papa's giving way like that all in + a moment? He gets so fierce sometimes that we think he's + going to eat everybody. Then he has to come down, and he + gets eaten worse than anybody else. + + Of course, as you're asked to Glenbogie, you can come + here as often as you like. I shall ride on Thursday and + Friday. I shall expect you exactly at six, just under the + Memorial. You can't come home to dinner, you know, because + he might flare up; but you can turn in at lunch every day + you please except Saturday and Sunday. I intend to be so + jolly down at Glenbogie. You mustn't be shooting always. + + Ever your own, + + G. + + +Frank Houston as he read this threw himself back on the sofa and gave +way to a soft sigh. He knew he was doing his duty,--just as another +man does who goes forth from his pleasant home to earn his bread +and win his fortune in some dry, comfortless climate, far from the +delights to which he has been always accustomed. He must do his duty. +He could not live always adding a hundred or two of debt to the +burden already round his neck. He must do his duty. As he thought +of this he praised himself mightily. How beautiful was his far-away +cousin, Imogene Docimer, as she would twist her head round so as to +show the turn of her neck! How delightful it would be to talk love to +Imogene! As to marrying Imogene, who hadn't quite so many hundreds +as himself, that he knew to be impossible. As for marriage, he +wasn't quite sure that he wanted to marry any one. Marriage, to his +thinking, was "a sort of grind," at the best. A man would have to get +up and go to bed with some regularity. His wife might want him to +come down in a frock coat to breakfast. His wife would certainly +object to his drawing the back heads of other young women. Then he +thought of the provocation he had received to draw Gertrude's back +head. Gertrude hadn't got any turn of a neck to speak of. Gertrude +was a stout, healthy girl; and, having £120,000, was entitled to such +a husband as himself. If he waited longer he might be driven to worse +before he found the money which was so essentially necessary. He was +grateful to Gertrude for not being worse, and was determined to treat +her well. But as for love, romance, poetry, art,--all that must for +the future be out of the question. Of course, there would now be no +difficulty with Sir Thomas, and therefore he must at once make up his +mind. He decided that morning, with many soft regrets, that he would +go to Glenbogie, and let those dreams of wanderings in the mountains +of the Tyrol pass away from him. "Dear, dearest Imogene!" He could +have loved Imogene dearly had fates been more propitious. Then he got +up and shook himself, made his resolution like a man, ate a large +allowance of curried salmon for his breakfast,--and then wrote the +following letter. "Duty first!" he said to himself as he sat down to +the table like a hero. + + + Letter No. 1. + + DEAR LADY TRINGLE, + + So many thanks! Nothing could suit my book so well as a + few days at Glenbogie just at the end of August. I will be + there, like a book, on the 20th. Of course I understand + all that you say. Fathers can't be expected to yield all + at once, especially when suitors haven't got very much of + their own. I shouldn't have dared to ask hadn't I known + myself to be a most moderate man. Of course I shall ask + again. If you will help me, no doubt I shall succeed. I + really do think that I am the man to make Gertrude happy. + + Yours, dear Lady Tringle, ever so much, + + F. HOUSTON. + + + Letter No. 2. + + MY OWN ONE, + + Your governor is a brick. Of course, Glenbogie will be + better than the Tyrol, as you are to be there. Not but + what the Tyrol is a very jolly place, and we'll go and see + it together some day. Ask Tom to let me know whether one + can wear heavy boots in the Glenbogie mountains. They are + much the best for the heather; but I have shot generally + in Yorkshire, and there they are too hot. What number does + he shoot with generally? I fancy the birds are wilder with + you than with us. + + As for riding, I don't dare to sit upon a horse this + weather. Nobody but a woman can stand it. Indeed, now I + think of it, I sold my horse last week to pay the fellow + I buy paints from. I've got the saddle and bridle, and if + I stick them up upon a rail, under the trees, it would be + better than any horse while the thermometer is near 80. + All the ladies could come round and talk to one so nicely. + + I hate lunch, because it makes me red in the face, and + nobody will give me my breakfast before eleven at the + earliest. But I'll come in about three as often as you + like to have me. I think I perhaps shall run over to the + Tyrol after Glenbogie. A man must go somewhere when he has + been turned out in that fashion. There are so many babies + at Buncombe Hall! + + +--Buncombe Hall is the family seat of the Houstons,-- + + + and I don't like to see my own fate typified before the + time. + + Can I do anything for you except riding or eating + lunch,--which are simply feminine exercises? Always your + own, + + FRANK. + + + Letter No. 3. + + DEAR COUSIN IM, + + How pleasant it is that a little strain of thin blood + should make the use of that pretty name allowable! What + a stupid world it is when the people who like each other + best cannot get together because of proprieties, and + marriages, and such balderdash as we call love. I do not + in the least want to be in love with you,--but I do want + to sit near you, and listen to you, and look at you, and + to know that the whole air around is impregnated by the + mysterious odour of your presence. When one is thoroughly + satisfied with a woman there comes a scent as of sweet + flowers, which does not reach the senses of those whose + feelings are not so awakened. + + And now for my news! I suppose that G. T. will in a + tremendously short period become Mistress F. H. 'A long + day, my Lord.' But, if you are to be hung, better be hung + at once. Père Tringle has not consented,--has done just + the reverse,--has turned me out of his house, morally. + That is, out of his London house. He asked of my 'house + and my home,' as they did of Allan-a-Dale. + + Queen's Gate and Glenbogie stand fair on the hill. + "My home," quoth bold Houston, "shows gallanter still. + 'Tis the garret up three pair--" + + Then he told me roughly to get me gone; but 'I had laughed + on the lass with my bonny black eye.' So the next day I + got an invite to Glenbogie, and at the appropriate time in + August, + + She'll go to the mountains to hear a love tale, + And the youth-- + + it will be told by is to be your poor unfortunate coz, + Frank Houston. Who's going to whimper? Haven't I known + all along what was to come? It has not been my lot in + life to see a flower and pick it because I love it. But + a good head of cabbage when you're hungry is wholesome + food.--Your loving cousin, but not loving as he oughtn't + to love, + + FRANK HOUSTON. + + I shall still make a dash for the Tyrol when this episode + at Glenbogie is over. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +AYALA WITH HER FRIENDS. + + +Some few days after Lady Tringle had been at Kingsbury Crescent, +two visitors, who knew little or nothing of each other, came to see +Ayala. One was a lady and the other a gentleman, and the lady came +first. The gentleman, however, arrived before the lady had gone. Mrs. +Dosett was present while the lady remained; but when the gentleman +came she was invited to leave him alone with her niece,--as shall be +told. + +The lady was the Marchesa Baldoni. Can the reader go so far back as +to remember the Marchesa Baldoni? It was she who rather instigated +Ayala to be naughty to the Tringles in Rome, and would have Ayala +at her parties when she did not want the Tringles. The Marchesa was +herself an Englishwoman, though she had lived at Rome all her life, +and had married an Italian nobleman. She was now in London for a few +weeks, and still bore in mind her friendship for Ayala, and a certain +promise she had once made her. In Rome Lady Tringle, actuated by +Augusta, who at the moment was very angry with everybody including +her own lover, had quarrelled with the Marchesa. The Marchesa had +then told Ayala that she, Ayala, must stay with her aunt,--must, +in fact, cease for the time to come to the Marchesa's apartments, +because of the quarrel; but that a time would come in which they +might again be friends. Soon afterwards the Marchesa had heard that +the Tringle family had discarded poor Ayala,--that her own quarrel +had, in fact, extended itself to Ayala, and that Ayala had been +shunted off to a poor relation, far away from all the wealth and +luxuries which she had been allowed to enjoy for so short a time. +Therefore, soon after her arrival in London, the Marchesa had made +herself acquainted with the address of the Dosetts, and now was in +Kingsbury Crescent in fulfilment of her promise made at Rome. + +"So now you have got our friend Ayala," said the Marchesa with a +smile to Mrs. Dosett. + +"Yes; we have her now. There has been a change. Her sister, Lucy, has +gone to my husband's sister, Lady Tringle." + +The Marchesa made a pleasant little bow at each word. She seemed to +Mrs. Dosett to be very gorgeously dressed. She was thoroughly well +dressed, and looked like a Marchesa;--or perhaps, even, like a +Marchioness. She was a tall, handsome woman, with a smile perhaps +a little too continuously sweet, but with a look conscious of her +own position behind it. She had seen in a moment of what nature was +Ayala, how charming, how attractive, how pretty, how clever,--how +completely the very opposite of the Tringles! Ayala learned Italian +so readily that she could talk it almost at once. She could sing, +and play, and draw. The Marchesa had been quite willing that her +own daughter Nina should find a friend in Ayala. Then had come the +quarrel. Now she was quite willing to renew the friendship, though +Ayala's position was so sadly altered. Mrs. Dosett was almost +frightened as the grand lady sat holding Ayala's hand, and patting +it. "We used to know her so well in Rome;--did we not, Ayala?" + +"You were very kind to me." + +"Nina couldn't come, because her father would make her go with him to +the pictures. But now, my dear, you must come to us just for a little +time. We have a furnished house in Brook Street, near the park, till +the end of the season, and we have one small spare room which will +just do for you. I hope you will let her come to us, for we really +are old friends," said the Marchesa, turning to Mrs. Dosett. + +Mrs. Dosett looked black. There are people who always look black when +such applications are made to them,--who look black at any allusions +to pleasures. And then there came across her mind serious thoughts as +to flowers and ribbons,--and then more serious thoughts as to boots, +dresses, and hats. Ayala, no doubt, had come there less than six +months since with good store of everything; but Mrs. Dosett knew that +such a house as would be that of this lady would require a girl to +show herself with the newest sheen on everything. And Ayala knew it +too. The Marchesa turned from the blackness of Mrs. Dosett's face +with her sweetest smile to Ayala. "Can't we manage it?" said the +Marchesa. + +"I don't think we can," said Ayala, with a deep sigh. + +"And why not?" + +Ayala looked furtively round to her aunt. "I suppose I may tell, Aunt +Margaret?" she said. + +"You may tell everything, my dear," said Mrs. Dosett. + +"Because we are poor," said Ayala. + +"What does that matter?" said the Marchesa, brightening up. "We want +you because you are rich in good gifts and pretty ways." + +"But I can't get new frocks now as I used to do in Rome. Aunt +Emmeline was cruel to me, and said things which I could not bear. But +they let me have everything. Uncle Reginald gives me all that he has, +and I am much happier here. But we cannot go out and buy things,--can +we, Aunt Margaret?" + +"No, my dear; we cannot." + +"It does not signify," said the Marchesa. "We are quite quiet, and +what you have got will do very well. Frocks! The frocks you had in +Rome are good enough for London. I won't have a word of all that. +Nina has set her heart upon it, and so has my husband, and so have +I. Mrs. Dosett, when we are at home we are the most homely people in +the world. We think nothing of dressing. Not to come and see your old +friends because of your frocks! We shall send for you the day after +to-morrow. Don't you know, Mrs. Dosett, it will do her good to be +with her young friend for a few days." Mrs. Dosett had not succeeded +in her remonstrances when Sir Thomas Tringle was shown into the room, +and then the Marchesa took her leave. For Sir Thomas Tringle was the +other visitor who came on that morning to see Ayala. + +"If you wouldn't mind, Mrs. Dosett," said Sir Thomas before he sat +down, "I should like to see Ayala alone." Mrs. Dosett had not a word +to say against such a request, and at once took her leave. + +"My dear," he began, coming and sitting opposite to Ayala, with his +knees almost touching her, "I have got something very particular to +say to you." Ayala was at once much frightened. Her uncle had never +before spoken to her in this way,--had never in truth said a word to +her seriously. He had always been kind to her, making her presents, +and allowing himself to be kissed graciously morning and evening. He +had never scolded her, and, better than all, had never said a word to +her, one way or the other, about Tom. She had always liked her uncle, +because he had never caused her trouble when all the others in his +house had been troublesome to her. But now she was afraid of him. He +did not frown, but he looked very seriously at her, as he might look, +perhaps, when he was counting out all his millions in Lombard Street. +"I hope you think that I have always wished to be kind to you, +Ayala." + +"I am sure you have, Uncle Tom." + +"When you had come to us I always wished you to stay. I don't like +changes of this sort. I suppose you didn't hit it off with Augusta. +But she's gone now." + +"Aunt Emmeline said something." That accusation, as to +"encouragement," so rankled in her heart, that when she looked back +at her grievances among the Tringles that always loomed the largest. + +"I don't want to hear anything about it," said Sir Thomas. "Let +bygones be bygones. Your aunt, I am sure, never meant unkindly by +you. Now, I want you to listen to me." + +"I will, Uncle Tom." + +"Listen to me to the end, like a good girl." + +"I will." + +"Your Cousin Tom--." Ayala gave a visible shudder, and uttered an +audible groan, but as yet she did not say a word. Sir Thomas, having +seen the shudder, and heard the groan, did frown as he began again. +"Your Cousin Tom is most truly attached to you." + +"Why won't he leave me alone, then?" + +"Ayala, you promised to listen to me without speaking." + +"I will, Uncle Tom. Only--" + +"Listen to me, and then I will hear anything you have to say." + +"I will," said Ayala, screwing up her lips, so that no words should +come out of them, let the provocation be what it might. + +Sir Thomas began again. "Your Cousin Tom is most truly attached to +you. For some time I and his mother disapproved of this. We thought +you were both too young, and there were other reasons which I need +not now mention. But when I came to see how thoroughly he was in +earnest, how he put his heart into it, how the very fact that he +loved you had made a man of him; then how the fact that you would +not return his love unmanned him,--when I saw all that, I gave my +permission." Here he paused, almost as though expecting a word; but +Ayala gave an additional turn to the screw on her lips, and remained +quite silent. "Yes; we gave our permission,--I and your aunt. Of +course, our son's happiness is all in all to us; and I do believe +that you are so good that you would make him a good wife." + +"But--" + +"Listen till I have done, Ayala." Then there was another squeeze. "I +suppose you are what they call romantic. Romance, my dear, won't buy +bread and butter. Tom is a very good young man, and he loves you +most dearly. If you will consent to be his I will make a rich man of +him. He will then be a respectable man of business, and will become +a partner in the house. You and he can choose a place to live in +almost where you please. You can have your own establishment and your +carriage, and will be able to do a deal of good. You will make him +happy, and you will be my dear child. I have come here to tell you +that I will make you welcome into the family, and to promise that I +will do everything I can to make you happy. Now you may say what you +like; but, Ayala, think a little before you speak." + +Ayala thought a little;--not as to what she should say, but as to +the words in which she might say it. She was conscious that a great +compliment was paid to her. And there was a certain pride in her +heart as she thought that this invitation into the family had come to +her after that ignominious accusation of encouragement had been made. +Augusta had snubbed her about Tom, and her aunt; but now she was +asked to come among them, and be one of them, with full observances. +She was aware of all this, and aware, also, that such treatment +required from her a gracious return. But not on that account could +she give herself to the Beast. Not on that account could she be +untrue to her image. Not on that account could she rob her bosom +of that idea of love which was seated there. Not on that account +could she look upon the marriage proposed to her with aught but a +shuddering abhorrence. She sat silent for a minute or two, while her +heavy eyes were fixed upon his. Then, falling on her knees before +him, she put up her little hands to pray to him. "Uncle Tom, I +can't," she said. And then the tears came running down her cheeks. + +"Why can't you, Ayala? Why cannot you be sensible, as other girls +are?" said Sir Thomas, lifting her up, and putting her on his knee. + +"I can't," she said. "I don't know how to tell you." + +"Do you love some other man?" + +"No; no; no!" To Uncle Tom, at any rate, she need say nothing of the +image. + +"Then why is it?" + +"Because I can't. I don't know what to say, but I can't. I know how +very, very, very good you are." + +"I would love you as my daughter." + +"But I can't, Uncle Tom. Pray tell him, and make him get somebody +else. He would be quite happy if he could get somebody else." + +"It is you that he loves." + +"But what's the use of it, when I can't? Dear, dear Uncle Tom, do +have it all settled for me. Nothing on earth could ever make me do +it. I should die if I were to try." + +"That's nonsense." + +"I do so want not to make you angry, Uncle Tom. And I do so wish he +would be happy with someone else. Nobody ought to be made to marry +unless they like it;--ought they?" + +"There is no talk of making," said Sir Thomas, frowning. + +"At any rate I can't," said Ayala, releasing herself from her uncle's +embrace. + +It was in vain that even after this he continued his request, begging +her to come down to Glenbogie, so that she might make herself used +to Tom and his ways. If she could only once more, he thought, be +introduced to the luxuries of a rich house, then she would give way. +But she would not go to Glenbogie; she would not go to Merle Park; +she would not consent to see Tom anywhere. Her uncle told her that +she was romantic and foolish, endeavouring to explain to her over +and over again that the good things of the world were too good to be +thrown away for a dream. At last there was a touch of dignity in the +final repetition of her refusal. "I am sorry to make you angry, but +I can't, Uncle Tom." Then he frowned with all his power of frowning, +and, taking his hat, left the room and the house almost without a +word. + +At the time fixed the Marchesa's carriage came, and Ayala with her +boxes was taken away to Brook Street. Uncle Reginald had offered +to do something for her in the way of buying a frock, but this she +refused, declaring that she would not allow herself to become an +expense merely because her friends in Rome had been kind to her. So +she had packed up the best of what she had and started, with her +heart in her mouth, fearing the grandeur of the Marchesa's house. On +her arrival she was received by Nina, who at once threw herself into +all her old intimacy. "Oh, Ayala," she said, "this is so nice to have +you again. I have been looking forward to this ever since we left +Rome." + +"Yes," said Ayala, "it is nice." + +"But why did you tell mamma you would not come? What nonsense to +talk to her about frocks? Why not come and tell me? You used to have +everything at Rome, much more than I had." + +Then Ayala began to explain the great difference between Uncle Tom +and Uncle Reginald,--how Uncle Tom had so many thousands that nobody +could count them, how Uncle Reginald was so shorn in his hundreds +that there was hardly enough to supply the necessaries of life. +"You see," she said, "when papa died Lucy and I were divided. I +got the rich uncle, and Lucy got the poor one; but I made myself +disagreeable, and didn't suit, and so we have been changed." + +"But why did you make yourself disagreeable?" said Nina, opening her +eyes. "I remember when we were at Rome your cousin Augusta was always +quarrelling with you. I never quite knew what it was all about." + +"It wasn't only that," said Ayala, whispering. + +"Did you do anything very bad?" + +Then it occurred to Ayala that she might tell the whole story to +her friend, and she told it. She explained the nature of that great +persecution as to Tom. "And that was the real reason why we were +changed," said Ayala, as she completed her story. + +"I remember seeing the young man," said Nina. + +"He is such a lout!" + +"But was he very much in love?" asked Nina. + +"Well, I don't know. I suppose he was after his way. I don't think +louts like that can be very much in love to signify. Young men when +they look like that would do with one girl as well as another." + +"I don't see that at all," said Nina. + +"I am sure he would if he'd only try. At any rate what's the good of +his going on? They can't make a girl marry unless she chooses." + +"Won't he be rich?" + +"Awfully rich," said Ayala. + +"Then I should think about it again," said the young lady from Rome. + +"Never," said Ayala, with an impressive whisper. "I will never think +about it again. If he were made of diamonds I would not think about +it again." + +"And is that why you were changed?" said Nina. + +"Well, yes. No; it is very hard to explain. Aunt Emmeline told me +that--that I encouraged him. I thought I should have rushed out of +the house when she said that. Then I had to be changed. I don't know +whether they could forgive me, but I could not forgive her." + +"And how is it now?" + +"It is different now," said Ayala, softly. "Only that it can't make +any real difference." + +"How different?" + +"They'd let me come if I would, I suppose; but I shall never, never +go to them any more." + +"I suppose you won't tell me everything?" said Nina, after a pause. + +"What everything?" + +"You won't be angry if I ask?" + +"No, I will not be angry." + +"I suppose there is someone else you really care for?" + +"There is no one," said Ayala, escaping a little from her friend's +embrace. + +"Then why should you be so determined against that poor young man?" + +"Because he is a lout and a beast," said Ayala, jumping up. "I wonder +you should ask me;--as if that had anything to do with it. Would you +fall in love with a lout because you had no one else? I would rather +live for ever all alone, even in Kingsbury Crescent, than have to +think of becoming the wife of my cousin Tom." At this Nina shrugged +her shoulders, showing that her education in Italy had been less +romantic than that accorded to Ayala in London. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +JONATHAN STUBBS. + + +But, though Nina differed somewhat from Ayala as to their ideas as +to life in general, they were close friends, and everything was done +both by the Marchesa and by her daughter to make Ayala happy. There +was not very much of going into grand society, and that difficulty +about the dresses solved itself, as do other difficulties. There came +a few presents, with entreaties from Ayala that presents of that +kind might not be made. But the presents were, of course, accepted, +and our girl was as prettily arrayed, if not as richly, as the best +around her. At first there was an evening at the opera, and then a +theatre,--diversions which are easy. Ayala, after her six dull months +in Kingsbury Crescent, found herself well pleased to be taken to +easy amusements. The carriage in the park was delightful to her, and +delightful a visit which was made to her by Lucy. For the Tringle +carriage could be spared for a visit in Brook Street, even though +there was still a remembrance in the bosom of Aunt Emmeline of the +evil things which had been done by the Marchesa in Rome. Then there +came a dance,--which was not so easy. The Marchesa and Nina were +going to a dance at Lady Putney's, and arrangements were made +that Ayala should be taken. Ayala begged that there might be no +arrangements, declared that she would be quite happy to see Nina go +forth in her finery. But the Marchesa was a woman who always had her +way, and Ayala was taken to Lady Putney's dance without a suspicion +on the part of any who saw her that her ball-room apparatus was not +all that it ought to be. + +Ayala when she entered the room was certainly a little bashful. When +in Rome, even in the old days at the bijou, when she did not consider +herself to be quite out, she had not been at all bashful. She had +been able to enjoy herself entirely, being very fond of dancing, +conscious that she could dance well, and always having plenty to say +for herself. But now there had settled upon her something of the +tedium, something of the silence, of Kingsbury Crescent, and she +almost felt that she would not know how to behave herself if she were +asked to stand up and dance before all Lady Putney's world. In her +first attempt she certainly was not successful. An elderly gentleman +was brought up to her,--a gentleman whom she afterwards declared to +be a hundred, and who was, in truth, over forty, and with him she +manoeuvred gently through a quadrille. He asked her two or three +questions to which she was able to answer only in monosyllables. +Then he ceased his questions, and the manoeuvres were carried on in +perfect silence. Poor Ayala did not attribute any blame to the man. +It was all because she had been six months in Kingsbury Crescent. +Of course this aged gentleman, if he wanted to dance, would have a +partner chosen for him out of Kingsbury Crescent. Conversation was +not to be expected from a gentleman who was made to stand up with +Kingsbury Crescent. Any powers of talking that had ever belonged +to herself had of course evaporated amidst the gloom of Kingsbury +Crescent. After this she was returned speedily to the wings of the +Marchesa, and during the next dance sat in undisturbed peace. Then +suddenly, when the Marchesa had for a moment left her, and when Nina +had just been taken away to join a set, she saw the man of silence +coming to her from a distance, with an evident intention of asking +her to stand up again. It was in his eye, in his toe, as he came +bowing forward. He had evidently learned to suppose that they two +outcasts might lessen their miseries by joining them together. She +was to dance with him because no one else would ask her! She had +plucked up her spirit and resolved that, desolate as she might be, +she would not descend so far as that, when, in a moment, another +gentleman sprang in, as it were, between her and her enemy, and +addressed her with free and easy speech as though he had known her +all her life. "You are Ayala Dormer, I am sure," said he. She looked +up into his face and nodded her head at him in her own peculiar way. +She was quite sure that she had never set her eyes on him before. +He was so ugly that she could not have forgotten him. So at least +she told herself. He was very, very ugly, but his voice was very +pleasant. "I knew you were, and I am Jonathan Stubbs. So now we are +introduced, and you are to come and dance with me." + +She had heard the name of Jonathan Stubbs. She was sure of that, +although she could not at the moment join any facts with the name. +"But I don't know you," she said, hesitating. Though he was so ugly +he could not but be better than that ancient dancer whom she saw +standing at a distance, looking like a dog that has been deprived of +his bone. + +"Yes, you do," said Jonathan Stubbs, "and if you'll come and dance +I'll tell you about it. The Marchesa told me to take you." + +"Did she?" said Ayala, getting up, and putting her little hand upon +his arm. + +"I'll go and fetch her if you like; only she's a long way off, and we +shall lose our place. She's my aunt." + +"Oh," said Ayala, quite satisfied,--remembering now that she had +heard her friend Nina boast of a Colonel cousin, who was supposed +to be the youngest Colonel in the British army, who had done some +wonderful thing,--taken a new province in India, or marched across +Africa, or defended the Turks,--or perhaps conquered them. She knew +that he was very brave,--but why was he so very ugly? His hair was +ruby red, and very short; and he had a thick red beard: not silky, +but bristly, with each bristle almost a dagger,--and his mouth was +enormous. His eyes were very bright, and there was a smile about him, +partly of fun, partly of good humour. But his mouth! And then that +bristling beard! Ayala was half inclined to like him, because he +was so completely master of himself, so unlike the unhappy ancient +gentleman who was still hovering at a distance. But why was he so +ugly? And why was he called Jonathan Stubbs? + +"There now," he said, "we can't get in at any of the sets. That's +your fault." + +"No, it isn't," said Ayala. + +"Yes, it is. You wouldn't stand up till you had heard all about me." + +"I don't know anything about you now." + +"Then come and walk about and I'll tell you. Then we shall be ready +for a waltz. Do you waltz well?" + +"Do you?" + +"I'll back myself against any Englishman, Frenchman, German, or +Italian, for a large sum of money. I can't come quite up to the +Poles. The fact is, the honester the man is the worse he always +dances. Yes; I see what you mean. I must be a rogue. Perhaps I +am;--perhaps I'm only an exception. I knew your father." + +"Papa!" + +"Yes, I did. He was down at Stalham with the Alburys once. That was +five years ago, and he told me he had a daughter named Ayala. I +didn't quite believe him." + +"Why not?" + +"It is such an out-of-the-way name." + +"It's as good as Jonathan, at any rate." And Ayala again nodded her +head. + +"There's a prejudice about Jonathan, as there is about Jacob and +Jonah. I never could quite tell why. I was going to marry a girl once +with a hundred thousand pounds, and she wouldn't have me at last +because she couldn't bring her lips to say Jonathan. Do you think she +was right?" + +"Did she love you?" said Ayala, looking up into his face. + +"Awfully! But she couldn't bear the name; so within three months +she gave herself and all her money to Mr. Montgomery Talbot de +Montpellier. He got drunk, and threw her out of the window before a +month was over. That's what comes of going in for sweet names." + +"I don't believe a word of it," said Ayala. + +"Very well. Didn't Septimus Traffick marry your cousin?" + +"Of course he did, about a month ago." + +"He is another friend of mine. Why didn't you go to your cousin's +marriage?" + +"There were reasons," said Ayala. + +"I know all about it," said the Colonel. "You quarreled with Augusta +down in Scotland, and you don't like poor Traffick because he has got +a bald head." + +"I believe you're a conjuror," said Ayala. + +"And then your cousin was jealous because you went to the top of St. +Peter's, and because you would walk with Mr. Traffick on the Pincian. +I was in Rome, and saw all about it." + +"I won't have anything more to do with you," said Ayala. + +"And then you quarreled with one set of uncles and aunts, and now you +live with another." + +"Your aunt told you that." + +"And I know your cousin, Tom Tringle." + +"You know Tom?" asked Ayala. + +"Yes; he was ever so good to me in Rome about a horse; I like Tom +Tringle in spite of his chains. Don't you think, upon the whole, if +that young lady had put up with Jonathan she would have done better +than marry Montpellier? But now they're going to waltz, come along." + +Thereupon Ayala got up and danced with him for the next ten minutes. +Again and again before the evening was over she danced with him; +and although, in the course of the night, many other partners had +offered themselves, and many had been accepted, she felt that Colonel +Jonathan Stubbs had certainly been the partner of the evening. Why +should he be so hideously ugly? said Ayala to herself, as she wished +him good night before she left the room with the Marchesa and Nina. + +"What do you think of my nephew?" said the Marchesa, when they were +in the carriage together. + +"Do tell us what you think of Jonathan?" asked Nina. + +"I thought he was very good-natured." + +"And very handsome?" + +"Nina, don't be foolish. Jonathan is one of the most rising officers +in the British service, and luckily he can be that without being +beautiful to look at." + +"I declare," said Nina, "sometimes, when he is talking, I think him +perfectly lovely. The fire comes out of his eyes, and he rubs his old +red hairs about till they sparkle. Then he shines all over like a +carbuncle, and every word he says makes me die of laughter." + +"I laughed too," said Ayala. + +"But you didn't think him beautiful," said Nina. + +"No, I did not," said Ayala. "I liked him very much, but I thought +him very ugly. Was it true about the young lady who married Mr. +Montgomery de Montpellier and was thrown out of window a week +afterwards?" + +"There is one other thing I must tell you about Jonathan," said Nina. +"You must not believe a word that he says." + +"That I deny," said the Marchesa; "but here we are. And now, girls, +get out of the carriage and go up to bed at once." + +Ayala, before she went to sleep, and again when she woke in the +morning, thought a great deal about her new friend. As to shining +like a carbuncle,--perhaps he did, but that was not her idea of manly +beauty. And hair ought not to sparkle. She was sure that Colonel +Stubbs was very, very ugly. She was almost disposed to think that he +was the ugliest man she had ever seen. He certainly was a great deal +worse than her cousin Tom, who, after all, was not particularly ugly. +But, nevertheless, she would very much rather dance with Colonel +Stubbs. She was sure of that, even without reference to Tom's +objectionable love-making. Upon the whole she liked dancing with +Colonel Stubbs, ugly as he was. Indeed, she liked him very much. She +had spent a very pleasant evening because he had been there. "It +all depends upon whether any one has anything to say." That was the +determination to which she came when she endeavoured to explain +to herself how it had come to pass that she had liked dancing +with anybody so very hideous. The Angel of Light would of course +have plenty to say for himself, and would be something altogether +different in appearance. He would be handsome,--or rather, intensely +interesting, and his talk would be of other things. He would not +say of himself that he danced as well as though he were a rogue, or +declare that a lady had been thrown out of a window the week after +she was married. Nothing could be more unlike an Angel of Light +than Colonel Stubbs,--unless, perhaps, it were Tom Tringle. Colonel +Stubbs, however, was completely unangelic,--so much so that the +marvel was that he should yet be so pleasant. She had no horror of +Colonel Stubbs at all. She would go anywhere with Colonel Stubbs, and +feel herself to be quite safe. She hoped she might meet him again +very often. He was, as it were, the Genius of Comedy, without a touch +of which life would be very dull. But the Angel of Light must have +something tragic in his composition,--must verge, at any rate, on +tragedy. Ayala did not know that beautiful description of a "Sallow, +sublime, sort of Werther-faced man," but I fear that in creating her +Angel of Light she drew a picture in her imagination of a man of that +kind. + +Days went on, till the last day of Ayala's visit had come, and it was +necessary that she should go back to Kingsbury Crescent. It was now +August, and everybody was leaving town. The Marchesa and Nina were +going to their relations, the Alburys, at Stalham, and could not, +of course, take Ayala with them. The Dosetts would remain in town +for another month, with a distant hope of being able to run down to +Pegwell Bay for a fortnight in September. But even that had not yet +been promised. Colonel Stubbs had been more than once at the house in +Brook Street, and Ayala had come to know him almost as she might some +great tame dog. It was now the afternoon of the last day, and she was +sorry because she would not be able to see him again. She was to be +taken to the theatre that night,--and then to Kingsbury Crescent and +the realms of Lethe early on the following morning. + +It was very hot, and they were sitting with the shutters nearly +closed, having resolved not to go out, in order that they might be +ready for the theatre--when the door was opened and Tom Tringle was +announced. Tom Tringle had come to call on his cousin. + +"Lady Baldoni," he said, "I hope you won't think me intrusive, but I +thought I'd come and see my cousin once whilst she is staying here." +The Marchesa bowed, and assured him that he was very welcome. "It's +tremendously hot," said Tom. + +"Very hot, indeed," said the Marchesa. + +"I don't think it's ever so hot as this in Rome," said Nina, fanning +herself. + +"I find it quite impossible to walk a yard," said Tom, "and therefore +I've hired a Hansom cab all to myself. The man goes home and changes +his horse regularly when I go to dinner; then he comes for me at ten, +and sticks to me till I go to bed. I call that a very good plan." +Nina asked him why he didn't drive the cab himself. "That would be a +grind," said he, "because it would be so hot all day, and there might +be rain at night. Have you read what my brother-in-law, Traffick, +said in the House last night, my Lady?" + +"I'm afraid I passed it over," said the Marchesa. "Indeed, I am not +very good at the debates." + +"They are dull," said Tom, "but when it's one's brother-in-law, one +does like to look at it. I thought he made that very clear about the +malt tax." The Marchesa smiled and bowed. + +"What is--malt tax?" asked Nina. + +"Well, it means beer," said Tom. "The question is whether the poor +man pays it who drinks the beer, or the farmer who grows the malt. It +is very interesting when you come to think of it." + +"But I fear I never have come to think of it," said the Marchesa. + +During all this time Ayala never said a word, but sat looking at her +cousin, and remembering how much better Colonel Jonathan Stubbs would +have talked if he had been there. Then, after a pause, Tom got up, +and took his leave, having to content himself with simply squeezing +his cousin's hand as he left the room. + +"He is a lout," said Ayala, as soon as she knew that the door was +closed behind him. + +"I don't see anything loutish at all," said the Marchesa. + +"He's just like most other young men," said Nina. + +"He's not at all like Colonel Stubbs," said Ayala. + +Then the Marchesa preached a little sermon. "Colonel Stubbs, my +dear," she said, "happens to have been thrown a good deal about the +world, and has thus been able to pick up that easy mode of talking +which young ladies like, perhaps because it means nothing. Your +cousin is a man of business, and will probably have amassed a large +fortune when my poor nephew will be a do-nothing old general on +half-pay. His chatter will not then have availed him quite so much as +your cousin's habits of business." + +"Mamma," said Nina, "Jonathan will have money of his own." + +"Never mind, my dear. I do not like to hear a young man called a lout +because he's more like a man of business than a man of pleasure." +Ayala felt herself to be snubbed, but was not a whit the less sure +that Tom was a lout, and the Colonel an agreeable partner to dance +with. But at the same time she remembered that neither the one nor +the other was to be spoken of in the same breath, or thought of in +the same spirit, as the Angel of Light. + +When they were dressed, and just going to dinner, the ugly man with +the red head was announced, and declared his purpose of going with +them to the theatre. "I've been to the office," said he, "and got a +stall next to yours, and have managed it all. It now only remains +that you should give me some dinner and a seat in the carriage." Of +course he was told that there was no dinner sufficient for a man to +eat; but he put up with a feminine repast, and spent the whole of the +evening sitting next to his aunt, on a back tier, while the two girls +were placed in front. In this way, leaning forward, with his ugly +head between them, he acted as a running chorus to the play during +the whole performance. Ayala thoroughly enjoyed herself, and thought +that in all her experience no play she'd seen had ever been so +delightful. On their return home the two girls were both told to +go to bed in the Marchesa's good-natured authoritative tone; but, +nevertheless, Ayala did manage to say a word before she finally +adjusted herself on her pillow. "It is all very well, Nina, for your +mamma to say that a young man of business is the best; but I do know +a lout when I see him; and I am quite sure that my cousin Tom is a +lout, and that Colonel Jonathan is not." + +"I believe you are falling in love with Colonel Jonathan," said Nina. + +"I should as soon think of falling in love with a wild bear;--but +he's not a lout, and therefore I like him." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +LUCY IS VERY FIRM. + + +It was just before the Tringles had returned from Rome, during the +winter, that Lucy Dormer had met Mr. Hamel in Kensington Gardens for +the second time, had walked there with him perhaps for half-an-hour, +and had then returned home with a conviction that she had done a +wicked thing. But she had other convictions also, which were perhaps +stronger. "Now that we have met, am I to lose you again?" he had +said. What could he mean by losing, except that she was the one thing +which he desired to find? But she had not seen him since, or heard a +word of his whereabouts, although, as she so well remembered, she had +given him an address at her Aunt Emmeline's,--not knowing then that +it would be her fate to become a resident in her Aunt Emmeline's +house. She had told him that Ayala would live there, and that perhaps +she might sometimes be found visiting Ayala. Now, she was herself +filling Ayala's place, and might so easily have been found. But she +knew nothing of the man who had once asked whether he was "to lose +her again." + +Her own feelings about Isadore Hamel were clear enough to herself +now. Ayala in her hot humour had asked her whether she could give her +hand and her heart to such a one as their cousin Tom, and she had +found herself constrained to say that she could not do so, because +she was not free,--not quite free,--to do as she pleased with her +hand and her heart. She had striven hard not to acknowledge anything, +even to Ayala,--even to herself. But the words had been forced +from her, and now she was conscious, terribly conscious, that the +words were true. There could be no one else now, whether Tom or +another,--whether such as Tom or such as any other. It was just that +little word that had won her. "Am I to lose you again?" A girl loves +most often because she is loved,--not from choice on her part. She is +won by the flattery of the man's desire. "Am I to lose you again?" He +had seemed to throw all his soul into his voice and into his eyes as +he had asked the question. A sudden thrill had filled her, and, for +his sake,--for his sake,--she had hoped that she might not be lost to +him. Now she began to fear that he was lost to her. + +Something has been told of the relations between Isadore Hamel and +his father. They were both sculptors, the father having become a +successful artist. The father was liberal, but he was essentially +autocratic. If he supplied to his son the means of living,--and +he was willing to supply the means of very comfortable life,--he +expected that his son should live to some extent in accordance with +his fancies. The father wished his son to live in Rome, and to live +after the manner of Romans. Isadore would prefer to live in London, +and after the manner of Londoners. For a time he had been allowed to +do so, and had achieved a moderate success. But a young artist may +achieve a moderate success with a pecuniary result that shall be +almost less than moderate. After a while the sculptor in Rome had +told his son that if he intended to remain in London he ought to do +so on the independent proceeds of his own profession. Isadore, if +he would return to Rome, would be made welcome to join his affairs +to those of his father. In other words, he was to be turned adrift +if he remained in London, and petted with every luxury if he would +consent to follow his art in Italy. But in Rome the father lived +after a fashion which was distasteful to the son. Old Mr. Hamel had +repudiated all conventions. Conventions are apt to go very quickly, +one after another, when the first has been thrown aside. The man who +ceases to dress for dinner soon finds it to be a trouble to wash his +hands. A house is a bore. Calling is a bore. Church is a great bore. +A family is a bore. A wife is an unendurable bore. All laws are +bores, except those by which inferiors can be constrained to do their +work. Mr. Hamel had got rid of a great many bores, and had a strong +opinion that bores prevailed more mightily in London than in Rome. +Isadore was not a bore to him. He was always willing to have Isadore +near to him. But if Isadore chose to enter the conventional mode of +life he must do it at his own expense. It may be said at once that +Isadore's present view of life was very much influenced by Lucy +Dormer, and by a feeling that she certainly was conventional. A small +house, very prettily furnished, somewhat near the Fulham Road, or +perhaps verging a little towards South Kensington, with two maids, +and perhaps an additional one as nurse in the process of some months, +with a pleasant English breakfast and a pleasant English teapot in +the evening, afforded certainly a very conventional aspect of life. +But, at the present moment, it was his aspect, and therefore he could +not go upon all fours with his father. In this state of things there +had, during the last twelvemonth, been more than one journey made +to Rome and back. Ayala had seen him at Rome, and Lady Tringle, +remembering that the man had been intimate with her brother, was +afraid of him. They had made inquiry about him, and had fully +resolved that he should not be allowed into the house if he came +after Ayala. He had no mother,--to speak of; and he had little +brothers and sisters, who also had no mother,--to speak of. Mr. +Hamel, the father, entertained friends on Sunday, with the express +object of playing cards. That a Papist should do so was to be +borne;--but Mr. Hamel was not a Papist, and, therefore, would +certainly be ----. All this and much more had been learned at Rome, +and therefore Lucy, though she herself never mentioned Mr. Hamel's +name in Queen's Gate, heard evil things said of the man who was so +dear to her. + +It was the custom of her life to be driven out every day with her +aunt and Gertrude. Not to be taken two or three times round the +park would be to Lady Tringle to rob her of the best appreciated of +all those gifts of fortune which had come to her by reason of the +banker's wealth. It was a stern law;--and as stern a law that Lucy +should accompany her. Gertrude, as being an absolute daughter of +the house, and as having an almost acknowledged lover of her own, +was allowed some choice. But for Lucy there was no alternative. Why +should she not go and be driven? Two days before they left town she +was being driven, while her aunt was sitting almost in a slumber +beside her, when suddenly a young man, leaning over the railings, +took off his hat so close to Lucy that she could almost have put out +her hand to him. He was standing there all alone, and seemed simply +to be watching the carriages as they passed. She felt that she +blushed as she bowed to him, and saw also that the colour had risen +to his face. Then she turned gently round to her aunt, whom she hoped +to find still sleeping; but Aunt Emmeline could slumber with one eye +open. "Who was that young man, my dear?" said Aunt Emmeline. + +"It was Mr. Hamel." + +"Mr. Isadore Hamel!" said Aunt Emmeline, horrified. "Is that the +young man at Rome who has got the horrible father?" + +"I do not know his father," said Lucy; "but he does live at Rome." + +"Of course, it's the Mr. Hamel I mean. He scraped some acquaintance +with Ayala, but I would not have it for a moment. He is not at all +the sort of person any young girl ought to know. His father is a +horrible man. I hope he is no friend of yours, Lucy!" + +"He is a friend of mine." Lucy said this in a tone of voice which was +very seldom heard from her, but which, when heard, was evidence that +beneath the softness of her general manner there lay a will of her +own. + +"Then, my dear, I hope that such friendship may be discontinued as +long as you remain with us." + +"He was a friend of papa's," said Lucy. + +"That's all very well. I suppose artists must know artists, even +though they are disreputable." + +"Mr. Hamel is not disreputable." + +Aunt Emmeline, as she heard this, could almost fancy that she +was renewing one of her difficulties with Ayala. "My dear," she +said,--and she intended to be very impressive as she spoke,--"in +a matter such as this I must beg you to be guided by me. You must +acknowledge that I know the world better than you do. Mr. Hamel is +not a fit person to be acquainted with a young lady who occupies the +place of my daughter. I am sure that will be sufficient." Then she +leant back in the carriage, and seemed again to slumber; but she +still had one eye open, so that if Mr. Hamel should appear again at +any corner and venture to raise his hand she might be aware of the +impropriety. But on that day Mr. Hamel did not appear again. + +Lucy did not speak another word during the drive, and on reaching +the house went at once to her bed-room. While she had been out with +her aunt close to her, and while it had been possible that the man +she loved should appear again, she had been unable to collect her +thoughts or to make up her mind what she would do or say. One thing +simply was certain to her, that if Mr. Hamel should present himself +again to her she would not desert him. All that her aunt had said to +her as to improprieties and the like had no effect at all upon her. +The man had been welcomed at her father's house, had been allowed +there to be intimate with her, and was now, as she was well aware, +much dearer to her than any other human being. Not for all the Aunt +Emmelines in the world would she regard him otherwise than as her +dearest friend. + +When she was alone she discussed the matter with herself. It was +repugnant to her that there should be any secret on the subject +between herself and her aunt after what had been said,--much more +that there should be any deceit. "Mr. Hamel is not fit to be +acquainted with a lady who occupies the position of my daughter." It +was thus that her aunt had spoken. To this the proper answer seemed +to be,--seemed at least to Lucy,--"In that case, my dear aunt, I +cannot for a moment longer occupy the position of your daughter, +as I certainly am acquainted and shall remain acquainted with Mr. +Hamel." But to such speech as this on her own part there were two +impediments. In the first place it would imply that Mr. Hamel was her +lover,--for implying which Mr. Hamel had given her no authority; and +then what should she immediately do when she had thus obstinately +declared herself to be unfit for that daughter's position which she +was supposed now to occupy? With all her firmness of determination +she could not bring herself to tell her aunt that Mr. Hamel was her +lover. Not because it was not as yet true. She would have been quite +willing that her aunt should know the exact truth, if the exact +truth could be explained. But how could she convey to such a one +as Aunt Emmeline the meaning of those words,--"Am I to lose you +again?" How could she make her aunt understand that she held herself +to be absolutely bound, as by a marriage vow, by such words as +those,--words in which there was no promise, even had they come from +some fitting suitor, but which would be regarded by Aunt Emmeline +as being simply impertinent coming as they did from such a one as +Isadore Hamel. It was quite out of the question to tell all that to +Aunt Emmeline, but yet it was necessary that something should be +told. She had been ordered to drop her acquaintance with Isadore, and +it was essential that she should declare that she would do nothing +of the kind. She would not recognise such obedience as a duty on her +part. The friendship had been created by her father, to whom her +earlier obedience had been due. It might be that, refusing to render +such obedience, her aunt and her uncle might tell her that there +could be no longer shelter for her in that house. They could not +cherish and foster a disobedient child. If it must be so, it must. +Though there should be no home left to her in all the wide world she +would not accept an order which should separate her from the man +she loved. She must simply tell her aunt that she could not drop Mr. +Hamel's acquaintance,--because Mr. Hamel was a friend. + +Early on the next morning she did so. "Are you aware," said Aunt +Emmeline, with a severe face, "that he is--illegitimate." Lucy +blushed, but made no answer. "Is he--is he--engaged to you?" + +"No," said Lucy, sharply. + +"Has he asked you to marry him?" + +"No," said Lucy. + +"Then what is it?" asked Lady Tringle, in a tone which was intended +to signify that as nothing of that kind had taken place such a +friendship could be a matter of no consequence. + +"He was papa's friend." + +"My dear, what can that matter? Your poor papa has gone, and you are +in my charge and your uncle's. Surely you cannot object to choose +your friends as we should wish. Mr. Hamel is a gentleman of whom we +do not approve. You cannot have seen very much of him, and it would +be very easy for you, should he bow to you again in the park, to let +him see that you do not like it." + +"But I do like it," said Lucy, with energy. + +"Lucy!" + +"I do like to see Mr. Hamel, and I feel almost sure that he will come +and call here now that he has seen me. Last winter he asked me my +address, and I gave him this house." + +"When you were living with your Aunt Dosett?" + +"Yes, I did, Aunt Emmeline. I thought Aunt Margaret would not like +him to come to Kingsbury Crescent, and, as Ayala was to be here, I +told him he might call at Queen's Gate." + +Then Lady Tringle was really angry. It was not only that her house +should have been selected for so improper a use but that Lucy should +have shown a fear and a respect for Mrs. Dosett which had not been +accorded to herself. It was shocking to her pride that that should +have appeared to be easy of achievement at Queen's Gate which was +too wicked to be attempted at Kingsbury Crescent. And then the thing +which had been done seemed in itself to her to be so horrible! This +girl, when living under the care of her aunt, had made an appointment +with an improper young man at the house of another aunt! Any +appointment made by a young lady with a young man must, as she +thought, be wrong. She began to be aghast at the very nature of the +girl who could do such a thing, and on reflecting that that girl was +at present under her charge as an adopted daughter. "Lucy," she said, +very impressively, "there must be an end of this." + +"There cannot be an end of it," said Lucy. + +"Do you mean to say that he is to come here to this house whether I +and your uncle like it or not?" + +"He will come," said Lucy; "I am sure he will come. Now he has seen +me he will come at once." + +"Why should he do that if he is not your lover?" + +"Because," said Lucy,--and then she paused; "because--. It is very +hard to tell you, Aunt Emmeline." + +"Why should he come so quickly?" demanded Aunt Emmeline again. + +"Because--. Though he has said nothing to me such as that you mean," +stammered out Lucy, determined to tell the whole truth, "I believe +that he will." + +"And you?" + +"If he did I should accept him." + +"Has he any means?" + +"I do not know." + +"Have you any?" + +"Certainly not." + +"And you would consent to be his wife after what I've told you?" + +"Yes," said Lucy, "I should." + +"Then it must not be in this house. That is all. I will not have him +here on any pretence whatsoever." + +"I thought not, Aunt Emmeline, and therefore I have told you." + +"Do you mean that you will make an appointment with him elsewhere?" + +"Certainly not. I have not in fact ever made an appointment with him. +I do not know his address. Till yesterday I thought that he was in +Rome. I never had a line from him in my life, and of course have +never written to him." Upon hearing all this Lady Tringle sat in +silence, not quite knowing how to carry on the conversation. The +condition of Lucy's mind was so strange to her, that she felt herself +to be incompetent to dictate. She could only resolve that under no +circumstances should the objectionable man be allowed into her house. +"Now, Aunt Emmeline," said Lucy, "I have told you everything. Of +course you have a right to order, but I also have some right. You +told me I was to drop Mr. Hamel, but I cannot drop him. If he comes +in my way I certainly shall not drop him. If he comes here I shall +see him if I can. If you and Uncle Tom choose to turn me out of +course you can do so." + +"I shall tell your uncle all about it," said Aunt Emmeline, angrily, +"and then you will hear what he says." And so the conversation was +ended. + +At that moment Sir Thomas was, of course, in the City managing his +millions, and as Lucy herself had suggested that Mr. Hamel might not +improbably call on that very day, and as she was quite determined +that Mr. Hamel should not enter the doors of the house in Queen's +Gate, it was necessary that steps should be taken at once. Some hours +afterwards Mr. Hamel did call and asked for Miss Dormer. The door was +opened by a well-appointed footman, who, with lugubrious face,--with +a face which spoke much more eloquently than his words,--declared +that Miss Dormer was not at home. In answer to further inquiries he +went on to express an opinion that Miss Dormer never would be at +home;--from all which it may be seen that Aunt Emmeline had taken +strong measures to carry out her purpose. Hamel, when he heard his +fate thus plainly spoken from the man's mouth, turned away, not +doubting its meaning. He had seen Lucy's face in the park, and had +seen also Lady Tringle's gesture after his greeting. That Lady +Tringle should not be disposed to receive him at her house was not +matter of surprise to him. + +When Lucy went to bed that night she did not doubt that Mr. Hamel had +called, and that he had been turned away from the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +DOWN IN SCOTLAND. + + +When the time came, all the Tringles, together with the Honourable +Mrs. Traffick, started for Glenbogie. Aunt Emmeline had told Sir +Thomas all Lucy's sins, but Sir Thomas had not made so much of them +as his wife had expected. "It wouldn't be a bad thing to have a +husband for Lucy," said Sir Thomas. + +"But the man hasn't got a sixpence." + +"He has a profession." + +"I don't know that he makes anything. And then think of his father! +He is--illegitimate!" Sir Thomas seemed rather to sneer at this. "And +if you knew the way the old man lives in Rome! He plays cards all +Sunday!" Again Sir Thomas sneered. Sir Thomas was fairly submissive +to the conventionalities himself, but did not think that they ought +to stand in the way of a provision for a young lady who had no +provision of her own. "You wouldn't wish to have him at Queen's +Gate?" asked Lady Tringle. + +"Certainly not, if he makes nothing by his profession. A good deal, +I think, depends upon that." Then nothing further was said, but Lucy +was not told her uncle's opinion on the matter, as had been promised. +When she went down to Glenbogie she only knew that Mr. Hamel was +considered to be by far too black a sheep to be admitted into her +aunt's presence, and that she must regard herself as separated from +the man as far as any separation could be effected by her present +protectors. But if he would be true to her, as to a girl whom he had +a short time since so keenly rejoiced in "finding again," she was +quite sure that she could be true to him. + +On the day fixed, the 20th of August, Mr. Houston arrived at +Glenbogie, with boots and stockings and ammunition, such as Tom +had recommended when interrogated on those matters by his sister, +Gertrude. "I travelled down with a man I think you know," he said to +Lucy;--"at any rate your sister does, because I saw him with her at +Rome." The man turned out to be Isadore Hamel. "I didn't like to ask +him whether he was coming here," said Frank Houston. + +"No; he is not coming here," said Aunt Emmeline. + +"Certainly not," said Gertrude, who was quite prepared to take up the +cudgels on her mother's behalf against Mr. Hamel. + +"He said something about another man he used to know at Rome, before +you came. He was a nephew of that Marchesa Baldoni." + +"She was a lady we didn't like a bit too well," said Gertrude. + +"A very stuck-up sort of person, who did all she could to spoil +Ayala," said Aunt Emmeline. + +"Ayala has just been staying with her," said Lucy. "She has been very +kind to Ayala." + +"We have nothing to do with that now," said Aunt Emmeline. "Ayala can +stay with whom she and her aunt pleases. Is this Mr. Hamel, whom you +saw, a friend of the Marchesa's?" + +"He seemed to be a friend of the Marchesa's nephew," continued +Houston;--"one Colonel Stubbs. We used to see him at Rome, and a most +curious man he is. His name is Jonathan, and I don't suppose that any +man was ever seen so red before. He is shooting somewhere, and Hamel +seems to be going to join him. I thought he might have been coming +here afterwards, as you all were in Rome together." + +"Certainly he is not coming here," said Aunt Emmeline. "And as for +Colonel Stubbs, I never heard of him before." + +A week of the time allotted to Frank Houston had gone before he had +repeated a word of his suit to Sir Thomas. But with Gertrude every +opportunity had been allowed him, and by the rest of the family they +had been regarded as though they were engaged. Mr. Traffick, who was +now at Glenbogie, in accordance with the compact made with him, did +not at first approve of Frank Houston. He had insinuated to Lady +Tringle, and had said very plainly to Augusta, that he regarded a +young man, without any employment and without any income, as being +quite unfit to marry. "If he had a seat in the House it would be +quite a different thing," he had said to Augusta. But his wife had +snubbed him; telling him, almost in so many words, that if Gertrude +was determined to have her way in opposition to her father she +certainly would not be deterred by her brother-in-law. "It's nothing +to me," Mr. Traffick had then said; "the money won't come out of my +pocket; but when a man has nothing else to do he is sure to spend all +that he can lay his hands upon." After that, however, he withdrew +his opposition, and allowed it to be supposed that he was ready to +receive Frank Houston as his brother-in-law, should it be so decided. + +The time was running by both with Houston, the expectant son-in-law, +and with Mr. Traffick, who had achieved his position, and both were +aware that no grace would be allowed to them beyond that which had +been promised. Frank had fully considered the matter, and was quite +resolved that it would be unmanly in him to run after his cousin +Imogene, in the Tyrol, before he had performed his business. One +day, therefore, after having returned from the daily allowance of +slaughter, he contrived to find Sir Thomas in the solitude of his own +room, and again began to act the part of Allan-a-Dale. "I thought, +Mr. Houston," said Sir Thomas, "that we had settled that matter +before." + +"Not quite," said Houston. + +"I don't know why you should say so. I intended to be understood as +expressing my mind." + +"But you have been good enough to ask me down here." + +"I may ask a man to my house, I suppose, without intending to give +him my daughter's hand." Then he again asked the important question, +to which Allan-a-Dale's answer was so unreasonable and so successful. +"Have you an income on which to maintain my daughter?" + +"I cannot just say that I have, Sir Thomas," said Houston, +apologetically. + +"Then you mean to ask me to furnish you with an income." + +"You can do as you please about that, Sir Thomas." + +"You can hardly marry her without it." + +"Well; no; not altogether. No doubt it is true that I should not have +proposed myself had I not thought that the young lady would have +something of her own." + +"But she has nothing of her own," said Sir Thomas. And then that +interview was over. + +"You won't throw us over, Lady Tringle?" Houston said to Gertrude's +mother that evening. + +"Sir Thomas likes to have his own way," said Lady Tringle. + +"Somebody got round him about Septimus Traffick." + +"That was different," said Lady Tringle. "Mr. Traffick is in +Parliament, and that gives him an employment. He is a son of Lord +Boardotrade, and some of these days he will be in office." + +"Of course, you know that if Gertrude sticks to it she will have her +own way. When a girl sticks to it her father has to give way. What +does it matter to him whether I have any business or not? The money +would be the same in one case as the other, only it does seem such an +unnecessary trouble to have it put off." + +All this Lady Tringle seemed to take in good part, and half +acknowledged that if Frank Houston were constant in the matter he +would succeed at last. Gertrude, when the time for his departure +had come, expressed herself as thoroughly disgusted by her father's +sternness. "It's all bosh," she said to her lover. "Who is Lord +Boardotrade that that should make a difference? I have as much right +to please myself as Augusta." But there was the stern fact that the +money had not been promised, and even Frank had not proposed to marry +the girl of his heart without the concomitant thousands. + +Before he left Glenbogie, on the evening of his departure, he wrote a +second letter to Miss Docimer, as follows;-- + + + DEAR COUSIN IM, + + Here I am at Glenbogie, and here I have been for a week, + without doing a stroke of work. The father still asks "of + his house and his home," and does not seem to be at all + affected by my reference to the romantic grandeur of my + own peculiar residence. Perhaps I may boast so far as to + say that I have laughed on the lass as successfully as did + Allan-a-Dale. But what's the good of laughing on a lass + when one has got nothing to eat. Allan-a-Dale could pick + a pocket or cut a purse, accomplishments in which I am + altogether deficient. I suppose I shall succeed sooner or + later, but when I put my neck into the collar I had no + idea that there would be so much up-hill work before me. + It is all very well joking, but it is not nice to be asked + "of your house and your home" by a gentleman who knows + very well you've got none, and is conscious of inhabiting + three or four palaces himself. Such treatment must be + described as being decidedly vulgar. And then he must know + that it can be of no possible permanent use. The ladies + are all on my side, but I am told by Tringle mère that + I am less acceptable than old Traffick, who married the + other girl, because I'm not the son of Lord Boardotrade! + Nothing astonishes me so much as the bad taste of some + people. Now, it must all be put off till Christmas, and + the cruel part is, that one doesn't see how I'm to go on + living. + + In the meantime I have a little time in which to amuse + myself, and I shall turn up in about three weeks at Merle + Park. I wish chiefly to beg that you will not dissuade me + from what I see clearly to be a duty. I know exactly your + line of argument. Following a girl for her money is, you + will say, mercenary. So, as far as I can see, is every + transaction in the world by which men live. The judges, + the bishops, the poets, the Royal academicians, and the + Prime Ministers, are all mercenary;--as is also the man + who breaks stones for 2_s._ 6_d._ a-day. How shall a man + live without being mercenary unless he be born to fortune? + Are not girls always mercenary? Will she marry me knowing + that I have nothing? Will you not marry some one whom + you will probably like much less simply because he will + have something for you to eat and drink? Of course I + am mercenary, and I don't even pretend to old Tringle + that I am not so. I feel a little tired of this special + effort;--but if I were to abandon it I should simply have + to begin again elsewhere. I have sighted my stag, and + I must go on following him, trying to get on the right + side of the wind till I bring him down. It is not nice, + but it is to me manifestly my duty,--and I shall do it. + Therefore, do not let there be any blowing up. I hate to + be scolded. + + Yours always affectionately, + + F. H. + + +Gertrude, when he was gone, did not take the matter quite so quietly +as he did, feeling that, as she had made up her mind, and as all +her world would know that she had made up her mind, it behoved her +to carry her purpose to its desired end. A girl who is known to +be engaged, but whose engagement is not allowed, is always in a +disagreeable plight. + +"Mamma," she said, "I think that papa is not treating me well." + +"My dear, your papa has always had his own way." + +"That is all very well;--but why am I to be worse used than Augusta? +It turns out now that Mr. Traffick has not got a shilling of his +own." + +"Your papa likes his being in Parliament." + +"All the girls can't marry Members of Parliament." + +"And he likes his being the son of Lord Boardotrade." + +"Lord Boardotrade! I call that very mean. Mr. Houston is a gentleman, +and the Buncombe property has been for ever so many hundreds of years +in the family. I think more of Frank as to birth and all that than I +do of Lord Boardotrade and his mushroom peerage. Can't you tell papa +that I mean to marry Mr. Houston at last, and that he is making very +little of me to let me be talked about as I shall be?" + +"I don't think I can, Gertrude." + +"Then I shall. What would he say if I were to run away with Frank?" + +"I don't think Frank Houston would do that." + +"He would if I told him,--in a moment." There Miss Tringle was +probably in error. "And unless papa consents I shall tell him. I am +not going to be made miserable for ever." + +This was at Glenbogie, in Inverness-shire, on the southeastern side +of Loch Ness, where Sir Thomas Tringle possessed a beautiful mansion, +with a deer-forest, and a waterfall of his own, and any amount of +moors which the minds of sportmen could conceive. Nothing in Scotland +could be more excellent, unless there might be some truth in the +remarks of those who said that the grouse were scarce, and that the +deer were almost non-existent. On the other side of the lake, four +miles up from the gates, on the edge of a ravine, down which rushed +a little stream called the Caller, was an inconvenient ricketty +cottage, built piecemeal at two or three different times, called +Drumcaller. From one room you went into another, and from that into +a third. To get from the sitting-room, which was called the parlour, +into another which was called the den, you had to pass through the +kitchen, or else to make communication by a covered passage out of +doors which seemed to hang over the margin of the ravine. Pine-trees +enveloped the place. Looking at the house from the outside any +one would declare it to be wet through. It certainly could not +with truth be described as a comfortable family residence. But you +might, perhaps, travel through all Scotland without finding a more +beautifully romantic spot in which to reside. From that passage, +which seemed to totter suspended over the rocks, whence the tumbling +rushing waters could always be heard like music close at hand, the +view down over the little twisting river was such as filled the mind +with a conviction of realised poetry. Behind the house across the +little garden there was a high rock where a little path had been +formed, from which could be seen the whole valley of the Caller and +the broad shining expanse of the lake beyond. Those who knew the +cottage of Drumcaller were apt to say that no man in Scotland had a +more picturesque abode, or one more inconvenient. Even bread had to +be carried up from Callerfoot, as was called the little village down +on the lake side, and other provisions, such even as meat, had to be +fetched twenty miles, from the town of Inverness. + +A few days after the departure of Houston from Glenbogie two men +were seated with pipes in their mouths on the landing outside the +room called the den to which the passage from the parlour ran. Here +a square platform had been constructed capable of containing two +arm-chairs, and here the owner of the cottage was accustomed to sit, +when he was disposed, as he called it, to loaf away his time at +Drumcaller. This man was Colonel Jonathan Stubbs, and his companion +at the present moment was Isadore Hamel. + +"I never knew them in Rome," said the Colonel. "I never even saw +Ayala there, though she was so much at my aunt's house. I was in +Sicily part of the time, and did not get back till they had all +quarrelled. I did know the nephew, who was a good-natured but a +vulgar young man. They are vulgar people, I should say." + +"You could hardly have found Ayala vulgar?" asked Hamel. + +"Indeed, no. But uncles and aunts and nephews and nieces are not at +all bound to run together. Ayala is the daintiest little darling I +ever saw." + +"I knew their father and mother, and certainly no one would have +called them vulgar." + +"Sisters when they marry of course go off according to their +husbands, and the children follow. In this case one sister became +Tringlish after Sir Tringle, and the other Dormerish, after that most +improvident of human beings, your late friend the artist. I don't +suppose any amount of experience will teach Ayala how many shillings +there are in a pound. No doubt the Honourable Mrs. Traffick knows all +about it." + +"I don't think a girl is much improved by knowing how many shillings +there are in a pound," said Hamel. + +"It is useful sometimes." + +"So it might be to kill a sheep and skin it, or to milk a cow and +make cheese; but here, as in other things, one acquirement will drive +out others. A woman, if she cannot be beautiful, should at any rate +be graceful, and if she cannot soar to poetry, should at least be +soft and unworldly." + +"That's all very well in its way, but I go in for roasting, baking, +and boiling. + + I can bake and I can brew; + I can make an Irish stew; + Wash a shirt and iron it too. + +That's the sort of girl I mean to go in for if ever I marry; and +when you've got six children and a small income it's apt to turn out +better than grace and poetry." + +"A little of both perhaps," said Hamel. + +"Well, yes; I don't mind a little Byron now and again, so there is +no nonsense. As to Glenbogie, it's right over there across the lake. +You can get a boat at Callerfoot, and a fellow to take you across and +wait for you won't cost you more than three half-crowns. I suppose +Glenbogie is as far from the lake on that side as my cottage is on +this. How you'll get up except by walking I cannot say, unless you +will write a note to Sir Thomas and ask him to send a horse down for +you." + +"Sir Thomas would not accommodate me." + +"You think he will frown if you come after his niece?" + +"I simply want to call on Miss Dormer," said Hamel, blushing, +"because her father was always kind to me." + +"I don't mean to ask any questions," said the Colonel. + +"It is just so as I say. I do not like being in the neighbourhood +without calling on Miss Dormer." + +"I daresay not." + +"But I doubt whether Sir Thomas or Lady Tringle would be at all +inclined to make me welcome. As to the distance, I can walk that +easily enough, and if the door is slammed in my face I can walk back +again." + +Thus it was resolved that early on the following morning after +breakfast Isadore Hamel should go across the lake and make his way up +to Glenbogie. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +ISADORE HAMEL IS ASKED TO LUNCH. + + +On the following morning, the morning of Monday, 2nd September, +Isadore Hamel started on his journey. He had thought much about the +journey before he made it. No doubt the door had been slammed in his +face in London. He felt quite conscious of that, and conscious also +that a man should not renew his attempt to enter a door when it has +been once slammed in his face. But he understood the circumstances +nearly as they had happened,--except that he was not aware how far +the door had been slammed by Lady Tringle without any concurrence +on the part of Sir Thomas. But the door had, at any rate, not been +slammed by Lucy. The only person he had really wished to see within +that house had been Lucy Dormer; and he had hitherto no reason for +supposing that she would be unwilling to receive him. Her face had +been sweet and gracious when she saw him in the Park. Was he to deny +himself all hope of any future intercourse with her because Lady +Tringle had chosen to despise him? He must make some attempt. It was +more than probable, no doubt, that this attempt would be futile. +The servant at Glenbogie would probably be as well instructed as +the servant in Queen's Gate. But still a man has to go on and do +something, if he means to do anything. There could be no good in +sitting up at Drumcaller, at one side of the lake, and thinking of +Lucy Dormer far away, at the other side. He had not at all made up +his mind that he would ask Lucy to be his wife. His professional +income was still poor, and she, as he was aware, had nothing. But +he felt it to be incumbent upon him to get nearer to her if it were +possible, and to say something to her if the privilege of speech +should be accorded to him. + +He walked down to Callerfoot, refusing the loan of the Colonel's pony +carriage, and thence had himself carried across the lake in a hired +boat to a place called Sandy's Quay. That, he was assured, was the +spot on the other side from whence the nearest road would be found +to Glenbogie. But nobody on the Callerfoot side could tell him what +would be the distance. At Sandy's Quay he was assured that it was +twelve miles to Glenbogie House; but he soon found that the man who +told him had a pony for hire. "Ye'll nae get there under twalve +mile,--or maybe saxteen, if ye attampt to walk up the glin." So said +the owner of the pony. But milder information came to him speedily. +A little boy would show him the way up the glen for sixpence, and +engage to bring him to the house in an hour and a half. So he started +with the little boy, and after a hot scramble for about two hours he +found himself within the demesne. Poking their way up through thick +bushes from a ravine, they showed their two heads,--first the boy and +then the sculptor,--close by the side of the private road,--just as +Sir Thomas was passing, mounted on his cob. "It's his ain sell," said +the boy, dropping his head again amongst the bushes. + +Hamel, when he had made good his footing, had first to turn round +so that the lad might not lose his wages. A dirty little hand came +up for the sixpence, but the head never appeared again. It was well +known in the neighbourhood,--especially at Sandy's Quay, where boats +were used to land,--that Sir Thomas was not partial to visitors who +made their way into Glenbogie by any but the authorised road. While +Hamel was paying his debt, he stood still on his steed waiting to +see who might be the trespasser. "That's not a high road," said Sir +Thomas, as the young man approached him. As the last quarter of an +hour from the bottom of the ravine had been occupied in very stiff +climbing among the rocks the information conveyed appeared to Hamel +to have been almost unnecessary. "Your way up to the house, if you +are going there, would have been through the lodge down there." + +"Perhaps you are Sir Thomas Tringle," said Hamel. + +"That is my name." + +"Then I have to ask your pardon for my mode of ingress. I am going up +to the house; but having crossed the lake from Callerfoot I did not +know my way on this side, and so I have clambered up the ravine." Sir +Thomas bowed, and then waited for further tidings. "I believe Miss +Dormer is at the house?" + +"My niece is there." + +"My name is Hamel,--Isadore Hamel. I am a sculptor, and used to be +acquainted with her father. I have had great kindness from the whole +family, and so I was going to call upon her. If you do not object, I +will go on to the house." + +Sir Thomas sat upon his horse speechless for a minute. He had to +consider whether he did not object or not. He was well aware that +his wife objected,--aware also that he had declined to coincide with +his wife's objection when it had been pressed upon him. Why should +not his niece have the advantage of a lover, if a proper sort of a +lover came in her way? As to the father's morals or the son's birth, +those matters to Sir Thomas were nothing. The young man, he was +told, was good at making busts. Would any one buy the busts when +they were made? That was the question. His wife would certainly be +prejudiced,--would think it necessary to reject for Lucy any suitor +she would reject for her own girls. And then, as Sir Thomas felt, she +had not shown great judgment in selecting suitors for her own girls. +"Oh, Mr. Hamel, are you?" he said at last. + +"Isadore Hamel." + +"You called at Queen's Gate once, not long ago?" + +"I did," said Hamel; "but saw no one." + +"No, you didn't; I heard that. Well, you can go on to the house if +you like, but you had better ask for Lady Tringle. After coming over +from Callerfoot you'll want some lunch. Stop a moment. I don't mind +if I ride back with you." And so the two started towards the house, +and Hamel listened whilst Sir Thomas expatiated on the beauties of +Glenbogie. + +They had passed through one gate and were approaching another, when, +away among the trees, there was a young lady seen walking alone. +"There is Miss Dormer," said Hamel; "I suppose I may join her?" Sir +Thomas could not quite make up his mind whether the meeting was to +be allowed or not, but he could not bring himself at the spur of the +moment to refuse his sanction. So Hamel made his way across to Lucy, +while Sir Thomas rode on alone to the house. + +Lucy had seen her uncle on the cob, and, being accustomed to see him +on the cob, knew of course who he was. She had also seen another man +with him, but not in the least expecting that Hamel was in those +parts, had never dreamt that he was her uncle's companion. It was +not till Hamel was near to her that she understood that the man was +coming to join herself; and then, when she did recognise the man, she +was lost in amazement. "You hardly expected to see me here?" said he. + +"Indeed; no." + +"Nor did I expect that I should find you in this way." + +"My uncle knows it is you?" asked Lucy. + +"Oh, yes. I met him as I came up from the ravine, and he has asked +me to go on to the house to lunch." Then there was silence for a few +moments as they walked on together. "I hope you do not think that I +am persecuting you in making my way over here." + +"Oh, no; not persecuting!" Lucy when she heard the sound of what she +herself had said, was angry with herself, feeling that she had almost +declared him guilty of some wrong in having come thither. "Of course +I am glad to see you," she added, "for papa's sake, but I'm afraid--" + +"Afraid of what, Miss Dormer?" + +She looked him full in the face as she answered him, collecting her +courage to make the declaration which seemed to be necessary. "My +Aunt Emmeline does not want you to come." + +"Why should she not want me?" + +"That I cannot tell. Perhaps if I did know I should not tell. But +it is so. You called at Queen's Gate, and I know that you were not +admitted, though I was at home. Of course, Aunt Emmeline has a right +to choose who shall come. It is not as though I had a house of my +own." + +"But Sir Thomas asked me in." + +"Then you had better go in. After what Aunt Emmeline said, I do not +think that you ought to remain with me." + +"Your uncle knows I am with you," said Hamel. Then they walked on +towards the house together in silence for a while. "Do you mean to +say," he continued, "that because your aunt objects you are never to +see me again?" + +"I hope I shall see you again. You were papa's friend, and I should +be so very sorry not to see you again." + +"I suppose," he said, slowly, "I can never be more than your papa's +friend." + +"You are mine also." + +"I would be more than that." Then he paused as if waiting for a +reply, but she of course had none to make. "I would be so much more +than that, Lucy." Still she had no answer to give him. But there +comes a time when no answer is as excellent eloquence as any words +that can be spoken. Hamel, who had probably not thought much of this, +was nevertheless at once informed by his instincts that it was so. +"Oh, Lucy," he said, "if you can love me say so." + +"Mr. Hamel," she whispered. + +"Lucy." + +"Mr. Hamel, I told you about Aunt Emmeline. She will not allow it. I +ought not to have let you speak to me like this, while I am staying +here." + +"But your uncle knows I am with you." + +"My aunt does not know. We must go to the house. She expressly +desired that I would not speak to you." + +"And you will obey her--always?" + +"No; not always. I did not say that I should obey her always. Some +day, perhaps, I shall do as I think fit myself." + +"And then you will speak to me?" + +"Then I will speak to you," she said. + +"And love me?" + +"And love you," she answered, again looking him full in the face. +"But now pray, pray let us go on." For he had stopped her awhile +amidst the trees, and had put out his hand as though to take hers, +and had opened his arms as though he would embrace her. But she +passed on quickly, and hardly answered his further questions till +they found themselves together in the hall of the house. + +Then they met Lady Tringle, who was just passing into the room where +the lunch was laid, and following her were Augusta, Gertrude, and the +Honourable Septimus Traffick. For, though Frank Houston had found +himself compelled to go at the day named, the Honourable Septimus +had contrived to squeeze out another week. Augusta was indeed still +not without hope that the paternal hospitality of Glenbogie might be +prolonged till dear Merle Park should once again open her portals. +Sir Thomas had already passed into the dining-room, having in gruff +voice informed his wife that he had invited Mr. Hamel to come in to +lunch. "Mr. Hamel!" she had exclaimed. "Yes, Mr. Hamel. I could not +see the man starving when he had come all this way. I don't know +anything against him." Then he had turned away, and had gone into +the dining-room, and was now standing with his back to the empty +fire-place, determined to take Mr. Hamel's part if any want of +courtesy were shown to him. + +It certainly was hard upon Lady Tringle. She frowned and was going to +walk on without any acknowledgment, when Lucy timidly went through +a form of introduction. "Aunt Emmeline, this is Mr. Hamel. Uncle +Tom met him somewhere in the grounds and has asked him to come to +luncheon." Then Lady Tringle curtseyed and made a bow. The curtsey +and the bow together were sufficient to have crushed the heart of any +young man who had not been comforted and exalted by such words as +Isadore had heard from Lucy's lips not five minutes since. "And love +you," she had said. After that Lady Tringle might curtsey and bow +as she would, and he could still live uncrushed. After the curtsey +and the bow Lady Tringle passed on. Lucy fell into the rank behind +Gertrude; and then Hamel afterwards took his place behind the +Honourable Septimus. "If you will sit there, Mr. Hamel," said Lady +Tringle, pointing to a chair, across the table, obliquely, at the +greatest possible distance from that occupied by Lucy. There he +was stationed between Mr. Traffick and Sir Thomas. But now, in his +present frame of mind, his position at the table made very little +difference to him. + +The lunch was eaten in grim silence. Sir Thomas was not a man profuse +with conversation at his meals, and at this moment was ill-inclined +for any words except what he might use in scolding his wife for being +uncivil to his guest. Lady Tringle sat with her head erect, hardly +opening her mouth sufficiently to allow the food to enter it. It was +her purpose to show her displeasure at Mr. Hamel, and she showed it. +Augusta took her mother's part, thoroughly despising the two Dormer +girls and any lover that they might have. Poor Gertrude had on that +morning been violently persecuted by a lecture as to Frank Houston's +impecuniosity. Lucy of course would not speak. The Honourable +Septimus was anxious chiefly about his lunch,--somewhat anxious also +to offend neither the master nor the mistress of Merle Park. Hamel +made one or two little efforts to extract answers from Sir Thomas, +but soon found that Sir Thomas would prefer to be left in silence. +What did it signify to him? He had done all that he wanted, and much +more than he had expected. + +The rising and getting away from luncheon is always a difficulty,--so +great a difficulty when there are guests that lunch should never be +much a company festival. There is no provision for leaving the table +as there is at dinner. But on this occasion Lady Tringle extemporised +provision the first moment in which they had all ceased to eat. "Mr. +Hamel," she said very loudly, "would you like some cheese?" Mr. +Hamel, with a little start, declared that he wanted no cheese. "Then, +my dears, I think we will go into my room. Lucy, will you come with +me?" Upon this the four ladies all went out in procession, but her +ladyship was careful that Lucy should go first so that there might +be no possibility of escape. Augusta and Gertrude followed her. The +minds of all the four were somewhat perturbed; but among the four +Lucy's heart was by far the lightest. + +"Are you staying over with Stubbs at that cottage?" asked the +Honourable Septimus. "A very queer fellow is Stubbs." + +"A very good fellow," said Hamel. + +"I dare say. He hasn't got any shooting?" + +"I think not." + +"Not a head. Glentower wouldn't let an acre of shooting over there +for any money." This was the Earl of Glentower, to whom belonged an +enormous tract of country on the other side of the lake. "What on +earth does he do with himself stuck up on the top of those rocks?" + +"He does shoot sometimes, I believe, when Lord Glentower is there." + +"That's a poor kind of fun, waiting to be asked for a day," said +the Honourable Septimus, who rarely waited for anything till he was +asked. "Does he get any fishing?" + +"He catches a few trout sometimes in the tarns above. But I fancy +that Stubbs isn't much devoted to shooting and fishing." + +"Then what the d---- does he do with himself in such a country as +this?" Hamel shrugged his shoulders, not caring to say that what with +walking, what with reading and writing, his friend could be as happy +as the day was long in such a place as Drumcaller. + +"Is he a Liberal?" + +"A what?" asked Hamel. "Oh, a Liberal? Upon my word I don't know what +he is. He is chiefly given to poetry, tobacco, and military matters." +Then the Honourable Septimus turned up his nose in disgust, and +ceased his cross-examination as to the character and pursuits of +Colonel Jonathan Stubbs. + +"Sir Thomas, I am very much obliged to you for your kindness," said +Hamel, getting up suddenly. "As it is a long way over to Drumcaller I +think I will make a start. I know my way down the Glen and should be +sure to miss it by any other route. Perhaps you'll let me go back as +I came." Sir Thomas offered him the loan of a horse, but this was +refused, and Hamel started on his return journey across the lake. + +When he had gone a few steps from the portal he turned to look at +the house which contained one whom he now regarded as belonging +exclusively to himself; perhaps he thought that he might catch some +final view of Lucy; or, not quite thinking it, fancied that some +such chance might at least be possible; but he saw nothing but the +uninteresting facade of the grand mansion. Lucy was employed quite +otherwise. She was listening to a lecture in which her aunt was +describing to her how very badly Mr. Hamel had behaved in obtruding +himself on the shades of Glenbogie. The lecture was somewhat long, as +Aunt Emmeline found it necessary to repeat all the arguments which +she had before used as to the miscreant's birth, as to his want of +adequate means, and as to the general iniquities of the miscreant's +father. All this she repeated more than once with an energy that was +quite unusual to her. The flood of her eloquence was so great that +Lucy found no moment for an interposing word till all these evils +had been denunciated twice and thrice. But then she spoke. "Aunt +Emmeline," she said, "I am engaged to Mr. Hamel now." + +"What!" + +"He has asked me to be his wife and I have promised." + +"And that after all that I had said to you!" + +"Aunt Emmeline, I told you that I should not drop him. I did not bid +him come here. Uncle Tom brought him. When I saw him I would have +avoided him if I could. I told him he ought not to be here because +you did not wish it; and then he answered that my uncle knew that he +was with me. Of course when he told me that he--loved me, I could +not make him any other answer." Then Aunt Emmeline expressed the +magnitude of her indignation simply by silence, and Lucy was left to +think of her lover in solitude. + + + * * * * * * + + +"And how have you fared on your day's journey?" said the Colonel, +when Hamel found him still seated on the platform with a book in his +hand. + +"Much better than I thought. Sir Thomas gave me luncheon." + +"And the young lady?" + +"The young lady was gracious also; but I am afraid that I cannot +carry my praises of the family at Glenbogie any further. The three +Tringle ladies looked at me as I was sitting at table as though I +certainly had no business in their august society." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +STUBBS UPON MATRIMONY. + + +Before that evening was over,--or in the course of the night, +it might be better said, as the two men sat up late with their +pipes,--Hamel told his friend the Colonel exactly what had taken +place that morning over at Glenbogie. "You went for the purpose, of +course?" asked the Colonel. + +"For an off chance?" + +"I know that well enough. I never heard of a man's walking twelve +miles to call upon a young lady merely because he knew her father; +and when there was to be a second call within a few weeks, the first +having not been taken in very good part by the young lady's friends, +my inquiring mind told me that there was something more than old +family friendship." + +"Your inquiring mind saw into the truth." + +"And now looks forward to further events. Can she bake and can she +brew?" + +"I do not doubt that she could if she tried." + +"And can she wash a shirt for a man? Don't suppose, my dear fellow, +that I intend to say that your wife will have to wash yours. Washing +a shirt, as read in the poem from which I am quoting, is presumed to +be simply emblematic of household duties in general." + +"I take all you say in good part,--as coming from a friend." + +"I regard matrimony," said the Colonel, "as being altogether the +happiest state of life for a man,--unless to be engaged to some +lovely creature, in whom one can have perfect confidence, may be a +thought happier. One can enjoy all the ecstatic mental reflection, +all the delights of conceit which come from being loved, that feeling +of superiority to all the world around which illumines the bosom +of the favoured lover, without having to put one's hand into one's +pocket, or having one's pipe put out either morally or physically. +The next to this is matrimony itself, which is the only remedy for +that consciousness of disreputable debauchery, a savour of which +always clings, more or less strongly, to unmarried men in our rank +of life. The chimes must be heard at midnight, let a young man be +ever so well given to the proprieties, and he must have just a touch +of the swingebuckler about him, or he will seem to himself to be +deficient in virility. There is no getting out of it until a man +marry. But then--" + +"Well; then?" + +"Do you know the man whose long-preserved hat is always brushed +carefully, whose coat is the pattern of neatness, but still a little +threadbare when you look at it,--in the colour of whose cheek there +is still some touch of juvenility, but whose step is ever heavy and +whose brow is always sad? The seriousness of life has pressed the +smiles out of him. He has learned hardly to want anything for himself +but outward decency and the common necessaries of life. Such little +personal indulgences as are common to you and to me are as strange to +him as ortolans or diamonds." + +"I do not think I do know him." + +"I do;--well. I have seen him in the regiment, I have met him on +the steps of a public office, I have watched him as he entered his +parsonage house. You shall find him coming out of a lawyer's office, +where he has sat for the last nine hours, having supported nature +with two penny biscuits. He has always those few thin hairs over his +forehead, he has always that well-brushed hat, he has always that +load of care on his brow. He is generally thinking whether he shall +endeavour to extend his credit with the butcher, or resolve that the +supply of meat may be again curtailed without injury to the health of +his five daughters." + +"That is an ugly picture." + +"But is it true?" + +"In some cases, of course, it is." + +"And yet not ugly all round," said the meditative Colonel, who had +just replenished his pipe. "There are, on the other side, the five +daughters, and the partner of this load of cares. He knows it is well +to have the five daughters, rather than to live with plenty of beef +and mutton,--even with the ortolans if you will,--and with no one to +care whether his body may be racked in this world or his spirit in +the next. I do not say whether the balance of good or evil be on one +side or the other; but when a man is going to do a thing he should +know what it is he is going to do." + +"The reading of all this," said Hamel, "is, that if I succeed in +marrying Miss Dormer I must have thin locks, and a bad hat, and a +butcher's bill." + +"Other men do." + +"Some, instead, have balances at their bankers, and die worth thirty, +forty, or fifty thousand pounds, to the great consolation of the five +daughters." + +"Or a hundred thousand pounds! There is, of course, no end to +the amount of thousands which a successful professional man may +accumulate. You may be the man; but the question is, whether you +should not have reasonable ground to suppose yourself the man, before +you encumber yourself with the five daughters." + +"It seems to me," said Hamel, "that the need of such assurance is +cowardly." + +"That is just the question which I am always debating with myself. I +also want to rid myself of that swingebuckler flavour. I feel that +for me, like Adam, it is not good that I should be alone. I would +fain ask the first girl, that I could love well enough to wish +to make myself one with her, to be my wife, regardless of hats, +butchers, and daughters. It is a plucky and a fine thing for a man to +feel that he can make his back broad enough for all burdens. But yet +what is the good of thinking that you can carry a sack of wheat when +you are sure that you have not, in truth, strength to raise it from +the ground?" + +"Strength will come," said Hamel. + +"Yes, and the bad hat. And, worse than the bad hat, the soiled gown; +and perhaps with the soiled gown the altered heart;--and perhaps with +the altered heart an absence of all that tenderness which it is a +woman's special right to expect from a man." + +"I should have thought you would have been the last to be so +self-diffident." + +"To be so thoughtful, you mean," said the Colonel. "I am unattached +now, and having had no special duty for the last three months I have +given myself over to thinking in a nasty morbid manner. It comes, +I daresay, partly from tobacco. But there is comfort in this,--that +no such reflections falling out of one man's mouth ever had the +slightest effect in influencing another man's conduct." + +Hamel had told his friend with great triumph of his engagement +with Lucy Dormer, but the friend did not return the confidence by +informing the sculptor that during the whole of this conversation, +and for many days previous to it, his mind had been concerned with +the image of Lucy's sister. He was aware that Ayala had been, as it +were, turned out from her rich uncle's house, and given over to the +comparative poverty of Kingsbury Crescent. He himself, at the present +moment, was possessed of what might be considered a comfortable +income for a bachelor. He had been accustomed to live almost more +than comfortably; but, having so lived, was aware of himself that +he had not adapted himself for straitened circumstances. In spite +of that advice of his as to the brewing, baking, and washing +capabilities of a female candidate for marriage, he knew himself well +enough to be aware that a wife red with a face from a kitchen fire +would be distasteful to him. He had often told himself that to look +for a woman with money would be still more distasteful. Therefore he +had thought that for the present, at least, it would be well for him +to remain as he was. But now he had come across Ayala, and though in +the pursuance of his philosophy he had assured himself that Ayala +should be nothing to him, still he found himself so often reverting +to this resolution that Ayala, instead of being nothing, was very +much indeed to him. + +Three days after this Hamel was preparing himself for his departure +immediately after breakfast. "What a beast you are to go," said the +Colonel, "when there can be no possible reason for your going." + +"The five daughters and the bad hat make it necessary that a fellow +should do a little work sometimes." + +"Why can't you make your images down here?" + +"With you for a model, and mud out of the Caller for clay." + +"I shouldn't have the slightest objection. In your art you cannot +perpetuate the atrocity of my colour, as the fellow did who painted +my portrait last winter. If you will go, go, and make busts at +unheard-of prices, so that the five daughters may live for ever on +the fat of the land. Can I do any good for you by going over to +Glenbogie?" + +"If you could snub that Mr. Traffick, who is of all men the most +atrocious." + +"The power doesn't exist," said the Colonel, "which could snub the +Honourable Septimus. That man is possessed of a strength which I +thoroughly envy,--which is perhaps more enviable than any other gift +the gods can give. Words cannot penetrate that skin of his. Satire +flows off him like water from a duck. Ridicule does not touch him. +The fellest abuse does not succeed in inflicting the slightest wound. +He has learnt the great secret that a man cannot be cut who will not +be cut. As it is worth no man's while to protract an enmity with +such a one as he, he suffers from no prolonged enmities. He walks +unassailable by any darts, and is, I should say, the happiest man in +London." + +"Then I fear you can do nothing for me at Glenbogie. To mollify Aunt +Emmeline would, I fear, be beyond your power. Sir Thomas, as far as I +can see, does not require much mollifying." + +"Sir Thomas might give the young woman a thousand or two." + +"That is not the way in which I desire to keep a good hat on my +head," said Hamel, as he seated himself in the little carriage which +was to take him down to Callerfoot. + +The Colonel remained at Drumcaller till the end of September, when +his presence was required at Aldershot,--during which time he shot +a good deal, in obedience to the good-natured behests of Lord +Glentower, and in spite of the up-turned nose of Mr. Traffick. He +read much, and smoked much,--so that as to the passing of his time +there was not need to pity him, and he consumed a portion of his +spare hours in a correspondence with his aunt, the Marchesa, and with +his cousin Nina. One of his letters from each shall be given,--and +also one of the letters written to each in reply. + + + NINA TO HER COUSIN THE COLONEL. + + MY DEAR JONATHAN, + + Lady Albury says that you ought to be here, and so you + ought. It is ever so nice. There is a Mr. Ponsonby here, + and he and I can beat any other couple at lawn tennis. + There is an awning over the ground, which is such a + lounge. Playing lawn tennis with a parasol as those + Melcombe girls did is stupid. They were here, but have + gone. One I am quite sure was over head and ears in love + with Mr. Ponsonby. These sort of things are always all + on one side, you know. He isn't very much of a man, but + he does play lawn tennis divinely. Take it altogether, I + don't think there is anything out to beat lawn tennis. I + don't know about hunting,--and I don't suppose I ever + shall. + + We tried to have Ayala here, but I fear it will not come + off. Lady Albury was good-natured, but at last she did not + quite like writing to Mrs. Dosett. So mamma wrote, but the + lady's answer was very stiff. She thought it better for + Ayala to remain among her own friends. Poor Ayala! It is + clear that a knight will be wanted to go in armour, and + get her out of prison. I will leave it to you to say who + must be the knight. + + I hope you will come for a day or two before you go to + Aldershot. We stay till the 1st of October. You will be a + beast if you don't. Lady Albury says she never means to + ask you again. "Oh, Stubbs!" said Sir Harry; "Stubbs is + one of those fellows who never come if they're asked." Of + course we all sat upon him. Then he declared that you were + the dearest friend he had in the world, but that he never + dared to dream that you would ever come to Stalham again. + Perhaps if we can hit it off at last with Ayala, then you + would come. Mamma means to try again.--Your affectionate + cousin, + + NINA. + + + THE MARCHESA BALDONI TO HER NEPHEW, COLONEL STUBBS. + + MY DEAR JONATHAN, + + I did my best for my protégé, but I am afraid it will not + succeed. Her aunt Mrs. Dosett seems to think that, as + Ayala is fated to live with her, Ayala had better take + her fate as she finds it. The meaning of that is, that if + a girl is doomed to have a dull life she had better not + begin it with a little pleasure. There is a good deal to + be said for the argument, but if I were the girl I should + like to begin with the pleasure and take my chance for + the reaction. I should perhaps be vain enough to think + that during the preliminary course I might solve all the + difficulty by my beaux yeux. I saw Mrs. Dosett once, and + now I have had a letter from her. Upon the whole, I am + inclined to pity poor Ayala. + + We are very happy here. The Marchese has gone to Como + to look after some property he has there. Do not be + ill-natured enough to say that the two things go + together;--but in truth he is never comfortable out of + Italy. He had a slice of red meat put before him the other + day, and that decided him to start at once. + + On the first of October we go back to London, and shall + remain till the end of November. They have asked Nina to + come again in November in order that she may see a hunt. I + know that means that she will try to jump over something, + and have her leg broken. You must be here and not allow + it. If she does come here I shall perhaps go down to + Brighton for a fortnight. + + Yes;--I do think Ayala Dormer is a very pretty girl, and I + do think, also, that she is clever. I quite agree that she + is ladylike. But I do not therefore think that she is just + such a girl as such a man as Colonel Jonathan Stubbs ought + to marry. She is one of those human beings who seem to + have been removed out of this world and brought up in + another. Though she knows ever so much that nobody else + knows, she is ignorant of ever so much that everybody + ought to know. Wandering through a grove, or seated by a + brook, or shivering with you on the top of a mountain, she + would be charming. I doubt whether she would be equally + good at the top of your table, or looking after your + children, or keeping the week's accounts. She would tease + you with poetry, and not even pretend to be instructed + when you told her how an army ought to be moved. I say + nothing as to the fact that she hasn't got a penny, though + you are just in that position which makes it necessary + for a man to get some money with his wife. I therefore am + altogether indisposed to any matrimonial outlook in that + direction.--Your affectionate aunt, + + BEATRICE BALDONI. + + + COLONEL STUBBS TO HIS COUSIN NINA. + + DEAR NINA, + + Lady Albury is wrong; I ought not to be at Stalham. What + should I do at Stalham at this time of year, who never + shoot partridges, and what would be the use of attempting + lawn tennis when I know I should be cut out by Mr. + Ponsonby? If that day in November is to come off then I'll + come and coach you across the country. You tell Sir Harry + that I say so, and that I will bring three horses for one + week. I think it very hard about poor Ayala Dormer, but + what can any knight do in such a case? When a young lady + is handed over to the custody of an uncle or an aunt, + she becomes that uncle's and aunt's individual property. + Mrs. Dosett may be the most noxious dragon that ever was + created for the mortification and general misery of an + imprisoned damsel, but still she is omnipotent. The only + knight who can be of any service is one who will go with a + ring in his hand, and absolutely carry the prisoner away + by force of the marriage service. Your unfortunate cousin + is so exclusively devoted to the duty of fighting his + country's battles that he has not even time to think of a + step so momentous as that. + + Poor Ayala! Do not be stupid enough to accuse me of + pitying her because I cannot be the knight to release her; + but I cannot but think how happy she would be at Stalham, + struggling to beat you and Mr. Ponsonby at lawn tennis, + and then risking a cropper when the happy days of November + should come round.--Your loving cousin, + + J. S. + + + COLONEL STUBBS TO THE MARCHESA BALDONI. + + MY DEAR AUNT, + + Your letter is worthy of the Queen of Sheba, if, as was no + doubt the case, she corresponded with King Solomon. As for + Ayala's fate, if it be her fate to live with Mrs. Dosett, + she can only submit to it. You cannot carry her over to + Italy, nor would the Marchese allow her to divide his + Italian good things with Nina. Poor little bird! She had + her chance of living amidst diamonds and bank-notes, with + the Tringle millionaires, but threw it away after some + fashion that I do not understand. No doubt she was a fool, + but I cannot but like her the better for it. I hardly + think that a fortnight at Stalham, with all Sir Harry's + luxuries around her, would do her much service. + + As for myself and the top of my table, and the future + companion who is to be doomed to listen to my military + lucubrations, I am altogether inclined to agree with you, + seeing that you write in a pure spirit of worldly good + sense. No doubt the Queen of Sheba gave advice of the + same sort to King Solomon. I never knew a woman to speak + confidentially of matrimony otherwise than as a matter of + pounds, shillings, and pence. In counsels so given, no + word of love has ever been known to creep in. Why should + it, seeing that love cannot put a leg of mutton into the + pot? Don't imagine that I say this in a spirit either of + censure or satire. Your ideas are my own, and should I + ever marry I shall do so in strict accordance with your + tenets, thinking altogether of the weekly accounts, and + determined to eschew any sitting by the sides of brooks. + + I have told Nina about my plans. I will be at Stalham in + November to see that she does not break her neck.--Yours + always, + + J. S. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +AYALA'S INDIGNATION. + + +Perhaps Mrs. Dosett had some just cause for refusing her sanction for +the proposed visit to Albury. If Fate did require that Ayala should +live permanently in Kingsbury Crescent, the gaiety of a very gay +house, and the wealth of a very wealthy house, would hardly be good +preparation for such a life. Up to the time of her going to the +Marchesa in Brook Street, Ayala had certainly done her best to suit +herself to her aunt's manners,--though she had done it with pain and +suffering. She had hemmed the towels and mended the sheets, and had +made the rounds to the shops. She had endeavoured to attend to the +pounds of meat and to sympathise with her aunt in the interest taken +in the relics of the joints as they escaped from the hungry treatment +of the two maidens in the kitchen. Ayala had been clever enough to +understand that her aunt had been wounded by Lucy's indifference, not +so much because she had desired to avail herself of Lucy's labours +as from a feeling that that indifference had seemed to declare that +her own pursuits were mean and vulgar. Understanding this she had +struggled to make those pursuits her own,--and had in part succeeded. +Her aunt could talk to her about the butter and the washing, matters +as to which her lips had been closed in any conversation with Lucy. +That Ayala was struggling Mrs. Dosett had been aware;--but she had +thought that such struggles were good and had not been hopeless. Then +came the visit to Brook Street, and Ayala returned quite an altered +young woman. It seemed as though she neither could nor would struggle +any longer. "I hate mutton-bones," she said to her aunt one morning +soon after her return. + +"No doubt we would all like meat joints the best," said her aunt, +frowning. + +"I hate joints too." + +"You have, I dare say, been cockered up at the Marchesa's with made +dishes." + +"I hate dishes," said Ayala, petulantly. + +"You don't hate eating?" + +"Yes, I do. It is ignoble. Nature should have managed it differently. +We ought to have sucked it in from the atmosphere through our fingers +and hairs, as the trees do by their leaves. There should have been no +butchers, and no grease, and no nasty smells from the kitchen,--and +no gin." + +This was worse than all,--this allusion to the mild but unfashionable +stimulant to which Mr. Dosett had been reduced by his good nature. +"You are flying in the face of the Creator, Miss," said Aunt +Margaret, in her most angry voice,--"in the face of the Creator who +made everything, and ordained what his creatures should eat and drink +by His infinite wisdom." + +"Nevertheless," said Ayala, "I think we might have done without +boiled mutton." Then she turned to some articles of domestic +needlework which were in her lap so as to show that in spite of the +wickedness of her opinions she did not mean to be idle. But Mrs. +Dosett, in her wrath, snatched the work from her niece's hands +and carried it out of the room, thus declaring that not even a +pillow-case in her house should owe a stitch to the hands of a girl +so ungrateful and so blasphemous. + +The wrath wore off soon. Ayala, though not contrite was meek, and +walked home with her aunt on the following morning, patiently +carrying a pound of butter, six eggs, and a small lump of bacon in a +basket. After that the pillow-case was recommitted to her. But there +still was left evidence enough that the girl's mind had been upset by +the luxuries of Brook Street,--evidence to which Aunt Margaret paid +very much attention, insisting upon it in her colloquies with her +husband. "I think that a little amusement is good for young people," +said Uncle Reginald, weakly. + +"And for old people too. No doubt about it, if they can get it so as +not to do them any harm at the same time. Nothing can be good for a +young woman which unfits her for that state of life to which it has +pleased God to call her. Ayala has to live with us. No doubt there +was a struggle when she first came from your sister, Lady Tringle, +but she made it gallantly, and I gave her great credit. She was just +falling into a quiet mode of life when there came this invitation +from the Marchesa Baldoni. Now she has come back quite an altered +person, and the struggle has to be made all over again." Uncle +Reginald again expressed his opinion that young people ought to have +a little amusement, but he was not strong enough to insist very much +upon his theory. It certainly, however, was true that Ayala, though +she still struggled, had been very much disturbed by the visit. + +Then came the invitation to Stalham. There was a very pretty note +from Lady Albury to Ayala herself, saying how much pleasure she would +have in seeing Miss Dormer at her house, where Ayala's old friends +the Marchesa and Nina were then staying. This was accompanied by a +long letter from Nina herself, in which all the charms of Stalham, +including Mr. Ponsonby and lawn tennis, were set forth at full +length. Ayala had already heard much about Stalham and the Alburys +from her friend Nina, who had hinted in a whisper that such an +invitation as this might perhaps be forthcoming. She was ready enough +for the visit, having looked through her wardrobe, and resolved that +things which had been good enough for Brook Street would still be +good enough for Stalham. But the same post had brought a letter for +Mrs. Dosett, and Ayala could see, that, as the letter was read, a +frown came upon her aunt's brow, and that the look on her aunt's +face was decidedly averse to Stalham. This took place soon after +breakfast, when Uncle Reginald had just started for his office, and +neither of them for awhile said a word to the other of the letter +that had been received. It was not till after lunch that Ayala spoke. +"Aunt," she said, "you have had a letter from Lady Albury?" + +"Yes," said Mrs. Dosett, grimly, "I have had a letter from Lady +Albury." + +Then there was another silence, till Ayala, whose mind was full of +promised delights, could not refrain herself longer. "Aunt Margaret," +she said, "I hope you mean to let me go." For a minute or two there +was no reply, and Ayala again pressed her question. "Lady Albury +wants me to go to Stalham." + +"She has written to me to say that she would receive you." + +"And I may go?" + +"I am strongly of opinion that you had better not," said Mrs. Dosett, +confirming her decree by a nod which might have suited Jupiter. + +"Oh, Aunt Margaret, why not?" + +"I think it would be most prudent to decline." + +"But why,--why,--why, Aunt Margaret?" + +"There must be expense." + +"I have money enough for the journey left of my own from what Uncle +Tom gave me," said Ayala, pleading her cause with all her eloquence. + +"It is not only the money. There are other reasons,--very strong +reasons." + +"What reasons, Aunt Margaret?" + +"My dear, it is your lot to have to live with us, and not with such +people as the Marchesa Baldoni and Lady Albury." + +"I am sure I do not complain." + +"But you would complain after having for a time been used to the +luxuries of Albury Park. I do not say that as finding fault, Ayala. +It is human nature that it should be so." + +"But I won't complain. Have I ever complained?" + +"Yes, my dear. You told me the other day that you did not like bones +of mutton, and you were disgusted because things were greasy. I do +not say this by way of scolding you, Ayala, but only that you may +understand what must be the effect of your going from such a house as +this to such a house as Stalham, and then returning back from Stalham +to such a house as this. You had better be contented with your +position." + +"I am contented with my position," sobbed Ayala. + +"And allow me to write to Lady Albury refusing the invitation." + +But Ayala could not be brought to look at the matter with her aunt's +eyes. When her aunt pressed her for an answer which should convey +her consent she would give none, and at last left the room bitterly +sobbing. Turning the matter over in her own bosom upstairs she +determined to be mutinous. No doubt she owed a certain amount of +obedience to her aunt; but had she not been obedient, had she +not worked hard and lugged about that basket of provisions, and +endeavoured to take an interest in all her aunt's concerns? Was she +so absolutely the property of her aunt that she was bound to do +everything her aunt desired to the utter annihilation of all her +hopes, to the extermination of her promised joys? She felt that she +had succeeded in Brook Street. She had met no Angel of Light, but she +was associated with people whom she had liked, and had been talked to +by those to whom it had been a pleasure to listen. That colonel with +the quaint name and the ugly face was still present to her memory +as he had leaned over her shoulder at the theatre, making her now +laugh by his drollery, and now filling her mind with interest by his +description of the scenes which she was seeing. She was sure that +all this, or something of the same nature, would be renewed for her +delight at Stalham. And was she to be robbed of this,--the only +pleasure which seemed to remain to her in this world,--merely because +her aunt chose to entertain severe notions as to duty and pleasure? +Other girls went out when they were asked. At Rome, when that +question of the dance at the Marchesa's had been discussed, she had +had her own way in opposition to her Aunt Emmeline and her cousin +Augusta. No doubt she had, in consequence partly of her conduct on +that occasion, been turned out of her Uncle Tom's house; but of that +she did not think at the present moment. She would be mutinous, and +would appeal to her Uncle Reginald for assistance. + +But the letter which contained the real invitation had been addressed +to her aunt, and her aunt could in truth answer it as she pleased. +The answer might at this moment be in the act of being written, and +should it be averse Ayala knew very well that she could not go in +opposition to it. And yet her aunt came to her in the afternoon +consulting her again, quite unconquered as to her own opinion, but +still evidently unwilling to write the fatal letter without Ayala's +permission. Then Ayala assured herself that she had rights of her +own, which her aunt did not care to contravene. "I think I ought to +be allowed to go," she said, when her aunt came to her during the +afternoon. + +"When I think it will be bad for you?" + +"It won't be bad. They are very good people. I think that I ought to +be allowed to go." + +"Have you no reliance on those who are your natural guardians?" + +"Uncle Reginald is my natural guardian," said Ayala, through her +tears. + +"Very well! If you refuse to be guided by me as though I were not +your aunt, and as you will pay no attention to what I tell you is +proper for you and best, the question must be left till your uncle +comes home. I cannot but be very much hurt that you should think so +little of me. I have always endeavoured to do the best I could for +you, just as though I were your mother." + +"I think that I ought to be allowed to go," repeated Ayala. + +As the first consequence of this, the replies to all the three +letters were delayed for the next day's post. Ayala had considered +much with what pretty words she might best answer Lady Albury's kind +note, and she had settled upon a form of words which she had felt to +be very pretty. Unless her uncle would support her, that would be of +no avail, and another form must be chosen. To Nina she would tell the +whole truth, either how full of joy she was,--or else how cruelly +used and how thoroughly broken-hearted. But she could not think +that her uncle would be unkind to her. Her uncle had been uniformly +gentle. Her uncle, when he should know how much her heart was set +upon it, would surely let her go. + +The poor girl, when she tacitly agreed that her uncle should be the +arbiter in the matter, thus pledging herself to abide by her uncle's +decision, let it be what it might, did not think what great advantage +her aunt would have over her in that discussion which would be held +upstairs while the master of the house was washing his hands before +dinner. Nor did she know of how much stronger will was her Aunt +Margaret than her Uncle Reginald. While he was washing his hands and +putting on his slippers, the matter was settled in a manner quite +destructive of poor Ayala's hopes. "I won't have it," said Mrs. +Dosett, in reply to the old argument that young people ought to have +some amusement. "If I am to be responsible for the girl I must be +allowed my own way with her. It is trouble enough, and very little +thanks I get for it. Of course she hates me. Nevertheless, I can +endeavour to do my duty, and I will. It is not thanks, nor love, nor +even gratitude, that I look for. I am bound to do the best I can by +her because she is your niece, and because she has no other real +friends. I knew what would come of it when she went to that house in +Brook Street. I was soft then and gave way. The girl has moped about +like a miserable creature ever since. If I am not to have my way +now I will have done with her altogether." Having heard this very +powerful speech, Uncle Reginald was obliged to give way, and it was +settled that after dinner he should convey to Ayala the decision to +which they had come. + +Ayala, as she sat at the dinner-table, was all expectation, but she +asked no question. She asked no question after dinner, while her +uncle slowly, solemnly, and sadly sipped his one beaker of cold +gin-and-water. He sipped it very slowly, no doubt because he was +anxious to postpone the evil moment in which he must communicate her +fate to his niece. But at last the melancholy glass was drained, and +then, according to the custom of the family, Mrs. Dosett led the way +up into the drawing-room, followed by Ayala and her husband. He, when +he was on the stairs, and when the eyes of his wife were not upon +him, tremulously put out his hand and laid it on Ayala's shoulder, +as though to embrace her. The poor girl knew well that mark of +affection. There would have been no need for such embracing had the +offered joys of Stalham been in store for her. The tears were already +in her eyes when she seated herself in the drawing-room, as far +removed as possible from the arm-chair which was occupied by her +aunt. + +Then her uncle pronounced his judgment in a vacillating voice,--with +a vacillation which was ineffectual of any good to Ayala. "Ayala," +he said, "your aunt and I have been talking over this invitation to +Stalham, and we are of opinion, my dear, that you had better not +accept it." + +"Why not, Uncle Reginald?" + +"There would be expense." + +"I can pay for my own ticket." + +"There would be many expenses, which I need not explain to you more +fully. The truth is, my dear, that poor people cannot afford to live +with rich people, and had better not attempt it." + +"I don't want to live with them." + +"Visiting them is living with them for a time. I am sorry, Ayala, +that we are not able to put you in a position in which you might +enjoy more of the pleasures incidental to your age; but you must take +the things as they are. Looking at the matter all round, I am sure +that your aunt is right in advising that you should stay at home." + +"It isn't advice at all," said Ayala. + +"Ayala!" exclaimed her aunt, in a tone of indignation. + +"It isn't advice," repeated Ayala. "Of course, if you won't let me +go, I can't." + +"You are a very wicked girl," said Mrs. Dosett, "to speak to your +uncle like that, after all that he has done for you." + +"Not wicked," said the uncle. + +"I say, wicked. But it doesn't matter. I shall at once write to +Lady Albury, as you desire, and of course there will be no further +question as to her going." Soon after that Mrs. Dosett sat down to +her desk, and wrote that letter to which the Marchesa had alluded in +hers to her nephew. No doubt it was stern and hard, and of a nature +to make such a woman as the Marchesa feel that Mrs. Dosett would not +be a pleasant companion for a girl like Ayala. But it was written +with a full conviction that duty required it; and the words, though +hard and stiff, had been chosen with the purpose of showing that the +doing of this disagreeable duty had been felt to be imperative. + +When the matter had been thus decided, Ayala soon retreated to her +own room. Her very soul was burning with indignation at the tyranny +to which she thought herself subjected. The use of that weak word, +advice, had angered her more than anything. It had not been advice. +It had not been given as advice. A command had been laid upon her, a +most cruel and unjust command, which she was forced to obey, because +she lacked the power of escaping from her condition of slavery. +Advice, indeed! Advice is a thing with which the advised one may or +may not comply, as that advised one may choose. A slave must obey an +order! Her own papa and her own mamma had always advised her, and the +advice had always been followed, even when read only in the glance of +an eye, in a smile, or a nod. Then she had known what it was to be +advised. Now she was ordered,--as slaves are ordered; and there was +no escape from her slavery! + +She, too, must write her letter, but there was no need now of that +pretty studied phrase, in which she had hoped to thank Lady Albury +fitly for her great kindness. She found, after a vain attempt or two, +that it was hopeless to endeavour to write to Lady Albury. The words +would not come to her pen. But she did write to Nina;-- + + + DEAR, DEAREST NINA, + + They won't let me go! Oh, my darling, I am so miserable! + Why should they not let me go, when people are so kind, so + very kind, as Lady Albury and your dear mamma? I feel as + though I should like to run from the house, and never come + back, even though I had to die in the streets. I was so + happy when I got your letter and Lady Albury's, and now I + am so wretched! I cannot write to Lady Albury. You must + just tell her, with many thanks from me, that they will + not let me go! + + Your unhappy but affectionate friend, + + AYALA. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +AYALA'S GRATITUDE. + + +There was much pity felt for Ayala among the folk at Stalham. The +sympathies of them all should have been with Mrs. Dosett. They ought +to have felt that the poor aunt was simply performing an unpleasant +duty, and that the girl was impracticable if not disobedient. But +Ayala was known to be very pretty, and Mrs. Dosett was supposed to +be plain. Ayala was interesting, while Mrs. Dosett, from the nature +of her circumstances, was most uninteresting. It was agreed on all +sides, at Stalham, that so pretty a bird as Ayala should not be +imprisoned for ever in so ugly a cage. Such a bird ought, at least, +to be allowed its chance of captivating some fitting mate by its +song and its plumage. That was Lady Albury's argument,--a woman very +good-natured, a little given to match-making, a great friend to +pretty girls,--and whose eldest son was as yet only nine, so that +there could be no danger to herself or her own flock. There was much +ridicule thrown on Mrs. Dosett at Stalham, and many pretty things +said of the bird who was so unworthily imprisoned in Kingsbury +Crescent. At last there was something like a conspiracy, the purport +of which was to get the bird out of its cage in November. + +In this conspiracy it can hardly be said that the Marchesa took an +active part. Much as she liked Ayala, she was less prone than Lady +Albury to think that the girl was ill-used. She was more keenly +alive than her cousin,--or rather her cousin's wife,--to the hard +necessities of the world. Ayala must be said to have made her own +bed. At any rate there was the bed and she must lie on it. It was not +the Dosetts' fault that they were poor. According to their means they +were doing the best they could for their niece, and were entitled to +praise rather than abuse. And then the Marchesa was afraid for her +nephew. Colonel Stubbs, in his letter to her, had declared that he +quite agreed with her views as to matrimony; but she was quite alive +to her nephew's sarcasm. Her nephew, though he might in truth agree +with her, nevertheless was sarcastic. Though he was sarcastic, still +he might be made to accede to her views, because he did, in truth, +agree with her. She was eminently an intelligent woman, seeing far +into character, and she knew pretty well the real condition of her +nephew's mind, and could foresee his conduct. He would marry before +long, and might not improbably marry a girl with some money if one +could be made to come in his way, who would at the same time suit +his somewhat fastidious taste. But Ayala suited his taste, Ayala who +had not a shilling, and the Marchesa thought it only too likely that +if Ayala were released from her cage, and brought to Albury, Ayala +might become Mrs. Jonathan Stubbs. That Ayala should refuse to become +Mrs. Jonathan Stubbs did not present itself as a possibility to the +Marchesa. + +So the matters were when the Marchesa and Nina returned from Stalham +to London, a promise having been given that Nina should go back to +Stalham in November, and be allowed to see the glories of a hunt. She +was not to ride to hounds. That was a matter of course, but she was +to be permitted to see what a pack of hounds was like, and of what +like were the men in their scarlet coats, and how the huntsman's horn +would sound when it should be heard among the woods and fields. It +was already decided that the Colonel should be there to meet her, and +the conspiracy was formed with the object of getting Ayala out of her +cage at the same time. Stalham was a handsome country seat, in the +county of Rufford, and Sir Harry Albury had lately taken upon himself +the duties of Master of the Rufford and Ufford United Pack. Colonel +Stubbs was to be there with his horses in November, but had, in the +meantime, been seen by Lady Albury, and had been instigated to do +something for the release of Ayala. But what could he do? It was +at first suggested that he should call at Kingsbury Crescent, and +endeavour to mollify the stony heart of Aunt Dosett. But, as he had +said himself, he would be the worst person in the world to perform +such an embassy. "I am not an Adonis, I know," he said, "nor do I +look like a Lothario, but still I am in some sort a young man, and +therefore certain to be regarded as pernicious, as dangerous and +damnable, by such a dragon of virtue as Aunt Dosett. I don't see how +I could expect to have a chance." This interview took place in London +during the latter end of October, and it was at last decided that the +mission should be made by Lady Albury herself, and made, not to Mrs. +Dosett, at Kingsbury Crescent, but to Mr. Dosett at his office in +Somerset House. "I don't think I could stand Mrs. D.," said Lady +Albury. + +Lady Albury was a handsome fashionable woman, rather tall, always +excellently dressed, and possessed of a personal assurance which +nothing could daunt. She had the reputation of an affectionate +wife and a good mother, but was nevertheless declared by some +of her friends to be "a little fast." She certainly was fond of +comedy,--those who did not like her were apt to say that her comedy +was only fun,--and was much disposed to have her own way when she +could get it. She was now bent upon liberating Ayala from her cage, +and for this purpose had herself driven into the huge court belonging +to Somerset House. + +Mr. Dosett was dignified at his office with the use of a room to +himself, a small room looking out upon the river, in which he spent +six hours on six days of the week in arranging the indexes of +a voluminous library of manuscript letter-books. It was rarely +indeed that he was disturbed by the presence of any visitor. When, +therefore, his door was opened by one of the messengers, and he was +informed that Lady Albury desired to see him, he was for the moment +a good deal disturbed. No option, however, was given to him as to +refusing admission to Lady Albury. She was in the room before the +messenger had completed his announcement, and had seated herself in +one of the two spare chairs which the room afforded as soon as the +door was closed. "Mr. Dosett," she said, "I have taken the great +liberty of calling to say a few words about your niece, Miss Ayala +Dormer." + +When the lady was first announced, Mr. Dosett, in his confusion, had +failed to connect the name which he had heard with that of the lady +who had invited Ayala to her house. But now he recognised it, and +knew who it was that had come to him. "You were kind enough," he +said, "to invite my little girl to your house some weeks ago." + +"And now I have come to invite her again." + +Mr. Dosett was now more disturbed than ever. With what words was he +to refuse the request which this kind but very grand lady was about +to make? How could he explain to her all those details as to his own +poverty, and as to Ayala's fate in having to share that poverty with +him? How could he explain the unfitness of Ayala's temporary sojourn +with people so wealthy and luxurious? And yet were he to yield in the +least how could he face his wife on his return home to the Crescent? +"You are very kind, Lady Albury," he said. + +"We particularly wish to have her about the end of the first week in +November," said the lady. "Her friend Nina Baldoni will be there, and +one or two others whom she knows. We shall try to be a little gay for +a week or two." + +"I have no doubt it would be gay, and we at home are very dull." + +"Do you not think a little gaiety good for young people?" said her +ladyship, using the very argument which poor Mr. Dosett had so often +attempted to employ on Ayala's behalf. + +"Yes; a little gaiety," he said, as though deprecating the excessive +amount of hilarity which he imagined to prevail at Stalham. + +"Of course you do," said Lady Albury. "Poor little girl! I have heard +so much about her, and of all your goodness to her. Mrs. Dosett I +know is another mother to her; but still a little country air could +not but be beneficial. Do say that she shall come to us, Mr. Dosett." + +Then Mr. Dosett felt that, disagreeable as it was, he must preach the +sermon which his wife had preached to him, and he did preach it. He +spoke timidly of his own poverty, and the need which there was that +Ayala should share it. He spoke a word of the danger which might come +from luxury, and of the discontent which would be felt when the girl +returned to her own home. Something he added of the propriety of like +living with like, and ended by praying that Ayala might be excused. +The words came from him with none of that energy which his wife could +have used,--were uttered in a low melancholy drone; but still they +were words hard to answer, and called upon Lady Albury for all her +ingenuity in finding an argument against them. + +But Lady Albury was strong-minded, and did find an argument. "You +musn't be angry with me," she said, "if I don't quite agree with you. +Of course you wish to do the best you can for this dear child." + +"Indeed I do, Lady Albury." + +"How is anything then to be done for her if she remains shut up in +your house? You do not, if I understand, see much company +yourselves." + +"None at all." + +"You won't be angry with me for my impertinence in alluding to it." + +"Not in the least. It is the fact that we live altogether to +ourselves." + +"And the happiest kind of life too for married people," said Lady +Albury, who was accustomed to fill her house in the country with a +constant succession of visitors, and to have engagements for every +night of the week in town. "But for young people it is not quite so +good. How is a young lady to get herself settled in life?" + +"Settled?" asked Mr. Dosett, vaguely. + +"Married," suggested Lady Albury, more plainly. Mr. Dosett shook his +head. No idea on the subject had ever flashed across his mind. To +provide bread and meat, a bed and clothes, for his sister's child +he had felt to be a duty,--but not a husband. Husbands came, or did +not,--as the heavens might be propitious. That Ayala should go to +Stalham for the sake of finding a husband was certainly beyond the +extent of his providing care. "In fact how is a girl to have a chance +at all unless she is allowed to see some one? Of course I don't say +this with reference to our house. There will be no young men there, +or anything of that kind. But, taking a broad view, unless you let a +girl like that have what chances come in her way how is she to get +on? I think you have hardly a right to do it." + +"We have done it for the best." + +"I am sure of that, Mr. Dosett. And I hope you will tell Mrs. Dosett, +with my compliments, how thoroughly I appreciate her goodness. I +should have called upon her instead of coming here, only that I +cannot very well get into that part of the town." + +"I will tell her what you are good enough to say." + +"Poor Ayala! I am afraid that her other aunt, Aunt Tringle, was not +as good to her as your wife. I have heard about how all that occurred +in Rome. She was very much admired there. I am told that she is +perfectly lovely." + +"Pretty well." + +"A sort of beauty that we hardly ever see now,--and very, very +clever." + +"Ayala is clever, I think." + +"She ought to have her chance. She ought indeed. I don't think you +quite do your duty by such a girl as that unless you let her have a +chance. She is sure to get to know people, and to be asked from one +house to another. I speak plainly, for I really think you ought to +let her come." + +All this sank deeply into the heart of Uncle Reginald. Whether it was +for good or evil it seemed to him at the moment to be unanswerable. +If there was a chance of any good thing for Ayala, surely it could +not be his duty to bar her from that chance. A whole vista of new +views in reference to the treatment of young ladies was opened to him +by the words of his visitor. Ayala certainly was pretty. Certainly +she was clever. A husband with an income would certainly be a good +thing. Embryo husbands with incomes do occasionally fall in love with +pretty girls. But how can any pretty girl be fallen in love with +unless some one be permitted to see her? At Kingsbury Crescent there +was not a man to be seen from one end of the year to another. It +occurred to him now, for the first time, that Ayala by her present +life was shut out from any chance of marriage. It was manifestly true +that he had no right to seclude her in that fashion. At last he made +a promise, rashly, as he felt at the very moment of making it, that +he would ask his wife to allow Ayala to go to Stalham. Lady Albury of +course accepted this as an undertaking that Ayala should come, and +went away triumphant. + +Mr. Dosett walked home across the parks with a troubled mind, +thinking much of all that had passed between him and the lady of +fashion. It was with great difficulty that he could quite make up his +mind which was right,--the lady of fashion or his wife. If Ayala was +to live always as they lived at Kingsbury Crescent, if it should in +process of time be her fate to marry some man in the same class as +themselves, if continued care as to small pecuniary needs was to be +her future lot, then certainly her comfort would only be disturbed by +such a visit as that now proposed. And was it not probable that such +would be the destiny in store for her? Mr. Dosett knew the world +well enough to be aware that all pretty girls such as Ayala cannot +find rich husbands merely by exhibiting their prettiness. Kingsbury +Crescent, unalloyed by the dangers of Stalham, would certainly be the +most secure. But then he had been told that Ayala now had special +chances offered to her, and that he had no right to rob her of those +chances. He felt this the more strongly, because she was not his +daughter,--only his niece. With a daughter he and his wife might have +used their own judgment without check. But now he had been told that +he had no right to rob Ayala of her chances, and he felt that he had +not the right. By the time that he reached Kingsbury Crescent he had, +with many misgivings, decided in favour of Stalham. + +It was now some weeks since the first invitation had been refused, +and during those weeks life had not been pleasant at the Crescent. +Ayala moped and pined as though some great misfortune had fallen upon +her. When she had first come to the Crescent she had borne herself +bravely, as a man bears a trouble when he is conscious that he has +brought it on himself by his own act, and is proud of the act which +has done it. But when that excitement has gone, and the trouble still +remains, the pride wears off, and the man is simply alive to his +suffering. So it had been with Ayala. Then had come the visit to +Brook Street. When, soon after that, she was invited to Stalham, it +seemed as though a new world was being opened to her. There came a +moment when she could again rejoice that she had quarrelled with her +Aunt Emmeline. This new world would be a much better world than the +Tringle world. Then had come the great blow, and it had seemed to her +as though there was nothing but Kingsbury Crescent before her for the +rest of her wretched life. + +There was not a detail of all this hidden from the eyes of Aunt +Margaret. Stalham had decided that Aunt Margaret was ugly and +uninteresting. Stalham, according to its own views, was right. +Nevertheless the lady in Kingsbury Crescent had both eyes to see and +a heart to feel. She was hot of temper, but she was forgiving. She +liked her own way, but she was affectionate. She considered it right +to teach her niece the unsavoury mysteries of economy, but she was +aware that such mysteries must be distasteful to one brought up as +Ayala. Even when she had been loudest in denouncing Ayala's mutiny, +her heart had melted in ruth because Ayala had been so unhappy. +She, too, had questioned herself again and again as to the justness +of her decision. Was she entitled to rob Ayala of her chances? In +her frequent discussions with her husband she still persisted in +declaring that Kingsbury Crescent was safe, and that Stalham would be +dangerous. But, nevertheless, in her own bosom she had misgivings. As +she saw the poor girl mope and weary through one day after another, +she could not but have misgivings. + +"I have had that Lady Albury with me at the office to-day, and have +almost promised that Ayala shall go to her on the 8th of November." +It was thus that Mr. Dosett rushed at once into his difficulty as +soon as he found himself up-stairs with his wife. + +"You have?" + +"Well, my dear, I almost did. She said a great deal, and I could not +but agree with much of it. Ayala ought to have her chances." + +"What chances?" demanded Mrs. Dosett, who did not at all like the +expression. + +"Well; seeing people. She never sees anybody here." + +"Nobody is better than some people," said Mrs. Dosett, meaning to be +severe on Lady Albury's probable guests. + +"But if a girl sees nobody," said Mr. Dosett, "she can have +no,--no,--no chances." + +"She has the chance of wholesome victuals," said Mrs. Dosett, "and I +don't know what other chances you or I can give her." + +"She might see--a young man." This Mr. Dosett said very timidly. + +"A young fiddlestick! A young man! Young men should be waited for +till they come naturally, and never thought about if they don't come +at all. I hate this looking after young men. If there wasn't a young +man for the next dozen years we should do better,--so as just to +get out of the way of thinking about them for a time." This was Mrs. +Dosett's philosophy; but in spite of her philosophy she did yield, +and on that night it was decided that Ayala after all was to be +allowed to go to Stalham. + + + * * * * * * + + +To Mr. Dosett was deputed the agreeable task of telling Ayala on the +next evening what was to befall her. If anything agreeable was to be +done in that sombre house it was always deputed to the master. + +"What!" said Ayala, jumping from her chair. + +"On the eighth of November," said Mr. Dosett. + +"To Stalham?" + +"Lady Albury was with me yesterday at the office, and your aunt has +consented." + +"Oh, Uncle Reginald!" said Ayala, falling on her knees, and hiding +her face on his lap. Heaven had been once more opened to her. + +"I'll never forget it," said Ayala, when she went to thank her +aunt,--"never." + +"I only hope it may not do you a mischief." + +"And I beg your pardon, Aunt Margaret, because I was,--I +was,--because I was--" She could not find the word which would +express her own delinquency, without admitting more than she intended +to admit,--"too self-asserting, considering that I am only a young +girl." That would have been her meaning could she have found +appropriate words. + +"We need not go back to that now," said Aunt Margaret. + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + * * * * * * + + + +AYALA'S ANGEL + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE, + +Author of "Doctor Thorne," "The Prime Minister," "Orley Farm," +&c., &c. + +In Three Volumes. + +VOL. II. + + + + + + + +London: +Chapman and Hall (Limited), +11, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. +1881. +[All Rights Reserved.] + +Westminster: +J. B. Nichols and Sons, Printers. +25, Parliament Street. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. II. + + XXIII. STALHAM PARK. + XXIV. RUFFORD CROSS-ROADS. + XXV. "YOU ARE NOT HE." + XXVI. "THE FINEST HERO THAT I EVER KNEW." + XXVII. LADY ALBURY'S LETTER. + XXVIII. MISS DOCIMER. + XXIX. AT MERLE PARK. NO. 1. + XXX. AT MERLE PARK. NO. 2. + XXXI. THE DIAMOND NECKLACE. + XXXII. TOM'S DESPAIR. + XXXIII. ISADORE HAMEL IN LOMBARD STREET. + XXXIV. "I NEVER THREATENED TO TURN YOU OUT." + XXXV. TOM TRINGLE SENDS A CHALLENGE. + XXXVI. TOM TRINGLE GETS AN ANSWER. + XXXVII. GERTRUDE IS UNSUCCESSFUL. + XXXVIII. FRANK HOUSTON IS PENITENT. + XXXIX. CAPTAIN BATSBY. + XL. AUNT EMMELINE'S NEW PROPOSITION. + XLI. "A COLD PROSPECT!" + XLII. ANOTHER DUEL. + XLIII. ONCE MORE! + + + + +AYALA'S ANGEL. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +STALHAM PARK. + + +On the day fixed Ayala went down to Stalham. A few days before she +started there came to her a letter, or rather an envelope, from her +uncle Sir Thomas, enclosing a cheque for £20. The Tringle women had +heard that Ayala had been asked to Stalham, and had mentioned the +visit disparagingly before Sir Thomas. "I think it very wrong of my +poor brother," said Lady Tringle. "She can't have a shilling even to +get herself gloves." This had an effect which had not been intended, +and Sir Thomas sent the cheque for £20. Then Ayala felt not only that +the heavens were opened to her but that the sweetest zephyrs were +blowing her on upon her course. Thoughts as to gloves had disturbed +her, and as to some shoes which were wanting, and especially as to +a pretty hat for winter wear. Now she could get hat and shoes and +gloves, and pay her fare, and go down to Stalham with money in her +pocket. Before going she wrote a very pretty note to her Uncle Tom. + +On her arrival she was made much of by everyone. Lady Albury called +her the caged bird, and congratulated her on her escape from the +bars. Sir Harry asked her whether she could ride to hounds. Nina +gave her a thousand kisses. But perhaps her greatest delight was +in finding that Jonathan Stubbs was at Albury. She had become so +intimate with the Colonel that she regarded him quite like an old +friend; and when a girl has a male friend, though he may be much less +loved, or not loved at all, he is always more pleasant, or at any +rate more piquant, than a female friend. As for love with Colonel +Stubbs that was quite out of the question. She was sure that he would +never fall in love with herself. His manner to her was altogether +unlike that of a lover. A lover would be smooth, soft, poetic, +and flattering. He was always a little rough to her,--sometimes +almost scolding her. But then he scolded her as she liked to be +scolded,--with a dash of fun and a greatly predominating admixture +of good-nature. He was like a bear,--but a bear who would always +behave himself pleasantly. She was delighted when Colonel Stubbs +congratulated her on her escape from Kingsbury Crescent, and felt +that he was justified by his intimacy when he called Mrs. Dosett a +mollified she-Cerberus. + +"Are you going to make one of my team?" said the Colonel to her on +the morning after her arrival. It was a non-hunting morning, and the +gentlemen were vacant about the house till they went out for a little +shooting later on in the day. + +"What team?" said Ayala, feeling that she had suddenly received a +check to her happiness. She knew that the Colonel was alluding to +those hunting joys which were to be prepared for Nina, and which were +far beyond her own reach. That question of riding gear is terrible to +young ladies who are not properly supplied. Even had time admitted +she would not have dared to use her uncle's money for such a purpose, +in the hope that a horse might be lent to her. She had told herself +that it was out of the question, and had declared to herself that she +was too thankful for her visit to allow any regret on such a matter +to cross her mind. But when the Colonel spoke of his team there was +something of a pang. How she would have liked to be one of such a +team! + +"My pony team. I mean to drive too. You mustn't think that I am +taking a liberty when I say that they are to be called Nina and +Ayala." + +There was no liberty at all. Had he called her simply Ayala she would +have felt it to be no more than pleasant friendship, coming from him. +He was so big, and so red, and so ugly, and so friendly! Why should +he not call her Ayala? But as to that team,--it could not be. "If +it's riding," she said demurely, "I can't be one of the ponies." + +"It is riding,--of course. Now the Marchesa is not here, we mean to +call it hunting in a mild way." + +"I can't," she said. + +"But you've got to do it, Miss Dormer." + +"I haven't got anything to do it with. Of course, I don't mind +telling you." + +"You are to ride the sweetest little horse that ever was +foaled,--just bigger than a pony. It belongs to Sir Harry's sister +who is away, and we've settled it all. There never was a safer little +beast, and he can climb through a fence without letting you know that +it's there." + +"But I mean--clothes," said Ayala. Then she whispered, "I haven't got +a habit, or anything else anybody ought to have." + +"Ah," said the Colonel; "I don't know anything about that. I should +say that Nina must have managed that. The horse department was left +to me, and I have done my part. You will find that you will have to +go out next Tuesday and Friday. The hounds will be here on Tuesday, +and they will be at Rufford on Friday. Rufford is only nine miles +from here, and it's all settled." + +Before the day was over the difficulty had vanished. Miss Albury's +horse was not only called into requisition but Miss Albury's habit +also. Ayala had a little black hat of her own, which Lady Albury +assured her would do excellently well for the hunting field. There +was some fitting and some trying on, and perhaps a few moments of +preliminary despair; but on the Tuesday morning she rode away from +the hall door at eleven o'clock mounted on Sprite, as the little +horse was called, and felt herself from head to foot to be one of +Colonel Stubbs's team. When at Glenbogie she had ridden a little, and +again in Italy, and, being fearless by nature, had no trepidation to +impair the fulness of her delight. + +Hunting from home coverts rarely exacts much jumping from ladies. +The woods are big, and the gates are numerous. It is when the +far-away homes of wild foxes are drawn,--those secluded brakes +and gorses where the nobler animal is wont to live at a distance +from carriage-roads and other weak refuges of civilization,--that +the riding capacities of ladies must be equal to those of their +husbands and brothers. This present moment was an occasion for great +delight,--at least, so it was found by both Nina and Ayala. But it +was not an opportunity for great glory. Till it was time for lunch +one fox after another ran about the big woods of Albury in a fashion +that seemed perfect to the two girls, but which nearly broke the +heart of old Tony, who was still huntsman to the Ufford and Rufford +United Hunt. "Darm their nasty ways," said Tony to Mr. Larry +Twentyman, who was one of the popular habitues of the hunt; "they +runs one a top of anothers brushes, till there ain't a 'ound living +knows t'other from which. There's always a many on 'em at Albury, +but I never knew an Albury fox worth his grub yet." But there was +galloping along roads and through gates, and long strings of horsemen +followed each other up and down the rides, and an easy coming back to +the places from which they started, which made the girls think that +the whole thing was divine. Once or twice there was a little bank, +and once or twice a little ditch,--just sufficient to make Ayala feel +that no possible fence would be a difficulty to Sprite. She soon +learnt that mode of governing her body which leaping requires, and +when she was brought into lunch at about two she was sure that she +could do anything which the art of hunting required. But at lunch an +edict went forth as to the two girls, against further hunting for +that day. Nina strove to rebel, and Ayala attempted to be eloquent +by a supplicating glance at the Colonel. But they were told that as +the horses would be wanted again on Friday they had done enough. In +truth, Tony had already trotted off with the hounds to Pringle's +Gorse, a distance of five miles, and the gentlemen who had lingered +over their lunch had to follow him at their best pace. "Pringle's +Gorse is not just the place for young ladies," Sir Harry said, and so +the matter had been decided against Nina and Ayala. + +At about six Sir Harry, Colonel Stubbs, and the other gentlemen +returned, declaring that nothing quicker than their run from +Pringle's Gorse had ever been known in that country. "About six miles +straight on end in forty minutes," said the Colonel, "and then a kill +in the open." + +"He was laid up under a bank," said young Gosling. + +"He was so beat he couldn't carry on a field farther," said Captain +Batsby, who was staying in the house. + +"I call that the open," said Stubbs. + +"I always think I kill a fox in the open," said Sir Harry, "when the +hounds run into him, because he cannot run another yard with the +country there before him." Then there was a long discussion, as they +stood drinking tea before the fire, as to what "the open" meant, from +which they went to other hunting matters. To all this Ayala listened +with attentive ears, and was aware that she had spent a great day. +Oh, what a difference was there between Stalham and Kingsbury +Crescent! + +The next two days were almost equally full of delight. She was taken +into the stables to see her horse, and as she patted his glossy coat +she felt that she loved Sprite with all her heart. Oh, what a world +of joy was this;--how infinitely superior even to Queen's Gate and +Glenbogie! The gaudy magnificence of the Tringles had been altogether +unlike the luxurious comfort of Stalham, where everybody was at his +ease, where everybody was good-natured, where everybody seemed to +acknowledge that pleasure was the one object of life! On the evening +before the Friday she was taken out to dinner by Captain Batsby. +She was not sure that she liked Captain Batsby, who made little +complimentary speeches to her. But her neighbour on the other side +was Colonel Stubbs, and she was quite sure that she liked Colonel +Stubbs. + +"I know you'll go like a bird to-morrow," said Captain Batsby. + +"I shouldn't like that, because there would be no jumping," said +Ayala. + +"But you'd be such a beautiful bird." The Captain, as he drawled out +his words, made an eye at her, and she was sure that she did not like +the Captain. + +"At what time are we to start to-morrow?" she said, turning to the +Colonel. + +"Ten, sharp. Mind you're ready. Sir Harry takes us on the drag, and +wouldn't wait for Venus, though she wanted five minutes more for her +back hair." + +"I don't suppose she ever wants any time for her back hair. I +wouldn't if I were a goddess." + +"Then you'd be a very untidy goddess, that's all. I wonder whether +you are untidy." + +"Well;--yes;--sometimes." + +"I hate untidy girls." + +"Thank you, Colonel Stubbs." + +"What I like is a nice prim little woman, who never had a pin in the +wrong place in her life. Her cuffs and collars are always as stiff +as steel, and she never rubs the sleeves of her dresses by leaning +about, like some young ladies." + +"That's what I do." + +"My young woman never sits down lest she should crease her dress. My +young woman never lets her ribbons get tangled. My young woman can +dress upon £40 a-year, and always look as though she came out of a +band-box." + +"I don't believe you've got a young woman, Colonel Stubbs." + +"Well; no; I haven't,--except in my imagination." + +If so, he too must have his Angel of Light! "Do you ever dream about +her?" + +"Oh dear, yes. I dream that she does scold so awfully when I have her +to myself. In my dreams, you know, I'm married to her, and she always +wants me to eat hashed mutton. Now, if there is one thing that makes +me more sick than another it is hashed mutton. Of course I shall +marry her in some of my waking moments, and then I shall have to eat +hashed mutton for ever." + +Then Captain Batsby put in another word. "I should so like to be +allowed to give you a lead to-morrow." + +"Oh, thank you,--but I'd rather not have it," said Ayala, who was +altogether in the dark, thinking that "a lead" might be some present +which she would not wish to accept from Captain Batsby. + +"I mean that I should like to show you a line if we get a run." + +"What is a line?" asked Ayala. + +"A line? Why a line is just a lead;--keep your eye on me and I'll +take the fences where you can follow without coming to grief." + +"Oh," said Ayala, "that's a lead is it? Colonel Stubbs is going to +give my friend and me a lead, as long as we stay here." + +"No man ever ought to coach more than one lady at once," said the +Captain, showing his erudition. "You're sure to come on top of one +another if there are two." + +"But Colonel Stubbs is especially told by the Marchesa to look after +both of us," said Ayala almost angrily. Then she turned her shoulder +to him, and was soon intent upon further instructions from the +Colonel. + +The following morning was fine, and all the ladies in the house were +packed on to the top of Sir Harry's drag. The Colonel sat behind Sir +Harry on the plea that he was wanted to take care of the two girls. +Captain Batsby and three other gentlemen were put inside, where they +consoled themselves with unlimited tobacco. In this way they were +driven to a spot called Rufford Cross Roads, where they found Tony +Tappett sitting perfectly quiescent on his old mare, while the hounds +were seated around him on the grassy sides of the roads. With him was +talking a stout, almost middle-aged gentleman, in a scarlet coat, and +natty pink-top boots, who was the owner of all the country around. +This was Lord Rufford, who a few years since was known as one of the +hardest riders in those parts; but he had degenerated into matrimony, +was now the happy father of half-a-dozen babies, and was hardly ever +seen to jump over a fence. But he still came out when the meets +were not too distant, and carefully performed that first duty of an +English country gentleman,--the preservation of foxes. Though he did +not ride much, no one liked a little hunting gossip better than Lord +Rufford. It was, however, observed that even in regard to hunting he +was apt to quote the authority of his wife. + +"Oh, yes, my Lord," said Tony, "there'll sure to be a fox at +Dillsborough. But we'll find one afore we get to Rufford, my Lord." + +"Lady Rufford says there hasn't been a fox seen in the home woods +this week." + +"Her ladyship will be sure to know," said Tony. + +"Do you remember that fence where poor Major Caneback got his fall +six years ago?" asked the Lord. + +"Seven years next Christmas, my Lord," said Tony. "He never put a leg +across a saddle again, poor fellow! I remember him well, my Lord; a +man who could 'andle a 'orse wonderful, though he didn't know 'ow to +ride to 'ounds; not according to my idea. To get your animal to carry +you through, never mind 'ow long the thing is; that's my idea of +riding to 'ounds, my Lord. The major was for always making a 'orse +jump over everything. I never wants 'em to jump over nothing I can't +help;--I don't, my Lord." + +"That's just what her ladyship is always saying to me," said Lord +Rufford, "and I do pretty much what her ladyship tells me." + +On this occasion Lady Rufford had been quite right about the home +covers. No doubt she generally was right in any assertion she made as +to her husband's affairs. After drawing them Tony trotted on towards +Dillsborough, running his hounds through a few little springs, which +lay near his way. As they went Colonel Stubbs rode between the two +girls. "Whenever I see Rufford," said the Colonel, "he does me a +world of good." + +"What good can a fat man like that do to you?" said Nina. + +"He is a continual sermon against marriage. If I could see Rufford +once a week I know that I should be safe." + +"He seems to me to be a very comfortable old gentleman," said Ayala. + +"Old! Seven years ago he was acknowledged to be the one undisputed +paragon of a young man in this county. No one else dreamed of looking +at a young lady if he chose to turn his eyes in that direction. He +was handsome as Apollo--" + +"He an Apollo!" said Nina. + +"The best Apollo there then was in these parts, and every one knew +that he had forty thousand a-year to spend. Now he is supposed to be +the best hand in the house at rocking the cradle." + +"Do you mean to say that he nurses the babies?" asked Ayala. + +"He looks as if he did at any rate. He never goes ten miles away +from his door without having Lady Rufford with him, and is always +tucked up at night just at half-past ten by her ladyship's own maid. +Ten years ago he would generally have been found at midnight with +cards in his hand and a cigar in his mouth. Now he is allowed two +cigarettes a-day. Well, Mr. Twentyman, how are you getting on?" This +he said to a good looking better sort of farmer, who came up, riding +a remarkably strong horse, and dressed in pink and white cords. + +"Thank ye, Colonel, pretty well, considering how hard the times are. +A man who owns a few acres and tries to farm them must be on the road +to ruin now-a-days. That's what I'm always telling my wife, so that +she may know what she has got to expect." Mr. Twentyman had been +married just twelve months. + +"She isn't much frightened, I daresay," said the Colonel. + +"She's young, you see," continued the farmer, "and hasn't settled +herself down yet to the sorrows of life." This was that Mr. Lawrence +Twentyman who married Kate Masters, the youngest daughter of old +Masters, the attorney at Dillsborough, and sister of Mrs. Morton, +wife of the squire of Bragton. "By the holy," said Twentyman, +suddenly, "the hounds have put a fox out of that little spinney." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +RUFFORD CROSS-ROADS. + + +Ayala, who had been listening attentively to the conversation of Mr. +Twentyman, and been feeling that she was being initiated every moment +into a new phase of life,--who had been endeavouring to make some +connection in her mind between the new charms of the world around +her and that world of her dreams that was ever present to her, and +had as yet simply determined that neither could Lord Rufford or Mr. +Twentyman have ever been an Angel of Light,--at once straightened +herself in her saddle, and prepared herself for the doing of +something memorable. It was evident to her that Mr. Twentyman +considered that the moment for action had come. He did not gallop +off wildly, as did four or five others, but stood still for a moment +looking intently at a few hounds who, with their tails feathering +in the air and with their noses down, seemed at the same time to be +irresolute and determined, knowing that the scent was there but not +yet quite fixed as to its line. "Half a moment, Colonel," he said, +standing up in his stirrups, with his left hand raised, while his +right held his reins and his whip close down on his horse's neck. +"Half a moment!" He only whispered, and then shook his head angrily, +as he heard the ill-timed shouting of one or two men who had already +reached the other side of the little skirting of trees. "I wish Fred +Botsey's tongue were tied to his teeth," he said, still whispering. +"Now, Colonel, they have it. There's a little lane to the right, and +a gate. After that the country's open, and there's nothing which the +ladies' nags can't do. I know the country so well, you'd perhaps +better come with me for a bit." + +"He knows all about it," said the Colonel to Ayala. "Do as he tells +you." + +Ayala and Nina both were quick enough to obey. Twentyman dashed +along the lane, while the girls followed him with the Colonel after +them. When they were at the hunting-gate already spoken of, old Tony +Tappett was with them, trotting, impatient to get to the hounds, +courteously giving place to the ladies,--whom, however, in his heart, +he wished at home in bed,--and then thrusting himself through the +gate in front of the Colonel. "D---- their pig-headed folly," he +said, as he came up to his friend Twentyman--"they knows no more +about it than if they'd just come from be'ind a counter,--'olloaing, +'olloaing, 'olloaing,--as if 'olloaing'd make a fox break! 'Owsomever +'e's off now, and they've got Cranbury Brook between them and his +line!" This he said in a squeaking little voice, intended to be +jocose and satirical, shaking his head as he rode. This last idea +seemed to give him great consolation. + +It was the consideration, deep and well-founded, as to the Cranbury +which had induced Larry Twentyman to pause on the road when he had +paused, and then to make for the lane and the gate. The direction had +hardly seemed to be that of the hounds, but Larry knew the spinney, +knew the brook,--knew the fox, perhaps,--and was aware of the spot at +which the brute would cross the water if he did cross it. The brute +did cross the water, and therefore there was Cranbury Brook between +many of the forward riders and his line. + +Sir Harry was then with them, and two or three other farmers. But +Larry had a lead, and the two girls were with him. Tony Tappett, +though he had got up to his hounds, did not endeavour to ride +straight to them as did Larry Twentyman. He was old and unambitious, +very anxious to know where his hounds were, so that he might be +with them should they want the assistance of his voice and counsel, +anxious to be near enough to take their fox from them should they run +into him, but taking no glory in jumping over a fence if he could +avoid it, creeping about here and there, knowing from experience +nearly every turn in the animal's mind, aware of every impediment +which would delay him, riding fast only when the impediments were far +between, taking no amusement to himself out of the riding, but with +his heart cruelly, bloodily, ruthlessly set upon killing the animal +before him. To kill his fox he would imperil his neck, but for the +glory of riding he would not soil his boots if he could help it. +After the girls came the Colonel, somewhat shorn of his honour in +that he was no longer giving them a lead, but doing his best to +maintain the pace, which Twentyman was making very good. "Now, young +ladies," said Twentyman, "give them their heads, and let them do it +just as they please,--alongside of each other, and not too near to +me." It was a brook,--a confluent of Cranbury Brook, and was wide +enough to require a good deal of jumping. It may be supposed that the +two young ladies did not understand much of the instructions given to +them. To hold their breath and be brave was the only idea present to +them. The rest must come from instinct and chance. The other side +of the brook was heaven;--this would be purgatory. Larry, fearing +perhaps that the order as to their not being too near might not be +obeyed, added a little to his own pace so as to be clear of them. +Nevertheless they were only a few strides behind, and had Larry's +horse missed his footing there would have been a mess. As it was they +took the brook side by side close to each other, and landed full of +delight and glory on the opposite bank. "Bravo! young ladies," +shouted Twentyman. + +"Oh, Nina, that is divine," said Ayala. Nina was a little too much +out of breath for answering, but simply threw up her eyes to Heaven +and made a flourish with her whip, intended to be expressive of her +perfect joy. + +Away went Larry and away went the girls with him, quite unconscious +that the Colonel's horse had balked the brook and then jumped +into it,--quite unconscious that Sir Harry, seeing the Colonel's +catastrophe, had followed Tony a quarter of a mile up the brook to +a ford. Even in the soft bosoms of young ladies "the devil take the +hindmost" will be the motto most appropriate for hunting. Larry +Twentyman, of whom they had never heard before, was now the god of +their idolatry. Where Larry Twentyman might go it was manifestly +their duty to follow, even though they should never see the poor +Colonel again. They recked nothing of the fox or of the hounds or of +the master or even of the huntsman. They had a man before them to +show them the way, and as long as they could keep him in sight each +was determined to be at any rate as good as the other. To give Larry +his due it must be acknowledged that he was thoroughly thoughtful of +them. At every fence encountered he studied the spot at which they +would be least likely to fall. He had to remember, also, that there +were two of them together, and that he had made himself in a way +responsible for the safety of both. All this he did, and did well, +because he knew his business. With the exception of the water-jump, +the country over which they passed was not difficult. For a time +there was a run of gates, each of which their guide was able to open +for them, and as they came near to Dillsborough Wood there were gaps +in most of the fences; but it seemed to the girls that they had +galloped over monstrous hedges and leapt over walls which it would +almost take a strong man to climb. The brook, however,--the river as +it seemed to them,--had been the crowning glory. Ayala was sure that +that brook would never be forgotten by her. Even the Angel of Light +was hardly more heavenly than the brook. + +That the fox was running for Dillsborough Wood was a fact well known +both to Tony Tappett and Mr. Larry Twentyman. A fox crossing the +brook from the Rufford side would be sure to run to Dillsborough +Wood. When Larry, with the two girls, were just about to enter the +ride, there was old Tony standing up on his horse at the corner, +looking into the covert. And now also a crowd of horsemen came +rushing up, who had made their way along the road, and had passed up +to the wood through Mr. Twentyman's farm-yard;--for, as it happened, +here it was that Mr. Twentyman lived and farmed his own land. Then +came Sir Harry, Colonel Stubbs, and some others who had followed the +line throughout,--the Colonel with his boots full of water, as he had +been forced to get off his horse in the bed of the brook. Sir Harry, +himself, was not in the best of humours,--as will sometimes be the +case with masters when they fail to see the cream of a run. "I never +saw such riding in my life," said Sir Harry, as though some great sin +had been committed by those to whom he was addressing himself. Larry +turned round, and winked at the two girls, knowing that, if sin had +been committed, they three were the sinners. The girls understood +nothing about it, but still thought that Larry Twentyman was divine. + +While they were standing about on the rides, Tony was still at +his work. The riding was over, but the fox had to be killed, and +Dillsborough Wood was a covert in which a fox will often require a +large amount of killing. No happier home for the vulpine deity exists +among the shires of England! There are earths there deep, capacious, +full of nurseries; but these, on the present occasion, were debarred +from the poor stranger by the wicked ingenuity of man. But there were +deep dells, in which the brambles and bracken were so thick that no +hound careful of his snout would penetrate them. The undergrowth of +the wood was so interwoven that no huntsman could see through its +depths. There were dark nooks so impervious that any fox ignorant of +the theory of his own scent must have wondered why a hound should +have been induced to creep into spaces so narrow. From one side to +another of the wood the hunted brute would traverse, and always seem +to have at last succeeded in putting his persecutors at fault. So +it was on this occasion. The run, while it lasted, had occupied, +perhaps, three-quarters of an hour, and during a time equally long +poor old Tony was to be seen scurrying from one side of the wood to +another, and was to be heard loudly swearing at his attendant whips +because the hounds did not follow his footsteps as quickly as his +soul desired. + +"I never mean to put on a pair of top-boots again, as long as I +live," said the Colonel. At this time a little knot of horsemen +was stationed in a knoll in the centre of the wood, waiting till +they should hear the fatal whoop. Among them were Nina, Ayala, the +Colonel, Larry Twentyman, and Captain Batsby. + +"Give up top-boots?" said Larry. "You don't mean to say you'll ride +in black!" + +"Top-boots, black boots, spurs, breeches, and red coat, I renounce +them all from this moment. If ever I'm seen in a hunting field again +it will be in a pair of trousers with overalls." + +"Now, you're joking, Colonel," said Larry. + +"Why won't you wear a red coat any more?" said Ayala. + +"Because I'm disgraced for ever. I came out to coach two young women, +and give them a lead, and all I've done was to tumble into a brook, +while a better man has taken my charge away from me." + +"Oh, Jonathan, I am so sorry," said Nina, "particularly about your +getting into the water." + +"Oh, Colonel Stubbs, we ought to have stopped," said Ayala. + +"It was my only comfort to see how very little I was wanted," said +the Colonel. "If I had broke my neck instead of wetting my feet it +would have been just the same to some people." + +"Oh, Jonathan!" said Nina, really shocked. + +"We ought to have stopped. I know we ought to have stopped," said +Ayala, almost crying. + +"Nobody ever stops for any one out hunting," said Twentyman, laying +down a great law. + +"I should think not," said Captain Batsby, who had hardly been off +the road all the time. + +"I am sure the Colonel will not be angry with me because I took the +young ladies on," said Larry. + +"The Colonel is such a muff," said the Colonel himself, "that he +will never presume to be angry with anybody again. But if my cousin +and Miss Dormer are not very much obliged to you for what you have +done for them there will be nothing of gratitude left in the female +British bosom. You have probably given to them the most triumphant +moment of their existence." + +"It was their own riding, Colonel; I had nothing to do with it." + +"I am so much obliged to you, Sir," said Nina. + +"And so am I," said Ayala, "though it was such a pity that Colonel +Stubbs got into the water." + +At that moment came the long expected call. Tony Tappett had killed +his fox, after crossing and re-crossing through the wood half a score +of times. "Is it all over?" asked Ayala, as they hurried down the +knoll and scurried down the line to get to the spot outside the wood +to which Tony was dragging the carcase of his defeated enemy. + +"It's all over for him," said Larry. "A good fox he was, but he'll +never run again. He is one of them bred at Littlecotes. The foxes +bred at Littlecotes always run." + +"And is he dead?" asked Nina. "Poor fellow! I wish it wasn't +necessary to kill them." Then they stood by till they saw the +body of the victim thrown up into the air, and fall amongst the +blood-smirched upturned noses of the expectant pack. + +"I call that a pretty little run, Sir Harry," said Larry Twentyman. + +"Pretty well," said Sir Harry; "the pace wasn't very great, or that +pony of mine which Miss Dormer is riding could not have lived with +it." + +"Horses, Sir Harry, don't want so much pace, if they are allowed to +go straight. It's when a man doesn't get well away, or has made a +mess with his fences, that he needs an extra allowance of pace to +catch the hounds. If you're once with them and can go straight you +may keep your place without such a deal of legs." To this Sir Harry +replied only by a grunt, as on the present occasion he had "made a +mess with his fences," as Larry Twentyman had called it. + +"And now, young ladies," said Larry, "I hope you'll come in and see +my missus and her baby, and have a little bit of lunch, such as it +is." + +Nina asked anxiously whether there would not be another fox. Ayala +also was anxious lest in accepting the proffered hospitality she +should lose any of the delights of the day. But it was at length +arranged that a quarter of an hour should be allowed before Tony took +his hounds over to the Bragton coverts. Immediately Larry was off his +horse, rushing into the house and ordering everyone about it to come +forth with bread and cheese and sherry and beer. In spite of what he +had said of his ruin it was known that Larry Twentyman was a warm +man, and that no man in Rufford gave what he had to give with a +fuller heart. His house was in the middle of the Rufford and Ufford +hunting country, and the consumption there during the hunting +months of bread and cheese, sherry and beer, must have been immense. +Everyone seemed to be intimate with him, and all called for what they +wanted as if they were on their own premises. On such occasions as +these Larry was a proud man; for no one in those parts carried a +lighter heart or was more fond of popularity. + +The parlour inside was by no means big enough to hold the crowding +guests, who therefore munched their bread and cheese and drank their +beer round the front door, without dismounting from their horses; but +Nina and Ayala with their friend the Colonel were taken inside to see +Mrs. Twentyman and her baby. "Now, Larry, what sort of a run was it?" +said the young mother. "Where did you find him, and what line did he +take?" + +"I'll tell you all about it when I come back; there are two young +ladies for you now to look after." Then he introduced his wife, and +the baby which was in her arms. "The little fellow is only six weeks +old, and yet she wanted to come to the meet. She'd have been riding +to hounds if I'd let her." + +"Why not?" said Mrs. Twentyman. "At any rate I might have gone in the +pony carriage and had baby with me." + +"Only six weeks old!" said Nina, stooping down and kissing the child. + +"He is a darling!" said Ayala. "I hope he'll go out hunting some +day." + +"He'll want to go six times a week if he's anything like his father," +said Mrs. Twentyman. + +"And seven times if he's like his mother," said Larry. Then again +they mounted their nags, and trotted off across the high roads to the +Bragton coverts. Mrs. Twentyman with her baby in her arms walked down +to the gate at the high road and watched them with longing eyes, till +Tony and the hounds were out of sight. + +Nothing further in the way of hunting was done that day which +requires to be recorded. They drew various coverts and found a fox or +two, but the scent, which had been so strong in the morning, seemed +to have gone, and the glory of the day was over. The two girls and +the Colonel remained companions during the afternoon, and succeeded +in making themselves merry over the incident of the brook. The +Colonel was in truth well pleased that Larry Twentyman should have +taken his place, though he probably would not have been gratified had +he seen Captain Batsby assume his duties. It had been his delight to +see the two girls ride, and he had been near enough to see them. He +was one of those men who, though fond of hunting, take no special +glory in it, and are devoid of the jealousy of riding. Not to have +a good place in a run was no worse to him than to lose a game of +billiards or a rubber of whist. Let the reader understand that this +trait in his character is not mentioned with approbation. "Always +to excel and to go ahead of everybody" should, the present writer +thinks, be in the heart of every man who rides to hounds. There was +in our Colonel a philosophical way of looking into the thing which +perhaps became him as a man, but was deleterious to his character as +a sportsman. + +"I do so hope you've enjoyed yourself, Ayala!" he said, as he lifted +her from her horse. + +"Indeed,--indeed, I have!" said Ayala, not noticing the use of her +Christian name. "I have been so happy, and I am so much obliged to +you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +"YOU ARE NOT HE." + + +Ayala had been a week at Stalham, and according to the understanding +which had existed she should now have returned to Kingsbury Crescent. +She had come for a week, and she had had her week. Oh, what a week +it had been, so thoroughly happy, without a cloud, filled full with +ecstatic pleasures! Jonathan Stubbs had become to her the pleasantest +of friends. Lady Albury had covered her with caresses and little +presents. Nina was the most perfect of friends. Sir Harry had never +been cross, except for that one moment in the wood. And as for +Sprite,--Sprite had nearly realised her idea of an Angel of Light. +Oh, how happy she had been! She was to return on the Monday, having +thus comprised two Sundays within her elongated week. She knew +that her heaven was to be at an end; but she was grateful, and was +determined in her gratitude to be happy and cheerful to the close. +But early on this Sunday morning Colonel Stubbs spoke a word to Lady +Albury. "That little girl is so thoroughly happy here. Cannot you +prolong it for her just for another three days?" + +"Is it to be for her,--or for Colonel Stubbs, who is enamoured of the +little girl?" asked Lady Albury. + +"For both," said the Colonel, rather gravely. + +"Are you in earnest?" + +"What do you call earnest? I do love to see a pretty creature enjoy +herself thoroughly as she does. If you will make her stay till +Thursday Albury will let her ride the little horse again at Star +Cross on Wednesday." + +"Of course she shall stay,--all the season if you wish it. She is +indeed a happy girl if you are in earnest." + +Then it was settled, and Lady Albury in her happiest manner informed +Ayala that she was not to be allowed to take her departure till after +she had ridden Sprite once again. "Sir Harry says that you have given +the little horse quite a name, and that you must finish off his +character for him at Star Cross." As was the heart of the Peri when +the gate of Paradise was opened for her so was the heart of Ayala. +There were to be four days, with the fourth as a hunting-day, before +she need think of going! There was an eternity of bliss before her. + +"But Aunt Margaret!" she said, not, however, doubting for a moment +that she would stay. Who cares for a frowning aunt at the distance of +an eternity. I fear that in the ecstacy of her joy she had forgotten +the promise made, that she would always remember her aunt's goodness +to her. "I will write a note to Mrs. Dosett, and make it all +straight," said Lady Albury. The note was written, and, whether +matters were straight or crooked at Kingsbury Crescent, Ayala +remained at Albury. + +Colonel Stubbs had thought about the matter, and determined that he +was quite in earnest. He had, he told himself, enough for modest +living,--for modest living without poverty. More would come to him +when old General Stubbs, his uncle, should die. The general was +already past seventy. What was the use of independence if he could +not allow himself to have the girl whom he really loved? Had any +human being so perfectly lovely as Ayala ever flashed before his eyes +before? Was there ever a sweeter voice heard from a woman's mouth? +And then all her little ways and motions,--her very tricks,--how full +of charm they were! When she would open her eyes and nod her head, +and pout with her lips, he would declare to himself that he could no +longer live without her. And then every word that fell from her lips +seemed to have something in it of pretty humour. In fact the Colonel +was in love, and had now resolved that he would give way to his +love in spite of his aunt, the Marchesa, and in spite of his own +philosophy. + +He felt by no means sure of success, but yet he thought that he might +succeed. From the moment in which, as the reader may remember, he +had accosted her at the ball, and desired her to dance with him in +obedience to his aunt's behests, it had been understood by everyone +around him that Ayala had liked him. They had become fast friends. +Ayala allowed him to do many little things which, by some feminine +instinct of her own, would have been put altogether beyond the reach +of Captain Batsby. The Colonel knew all this, and knew at the same +time that he should not trust to it only. But still he could not but +trust to it in some degree. Lady Albury had told him that Ayala would +be a happy girl if he were in earnest, and he himself was well aware +of Ayala's dependent position, and of the discomforts of Kingsbury +Crescent. Ayala had spoken quite openly to him of Kingsbury Crescent +as to a confidential friend. But on all that he did not lean much +as being in his favour. He could understand that such a girl as +Ayala would not accept a husband merely with the object of avoiding +domestic poverty. Little qualms of doubt came upon him as he +remembered the nature of the girl, so that he confessed to himself +that Lady Albury knew nothing about it. But, nevertheless, he hoped. +His red hair and his ugly face had never yet stood against him among +the women with whom he had lived. He had been taught by popularity to +think himself a popular man;--and then Ayala had shown so many signs +of her friendship! + +There was shooting on Saturday, and he went out with the shooters, +saying nothing to any one of an intended early return; but at three +o'clock he was back at the house. Then he found that Ayala was out +in the carriage, and he waited. He sat in the library pretending to +read, till he heard the sounds of the carriage-wheels, and then he +met the ladies in the hall. "Are they all home from shooting?" asked +Lady Albury. The Colonel explained that no one was home but himself. +He had missed three cock-pheasants running, and had then come away in +disgust. "I am the most ignominious creature in existence," he said, +laughing; "one day I tumble into a ditch three feet wide--" + +"It was ten yards at least," said Nina, jealous as to the glory of +her jump. + +"And to-day I cannot hit a bird. I shall take to writing a book and +leave the severer pursuit of sport to more enterprising persons." +Then suddenly turning round he said to Ayala, "Are you good-natured +enough to come and take a walk with me in the shrubbery?" + +Ayala, taken somewhat by surprise at the request, looked up into +Lady Albury's face. "Go with him, my dear, if you are not tired," +said Lady Albury. "He deserves consolation after all his good deeds +to you." Ayala still doubted. Though she was on terms of pleasant +friendship with the man, yet she felt almost awestruck at this sudden +request that she should walk alone with him. But not to do so, +especially after Lady Albury's injunction, would have been peculiar. +She certainly was not tired, and had such a walk come naturally it +would have been an additional pleasure to her; but now, though she +went she hesitated, and showed her hesitation. + +"Are you afraid to come with me?" he said, as soon as they were out +on the gravel together. + +"Afraid! Oh, dear no, I should not be afraid to go anywhere with you, +I think; only it seemed odd that you did not ask Nina too." + +"Shall I tell you why?" + +"Why was it?" + +"Because I have something to say to you which I do not want Nina +to hear just at this moment. And then I thought that we were such +friends that you would not mind coming with me." + +"Of course we are," said Ayala. + +"I don't know why it should be so, but I seem to have known you years +instead of days." + +"Perhaps that is because you knew papa." + +"More likely because I have learnt to know your papa's daughter." + +"Do you mean Lucy?" + +"I mean Ayala." + +"That is saying the same thing twice over. You know me because you +know me." + +"Just that. How long do you suppose I have known that Mrs. Gregory, +who sat opposite to us yesterday?" + +"How can I tell?" + +"Just fifteen years. I was going to Harrow when she came as a young +girl to stay with my mother. Her people and my people had known +each other for the last fifty years. Since that I have seen her +constantly, and of course we are very intimate." + +"I suppose so." + +"I know as much about her after all that as if we had lived in two +different hemispheres and couldn't speak a word of each other's +language. There isn't a thought or a feeling in common between us. I +ask after her husband and her children, and then tell her it's going +to rain. She says something about the old General's health, and then +there is an end of everything between us. When next we meet we do it +all over again." + +"How very uninteresting!" said Ayala. + +"Very uninteresting. It is because there are so many Mrs. Gregorys +about that I like to go down to Drumcaller and live by myself. +Perhaps you're a Mrs. Gregory to somebody." + +"Why should I be a Mrs. Gregory? I don't think I am at all like Mrs. +Gregory." + +"Not to me, Ayala." Now she heard the "Ayala," and felt something +of what it meant. There had been moments at which she had almost +disliked to hear him call her Miss Dormer; but now,--now she wished +that he had not called her Ayala. She strove to assume a serious +expression of face, but having done so she could not dare to turn +it up towards him. The glance of her little anger, if there was any, +fell only upon the ground. "It is because you are to me a creature so +essentially different from Mrs. Gregory that I seem to know you so +well. I never want to go to Drumcaller if you are near me;--or, if I +think of Drumcaller, it is that I might be there with you." + +"I am sure the place is very pretty, but I don't suppose I shall ever +see it." + +"Do you know about your sister and Mr. Hamel?" + +"Yes," said Ayala, surprised. "She has told me all about it. How do +you know?" + +"He was staying at Drumcaller,--he and I together with no one +else,--when he went over to ask her. I never saw a man so happy as +when he came back from Glenbogie. He had got all that he wanted in +the world." + +"I do so love him because he loves her." + +"And I love her,--because she loves you." + +"It is not the same, you know," said Ayala, trying to think it all +out. + +"May I not love her?" + +"He is to be my brother. That's why I love him. She can't be your +sister." The poor girl, though she had tried to think it all out, had +not thought very far. + +"Can she not?" he said. + +"Of course not. Lucy is to marry Mr. Hamel." + +"And whom am I to marry?" Then she saw it all. "Ayala,--Ayala,--who +is to be my wife?" + +"I do not know," she said,--speaking with a gruff voice, but still in +a whisper, with a manner altogether different,--thinking how well it +would be that she should be taken at once back into the house. + +"Do you not know whom I would fain have as my wife?" Then he felt +that it behoved him to speak out plainly. He was already sure that +she would not at once tell him that it should be as he would have +it,--that she would not instantly throw herself into his arms. But he +must speak plainly to her, and then fight his cause as best he might. +"Ayala, I have asked you to come out with me that I might ask you to +be my wife. It is that that I did not wish Nina to hear at once. If +you will put out your hand and say that it shall be so, Nina and all +the world shall know it. I shall be as proud then as Hamel, and as +happy,--happier, I think. It seems to me that no one can love as I +do now, Ayala; it has grown upon me from hour to hour as I have seen +you. When I first took you away to that dance it was so already. Do +you remember that night at the theatre,--when I had come away from +everything and striven so hard that I might be near to you before you +went back to your home? Ayala, I loved you then so dearly;--but not +as I love you now. When I saw you riding away from me yesterday, when +I could not get over the brook, I told myself that unless I might +catch you at last, and have you all to myself, I could never again be +happy. Do you remember when you stooped down and kissed that man's +baby at the farm-house? Oh, Ayala, I thought then that if you would +not be my wife,--if you would not be my wife,--I should never have +wife, never should have baby, never should have home of my own." +She walked on by his side, listening, but she had not a word to say +to him. It had been easy enough to her to reject and to rebuke and +to scorn Tom Tringle, when he had persisted in his suit; but she +knew not with what words to reject this man who stood so high in +her estimation, who was in many respects so perfect, whom she so +thoroughly liked,--but whom, nevertheless, she must reject. He was +not the Angel of Light,--could never be the Angel of Light. There +was nothing there of the azure wings upon which should soar the all +but celestial being to whom she could condescend to give herself and +her love. He was pleasant, good, friendly, kind-hearted,--all that +a friend or a brother should be; but he was not the Angel of Light. +She was sure of that. She told herself that she was quite sure of it, +as she walked beside him in silence along the path. "You know what +I mean, Ayala, when I tell you that I love you," he continued. But +still she made no answer. "I have seen at last the one human being +with whom I feel that I can be happy to spend my life, and, having +seen her, I ask her to be my wife. The hope has been dwelling with me +and growing since I first met you. Shall it be a vain hope? Ayala, +may I still hope?" + +"No," she said, abruptly. + +"Is that all?" + +"It is all that I can say." + +"Is that one 'no' to be the end of everything between us?" + +"I don't know what else I ought to say to you, Colonel Stubbs." + +"Do you mean that you can never love me?" + +"Never," she said. + +"That is a hard word,--and hardly friendly. Is there to be no more +than one hard word between you and me? Though I did not venture +to think that you could tell me that you loved me, I looked for +something kinder, something gentler than that." + + + "From such a sharp and waspish word as 'no,' + To pluck the sting!" + + +Ayala did not know the lines I have quoted, but the idea conveyed in +them was present clearly to her mind. She would fain have told him, +had she known how to do so, that her heart was very gentle towards +him, was very kind, gentle and kind as a sister's;--but that she +could not love him, so as to become his wife. "You are not he,--not +he, not that Angel of Light, which must come to me, radiant with +poetry, beautiful to the eye, full of all excellences of art, lifted +above the earth by the qualities of his mind,--such a one as must +come to me if it be that I am ever to confess that I love. You are +not he, and I cannot love you. But you shall be the next to him in my +estimation, and you are already so dear to me that I would be tender +to you, would be gentle,--if only I knew how." It was all there, +clear enough in her mind, but she had not the words. "I don't know +what it is that I ought to say," she exclaimed through her sobs. + +"The truth, at any rate," he answered, sternly, "but not the truth, +half and half, after the fashion of some young ladies. Do not think +that you should palter with the truth either because it may not be +palatable to me, or seem decorous to yourself. To my happiness this +matter is all important, and you are something to my happiness, if +only because I have risked it on your love. Tell me;--why cannot you +love me?" + +The altered tone of his voice, which now had in it something of +severity, seemed to give her more power. + +"It is because--" Then she paused. + +"Because why? Out with it, whatever it is. If it be something that +a man may remedy I will remedy it. Do not fear to hurt me. Is it +because I am ugly? That I cannot remedy." She did not dare to tell +him that it was so, but she looked up at him, not dissenting by any +motion of her head. "Then God help me, for ugly I must remain." + +"It is not that only." + +"Is it because my name is Stubbs--Jonathan Stubbs?" Now she did +assent, nodding her head at him. He had bade her tell him the truth, +and she was so anxious to do as he bade her! "If it be so, Ayala, I +must tell you that you are wrong,--wrong and foolish; that you are +carried away by a feeling of romance, which is a false romance. Far +be it from me to say that I could make you happy, but I am sure that +your happiness cannot be made and cannot be marred by such accidents +as that. Do you think that my means are not sufficient?" + +"No;--no," she cried; "I know nothing of your means. If I could love +you I would not condescend to ask,--even to hear." + +"There is no other man, I think?" + +"There is no other man." + +"But your imagination has depicted to you something grander than I +am,"--then she assented quickly, turning round and nodding her head +to him,--"some one who shall better respond to that spirit of poetry +which is within you?" Again she nodded her head approvingly, as +though to assure him that now he knew the whole truth. "Then, Ayala, +I must strive to soar till I can approach your dreams. But, if you +dare to desire things which are really grand, do not allow yourself +to be mean at the same time. Do not let the sound of a name move you, +or I shall not believe in your aspirations. Now shall I take you back +to the house?" + +Back to the house they went, and there was not another word spoken +between them. By those last words of his she had felt herself to be +rebuked. If it were possible that he could ask her again whether that +sound, Jonathan Stubbs, had anything to do with it, she would let him +know now, by some signal, that she no longer found a barrier in the +name. But there were other barriers,--barriers which he himself had +not pretended to call vain. As to his ugliness, that he had confessed +he could not remedy; calling on God to pity him because he was so. +And as for that something grander which he had described, and for +which her soul sighed, he had simply said that he would seek for it. +She was sure that he would not find it. It was not to such as he that +the something grander,--which was to be the peculiar attribute of +the Angel of Light,--could be accorded. But he had owned that the +something grander might exist. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +"THE FINEST HERO THAT I EVER KNEW." + + +The Colonel and Ayala returned to the house without a word. When they +were passing through the hall she turned to go at once up the stairs +to her own room. As she did so he put out his hand to her, and she +took it. But she passed on without speaking, and when she was alone +she considered it over all in her own mind. There could be no doubt +that she was right. Of that she was quite sure. It was certainly a +fixed law that a girl should not marry a man unless she loved him. +She did not love this man, and therefore she ought not to marry him. +But there were some qualms at her heart as to the possible reality +of the image which she had created for her own idolatry. And she had +been wounded when he told her that she should not allow herself to be +mean amidst her soarings. She had been wounded, and yet she knew that +he had been right. He had intended to teach her the same lesson when +he told her the absurd story of the woman who had been flung out of +the window. She could not love him; but that name of his should never +again be a reason for not doing so. Let the Angel of Light come to +her with his necessary angelic qualities, and no want of euphony in +a sound should be a barrier to him. Nor in truth could any outside +appearance be an attribute of angelic light. The Angel of Light might +be there even with red hair. Something as to the truth of this also +came across her, though the Colonel had not rebuked her on that head. + +But how should she carry herself now during the four days which +remained to her at Stalham Park? All the loveliness seemed to depart +from her prospect. She would hardly know how to open her mouth before +her late friend. She suspected that Lady Albury knew with what +purpose the Colonel had taken her out into the shrubbery, and she +would not dare to look Lady Albury in the face. How should she answer +Nina if Nina were to ask her questions about the walk. The hunt +for next Wednesday was no longer a delight to which she could look +forward. How would it be possible that Colonel Stubbs should direct +her now as to her riding, and instruct her as to her conduct in the +hunting-field? It would be better for her that she should return at +once to Kingsbury Crescent. + +As she thought of this there did come upon her a reflection that had +she been able to accept Colonel Stubbs's offer there would have been +an end for ever to the miseries of her aunt's house. She would have +been lifted at once into the mode of life in which the man lived. +Instead of being a stranger admitted by special grace into such an +Elysium as that of Stalham Park, she would become one of those to +whom such an Elysium belonged almost of right. By her own gifts she +would have won her way into that upper and brighter life which seemed +to her to be all smiles and all joy. As to his income she thought +nothing and cared nothing. He lived with men who had horses and +carriages, and who spent their time in pleasurable pursuits. And she +would live amidst ladies who were always arrayed in bright garments, +who, too, had horses and carriages at their command, and were never +troubled by those sordid cares which made life at Kingsbury Crescent +so sad and tedious. One little word would have done it all for her, +would have enabled her to take the step by which she would be placed +among the bright ones of the earth. + +But the remembrance of all this only made her firmer in her +resolution. If there was any law of right and wrong fixed absolutely +in her bosom, it was this,--that no question of happiness or +unhappiness, of suffering or joy, would affect her duty to the Angel +of Light. She owed herself to him should he come to seek her. She +owed herself to him no less, even should he fail to come. And she +owed herself equally whether he should be rich or poor. As she was +fortifying herself with these assurances, Nina came to ask her +whether she would not come down to tea. Ayala pleaded headache, and +said that she would rest till dinner. "Has anything happened?" asked +Nina. Ayala simply begged that she might be asked no questions then, +because her head was aching. "If you do not tell me everything, I +shall think you are no true friend," said Nina, as she left the room. + +As evening drew on she dressed for dinner, and went down into the +drawing-room. In doing so it was necessary to pass through the +billiard-room, and there she found Colonel Stubbs, knocking about the +balls. "Are you dressed for dinner?" he exclaimed; "I haven't begun +to think of it yet, and Sir Harry hates a man when he comes in late. +That wretch Batsby has beaten me four games." With that he rushed +off, putting down the cue with a rattle, and seeming to Ayala to have +recovered altogether from the late prostration of his spirits. + +In the drawing-room Ayala was for a few minutes alone, and then, as +she was glad to see, three or four ladies all came in at once, so +that no question could be asked her by Lady Albury. They went into +dinner without the Colonel, who was in truth late, and she was taken +in by Mr. Gosling, whose pretty little wife was just opposite to her. +On the other side of her sat Lord Rufford, who had come to Stalham +with his wife for a day or two, and who immediately began to +congratulate her on the performance of the day before. "I am told +you jumped the Cranbury Brook," he said. "I should as soon think of +jumping the Serpentine." + +"I did it because somebody told me." + +"Ah," said Lord Rufford, with a sigh, "there is nothing like +ignorance, innocence, and youth combined. But why didn't Colonel +Stubbs get over after you?" + +"Because Colonel Stubbs couldn't," said that gentleman, as he took +his seat in the vacant chair. + +"It may be possible," said Sir Harry, "that a gentleman should not be +able to jump over Cranbury Brook; but any gentleman, if he will take +a little trouble, may come down in time for dinner." + +"Now that I have been duly snubbed right and left," said the Colonel, +"perhaps I may eat my soup." + +Ayala, who had expected she hardly knew what further troubles, and +who had almost feared that nobody would speak to her because she had +misbehaved herself, endeavoured to take heart of grace when she found +that all around her, including the Colonel himself, were as pleasant +as ever. She had fancied that Lady Albury had looked at her specially +when Colonel Stubbs took his seat, and she had specially noticed the +fact that his chair had not been next her own. These little matters +she was aware Lady Albury managed herself, and was aware also that in +accordance with the due rotation of things she and the Colonel should +have been placed together. She was glad that it was not so, but at +the same time she was confident that Lady Albury knew something of +what had passed between herself and her suitor. The evening, however, +went off easily, and nothing occurred to disturb her except that +the Colonel had called her by her Christian name, when as usual he +brought to her a cup of tea in the drawing-room. Oh, that he would +continue to do so, and yet not demand from her more than their old +friendship! + +The next morning was Sunday, and they all went to church. It was a +law at Stalham that everyone should go to church on Sunday morning. +Sir Harry himself, who was not supposed to be a peculiarly religious +man, was always angry when any male guest did not show himself in the +enormous family pew. "I call it d---- indecent," he has been heard +to say. But nobody was expected to go twice,--and consequently +nobody ever did go twice. Lunch was protracted later than usual. The +men would roam about the grounds with cigars in their mouths, and +ladies would take to reading in their own rooms, in following which +occupation they would spend a considerable part of the afternoon +asleep. On this afternoon Lady Albury did not go to sleep, but +contrived to get Ayala alone upstairs into her little sitting-room. +"Ayala," she said, with something between a smile and a frown, "I am +afraid I am going to be angry with you." + +"Please don't be angry, Lady Albury." + +"If I am right in what I surmise, you had an offer made to you +yesterday which ought to satisfy the heart of almost any girl in +England." Here she paused, but Ayala had not a word to say for +herself. "If it was so, the best man I know asked you to share his +fortune with him." + +"Has he told you?" + +"But he did?" + +"I shall not tell," said Ayala, proudly. + +"I know he did. I knew that it was his intention before. Are you +aware what kind of man is my cousin, Jonathan Stubbs? Has it occurred +to you that in truth and gallantry, in honour, honesty, courage, and +real tenderness, he is so perfect as to be quite unlike to the crowd +of men you see?" + +"I do know that he is good," said Ayala. + +"Good! Where will you find any one good like him? Compare him to the +other men around him, and then say whether he is good! Can it be +possible that you should refuse the love of such a man as that?" + +"I don't think I ought to be made to talk about it," said Ayala, +hesitating. + +"My dear, it is for your own sake and for his. When you go away from +here it may be so difficult for him to see you again." + +"I don't suppose he will ever want," said Ayala. + +"It is sufficient that he wants it now. What better can you expect +for yourself?" + +"I expect nothing," said Ayala, proudly. "I have got nothing, and I +expect nothing." + +"He will give you everything, simply because he loves you. My dear, +I should not take the trouble to tell you all this, did I not know +that he is a man who ought to be accepted when he asks such a request +as that. Your happiness would be safe in his hands." She paused, but +Ayala had not a word to say. "And he is not a man likely to renew +such a request. He is too proud for that. I can conceive no possible +reason for such a refusal unless it be that you are engaged. If there +be some one else, then of course there must be an end of it." + +"There is no one else." + +"Then, my dear, with your prospects it is sheer folly. When the +General dies he will have over two thousand a year." + +"As if that had anything to do with it!" said Ayala, holding herself +aloft in her wrath, and throwing angry glances at the lady. + +"It is what I call romance," said Lady Albury. "Romance can never +make you happy." + +"At any rate it is not riches. What you call romance may be what I +like best. At any rate if I do not love Colonel Stubbs I am sure I +ought not to marry him;--and I won't." + +After this there was nothing further to be said. Ayala thought that +she would be turned out of the room,--almost out of the house, in +disgrace. But Lady Albury, who was simply playing her part, was +not in the least angry. "Well, my dear," she said, "pray,--pray, +think better of it. I am in earnest, of course, because of my +cousin,--because he seems to have put his heart upon it. He is just +the man to be absolutely in love when he is in love. But I would +not speak as I do unless I were sure that he would make you happy. +My cousin Jonathan is to me the finest hero that I know. When a +man is a hero he shouldn't be broken-hearted for want of a woman's +smiles,--should he?" + +"She ought not to smile unless she loves him," said Ayala, as she +left the room. + +The Monday and Tuesday went very quietly. Lady Albury said nothing +more on the great subject, and the Colonel behaved himself exactly +as though there had been no word of love at all. There was nothing +special said about the Wednesday's hunt through the two days, till +Ayala almost thought that there would be no hunt for her. Nor, +indeed, did she much wish for it. It had been the Colonel who had +instigated her to deeds of daring, and under his sanction that she +had ventured to ride. She would hardly know how to go through the +Wednesday,--whether still to trust him, or whether to hold herself +aloof from him. When nothing was said on the subject till late on +the evening of the Tuesday, she had almost resolved that she would +not put on her habit when the morning came. But just as she was about +to leave the drawing-room with her bed-candle Colonel Stubbs came to +her. "Most of us ride to the meet to-morrow," he said; "but you and +Nina shall be taken in the waggonette so as to save you a little. +It is all arranged." She bowed and thanked him, going to bed almost +sorry that it should have been so settled. When the morning came Nina +could not ride. She had hurt her foot, and, coming early into Ayala's +room, declared with tears that she could not go. "Then neither shall +I," said Ayala, who was at that moment preparing to put on her habit. + +"But you must. It is all settled, and Sir Harry would be offended if +you did not go. What has Jonathan done that you should refuse to ride +with him because I am lame?" + +"Nothing," said Ayala. + +"Oh, Ayala, do tell me. I should tell you everything. Of course you +must hunt whatever it is. Even though he should have offered and you +refused him, of course you must go." + +"Must I?" said Ayala. + +"Then you have refused him?" + +"I have. Oh, Nina, pray do not speak of it. Do not think of it if you +can help it. Why should everything be disturbed because I have been a +fool?" + +"Then you think you have been a fool?" + +"Other people think so; but if so I shall at any rate be constant to +my folly. What I mean is, that it has been done, and should be passed +over as done with. I am quite sure that I ought not to be scolded; +but Lady Albury did scold me." Then they went down together to +breakfast, Ayala having prepared herself properly for the +hunting-field. + +In the waggonette there were with her Lady Albury, Mrs. Gosling, and +Nina, who was not prevented by her lameness from going to the meet. +The gentlemen all rode, so that there was no immediate difficulty +as to Colonel Stubbs. But when she had been put on her horse by +his assistance and found herself compelled to ride away from the +carriage, apparently under his especial guidance, her heart misgave +her, and she thoroughly wished that she was at home in the Crescent. +Though she was specially under his guidance there were at first +others close around her, and, while they were on the road going to +the covert which they were to draw, conversation was kept up so that +it was not necessary for her to speak;--but what should she do when +she should find herself alone with him as would certainly soon be the +case? It soon was the case. The hounds were at work in a large wood +in which she was told they might possibly pass the best part of the +day, and it was not long before the men had dispersed themselves, +some on this side some on that, and she found herself with no one +near her but the Colonel. "Ayala," he said, "of course you know that +it is my duty to look after you, and to do it better if I can than I +did on Friday." + +"I understand," she said. + +"Do not let any remembrance of that walk on Saturday interfere with +your happiness to-day. Who knows when you may be out hunting again?" + +"Never!" she said; "I don't suppose I shall ever hunt again." + +"Carpe diem," he said, laughing. "Do you know what 'carpe diem' +means?" + +"It is Latin perhaps." + +"Yes; and therefore you are not supposed to understand it. This is +what it means. As an hour for joy has come, do not let any trouble +interfere with it. Let it all be, for this day at least, as though +there had been no walk in the Stalham Woods. There is Larry +Twentyman. If I break down as I did on Friday you may always trust to +him. Larry and you are old friends now." + +"Carpe diem," she said to herself. "Oh, yes; if it were only +possible. How is one to 'carpe diem' with one's heart full of +troubles?" And it was the less possible because this man whom she +had rejected was so anxious to do everything for her happiness. Lady +Albury had told her that he was a hero,--that he was perfect in +honour, honesty, and gallantry; and she felt inclined to own that +Lady Albury was almost right. Yet,--yet how far was he from that +image of manly perfection which her daily thoughts had created for +her! Could she have found an appropriate word with which to thank +him she would have done so; but there was no such word, and Larry +Twentyman was now with them, taking off his hat and overflowing with +compliments. "Oh, Miss Dormer, I am so delighted to see you out +again." + +"How is the baby, Mr. Twentyman?" + +"Brisk as a bee, and hungry as a hunter." + +"And how is Mrs. Twentyman?" + +"Brisker and hungrier than the baby. What do you think of the day, +Colonel?" + +"A very good sort of day, Twentyman, if we were anywhere out of these +big woods." Larry shook his head solemnly. The Mudcombe Woods in +which they were now at work had been known to occupy Tony Tappett +and his whole pack from eleven o'clock till the dusk of evening. +"We've got to draw them, of course," continued the Colonel. Then Mr. +Twentyman discoursed at some length on the excellence of Mudcombe +Woods. What would any county be without a nursery for young foxes? +Gorse-coverts, hedge-rows, and little spinneys would be of no avail +unless there were some grandly wild domain in which maternal and +paternal foxes could roam in comparative security. All this was just +as Ayala would have it, because it enabled her to ask questions, and +saved her from subjects which might be painful to her. + +The day, in truth, was not propitious to hunting even. Foxes were +found in plenty, and two of them were killed within the recesses of +the wood; but on no occasion did they run a mile into the open. For +Ayala it was very well, because she was galloping hither and thither, +and because before the day was over she found herself able to talk to +the Colonel in her wonted manner; but there was no great glory for +her as had been the glory of Little Cranbury Brook. + +On the next morning she was taken back to London and handed over +to her aunt in Kingsbury Crescent without another word having been +spoken by Colonel Stubbs in reference to his love. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +LADY ALBURY'S LETTER. + + +"I have had a letter from Lady Albury," said Aunt Margaret, almost as +soon as Ayala had taken off her hat and cloak. + +"Yes, I know, Aunt Margaret. She wrote to ask that I might stay for +four more days. I hope it was not wrong." + +"I have had another letter since that, on Monday, about it; I have +determined to show it you. There it is. You had better read it by +yourself, and I will come to you again in half an hour." Then, very +solemnly, but with no trace of ill-humour, Mrs. Dosett left the room. +There was something in her tone and gait so exceedingly solemn that +Ayala was almost frightened. Of course, the letter must be about +Colonel Stubbs, and, of course, the writer of it would find fault +with her. She was conscious that she was adding one to her terribly +long list of sins in not consenting to marry Colonel Stubbs. It was +her misfortune that all her friends found fault with everything that +she did. Among them there was not one, not even Nina, who fully +sympathised with her. Not even to Lucy could she expatiate with a +certainty of sympathy in regard to the Angel of Light. And now, +though her aunt was apparently not angry,--only solemn,--she felt +already sure that she was to be told that it was her duty to marry +Colonel Stubbs. It was only the other day that her aunt was preaching +to her as to the propriety of marrying her cousin Tom. It seemed, she +said to herself, that people thought that a girl was bound to marry +any man who could provide a house for her, and bread to eat, and +clothes to wear. All this passed through her mind as she slowly drew +Lady Albury's letter from the envelope and prepared to read it. The +letter was as follows:-- + + + Stalham, Monday, 18th November, 18--. + + DEAR MADAM, + + Your niece will return to you, as you request, on + Thursday, but before she reaches you I think it my duty + to inform you of a little circumstance which has occurred + here. My cousin, Colonel Jonathan Stubbs, who is also + the nephew of the Marchesa Baldoni, has made Miss Dormer + an offer. I am bound to add that I did not think it + improbable that it would be so, when I called on your + husband, and begged him to allow your niece to come to + us. I did not then know my cousin's intention as a fact. + I doubt whether he knew it himself; but from what I had + heard I thought it probable, and, as I conceive that any + young lady would be fortunate in becoming my cousin's + wife, I had no scruple. + + He has proposed to her, and she has rejected him. He has + set his heart upon the matter, and I am most anxious that + he should succeed, because I know him to be a man who + will not easily brook disappointment where he has set his + heart. Of all men I know he is the most steadfast in his + purpose. + + I took the liberty of speaking to your niece on the + subject, and am disposed to think that she is deferred + by some feeling of foolish romance, partly because she + does not like the name, partly because my cousin is not a + handsome man in a girl's eyes;--more probably, however, + she has built up to herself some poetic fiction, and + dreams of she knows not what. If it be so, it is a pity + that she should lose an opportunity of settling herself + well and happily in life. She gave as a reason that she + did not love him. My experience is not so long as yours, + perhaps, but such as I have has taught me to think that + a wife will love her husband when she finds herself used + well at all points. Mercenary marriages are, of course, + bad: but it is a pity, I think, that a girl, such as your + niece, should lose the chance of so much happiness by a + freak of romance. + + Colonel Stubbs, who is only twenty-eight years of age, has + a staff appointment at Aldershot. He has private means of + his own, on which alone he would be justified in marrying. + On the death of his uncle, General Stubbs, he will inherit + a considerable accession of fortune. He is not, of course, + a rich man; but he has ample for the wants of a family. + In all other good gifts, temper, manliness, truth, and + tenderness, I know no one to excel him. I should trust any + young friend of my own into his hands with perfect safety. + + I have thought it right to tell you this. You will use + your own judgment in saying what you think fit to your + niece. Should she be made to understand that her own + immediate friends approve of the offer, she would probably + be induced to accept it. I have not heard my cousin say + what may be his future plans. I think it possible that, + as he is quite in earnest, he will not take one repulse. + Should he ask again, I hope that your niece may receive + him with altered views. + + Pray believe me to be, my dear Madam, + Yours sincerely, + + ROSALINE ALBURY. + + +Ayala read the letter twice over before her aunt returned to her, +and, as she read it, felt something of a feeling of renewed kindness +come upon her in reference to the writer of it;--not that she was +in the least changed in her own resolution, but that she liked Lady +Albury for wishing to change her. The reasons given, however, were +altogether impotent with her. Colonel Stubbs had the means of keeping +a wife! If that were a reason then also ought she to marry her +cousin, Tom Tringle. Colonel Stubbs was good and true; but so also +very probably was Tom Tringle. She would not compare the two men. She +knew that her cousin Tom was altogether distasteful to her, while she +took delight in the companionship of the Colonel. But the reasons +for marrying one were to her thinking as strong as for marrying the +other. There could be only one valid excuse for marriage,--that of +adoring the man;--and she was quite sure that she did not adore +Colonel Jonathan Stubbs. Lady Albury had said in her letter, that a +girl would be sure to love a man who treated her well after marriage; +but that would not suffice for her. Were she to marry at all, it +would be necessary that she should love the man before her marriage. + +"Have you read the letter, my dear?" said Mrs. Dosett, as she entered +the room and closed the door carefully behind her. She spoke almost +in a whisper, and seemed to be altogether changed by the magnitude of +the occasion. + +"Yes, Aunt Margaret, I have read it." + +"I suppose it is true?" + +"True! It is true in part." + +"You did meet this Colonel Stubbs?" + +"Oh, yes; I met him." + +"And you had met him before?" + +"Yes, Aunt Margaret. He used to come to Brook Street. He is the +Marchesa's nephew." + +"Did he--" This question Aunt Margaret asked in a very low whisper, +and her most solemn voice. "Did he make love to you in Brook Street?" + +"No," said Ayala, sharply. + +"Not at all?" + +"Not at all. I never thought of such a thing. I never dreamed of such +a thing when he began talking to me out in the woods at Stalham on +Saturday." + +"Had you been--been on friendly terms with him?" + +"Very friendly terms. We were quite friends, and used to talk about +all manner of things. I was very fond of him, and never afraid of +anything that he said to me. He was Nina's cousin and seemed almost +to be my cousin too." + +"Then you do like him?" + +"Of course I do. Everybody must like him. But that is no reason why I +should want to marry him." + +Upon this Mrs. Dosett sat silent for awhile turning the great matter +over in her thoughts. It was quite clear to her that every word which +Ayala had spoken was true; and probable also that Lady Albury's words +were true. In her inmost thoughts she regarded Ayala as a fool. Here +was a girl who had not a shilling of her own, who was simply a burden +on relatives whom she did not especially love, who was doomed to +a life which was essentially distasteful to her,--for all this in +respect to herself and her house Mrs. Dosett had sense enough to +acknowledge,--who seemed devoted to the society of rich and gay +people, and yet would not take the opportunities that were offered +her of escaping what she disliked and going to that which she +loved! Two offers had now been made to her, both of them thoroughly +eligible, to neither of which would objection have been made by +any of the persons concerned. Sir Thomas had shown himself to be +absolutely anxious for the success of his son. And now it seemed that +the grand relations of this Colonel Stubbs were in favour of the +match. What it was in Ayala that entitled her to such promotion Mrs. +Dosett did not quite perceive. To her eyes her niece was a fantastic +girl, pretty indeed, but not endowed with that regular tranquil +beauty which she thought to be of all feminine graces the most +attractive. Why Tom Tringle should have been so deeply smitten with +Ayala had been a marvel to her; and now this story of Colonel Stubbs +was a greater marvel. "Ayala," she said, "you ought to think better +of it." + +"Think better of what, Aunt Margaret?" + +"You have seen what this Lady Albury says about her cousin, Colonel +Stubbs." + +"What has that to do with it?" + +"You believe what she says? If so why should you not accept him?" + +"Because I can't," said Ayala. + +"Have you any idea what is to become of your future life?" said Mrs. +Dosett, very gravely. + +"Not in the least," said Ayala. But that was a fib, because she had +an idea that in the fullness of time it would be her heavenly fate to +put her hand into that of the Angel of Light. + +"Gentlemen won't come running after you always, my dear." + +This was almost as bad as being told by her Aunt Emmeline that she +had encouraged her cousin Tom. "It's a great shame to say that. I +don't want anybody to run after me. I never did." + +"No, my dear; no. I don't think that you ever did." Mrs. Dosett, who +was justice itself, did acknowledge to herself that of any such fault +as that suggested, Ayala was innocent. Her fault was quite in the +other direction, and consisted of an unwillingness to settle herself +and to free her relations of the burden of maintaining her when +proper opportunities arose for doing so. "I only want to explain +to you that people must,--must,--must make their hay while the sun +shines. You are young now." + +"I am not one-and-twenty yet," said Ayala, proudly. + +"One-and-twenty is a very good time for a girl to marry,--that is to +say if a proper sort of gentleman asks her." + +"I don't think I ought to be scolded because they don't seem to me to +be the proper sort. I don't want anybody to come. Nobody ought to be +talked to about it at all. If I cared about any one that you or Uncle +Reginald did not approve, then you might talk to me. But I don't +think that anything ought to be said about anybody unless I like him +myself." So the conversation was over, and Mrs. Dosett felt that she +had been entirely vanquished. + +Lady Albury's letter was shown to Mr. Dosett, but he refused to say +a word to his niece on the subject. In the argument which followed +between him and his wife he took his niece's part, opposing +altogether that idea that hay should be made while the sun shines. +"It simply means selling herself," said Mr. Dosett. + +"That is nonsense, Reginald. Of course such a girl as Ayala has to +do the best she can with her good looks. What else has she to depend +upon?" + +"My brother-in-law will do something for her." + +"I hope he will,--though I do not think that a very safe reed to +depend upon as she has twice offended him. But of course a girl +thinks of marrying. Ayala would be very much disgusted if she were +told that she was to be an old maid, and live upon £100 a year +supplied by Sir Thomas's bounty. It might have been that she would +have to do it;--but now that chances are open she ought to take them. +She should choose between her cousin Tom and this Colonel Stubbs; +and you should tell her that, if she will not, you will no longer be +responsible for her." + +To this Mr. Dosett turned altogether a deaf ear. He was quite sure +that his responsibility must be continued till Ayala should marry, +or till he should die, and he would not make a threat which he would +certainly be unable to carry out. He would be very glad if Ayala +could bring herself to marry either of the young men. It was a pity +that she should feel herself compelled to refuse offers so excellent. +But it was a matter for her own judgment, and one in which he would +not interfere. For two days this almost led to a coldness between the +man and his wife, during which the sufferings of poor Mrs. Dosett +were heartrending. + +Not many days after Ayala's return her sister Lucy came to see her. +Certain reasons had caused Lady Tringle to stay at Glenbogie longer +than usual, and the family was now passing through London on their +way to Merle Park. Perhaps it was the fact that the Trafficks had +been effectually extruded from Glenbogie, but would doubtless turn up +at Merle Park, should Lady Tringle take up her residence there before +the autumn was over. That they should spend their Christmas at Merle +Park was an acknowledged thing;--to mamma Tringle an acknowledged +benefit, because she liked to have her daughter with her; to papa +Tringle an acknowledged evil, because he could not endure to be made +to give more than he intended to give. That they should remain there +afterwards through January, and till the meeting of Parliament, was +to be expected. But it was hoped that they might be driven to find +some home for themselves if they were left homeless by Sir Thomas for +awhile. The little plan was hardly successful, as Mr. Traffick had +put his wife into lodgings at Hastings, ready to pounce down on Merle +Park as soon as Lady Tringle should have occupied the house a few +days. Lady Tringle was now going there with the rest of the family, +Sir Thomas having been in town for the last six weeks. + +Lucy took advantage of the day which they passed in London, and +succeeded in getting across to the Crescent. At this time she had +heard nothing of Colonel Stubbs, and was full indeed of her own +troubles. + +"You haven't seen him?" she said to her sister. + +"Seen who?" asked Ayala, who had two "hims" to her bow,--and thought +at the moment rather of her own two "hims" than of Lucy's one. + +"Isadore. He said that he would call here." Ayala explained that she +had not seen him, having been absent from town during the last ten +days,--during which Mr. Hamel had in fact called at the house. +"Ayala," continued Lucy, "what am I to do?" + +"Stick to him," said Ayala, firmly. + +"Of course I shall. But Aunt Emmeline thinks that I ought to give him +up or--" + +"Or what?" + +"Or go away," said Lucy, very gravely. + +"Where would you go to?" + +"Oh, where indeed? Of course he would have me, but it would be ruin +to him to marry a wife without a penny when he earns only enough for +his own wants. His father has quarrelled with him altogether. He says +that nobody can prevent our being married if we please, and that he +is quite ready to make a home for me instantly; but I know that last +year he hardly earned more than two hundred pounds after paying all +his expenses, and were I to take him at his word I should ruin him." + +"Would Uncle Tom turn you out?" + +"He has been away almost ever since Mr. Hamel came to Glenbogie, and +I do not know what he will say. Aunt Emmeline declares that I can +only stay with them just as though I were her daughter, and that a +daughter would be bound to obey her." + +"Does Gertrude obey her about Mr. Houston?" + +"Gertrude has her own way with her mother altogether. And of course a +daughter cannot really be turned out. If she tells me to go I suppose +I must go." + +"I should ask Uncle Tom," said Ayala. "She could not make you go out +into the street. When she had to get rid of me, she could send me +here in exchange; but she can't say now that you don't suit, and have +me back again." + +"Oh, Ayala, it is so miserable. I feel that I do not know what to do +with myself." + +"Nor do I," said Ayala, jumping up from the bed on which she was +sitting. "It does seem to be so cross-grained. Nobody will let you +marry, and everybody will make me." + +"Do they still trouble you about Tom?" + +"It is not Tom now, Lucy. Another man has come up." + +"As a lover?" + +"Oh, yes; quite so. His name is,--such a name, Lucy,--his name is +Colonel Jonathan Stubbs." + +"That is Isadore's friend,--the man who lives at Drumcaller." + +"Exactly. He told me that Mr. Hamel was at Drumcaller with him. And +now he wants me to be his wife." + +"Do you not like him?" + +"That is the worst part of it all, Lucy. If I did not like him I +should not mind it half so much. It is just because I like him so +very much that I am so very unhappy. His hair is just the colour of +Aunt Emmeline's big shawl." + +"What does that signify?" + +"And his mouth stretches almost from ear to ear." + +"I shouldn't care a bit for his mouth." + +"I don't think I do much, because he does look so good-natured when +he laughs. Indeed he is always the most good-natured man that ever +lived." + +"Has he got an income enough for marriage?" asked Lucy, whose sorrows +were already springing from that most fertile source of sorrowing. + +"Plenty they tell me,--though I do not in the least know what plenty +means." + +"Then Ayala why should you not have him?" + +"Because I can't," said Ayala. "How is a girl to love a man if she +does not love him. Liking has nothing to do with it. You don't think +liking ought to have anything to do with it?" + +This question had not been answered when Aunt Margaret came into the +room, declaring that the Tringle man-servant, who had walked across +the park with Miss Dormer, was waxing impatient. The sisters, +therefore, were separated, and Lucy returned to Queen's Gate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +MISS DOCIMER. + + +"I tell you fairly that I think you altogether wrong;--that it is +cowardly, unmanly, and disgraceful. I don't mean, you see, to put +what you call a fine point upon it." + +"No, you don't." + +"It is one of those matters on which a person must speak the truth or +not speak at all. I should not have spoken unless you forced it upon +me. You don't care for her in the least." + +"That's true. I do not know that I am especially quick at what you +call caring for young ladies. If I care for anybody it is for you." + +"I suppose so; but that may as well be dropped for the present. You +mean to marry this girl simply because she has got a lot of money?" + +"Exactly that;--as you before long will marry some gentleman only +because he has got money." + +"You have no right to say so because I am engaged to no man. But if +I were so it is quite different. Unless I marry I can be nobody. I +can have no existence that I can call my own. I have no other way of +pushing myself into the world's notice. You are a man." + +"You mean to say that I could become a merchant or a lawyer,--be a +Lord Chancellor in time, or perhaps an Archbishop of Canterbury." + +"You can live and eat and drink and go where you wish without being +dependent on any one. If I had your freedom and your means do you +think that I would marry for money?" + +In this dialogue the main part was taken by Mr. Frank Houston, whose +ambition it was to marry Miss Gertrude Tringle, and the lady's +part by his cousin and intimate friend, Miss Imogene Docimer. The +scene was a walk through a pine-forest on the southern slopes of +the Tyrolean Alps, and the occasion had been made a little more +exhilarating than usual by the fact that Imogene had been strongly +advised both by her brother, Mr. Mudbury Docimer, and by her +sister-in law, Mrs. Mudbury Docimer, not to take any more distant +rambles with her far-away cousin Frank Houston. In the teeth of that +advice this walk was taken, and the conversation in the pine-wood had +at the present moment arrived at the point above given. + +"I do not know that any two persons were ever further asunder in +an argument than you and I in this," said Frank, not in the least +disconcerted by the severe epithets which had been applied to him. +"I conceive that you are led away by a desire to deceive yourself, +whereas hypocrisy should only be used with the object of deceiving +others." + +"How do I deceive myself?" + +"In making believe that men are generally different from what they +are;--in trying to suppose that I ought to be, if I am not, a hero. +You shall not find a man whose main object is not that of securing +an income. The clergyman who preaches against gold licks the ground +beneath the minister's feet in order that he may become a bishop. The +barrister cares not with what case he may foul his hands so long as +he may become rich. The man in trade is so aware of his own daily +dishonesty that he makes two separate existences for himself, and +endeavours to atone for his rascality in the City by his performance +of all duties at the West End. I regard myself to be so infinitely +cleaner in my conscience than other men that I could not bring myself +to be a bishop, an attorney-general, or a great merchant. Of all the +ways open to me this seems to me to be the least sordid. I give her +the only two things which she desires,--myself and a position. She +will give me the only thing I desire, which is some money. When you +marry you'll make an equally fine bargain,--only your wares will be +your beauty." + +"You will not give her yourself;--not your heart." + +"Yes, I shall. I shall make the most of her, and shall do so by +becoming as fond of her as I can. Of course I like breeding. Of +course I like beauty. Of course I like that aroma of feminine charm +which can only be produced by a mixture of intellect, loveliness, +taste, and early association. I don't pretend to say that my future +would not be much sweeter before me with you as my wife,--if only +either of us had a sufficiency of income. I acknowledge that. But +then I acknowledge also that I prefer Miss Tringle, with £100,000, +to you with nothing; and I do not think that I ought to be called +unmanly, disgraceful, and a coward, because I have courage enough +to speak the truth openly to a friend whom I trust. My theory of +life shocks you, not because it is uncommon, but because it is not +commonly declared." + +They were silent for a while as they went on through the path, and +then Miss Docimer spoke to him in an altered voice. "I must ask you +not to speak to me again as one who by any possibility could have +been your wife." + +"Very well. You will not wish me to abandon the privilege of thinking +of past possibilities?" + +"I would,--if it were possible." + +"Quite impossible! One's thoughts, I imagine, are always supposed to +be one's own." + +"You know what I mean. A gentleman will always spare a woman if he +can do so; and there are cases, such as have been ours, in which it +is a most imperative duty to do so. You should not have followed us +when you had made up your mind about this young lady." + +"I took care to let you know, beforehand, that I intended it." + +"You should not have thrown the weight upon me. You should not even +have written to me." + +"I wonder what you would have said then,--how loudly you would have +abused me,--had I not written! Would you not have told me then that +I had not the courage to be open with you?" He paused for an answer, +but she made none. "But I do recognise the necessity of my becoming +subject to abuse in this state of affairs. I have been in no respect +false, nor in any way wanting in affection. When I suggested to you +that £600 a-year between us, with an increasing family, and lodgings +in Marylebone, would be uncomfortable, you shuddered at the prospect. +When I explained to you that you would have the worst of it because +my club would be open to me, you were almost angry with me because I +seemed to imply that there could be any other than one decision." + +"There could only be one decision,--unless you were man enough to +earn your bread." + +"But I wasn't. But I ain't. You might as well let that accident pass, +sans dire. Was there ever a moment in which you thought that I should +earn my bread?" + +"Never for a moment did I endow you with the power of doing anything +so manly." + +"Then why throw it in my teeth now? That is not fair. However, I do +own that I have to be abused. I don't see any way in which you and I +are to part without it. But you need not descend to Billingsgate." + +"I have not descended to Billingsgate, Mr. Houston." + +"Upper-world Billingsgate! Cowardice, as an accusation from a woman +to a man, is upper-world Billingsgate. But it doesn't matter. Of +course I know what it means. Do you think your brother wants me to go +away at once?" + +"At once," she said. + +"That would be disagreeable and absurd. You mean to sit to me for +that head?" + +"Certainly not." + +"I cannot in the least understand why not. What has a question of +art to do with marriage or giving in marriage? And why should Mrs. +Docimer be so angry with me, when she has known the truth all along?" + +"There are questions which it is of no avail to answer. I have come +out with you now because I thought it well that we should have a +final opportunity of understanding each other. You understand me at +any rate." + +"Perfectly," he said. "You have taken especial care on this occasion +to make yourself intelligible." + +"So I intended. And as you do understand me, and know how far I am +from approving your philosophy, you can hardly wish to remain with us +longer." Then they walked on together in absolute silence for above a +mile. They had come out of the wood, and were descending, by a steep +and narrow path, to the village in which stood the hotel at which the +party was staying. Another ten minutes would take them down to the +high road. The path here ran by the side of a rivulet, the course +of which was so steep that the waters made their way down in a +succession of little cataracts. From the other side of the path was +a fence, so close to it, that on this particular spot there was room +only for one to walk. Here Frank Houston stepped in front of his +companion, so as to stop her. "Imogene," he said, "if it is intended +that I am to start by the diligence for Innspruck this evening, you +had better bid me farewell at once." + +"I have bidden you farewell," she said. + +"Then you have done it in so bitter a mood that you had better try +your hand at it again. Heaven only knows in what manner you or I may +meet again." + +"What does it matter?" she asked. + +"I have always felt that the hearts of men are softer than the hearts +of women. A woman's hand is soft, but she can steel her heart when +she thinks it necessary, as no man can do. Does it occur to you at +this moment that there has been some true affection between you and +me in former days?" + +"I wish it did not." + +"It may be so that I wish it also; but there is the fact. No wishing +will enable me to get rid of it. No wishing will save me from the +memory of early dreams and sweet longings and vain triumphs. There is +the remembrance of bright glory made very sad to me by the meanness +of the existing truth. I do not say but that I would obliterate it if +I could; but it is not to be obliterated; the past will not be made +more pleasant to me by any pretence of present indignation. I should +have thought that it would have been the same with you." + +"There has been no glory," she said, "though I quite acknowledge the +meanness." + +"There has been at any rate some love." + +"Misplaced. You had better let me pass on. I have, as you say, +steeled myself. I will not condescend to any tenderness. In my +brother's presence and my sister's I will wish you good-bye and +express a hope that you may be successful in your enterprises. Here, +by the brook-side, out upon the mountain-path, where there is no one +to hear us but our two selves, I will bid you no farewell softer than +that already spoken. Go and do as you propose. You have my leave. +When it shall have been done there shall never be a word spoken by me +against it. But, when you ask me whether you are right, I will only +say that I think you to be wrong. It may be that you owe nothing to +me; but you owe something to her, and something also to yourself. +Now, Mr. Houston, I shall be glad to pass on." + +He shrugged his shoulders and then stepped out of the path, thinking +as he did so how ignorant he had been, after all that had passed, of +much of the character of Imogene Docimer. It could not be, he had +thought, but that she would melt into softness at last. "I will not +condescend to any tenderness," she had said, and it seemed that she +would be as good as her word. He then walked down before her in +silence, and in silence they reached the inn. + +"Mr. Houston," said Mrs. Docimer, before they sat down to dinner +together, "I thought it was understood that you and Imogene should +not go out alone together again." + +"I have taken my place to Innspruck by the diligence this evening," +he answered. + +"Perhaps it will be better so, though both Mudbury and I will be +sorry to lose your company." + +"Yes, Mrs. Docimer, I have taken my place. Your sister seemed to +think that there would be great danger if I waited till to-morrow +morning when I could have got a pleasant lift in a return carriage. I +hate travelling at night and I hate diligences. I was quite prepared +to post all the way, though it would have ruined me,--only for this +accursed diligence." + +"I am sorry you should be inconvenienced." + +"It does not signify. What a man without a wife may suffer in that +way never does signify. It's just fourteen hours. You wouldn't like +Docimer to come with me." + +"That's nonsense. You needn't go the whole way unless you like. You +could sleep at Brunecken." + +"Brunecken is only twelve miles, and it might be dangerous." + +"Of course you choose to turn everything into ridicule." + +"Better that than tears, Mrs. Docimer. What's the good of crying? I +can't make myself an elder son. I can't endow Imogene with a hundred +thousand pounds. She told me just now that I might earn my bread, but +she knows that I can't. It's very sad. But what can be got by being +melancholy?" + +"At any rate you had better be away from her." + +"I am going,--this evening. Shall I walk on, half a stage, at once, +without any dinner? I wish you had heard the kind of things she said +to me. You would not have thought that I had gone to walk with her +for my own pleasure." + +"Have you not deserved them?" + +"I think not;--but nevertheless I bore them. A woman, of course, can +say what she pleases. There's Docimer,--I hope he won't call me a +coward." + +Mr. Docimer came out on the terrace, on which the two were standing, +looking as sour as death. "He is going by the diligence to Innspruck +this afternoon," said Mrs. Docimer. + +"Why did he come? A man with a grain of feeling would have remained +away." + +"Now, Docimer," said Frank, "pray do not make yourself unpleasant. +Your sister has been abusing me all the morning like a pickpocket, +and your wife looks at me as though she would say just as much if she +dared. After all, what is it I have done that you think so wicked?" + +"What will everybody think at home," said Mrs. Docimer, "when they +know that you're with us again? What chance is she to have if you +follow her about in this way?" + +"I shall not follow her very long," said Frank. "My wings will soon +be cut, and then I shall never fly again." They were at this time +walking up and down the terrace together, and it seemed for awhile +that neither of them had another word to say in the matter of the +dispute between them. Then Houston went on again in his own defence. +"Of course it is all bad," he said. "Of course we have all been +fools. You knew it, and allowed it; and have no right to say a word +to me." + +"We thought that when your uncle died there would have been money," +said Docimer, with a subdued growl. + +"Exactly; and so did I. You do not mean to say that I deceived either +you or her?" + +"There should have been an end of it when that hope was over." + +"Of course there should. There should never have been a dream that +she or I could marry on six hundred a year. Had not all of us been +fools, we should have taken our hats off and bade each other farewell +for ever when the state of the old man's affairs was known. We were +fools; but we were fools together; and none of us have a right to +abuse the others. When I became acquainted with this young lady at +Rome, it had been settled among us that Imogene and I must seek our +fortunes apart." + +"Then why did you come after her?" again asked Mr. Docimer. + +At this moment Imogene herself joined them on the terrace. "Mary," +she said to her sister-in-law, "I hope you are not carrying on this +battle with Mr. Houston. I have said what there was to be said." + +"You should have held your tongue and said nothing," growled her +brother. + +"Be that as it may I have said it, and he quite understands what I +think about it. Let us eat our dinner in peace and quietness, and +then let him go on his travels. He has the world free before him, +which he no doubt will open like an oyster, though he does not carry +a sword." Soon after this they did dine, and contented themselves +with abusing the meat and the wine, and finding fault with Tyrolese +cookery, just as though they had no deeper cares near their hearts. +Precisely at six the heavy diligence stopped before the hotel door, +and Houston, who was then smoking with Docimer on the terrace, got +up to bid them adieu. Mrs. Docimer was kind and almost affectionate, +with a tear in her eye. "Well, old fellow," said Docimer, "take +care of yourself. Perhaps everything will turn up right some of +these days." "Good-bye, Mr. Houston," said Imogene, just giving him +her hand to touch in the lightest manner possible. "God bless you, +Imogene," said he. And there was a tear also in his eye. But there +was none in hers, as she stood looking at him while he prepared +himself for his departure; nor did she say another word to him as he +went. "And now," said she, when the three of them were left upon the +terrace, "I will ask a great favour of you both. I will beg you not +to let there be another word about Mr. Houston among us." After that +she rambled out by herself, and was not seen again by either of them +that evening. + +When she was alone she too shed her tears, though she felt impatient +and vexed with herself as they came into her eyes. It was not perhaps +only for her lost love that she wept. Had no one known that her love +had been given and then lost she might have borne it without weeping. +But now, in carrying on this vain affair of hers, in devoting herself +to a lover who had, with her own consent, passed away from her, she +had spent the sweet fresh years of her youth, and all those who knew +her would know that it had been so. He had told her that it would be +her fate to purchase for herself a husband with her beauty. It might +be so. At any rate she did not doubt her own beauty. But, if it were +to be so, then the romance and the charm of her life were gone. She +had quite agreed that six hundred a year, and lodgings in Marylebone, +would be quite unendurable; but what was there left for her that +would be endurable? He could be happy with the prospect of Gertrude +Tringle's money. She could not be happy, looking forward to that +unloved husband who was to be purchased by her beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +AT MERLE PARK. NO. 1. + + +Sir Thomas took the real holiday of the year at Glenbogie,--where +he was too far removed from Lombard Street to be drawn daily into +the vortex of his millions. He would stay usually six weeks at +Glenbogie,--which were by no means the happiest weeks of the year. Of +all the grand things of the world which his energy and industry had +produced for him, he loved his millions the best. It was not because +they were his,--as indeed they were not. A considerable filing off +them,--what he regarded as his percentage,--annually became his own; +but it was not this that he loved. In describing a man's character it +is the author's duty to give the man his due. Sir Thomas liked his +own wealth well enough. Where is the rich man who does not?--or where +is the poor man who does not wish that he had it to like? But what he +loved were the millions with which Travers and Treason dealt. He was +Travers and Treason, though his name did not even appear in the firm, +and he dealt with the millions. He could affect the rate of money +throughout Europe, and emissaries from national treasuries would +listen to his words. He had been Governor and Deputy-Governor of the +Bank of England. All the City respected him, not so much because he +was rich, as that he was one who thoroughly understood millions. If +Russia required to borrow some infinite number of roubles, he knew +how to arrange it, and could tell to a rouble at what rate money +could be made by it, and at what rate money would certainly be lost. +He liked his millions, and was therefore never quite comfortable at +Glenbogie. But at Merle Park he was within easy reach of London. At +Merle Park he was not obliged to live, from week's end to week's end, +without a sight of Lombard Street. The family might be at Merle Park, +while he might come down on a Friday and remain till Tuesday morning. +That was the plan proposed for Merle Park. As a fact he would spend +four days in town, and only two down in the country. Therefore, +though he spent his so-named holiday at Glenbogie, Merle Park was the +residence which he loved. + +In this autumn he went up to London long before his family, and then +found them at Merle Park on the Saturday after their arrival there. +They had gone down on the previous Wednesday. On the Saturday, when +he entered the house, the first thing he saw was Mr. Traffick's hat +in the hall. This was Saturday, 23rd November, and there would be +three months before Parliament would meet! A curse was not muttered, +but just formed between his teeth, as he saw the hat. Sir Thomas, in +his angriest mood, never went so far as quite to mutter his curses. +Will one have to expiate the anathemas which are well kept within +the barrier of the teeth, or only those which have achieved some +amount of utterance? Sir Thomas went on, with a servant at his heels, +chucking about the doors rather violently, till he found Mr. Traffick +alone in the drawing-room. Mr. Traffick had had a glass of sherry and +bitters brought in for his refreshment, and Sir Thomas saw the glass +on the mantelpiece. He never took sherry and bitters himself. One +glass of wine, with his two o'clock mutton chop, sufficed him till +dinner. It was all very well to be a Member of Parliament, but, after +all, Members of Parliament never do anything. Men who work don't +take sherry and bitters! Men who work don't put their hats in other +people's halls without leave from the master of the house! "Where's +your mistress?" said Sir Thomas, to the man, without taking any +notice of his son-in-law. The ladies had only just come in from +driving, were very cold, and had gone up to dress. Sir Thomas went +out of the room, again banging the door, and again taking no notice +of Mr. Traffick. Mr. Traffick put his hand up to the mantelpiece, and +finished his sherry and bitters. + +"My dear," said Mr. Traffick to his wife, up in her bed-room, "your +father has come down in one of his tantrums." + +"I knew he would," said Augusta. + +"But it does not signify the least. Give him a kiss when you see him, +and don't seem to notice it. There is not a man in the world has a +higher regard for me than your father, but if any one were to see him +in one of his tantrums they would suppose he meant to be uncivil." + +"I hope he won't be downright unkind, Septimus," said his wife. + +"Never fear! The kindest-hearted man in the world is your father." + +"So he's here!" That was the first word of greeting which Sir Thomas +addressed to his wife in her bed-room. + +"Yes, Tom;--they're here." + +"When did they come?" + +"Well;--to tell the truth, we found them here." + +"The ----!" But Sir Thomas restrained the word on the right, or +inside, of the teeth. + +"They thought we were to be here a day sooner, and so they came on +the Wednesday morning. They were to come, you know." + +"I wish I knew when they were to go." + +"You don't want to turn your own daughter out of your own house?" + +"Why doesn't he get a house of his own for her? For her sake why +doesn't he do it? He has the spending of £6,000 a year of my money, +and yet I am to keep him! No;--I don't want to turn my daughter out +of my house; but it'll end in my turning him out." + +When a week had passed by Mr. Traffick had not been as yet turned +out. Sir Thomas, when he came back to Merle Park on the following +Friday, condescended to speak to his son-in-law, and to say something +to him as to the news of the day; but this he did in an evident +spirit of preconceived hostility. "Everything is down again," he +said. + +"Fluctuations are always common at this time of the year," said +Traffick; "but I observe that trade always becomes brisk a little +before Christmas." + +"To a man with a fixed income, like you, it doesn't much matter," +said Sir Thomas. + +"I was looking at it in a public light." + +"Exactly. A man who has an income, and never spends it, need not +trouble himself with private views as to the money market." Mr. +Traffick rubbed his hands, and asked whether the new buildings at the +back of the Lombard Street premises were nearly finished. + +Mr. Traffick's economy had a deleterious effect upon Gertrude, which +she, poor girl, did not deserve. Sir Thomas, deeply resolving in his +mind that he would, at some not very distant date, find means by +which he would rid himself of Mr. Traffick, declared to himself that +he would not, at any rate, burden himself with another son-in-law +of the same kind. Frank Houston was, to his thinking, of the same +kind, and therefore he hardened his heart against Frank Houston. Now +Frank Houston, could he have got his wife with £6,000 a year,--as Mr. +Traffick had done,--would certainly not have troubled the Tringle +mansions with too much of his presence. It would have been his object +to remove himself as far as possible from the Tringles, and to have +enjoyed his life luxuriously with the proceeds of his wife's fortune. +But his hopes in this respect were unjustly impeded by Mr. Traffick's +parsimony. Soon after leaving the hotel in the Tyrol at which we +lately saw him, Frank Houston wrote to his lady-love, declaring the +impatience of his ardour, and suggesting that it would be convenient +if everything could be settled before Christmas. In his letter he +declared to Gertrude how very uncomfortable it was to him to have to +discuss money matters with her father. It was so disagreeable that he +did not think that he could bring himself to do it again. But, if she +would only be urgent with her father, she would of course prevail. +Acting upon this Gertrude determined to be urgent with her father +on his second coming to Merle Park, when, as has been explained, +Sir Thomas was in a frame of mind very much opposed to impecunious +sons-in-law. Previous to attacking her father Gertrude had tried +her hand again upon her mother, but Lady Tringle had declined. "If +anything is to be done you must do it yourself," Lady Tringle had +said. + +"Papa," said Gertrude, having followed him into a little sitting-room +where he digested and arranged his telegrams when at Merle Park, "I +wish something could be settled about Mr. Houston." + +Sir Thomas at this moment was very angry. Mr. Traffick had not only +asked for the loan of a carriage to take him into Hastings, but had +expressed a wish that there might be a peculiar kind of claret served +at dinner with which he was conversant and to which he was much +attached. "Then," said he, "you may as well have it all settled at +once." + +"How, papa?" + +"You may understand for good and all that I will have nothing to do +with Mr. Houston." + +"Papa, that would be very cruel." + +"My dear, if you call me cruel I will not allow you to come and talk +to me at all. Cruel indeed! What is your idea of cruelty?" + +"Everybody knows that we are attached to each other." + +"Everybody knows nothing of the kind. I know nothing of the kind. And +you are only making a fool of yourself. Mr. Houston is a penniless +adventurer and is only attached to my money. He shall never see a +penny of it." + +"He is not an adventurer, papa. He is much less like an adventurer +than Mr. Traffick. He has an income of his own, only it is not much." + +"About as much as would pay his bill at the club for cigars and +champagne. You may make your mind at rest, for I will not give +Mr. Houston a shilling. Why should a man expect to live out of my +earnings who never did a day's work in his life?" + +Gertrude left the room despondently, as there was nothing more to be +done on the occasion. But it seemed to her as though she were being +used with the utmost cruelty. Augusta had been allowed to marry her +man without a shilling, and had been enriched with £120,000. Why +should she be treated worse than Augusta? She was very strongly +of opinion that Frank Houston was very much better than Septimus +Traffick. Mr. Traffick's aptitude for saving his money was already +known to the whole household. Frank would never wish to save. Frank +would spend her income for her like a gentleman. Frank would not hang +about Glenbogie or Merle Park till he should be turned out. Everybody +was fond of Frank. But she, Gertrude, had already learnt to despise +Mr. Traffick, Member of Parliament though he was. She had already +begun to think that having been chosen by Frank Houston, who was +decidedly a man of fashion, she had proved herself to be of higher +calibre than her sister Augusta. But her father's refusal to her had +been not only very rough but very decided. She would not abandon her +Frank. Such an idea never for a moment crossed her mind. But what +step should she next take? Thinking over it during the whole of the +day she did at last form a plan. But she greatly feared that the plan +would not recommend itself to Mr. Frank Houston. She was not timid, +but he might be so. In spite of her father's anger and roughness she +would not doubt his ultimate generosity; but Frank might doubt it. If +Frank could be induced to come and carry her off from Merle Park and +marry her in some manner approved for such occasions, she would stand +the risk of getting the money afterwards. But she was greatly afraid +that the risk would be too much for Frank. She did not, however, +see any other scheme before her. As to waiting patiently till her +father's obdurate heart should be softened by the greater obduracy +of her own love, there was a tedium and a prolonged dulness in such +a prospect which were anything but attractive to her. Had it been +possible she would have made a bargain with her father. "If you won't +give us £120,000 let us begin with £60,000." But even this she feared +would not altogether be agreeable to Frank. Let her think of it +how she would, that plan of being run away with seemed alone to be +feasible--and not altogether disagreeable. + +It was necessary that she should answer her lover's letter. No +embargo had as yet been put upon her correspondence, and therefore +she could send her reply without external difficulty. + +"Dear Frank," she said, + + + I quite agree with you about Christmas. It ought to be + settled. But I have very bad news to send to you. I have + been to papa as you told me, but he was very unkind. + Nothing could be worse. He said that you ought to earn + your bread, which is, of course, all humbug. He didn't + understand that there ought to be some gentlemen who never + earn their bread. I am sure, if you had been earning your + bread by going to Lombard Street every day, I shouldn't + have ever cared for you. + + He says that he will not give a single shilling. I think + he is angry because Augusta's husband will come and live + here always. That is disgusting, of course. But it isn't + my fault. It is either that, or else some money has gone + wrong;--or perhaps he had a very bad fit of indigestion. + He was, however, so savage, that I really do not know how + to go to him again. Mamma is quite afraid of him, and does + not dare say a word, because it was she who managed about + Mr. Traffick. + + What ought to be done? Of course, I don't like to think + that you should be kept waiting. I am not sure that I + quite like it myself. I will do anything you propose, and + am not afraid of running a little risk. If we could get + married without his knowing anything about it, I am sure + he would give the money afterwards,--because he is always + so good-natured in the long run, and so generous. He can + be very savage, but he would be sure to forgive. + + How would it be if I were to go away? I am of age, and + I believe that no one could stop me. If you could manage + that we should get married in that way, I would do my + best. I know people can get themselves married at Ostend. + I do not see what else is to be done. You can write + to me at present here, and nothing wrong will come of + it. But Augusta says that if papa were to begin to + suspect anything about my going away he would stop my + letters.--Dear Frank, I am yours always, and always most + lovingly, + + GERTRUDE. + + You needn't be a bit afraid but that I should be quite up + to going off if you could arrange it. + + +"I believe, papa," said Mrs. Traffick, on the afternoon of the day on +which this was written, "that Gertrude is thinking of doing something +wrong, and therefore I feel it to be my duty to bring you this +letter." Augusta had not been enabled to read the letter, but had +discussed with her sister the propriety of eloping. "I won't advise +it," she had said, "but, if you do, Mr. Houston should arrange to be +married at Ostend. I know that can be done." Some second thought had +perhaps told her that any such arrangement would be injurious to the +noble blood of the Traffick family, and she had therefore "felt it to +be her duty" to extract the letter from the family letter-box, and +to give it to her father. A daughter who could so excellently do her +duty would surely not be turned out before Parliament met. + +Sir Thomas took the letter and said not a word to his elder child. +When he was alone he doubted. He was half-minded to send the letter +on. What harm could the two fools do by writing to each other? While +he held the strings of the purse there could be no marriage. Then he +bethought himself of his paternal authority, of the right he had to +know all that his daughter did,--and he opened the letter. "There +ought to be gentlemen who don't earn their bread!" "Ought there?" +said he to himself. If so these gentlemen ought not to come to him +for bread. He was already supporting one such, and that was quite +enough. "Mamma is quite afraid of him, and doesn't dare say a word." +That he rather liked. "I am sure he would give the money afterwards." +"I am sure he would do no such thing," he said to himself, and he +reflected that in such a condition he should rather be delighted than +otherwise in watching the impecunious importunities of his baffled +son-in-law. The next sentence reconciled his girl to him almost +entirely. "He is always so good-natured in the long run, and so +generous!" For "good-natured" he did not care much, but he liked to +be thought generous. Then he calmly tore the letter in little bits, +and threw them into the waste-paper basket. + +He sat for ten minutes thinking what he had better do, finding +the task thus imposed upon him to be much more difficult than the +distribution of a loan. At last he determined that, if he did +nothing, things would probably settle themselves. Mr. Houston, +when he received no reply from his lady-love, would certainly be +quiescent, and Gertrude, without any assent from her lover, could +hardly arrange her journey to Ostend. Perhaps it might be well that +he should say a word of caution to his wife; but as to that he did +not at present quite make up his mind, as he was grievously disturbed +while he was considering the subject. + +"If you please, Sir Thomas," said the coachman, hurrying into the +room almost without the ceremony of knocking,--"if you please, +Phoebe mare has been brought home with both her knees cut down to +the bone." + +"What!" exclaimed Sir Thomas, who indulged himself in a taste for +horseflesh, and pretended to know one animal from another. + +"Yes, indeed, Sir Thomas, down to the bone," said the coachman, who +entertained all that animosity against Mr. Traffick which domestics +feel for habitual guests who omit the ceremony of tipping. "Mr. +Traffick brought her down on Windover Hill, Sir Thomas, and she'll +never be worth a feed of oats again. I didn't think a man was +born who could throw that mare off her feet, Sir Thomas." Now Mr. +Traffick, when he had borrowed the phaeton and pair of horses that +morning to go into Hastings, had dispensed with the services of a +coachman, and had insisted on driving himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +AT MERLE PARK. NO. 2. + + +Has any irascible reader,--any reader who thoroughly enjoys the +pleasure of being in a rage,--encountered suddenly some grievance +which, heavy as it may be, has been more than compensated by the +privilege it has afforded of blowing-up the offender? Such was the +feeling of Sir Thomas as he quickly followed his coachman out of +the room. He had been very proud of his Phoebe mare, who could trot +with him from the station to the house at the rate of twelve miles +an hour. But in his present frame of mind he had liked the mare +less than he disliked his son-in-law. Mr. Traffick had done him +this injury, and he now had Mr. Traffick on the hip. There are some +injuries for which a host cannot abuse his guest. If your best +Venetian decanter be broken at table you are bound to look as though +you liked it. But if a horse be damaged a similar amount of courtesy +is hardly required. The well-nurtured gentleman, even in that case, +will only look unhappy and say not a word. Sir Thomas was hardly to +be called a well nurtured gentleman; and then it must be remembered +that the offender was his son-in-law. "Good heavens!" he exclaimed, +hurrying into the yard. "What is this?" + +The mare was standing out on the pavement with three men around her, +of whom one was holding her head, another was down on his knees +washing her wounds, and the third was describing the fatal nature of +the wounds which she had received. Traffick was standing at a little +distance, listening in silence to the implied rebukes of the groom. +"Good heavens, what is this?" repeated Sir Thomas, as he joined the +conclave. + +"There are a lot of loose stones on that hill," said Traffick, "and +she tripped on one and came down, all in a lump, before you could +look at her. I'm awfully sorry, but it might have happened to any +one." + +Sir Thomas knew how to fix his darts better than by throwing them +direct at his enemy. "She has utterly destroyed herself," said he, +addressing himself to the head-groom, who was busily employed with +the sponge in his hand. + +"I'm afraid she has, Sir Thomas. The joint-oil will be sure to run on +both knees; the gashes is so mortal deep." + +"I've driven that mare hundreds of times down that hill," said Sir +Thomas, "and I never knew her to trip before." + +"Never, Sir Thomas," said the groom. + +"She'd have come down with you to-day," said Mr. Traffick, defending +himself. + +"It was my own fault, Bunsum. That's all that can be said about it." +Bunsum the groom, kneeling as he was, expressed, by his grimaces, his +complete agreement with this last opinion of his master. "Of course I +ought to have known that he couldn't drive," said Sir Thomas. + +"A horse may fall down with anybody," said Mr. Traffick. + +"You'd better take her and shoot her," said Sir Thomas, still +addressing the groom. "She was the best thing we had in the stable, +but now she is done for." With that he turned away from the yard +without having as yet addressed a word to his son-in-law. + +This was so intolerable that even Mr. Traffick could not bear it in +silence. "I have told you that I am very sorry," said he, following +Sir Thomas closely, "and I don't know what a man can do more." + +"Nothing,--unless it be not to borrow a horse again." + +"You may be sure I will never do that." + +"I'm not sure of it at all. If you wanted another to-morrow you'd ask +for him if you thought you could get him." + +"I call that very uncivil, Sir Thomas,--and very unkind." + +"Bother!" said Sir Thomas. "It is no good in being kind to a fellow +like you. Did you ever hear what the cabman did who had a sovereign +given to him for driving a mile. He asked the fool who gave it him to +make it a guinea. I am the fool, and, by George, you are the cabman!" +With this Sir Thomas turned into the house by a small door, leaving +his son-in-law to wander round to the front by himself. + +"Your father has insulted me horribly," he said to his wife, whom he +found up in her bed-room. + +"What is the matter now, Septimus?" + +"That little mare of his, which I have no doubt has come down half a +score of times before, fell with me and cut her knees." + +"That's Phoebe," said Augusta. "She was his favourite." + +"It's a kind of thing that might happen to anyone, and no gentleman +thinks of mentioning it. He said such things to me that upon my word +I don't think I can stop in the house any longer." + +"Oh, yes, you will," said the wife. + +"Of course, it is a difference coming from one's father-in-law. It's +almost the same as from one's father." + +"He didn't mean it, Septimus." + +"I suppose not. If he had, I really couldn't have borne it. He does +become very rough sometimes, but I know that at bottom he has a +thorough respect for me. It is only that induces me to bear it." Then +it was settled between husband and wife that they should remain in +their present quarters, and that not a word further should be said +at any rate by them about the Phoebe mare. Nor did Sir Thomas say +another word about the mare, but he added a note to those already +written in the tablets of his memory as to his son-in-law, and +the note declared that no hint, let it be ever so broad, would be +effectual with Mr. Traffick. + +The next day was a Sunday, and then another trouble awaited Sir +Thomas. At this time it was not customary with Tom to come often to +Merle Park. He had his own lodgings in London and his own club, and +did not care much for the rural charms of Merle Park. But on this +occasion he had condescended to appear, and on the Sunday afternoon +informed his father that there was a matter which he desired to +discuss with him. "Father," said he, "I am getting confoundedly sick +of all this." + +"Confounded," said Sir Thomas, "is a stupid foolish word, and it +means nothing." + +"There is a sort of comfort in it, Sir," said Tom; "but if it's +objectionable I'll drop it." + +"It is objectionable." + +"I'll drop it, Sir. But nevertheless I am very sick of it." + +"What are you sick of, Tom?" + +"All this affair with my cousin." + +"Then, if you take my advice, you'll drop that too." + +"I couldn't do that, father. A word is all very well. A man can drop +a word; but a girl is a different sort of thing. One can't drop a +girl, even if one tries." + +"Have you tried, Tom?" + +"Yes, I have. I've done my best to try. I put it out of my mind for +a fortnight and wouldn't think of her. I had a bottle of champagne +every day at dinner and then went to the theatre. But it was all of +no use. I have set my heart on it and I can't give her up. I'll tell +you what I'd like to do. I'd like to give her a diamond necklace." + +"It wouldn't be the slightest use," said Sir Thomas, shaking his +head. + +"Why not? It's what other men do. I mean it to be something +handsome;--about three hundred pounds." + +"That's a large sum of money for a necklace." + +"Some of them cost a deal more than that." + +"And you'd only throw away your money." + +"If she took it, she'd take me too. If she didn't,--why I should +still have the diamonds. I mean to try any way." + +"Then it's of no use your coming to me." + +"I thought you'd let me have the money. It's no good running into +debt for them. And then if you'd add something of your own,--a +locket, or something of that kind,--I think it would have an effect. +I have seen a necklace at Ricolay's, and if I could pay ready money +for it I could have 20 per cent. off it. The price named is three +hundred guineas. That would make it £254 5_s_. £250 would buy it if +the cheque was offered." + +There was a spirit about the son which was not displeasing to the +father. That idea that the gift, if accepted, would be efficacious, +or if not that it would be rejected,--so that Tom would not lose his +hopes and his diamonds together,--seemed to be sound. Sir Thomas, +therefore, promised the money, with the distinct understanding that +if the gift were not accepted by Ayala it should be consigned to +his own hands. But as for any present from himself, he felt that +this would not be the time for it. He had called upon his niece and +solicited her himself, and she had been deaf to his words. After that +he could not condescend to send her gifts. "Should she become my +promised daughter-in-law then I would send her presents," said Sir +Thomas. + +The poor man certainly received less pleasure from his wealth than +was credited to him by those who knew his circumstances. Yet he +endeavoured to be good to those around him, and especially good to +his children. There had been present to him ever since the beginning +of his successes,--ever since his marriage,--a fixed resolution that +he would not be a curmudgeon with his money, that he would endeavour +to make those happy who depended on him, and that he would be liberal +in such settlements for his children as might be conducive to their +happiness and fortunes in life. In this way he had been very generous +to Mr. Traffick. The man was a Member of Parliament, the son of a +peer, and laborious. Why should he expect more? Money was wanting, +but he could supply the money. So he had supplied it, and had been +content to think that a good man should be propped up in the world +by his means. What that had come to the reader knows. He thoroughly +detested his son-in-law, and would have given much to have had his +money back again,--so that Mr. Traffick should have had no share in +it. + +Then there was his second daughter! What should be done with +Gertrude? The money should be forthcoming for her too if the fitting +man could be found. But he would have nothing further to do with a +penniless lover, let his position in the world of fashion, or even in +the world of politics, be what it might. The man should either have +wealth of his own, or should be satisfied to work for it. Houston had +been unfortunate in the moment of his approaches. Sir Thomas had been +driven by his angry feelings to use hard, sharp words, and now was +forced to act up to his words. He declared roughly that Mr. Houston +should not have a shilling of his money,--as he had certainly +been justified for doing; and his daughter, who had always been +indulged in every kind of luxury, had at once concocted a plot for +running away from her home! As he thought of the plot it seemed +to be wonderful to him that she should be willing to incur such a +danger,--to be ready without a penny to marry a penniless man,--till +he confessed to himself that, were she to do so, she would certainly +have the money sooner or later. He was capable of passion, capable +of flying out and saying a very severe thing to Septimus Traffick or +another when his temper was hot; but he was incapable of sustained +wrath. He was already aware that if Mr. Traffick chose to stay he +would stay;--that if Mr. Houston were brave enough to be persistent +he might have both the money and the girl. As he thought of it all +he was angry with himself, wishing that he were less generous, less +soft, less forgiving. + +And now here was Tom,--whom at the present moment he liked the best +of all his children, who of the three was the least inclined to run +counter to him,--ready to break his heart, because he could not get +a little chit of a girl of whom he would probably be tired in twelve +months after he possessed her! Remembering what Tom had been, he was +at a loss to understand how such a lad should be so thoroughly in +love. At the present moment, had Ayala been purchaseable, he would +have been willing to buy her at a great price, because he would fain +have pleased Tom had it been possible. But Ayala, who had not a penny +in the world,--who never would have a penny unless he should give it +her,--would not be purchased, and would have nothing to do with Tom! +The world was running counter to him, so that he had no pleasure in +his home, no pleasure in his money, no pleasure in his children. The +little back-parlour in Lombard Street was sweeter to him than Merle +Park, with all its charms. His daughter Gertrude wanted to run away +from him, while by no inducement could he get Mr. Traffick to leave +the house. + +While he was in this humour he met his niece Lucy roaming about the +garden. He knew the whole story of Lucy's love, and had been induced +by his wife to acknowledge that her marriage with the sculptor was +not to be sanctioned. He had merely expressed his scorn when the +unfortunate circumstances of Hamel's birth had been explained to him +again and again. He had ridiculed the horror felt by his wife at the +equally ill-born brothers and sisters in Rome. He had merely shaken +his head when he was told that Hamel's father never went inside of +any place of worship. But when it was explained to him that the +young man had, so to say, no income at all, then he was forced to +acknowledge that the young man ought not to be allowed to marry his +niece. + +To Lucy herself he had as yet said nothing on the subject since he +had asked the lover in to lunch at Glenbogie. He heard bad accounts +of her. He had been told by his wife, on different occasions,--not +in the mere way of conversation, but with a premeditated energy of +fault-finding,--that Lucy was a disobedient girl. She was worse than +Ayala. She persisted in saying that she would marry the penniless +artist as soon as he should profess himself to be ready. It had been +different, she had tried to explain to her aunt, before she had been +engaged to him. Now she considered herself to be altogether at his +disposal. This had been her plea, but her plea had been altogether +unacceptable to Aunt Emmeline. "She can do as she pleases, of +course," Sir Thomas had said. That might be all very well; but Aunt +Emmeline was strongly of opinion that an adopted daughter of Queen's +Gate, of Glenbogie, and Merle Park, ought not to be allowed to do as +she pleased with herself. A girl ought not to be allowed to have the +luxuries of palatial residences, and the luxuries of free liberty of +choice at the same time. More than once it had occurred to Sir Thomas +that he would put an end to all these miseries by a mere scratch of +his pen. It need not be £120,000, or £100,000, as with a daughter. +A few modest thousands would do it. And then this man Hamel, though +the circumstances of his birth had been unfortunate, was not an idler +like Frank Houston. As far as Sir Thomas could learn, the man did +work, and was willing to work. The present small income earned would +gradually become more. He had a kindly feeling towards Lucy, although +he had been inclined to own that her marriage with Hamel was out of +the question. "My dear," he said to her, "why are you walking about +alone?" She did not like to say that she was walking alone because +she had no one to walk with her,--no such companion as Isadore would +be if Isadore were allowed to come to Merle Park; so she simply +smiled, and went on by her uncle's side. "Do you like this place as +well as Glenbogie?" he asked. + +"Oh; yes." + +"Perhaps you will be glad to get back to London again?" + +"Oh; no." + +"Which do you like best, then?" + +"They are all so nice, if--" + +"If what, Lucy?" + +"Cælum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt," Lucy might have +said, had she known the passage. As it was she put the same feeling +into simpler words, "I should like one as well as the other, Uncle +Tom, if things went comfortably." + +"There's a great deal in that," he said. "I suppose the meaning is, +that you do not get on well with your aunt?" + +"I am afraid she is angry with me, Uncle Tom." + +"Why do you make her angry, Lucy? When she tells you what is your +duty, why do you not endeavour to do it?" + +"I cannot do what she tells me," said Lucy; "and, as I cannot, I +think I ought not to be here." + +"Have you anywhere else to go to?" To this she made no reply, but +walked on in silence. "When you say you ought not to be here, what +idea have you formed in your own mind as to the future?" + +"That I shall marry Mr. Hamel, some day." + +"Do you think it would be well to marry any man without an income +to live upon? Would it be a comfort to him seeing that he had just +enough to maintain himself, and no more?" These were terrible +questions to her,--questions which she could not answer, but yet as +to which her mind entertained an easy answer. A little help from him, +who was willing to indulge her with so many luxuries while she was +under his roof, would enable her to be an assistance rather than a +burden to her lover. But of this she could not utter a word. "Love +is all very well," continued Sir Thomas, in his gruffest voice; +"but love should be regulated by good sense. It is a crime when +two beggars think of marrying each other,--two beggars who are not +prepared to live as beggars do." + +"He is not a beggar," said Lucy, indignantly. "He has begged nothing; +nor have I." + +"Pshaw!" said Sir Thomas; "I was laying down a general rule. I did +not mean to call anybody a beggar. You shouldn't take me up like +that." + +"I beg your pardon, Uncle Tom," she said piteously. + +"Very well; very well; that will do." But still he went on walking +with her, and she felt she could not leave him till he gave her some +signal that she was to go. They continued in this way till they +had come nearly round the large garden; when he stopped, as he +was walking, and addressed her again. "I suppose you write to him +sometimes." + +"Yes," said Lucy, boldly. + +"Write to him at once, and tell him to come and see me in Lombard +Street on Tuesday, at two o'clock. Give me the letter, and I will +take care it is sent to him directly I get to town. Now you had +better go in, for it is getting very cold." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE DIAMOND NECKLACE. + + +Tom went up to London intent upon his diamonds. To tell the truth +he had already made the purchase subject to some question of ready +money. He now paid for it after considerable chaffering as to the odd +pounds, which he succeeded in bringing to a successful termination. +Then he carried the necklace away with him, revolving in his mind the +different means of presentation. He thought that a letter might be +best if only he was master of the language in which such a letter +should properly be written. But he entirely doubted his own powers of +composition. He was so modest in this respect that he would not even +make an attempt. He knew himself well enough to be aware that he was +in many respects ignorant. He would have endeavoured to take the +bracelet personally to Ayala had he not been conscious that he could +not recommend his present with such romantic phrases and touches of +poetry as would be gratifying to her fine sense. Were he to find +himself in her presence with the necklace he must depend on himself +for his words; but a letter might be sent in his own handwriting, the +poetry and romance of which might be supplied by another. + +Now it had happened that Tom had formed a marvellous friendship in +Rome with Colonel Stubbs. They had been hunting together in the +Campagna, and Tom had been enabled to accommodate the Colonel with +the loan of a horse when his own had been injured. They had since met +in London, and Stubbs had declared to more than one of his friends +that Tom, in spite of his rings and his jewelry, was a very good +fellow at bottom. Tom had been greatly flattered by the intimacy, +and had lately been gratified by an invitation to Aldershot in order +that the military glories of the camp might be shown to him. He +had accepted the invitation, and a day in the present week had been +fixed. Then it occurred to him suddenly that he knew no one so +fitted to write such a letter as that demanded as his friend Colonel +Jonathan Stubbs. He had an idea that the Colonel, in spite of his red +hair and in spite of a certain aptitude for drollery which pervaded +him, had a romantic side to his character; and he felt confident +that, as to the use of language, the Colonel was very great indeed. +He therefore, when he went to Aldershot, carefully put the bracelet +in his breast-pocket and determined to reveal his secret and to ask +for aid. + +The day of his arrival was devoted to the ordinary pursuits of +Aldershot and the evening to festivities, which were prolonged too +late into the night to enable him to carry out his purpose before +he went to bed. He arranged to leave on the next morning by a train +between ten and eleven, and was told that three or four men would +come in to breakfast at half-past nine. His project then seemed to be +all but hopeless. But at last with great courage he made an effort. +"Colonel," said he, just as they were going to bed, "I wonder if you +could give me half-an-hour before breakfast. It is a matter of great +importance." Tom, as he said this, assumed a most solemn face. + +"An hour if you like, my dear boy. I am generally up soon after six, +and am always out on horseback before breakfast as soon as the light +serves." + +"Then if you'll have me called at half-past seven I shall be ever so +much obliged to you." + +The next morning at eight the two were closeted together, and Tom +immediately extracted the parcel from his pocket and opened the +diamonds to view. "Upon my word that is a pretty little trinket," +said the Colonel, taking the necklace in his hand. + +"Three hundred guineas!" said Tom, opening his eyes very wide. + +"I daresay." + +"That is, it would have been three hundred guineas unless I had come +down with the ready. I made the fellow give me twenty per cent. off. +You should always remember this when you are buying jewelry." + +"And what is to be done with this pretty thing? I suppose it is +intended for some fair lady's neck." + +"Oh, of course." + +"And why has it been brought down to Aldershot? There are plenty of +fellows about this place who will get their hands into your pocket if +they know that you have such a trinket as that about you." + +"I will tell you why I brought it," said Tom, very gravely. "It is, +as you say, for a young lady. I intend to make that young lady my +wife. Of course this is a secret, you know." + +"It shall be sacred as the Pope's toe," said Stubbs. + +"Don't joke about it, Colonel, if you please. It's life and death to +me." + +"I'll keep your secret and will not joke. Now what can I do for you." + +"I must send this as a present with a letter. I must first tell you +that she has,--well, refused me." + +"That never means much the first time, old boy." + +"She has refused me half-a-dozen times, but I mean to go on with it. +If she refuses me two dozen times I'll try her a third dozen." + +"Then you are quite in earnest?" + +"I am. It's a kind of thing I know that men laugh about, but I don't +mind telling you that I am downright in love with her. The governor +approves of it." + +"She has got money, probably?" + +"Not a shilling;--not as much as would buy a pair of gloves. But I +don't love her a bit the less for that. As to income, the governor +will stump up like a brick. Now I want you to write the letter." + +"It's a kind of thing a third person can't do," said the Colonel, +when he had considered the request for a moment. + +"Why not? Yes, you can." + +"Do it yourself, and say just the simplest words as they come up. +They are sure to go further with any girl than what another man may +write. It is impossible that another man should be natural on such a +task as that." + +"Natural! I don't know about natural," said Tom, who was anxious now +to explain the character of the lady in question. "I don't know that +a letter that was particularly natural would please her. A touch of +poetry and romance would go further than anything natural." + +"Who is the lady?" asked the Colonel, who certainly was by this time +entitled to be so far inquisitive. + +"She is my cousin,--Ayala Dormer." + +"Who?" + +"Ayala Dormer;--my cousin. She was at Rome, but I do not think you +ever saw her there." + +"I have seen her since," said the Colonel. + +"Have you? I didn't know." + +"She was with my aunt, the Marchesa Baldoni." + +"Dear me! So she was. I never put the two things together. Don't you +admire her?" + +"Certainly I do. My dear fellow, I can't write this letter for you." +Then he put down the pen which he had taken up as though he had +intended to comply with his friend's request. "You may take it as +settled that I cannot write it." + +"No?" + +"Impossible. One man should never write such a letter for another +man. You had better give the thing in person,--that is, if you mean +to go on with the matter." + +"I shall certainly go on with it," said Tom, stoutly. + +"After a certain time, you know, reiterated offers do, you +know,--do,--do,--partake of the nature of persecution." + +"Reiterated refusals are the sort of persecution I don't like." + +"It seems to me that Ayala,--Miss Dormer. I mean,--should be +protected by a sort of feeling,--feeling of--of what I may perhaps +call her dependent position. She is peculiarly,--peculiarly +situated." + +"If she married me she would be much better situated. I could give +her everything she wants." + +"It isn't an affair of money, Mr. Tringle." + +Tom felt, from the use of the word Mister, that he was in some way +giving offence; but felt also that there was no true cause for +offence. "When a man offers everything," he said, "and asks for +nothing, I don't think he should be said to persecute." + +"After a time it becomes persecution. I am sure Ayala would feel it +so." + +"My cousin can't suppose that I am ill-using her," said Tom, who +disliked the "Ayala" quite as much as he did the "Mister." + +"Miss Dormer, I meant. I can have nothing further to say about it. I +can't write the letter, and I should not imagine that Ayala,--Miss +Dormer,--would be moved in the least by any present that could +possibly be made to her. I must go out now, if you don't mind, for +half-an-hour; but I shall be back in time for breakfast." + +Then Tom was left alone with the necklace lying on the table before +him. He knew that something was wrong with the Colonel, but could not +in the least guess what it might be. He was quite aware that early +in the interview the Colonel had encouraged him to persevere with +the lady, and had then, suddenly, not only advised him to desist, +but had told him in so many words that he was bound to desist out of +consideration for the lady. And the Colonel had spoken of his cousin +in a manner that was distasteful to him. He could not analyse his +feelings. He did not exactly know why he was displeased, but he was +displeased. The Colonel, when asked for his assistance, was, of +course, bound to talk about the lady,--would be compelled, by the +nature of the confidence, to mention the lady's name;--would even +have been called on to write her Christian name. But this he should +have done with a delicacy;--almost with a blush. Instead of that +Ayala's name had been common on his tongue. Tom felt himself to be +offended, but hardly knew why. And then, why had he been called +Mister Tringle? The breakfast, which was eaten shortly afterwards +in the company of three or four other men, was not eaten in +comfort;--and then Tom hurried back to London and to Lombard Street. + +After this failure Tom felt it to be impossible to go to another +friend for assistance. There had been annoyance in describing his +love to Colonel Stubbs, and pain in the treatment he had received. +Even had there been another friend to whom he could have confided the +task, he could not have brought himself to encounter the repetition +of such treatment. He was as firmly fixed as ever in his conviction +that he could not write the letter himself. And, as he thought of the +words with which he should accompany a personal presentation of the +necklace, he reflected that in all probability he might not be able +to force his way into Ayala's presence. Then a happy thought struck +him. Mrs. Dosett was altogether on his side. Everybody was on his +side except Ayala herself, and that pigheaded Colonel. Would it not +be an excellent thing to entrust the necklace to the hands of his +Aunt Dosett, in order that she might give it over to Ayala with all +the eloquence in her power. Satisfied with this project he at once +wrote a note to Mrs. Dosett. + + + MY DEAR AUNT, + + I want to see you on _most important business_. If I shall + not be troubling you, I will call upon you to-morrow at + ten o'clock, before I go to my place of business. + + Yours affectionately, + + T. TRINGLE, Junior. + + +On the following morning he apparelled himself with all his rings. +He was a good-hearted, well-intentioned young man, with excellent +qualities; but he must have been slow of intellect when he had not +as yet learnt the deleterious effect of all those rings. On this +occasion he put on his rings, his chains, and his bright waistcoat, +and made himself a thing disgusting to be looked at by any +well-trained female. As far as his aunt was concerned he would have +been altogether indifferent as to his appearance, but there was +present to his mind some small hope that he might be allowed to see +Ayala, as the immediate result of the necklace. Should he see Ayala, +then how unfortunate it would be that he should present himself +before the eyes of his mistress without those adornments which he did +not doubt would be grateful to her. He had heard from Ayala's own +lips that all things ought to be pretty. Therefore he endeavoured +to make himself pretty. Of course he failed,--as do all men who +endeavour to make themselves pretty,--but it was out of the question +that he should understand the cause of his failure. + +"Aunt Dosett, I want you to do me a very great favour," he began, +with a solemn voice. + +"Are you going to a party, Tom," she said. + +"A party! No,--who gives a party in London at this time of the day? +Oh, you mean because I have just got a few things on. When I call +anywhere I always do. I have got another lady to see, a lady of rank, +and so I just made a change." But this was a fib. + +"What can I do for you, Tom?" + +"I want you to look at that." Then he brought out the necklace, and, +taking it out of the case, displayed the gems tastefully upon the +table. + +"I do believe they are diamonds," said Mrs. Dosett. + +"Yes; they are diamonds. I am not the sort of fellow to get anything +sham. What do you think that little thing cost, Aunt Dosett?" + +"I haven't an idea. Sixty pounds, perhaps!" + +"Sixty pounds! Do you go into a jeweller's shop and see what you +could do among diamonds with sixty pounds!" + +"I never do go into jewellers' shops, Tom." + +"Nor I, very often. It's a sort of place where a fellow can drop a +lot of money. But I did go into one after this. It don't look much, +does it?" + +"It is very pretty." + +"I think it is pretty. Well, Aunt Dosett, the price for that little +trifle was three--hundred--guineas!" As he said this he looked into +his aunt's face for increased admiration. + +"You gave three hundred guineas for it!" + +"I went with ready money in my hand, when I tempted the man with a +cheque to let me have it for two hundred and fifty pounds. In buying +jewelry you should always do that." + +"I never buy jewelry," said Mrs. Dosett, crossly. + +"If you should, I mean. Now, I'll tell you what I want you to do. +This is for Ayala." + +"For Ayala!" + +"Yes, indeed. I am not the fellow to stick at a trifle when I want to +carry my purpose. I bought this the other day and gave ready money +for it,--two hundred and fifty pounds,--on purpose to give it to +Ayala. In naming the value,--of course you'll do that when you give +it her,--you might as well say three hundred guineas. That was the +price on the ticket. I saw it myself,--so there won't be any untruth +you know." + +"Am I to give it her?" + +"That's just what I want. When I talk to her she flares up, and, as +likely as not, she'd fling the necklace at my head." + +"She wouldn't do that, I hope." + +"It would depend upon how the thing went. When I do talk to her it +always seems that nothing I say can be right. Now, if you will give +it her you can put in all manner of pretty things." + +"This itself will be the prettiest thing," said Mrs. Dosett. + +"That's just what I was thinking. Everybody agrees that diamonds will +go further with a girl than anything else. When I told the governor +he quite jumped at the idea." + +"Sir Thomas knows you are giving it?" + +"Oh, dear, yes. I had to get the rhino from him. I don't go about +with two hundred and fifty pounds always in my own pocket." + +"If he had sent the money to Ayala how much better it would have +been," said poor Mrs. Dosett. + +"I don't think that at all. Who ever heard of making a present to a +young lady in money. Ayala is romantic, and that would have been the +most unromantic thing out. That would not have done me the least good +in the world. It would simply have gone to buy boots and petticoats +and such like. A girl would never be brought to think of her lover +merely by putting on a pair of boots. When she fastens such a +necklace as this round her throat he ought to have a chance. Don't +you think so, Aunt Dosett?" + +"Tom, shall I tell you something?" said the aunt. + +"What is it, Aunt Dosett?" + +"I don't believe that you have a chance." + +"Do you mean that?" he asked, sorrowfully. + +"I do." + +"You think that the necklace will do no good?" + +"Not the least. Of course I will offer it to her if you wish it, +because her uncle and I quite approve of you as a husband for Ayala. +But I am bound to tell you the truth. I do not think the necklace +will do you any good." Then he sat silent for a time, meditating upon +his condition. It might be imprudent;--it might be a wrong done to +his father to jeopardise the necklace. How could it be if Ayala were +to take the necklace and not to take him? "Am I to give it?" she +asked. + +"Yes," said he, bravely, but with a sigh; "give it her all the same." + +"From you or from Sir Thomas?" + +"Oh, from me;--from me. If she were told it came from the governor +she'd keep it whether or no. I am sure I hope she will keep it," he +said, trying to remove the bad impression which his former words +might perhaps have left. + +"You may be sure she will not keep it," said Mrs. Dosett, "unless she +should intend to accept your hand. Of that I can hold out no hope to +you. There is a matter, Tom, which I think I should tell you as you +are so straightforward in your offer. Another gentleman has asked her +to marry him." + +"She has accepted him!" exclaimed Tom. + +"No, she has not accepted him. She has refused him." + +"Then I'm just where I was," said Tom. + +"She has refused him, but I think that she is in a sort of way +attached to him; and though he too has been refused I imagine that +his chance is better than yours." + +"And who the d---- is he?" said Tom, jumping up from his seat in +great excitement. + +"Tom!" exclaimed Mrs. Dosett. + +"I beg your pardon; but you see this is very important. Who is the +fellow?" + +"He is one Colonel Jonathan Stubbs." + +"Who?" + +"Colonel Jonathan Stubbs." + +"Impossible! It can't be Colonel Stubbs. I know Colonel Stubbs." + +"I can assure you it is true, Tom. I have had a letter from a +lady,--a relative of Colonel Stubbs,--telling me the whole story." + +"Colonel Stubbs!" he said. "That passes anything I ever heard. She +has refused him?" + +"Yes, she has refused him." + +"And has not accepted him since?" + +"She certainly has not accepted him yet." + +"You may give her the bracelet all the same," said Tom, hurrying out +of the room. That Colonel Stubbs should have made an offer to Ayala, +and yet have accepted his, Tom Tringle's, confidence! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +TOM'S DESPAIR. + + +The reader will understand that the fate of the necklace was very +soon decided. Ayala declared that it was very beautiful. She had, +indeed, a pretty taste for diamonds, and would have been proud enough +to call this necklace her own; but, as she declared to her aunt, she +would not accept Tom though he were made of diamonds from head to +foot. Accept Tom, when she could not even bring herself to think of +becoming the wife of Jonathan Stubbs! If Colonel Stubbs could not be +received by her imagination as an Angel of Light, how immeasurably +distant from anything angelic must be Tom Tringle! "Of course it must +go back," she said, when the question had to be decided as to the +future fate of the necklace. As a consequence poor Mr. Dosett was +compelled to make a special journey into the City, and to deposit a +well-sealed parcel in the hands of Tom Tringle himself. "Your cousin +sends her kind regards," he said, "but cannot bring herself to accept +your magnificent present." + +Tom had been very much put about since his visit to the Crescent. Had +his aunt merely told him that his present would be inefficacious, +he would have taken that assurance as being simply her opinion, and +would have still entertained some hopes in the diamonds. But these +tidings as to another lover crushed him altogether. And such a lover! +The very man whom he had asked to write his letter for him! Why +had not Colonel Stubbs told him the truth when thus his own secret +had become revealed by an accident? He understood it all now,--the +"Ayala," and the "Mister," and the reason why the Colonel could not +write the letter. Then he became very angry with the Colonel, whom he +bitterly accused of falsehood and treason. What right had the Colonel +to meddle with his cousin at all? And how false he had been to say +nothing of what he himself had done when his rival had told him +everything! In this way he made up his mind that it was his duty +to hate Colonel Stubbs, and if possible to inflict some personal +punishment upon him. He was reckless of himself now, and, if he could +only get one good blow at the Colonel's head with a thick stick, +would be indifferent as to what the law might do with him afterwards. +Or perhaps he might be able to provoke Colonel Stubbs to fight with +him. He had an idea that duels at present were not in fashion. But +nevertheless, in such a case as this, a man ought to fight. He could +at any rate have the gratification of calling the Colonel a coward if +he should refuse to fight. + +He was the more wretched because his spirit within him was cowed +by the idea of the Colonel. He did acknowledge to himself that his +chance could be but bad while such a rival as Colonel Stubbs stood in +his way. He tried to argue with himself that it was not so. As far as +he knew, Colonel Stubbs was and would remain a very much less rich +man than himself. He doubted very much whether Colonel Stubbs could +keep a carriage in London for his wife, while it had been already +arranged that he was to be allowed to do so should he succeed in +marrying Ayala. To be a partner in the house of Travers and Treason +was a much greater thing than to be a Colonel. But, though he assured +himself of all this again and again, still he was cowed. There was +something about the Colonel which did more than redeem his red +hair and ugly mouth. And of this something poor Tom was sensible. +Nevertheless, if occasion should arise he thought that he could +"punch the Colonel's head";--not without evil consequence to +himself;--but still that he could "punch the Colonel's head," not +minding the consequences. + +Such had been his condition of mind when he left the Crescent, and it +was not improved by the receipt of the parcel. He hardly said a word +when his uncle put it into his hands, merely muttering something and +consigning the diamonds to his desk. He did not tell himself that +Ayala must now be abandoned. It would have been better for him if he +could have done so. But all real, springing, hopeful hope departed +from his bosom. This came from the Colonel, rather than from the +rejected necklace. + +"Did you send that jewelry?" his father asked him some days +afterwards. + +"Yes; I sent it." + +"And what has now become of it?" + +"It is in my desk there." + +"Did she send it back again?" + +"It came back. My Uncle Dosett brought it. I do not want to say +anything more about it, if you please." + +"I am sorry for that, Tom;--very sorry. As you had set your heart +upon it I wish it could have been as you would have it. But the +necklace should not be left there." Tom shook his head in despair. + +"You had better let me have the necklace. It is not that I should +grudge it to you, Tom, if it could do you any good." + +"You shall have it, Sir." + +"It will be better so. That was the understanding." Then the necklace +was transferred to some receptacle belonging to Sir Thomas himself, +the lock of which might probably be more secure than that of Tom's +desk, and there it remained in its case, still folded in the various +papers in which Mrs. Dosett had encased it. + +Then Tom found it necessary to adopt some other mode of life for his +own consolation and support. He had told his father on one occasion +that he had devoted himself for a fortnight to champagne and the +theatres. But this had been taken as a joke. He had been fairly +punctual at his place of business and had shown no symptoms of fast +living. But now it occurred to him that fast living would be the only +thing for him. He had been quite willing to apply himself to marriage +and a steady life; but fortune had not favoured him. If he drank +too much now, and lay in bed, and became idle, it was not his fault. +There came into his head an idea that Ayala and Colonel Stubbs +between them must look to that. Could he meet Ayala he would explain +to her how his character as a moral man had been altogether destroyed +by her conduct;--and should he meet Colonel Stubbs he would explain +something to him also. + +A new club had been established in London lately called the +Mountaineers, which had secured for itself handsome lodgings in +Piccadilly, and considered itself to be, among clubs, rather a +comfortable institution than otherwise. It did not as yet affect +much fashion, having hitherto secured among its members only two +lords,--and they were lords by courtesy. But it was a pleasant, +jovial place, in which the delights of young men were not impeded +by the austerity of their elders. Its name would be excused only on +the plea that all other names available for a club had already been +appropriated in the metropolis. There was certainly nothing in the +club peculiarly applicable to mountains. But then there are other +clubs in London with names which might be open to similar criticism. +It was the case that many young men engaged in the City had been +enrolled among its members, and it was from this cause, no doubt, +that Tom Tringle was regarded as being a leading light among the +Mountaineers. It was here that the champagne had been drunk to which +Tom had alluded when talking of his love to his father. Now, in his +despair, it seemed good to him to pass a considerable portion of his +time among the Mountaineers. + +"You'll dine here, Faddle?" he said one evening to a special friend +of his, a gentleman also from the City, with whom he had been dining +a good deal during the last week. + +"I suppose I shall," said Faddle, "but ain't we coming it a little +strong? They want to know at the Gardens what the deuce it is I'm +about." The Gardens was a new row of houses, latterly christened +Badminton Gardens, in which resided the father and mother of Faddle. + +"I've given up all that kind of thing," said Tom. + +"Your people are not in London." + +"It will make no difference when they do come up. I call an evening +in the bosom of one's family about the slowest thing there is. The +bosom must do without me for the future." + +"Won't your governor cut up rough?" + +"He must cut up as he pleases. But I rather fancy he knows all about +it. I shan't spend half as much money this way as if I had a house +and wife and family,--and what we may call a bosom of one's own." +Then they had dinner and went to the theatre, and played billiards, +and had supper, and spent the night in a manner very delightful, no +doubt, to themselves, but of which their elder friends could hardly +have approved. + +There was a good deal of this following upon the episode of the +necklace, and it must be told with regret that our young hero fell +into certain exploits which were by no means creditable to him. More +than one good-humoured policeman had helped him home to his lodgings; +but alas, on Christmas Eve, he fell into the hands of some guardian +of the peace who was not quite sufficiently good-natured, and Tom +passed the night and the greater part of the following morning, +recumbent, he in one cell, and his friend Faddle in the next, with an +intimation that they would certainly be taken before a magistrate on +the day after Christmas Day. + +Oh, Ayala! Ayala! It must be acknowledged that you were in a measure +responsible;--and not only for the lamentable condition of your +lover, but also of that of his friend. For, in his softer moments, +Tom had told every thing to Faddle, and Faddle had declared that +he would be true to the death to a friend suffering such unmerited +misfortune. Perhaps the fidelity of Faddle may have owed something +to the fact that Tom's pecuniary allowances were more generous than +those accorded to himself. To Ayala must be attributed the occurrence +of these misfortunes. But Tom in his more fiery moments,--those +moments which would come between the subsidence of actual sobriety +and the commencement of intoxication,--attributed all his misfortunes +to the Colonel. "Faddle," he would say in these moments, "of course +I know that I'm a ruined man. Of course I'm aware that all this is +only a prelude to some ignominious end. I have not sunk to this +kind of thing without feeling it." "You'll be right enough some day, +old fellow," Faddle would reply. "I shall live to be godfather to +the first boy." "Never, Faddle!" Tom replied. "All those hopes have +vanished. You'll never live to see any child of mine. And I know well +where to look for my enemy. Stubbs indeed! I'll Stubbs him. If I can +only live to be revenged on that traitor then I shall die contented. +Though he shot me through the heart, I should die contented." + +This had happened a little before that unfortunate Christmas Eve. Up +to this time Sir Thomas, though he had known well that his son had +not been living as he should do, had been mild in his remonstrances, +and had said nothing at Merle Park to frighten Lady Tringle. But the +affair of Christmas Eve came to his ears with all its horrors. A +policeman whom Tom had struck with his fist in the pit of the stomach +had not been civil enough to accept this mark of familiarity with +good humour. He had been much inconvenienced by the blow, and had +insisted upon giving testimony to this effect before the magistrate. +There had been half-an-hour, he said, in which he had hung dubious +between this world and the next, so great had been the violence of +the blow, and so deadly its direction! The magistrate was one of +those just men who find a pleasure and a duty in protecting the +police of the metropolis. It was no case, he declared, for a fine. +What would be a fine to such a one as Thomas Tringle, junior! And +Tom,--Tom Tringle, the only son of Sir Thomas Tringle, the senior +partner in the great house of Travers and Treason,--was ignominiously +locked up for a week. Faddle, who had not struck the blow, was +allowed to depart with a fine and a warning. Oh, Ayala, Ayala, this +was thy doing! + +When the sentence was known Sir Thomas used all his influence to +extricate his unfortunate son, but in vain. Tom went through his +penalty, and, having no help from champagne, doubtless had a bad time +of it. Ayala, Stubbs, the policeman, and the magistrate, seemed to +have conspired to destroy him. But the week at last dragged itself +out, and then Tom found himself confronted with his father in the +back-parlour of the house in Queen's Gate. "Tom," he said, "this is +very bad!" + +"It is bad, Sir," said Tom. + +"You have disgraced me, and your mother, and yourself. You have +disgraced Travers and Treason!" Poor Tom shook his head. "It will be +necessary, I fear, that you should leave the house altogether." Tom +stood silent without a word. "A young man who has been locked up in +prison for a week for maltreating a policeman can hardly expect to be +entrusted with such concerns as those of Travers and Treason. I and +your poor mother cannot get rid of you and the disgrace which you +have entailed upon us. Travers and Treason can easily get rid of +you." Tom knew very well that his father was, in fact, Travers and +Treason, but he did not yet feel that an opportunity had come in +which he could wisely speak a word. "What have you got to say for +yourself, Sir?" demanded Sir Thomas. + +"Of course, I'm very sorry," muttered Tom. + +"Sorry, Tom! A young man holding your position in Travers and Treason +ought not to have to be sorry for having been locked up in prison for +a week for maltreating a policeman! What do you think must be done, +yourself?" + +"The man had been hauling me about in the street." + +"You were drunk, no doubt." + +"I had been drinking. I am not going to tell a lie about it. But he +needn't have done as he did. Faddle knows that, and can tell you." + +"What can have driven you to associate with such a young man as +Faddle? That is the worst part of it. Do you know what Faddle and +Company are,--stock jobbers, who ten years ago hadn't a thousand +pounds in the way of capital among them! They've been connected with +a dozen companies, none of which are floating now, and have made +money out of them all! Do you think that Travers and Treason will +accept a young man as a partner who associates with such people as +that?" + +"I have seen old Faddle's name and yours on the same prospectus +together, Sir." + +"What has that to do with it? You never saw him inside our counter. +What a name to appear along with yours in such an affair as this! If +it hadn't been for that, you might have got over it. Young men will +be young men. Faddle! I think you will have to go abroad for a time, +till it has been forgotten." + +"I should like to stay, just at present, Sir," said Tom. + +"What good can you do?" + +"All the same, I should like to stay, Sir." + +"I was thinking that, if you were to take a tour through the United +States, go across to San Francisco, then up to Japan, and from thence +through some of the Chinese cities down to Calcutta and Bombay, +you might come back by the Euphrates Valley to Constantinople, see +something of Bulgaria and those countries, and so home by Vienna and +Paris. The Euphrates Valley Railway will be finished by that time, +perhaps, and Bulgaria will be as settled as Hertfordshire. You'd see +something of the world, and I could let it be understood that you +were travelling on behalf of Travers and Treason. By the time that +you were back, people in the City would have forgotten the policeman, +and if you could manage to write home three or four letters about our +trade with Japan and China, they would be willing to forget Faddle." + +"But, Sir--" + +"Shouldn't you like a tour of that kind?" + +"Very much indeed, Sir;--only--" + +"Only what, Tom?" + +"Ayala!" said Tom, hardly able to suppress a sob as he uttered the +fatal name. + +"Tom, don't be a fool. You can't make a young woman have you if she +doesn't choose. I have done all that I could for you, because I saw +that you'd set your heart upon it. I went to her myself, and then I +gave two hundred and fifty pounds for that bauble. I am told I shall +have to lose a third of the sum in getting rid of it." + +"Ricolay told me that he'd take it back at two hundred and twenty," +said Tom, whose mind, prostrate as it was, was still alive to +consideration of profit and loss. + +"Never mind that for the present," said Sir Thomas. "Don't you +remember the old song?--'If she will, she will, you may depend on't. +And if she won't she won't; and there's an end on't.' You ought to be +a man and pluck up your spirits. Are you going to allow a little girl +to knock you about in that way?" Tom only shook his head, and looked +as if he was very ill. In truth, the champagne, and the imprisonment, +and Ayala together, had altogether altered his appearance. "We've +done what we could about it, and now it is time to give it over. Let +me hear you say that you will give it over." Tom stood speechless +before his father. "Speak the word, and the thing will be done," +continued Sir Thomas, endeavouring to encourage the young man. + +"I can't," said Tom, sighing. + +"Nonsense!" + +"I have tried, and I can't." + +"Tom, do you mean to say that you are going to lose everything +because a chit of a girl like that turns up her nose at you?" + +"It's no use my going while things are like this," said Tom. "If I +were to get to New York, I should come back by the next ship. As for +letters about business, I couldn't settle my mind to anything of the +kind." + +"Then you're not the man I took you to be," said the father. + +"I could be man enough," said Tom, clenching his fist, "if I could +get hold of Colonel Stubbs." + +"Colonel who?" + +"Stubbs! Jonathan Stubbs! I know what I'm talking about. I'm not +going to America, nor China, nor anything else, till I've polished +him off. It's all very well your abusing me, but you don't know what +it is I have suffered. As for being called a man I don't care about +it. What I should like best would be to get Ayala on one side and +Stubbs on the other, and then all three to go off the Duke of York's +Column together. It's no good talking about Travers and Treason. I +don't care for Travers and Treason as I am now. If you'll get Ayala +to say that she'll have me, I'll go to the shop every morning at +eight and stay till nine; and as for the Mountaineers it may all go +to the d---- for me." Then he rushed out of the room, banging the +door after him. + +Sir Thomas, when he was thus left, stood for awhile with his hands +in his trousers' pockets, contemplating the condition of his son. It +was wonderful to him that a boy of his should be afflicted in this +manner. When he had been struck by the juvenile beauties of Emmeline +Dosett he had at once asked the young lady to share his fortunes with +him, and the young lady had speedily acceded to his request. Then he +had been married, and that was all he had ever known of the troubles +of love. He could not but think, looking back at it as he did now +from a distance, that had Emmeline been hard-hearted he would have +endured the repulse and have passed on speedily to some other +charmer. But Tom had been wounded after a fashion which seemed +to him to have been very uncommon. It might be possible that he +should recover in time, but while undergoing recovery he would be +ruined;--so great were the young man's sufferings! Now Sir Thomas, +though he had spoken to Tom with all the severity which he had been +able to assume, though he had abused Faddle, and had vindicated the +injured dignity of Travers and Treason with all his eloquence; though +he had told Tom it was unmanly to give way to his love, yet, of +living creatures, Tom was at this moment the dearest to his heart. He +had never for an instant entertained the idea of expelling Tom from +Travers and Treason because of the policeman, or because of Faddle. +What should he do for the poor boy now? Was there any argument, any +means of persuasion, by which he could induce that foolish little +girl to accept all the good things which he was ready to do for her? +Could he try yet once again himself, with any chance of success? + +Thinking of all this, he stood there for an hour alone with his hands +in his trousers' pockets. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +ISADORE HAMEL IN LOMBARD STREET. + + +In following the results of Tom's presentation of the necklace we +have got beyond the period which our story is presumed to have +reached. Tom was in durance during the Christmas week, but we must go +back to the promise which had been made by her uncle, Sir Thomas, to +Lucy about six weeks before that time. The promise had extended only +to an undertaking on the part of Sir Thomas to see Isadore Hamel if +he would call at the house in Lombard Street at a certain hour on a +certain day. Lucy was overwhelmed with gratitude when the promise was +made. A few moments previously she had been indignant because her +uncle had appeared to speak of her and her lover as two beggars,--but +Sir Thomas had explained and in some sort apologised, and then had +come the promise which to Lucy seemed to contain an assurance of +effectual aid. Sir Thomas would not have asked to see the lover had +he intended to be hostile to the lover. Something would be done to +solve the difficulty which had seemed to Lucy to be so grave. She +would not any longer be made to think that she should give up either +her lover or her home under her uncle's roof. This had been terribly +distressing to her because she had been well aware that on leaving +her uncle's house she could be taken in only by her lover, to whom an +immediate marriage would be ruinous. And yet she could not undertake +to give up her lover. Therefore her uncle's promise had made her very +happy, and she forgave the ungenerous allusion to the two beggars. + +The letter was written to Isadore in high spirits. "I do not know +what Uncle Tom intends, but he means to be kind. Of course you must +go to him, and if I were you I would tell him everything about +everything. He is not strict and hard like Aunt Emmeline. She means +to be good too, but she is sometimes so very hard. I am happier +now because I think something will be done to relieve you from the +terrible weight which I am to you. I sometimes wish that you had +never come to me in Kensington Gardens, because I have become such a +burden to you." + +There was much more in which Lucy no doubt went on to declare that, +burden as she was, she intended to be persistent. Hamel, when he +received this letter, was resolved to keep the appointment made for +him, but his hopes were not very high. He had been angry with Lady +Tringle,--in the first place, because of her treatment of himself at +Glenbogie, and then much more strongly, because she had been cruel +to Lucy. Nor did he conceive himself to be under any strong debt +of gratitude to Sir Thomas, though he had been invited to lunch. +He was aware that the Tringles had despised him, and he repaid +the compliment with all his heart by despising the Tringles. They +were to him samples of the sort of people which he thought to be of +all the most despicable. They were not only vulgar and rich, but +purse-proud and conceited as well. To his thinking there was nothing +of which such people were entitled to be proud. Of course they +make money,--money out of money, an employment which he regarded +as vile,--creating nothing either useful or beautiful. To create +something useful was, to his thinking, very good. To create something +beautiful was almost divine. To manipulate millions till they should +breed other millions was the meanest occupation for a life's energy. +It was thus, I fear, that Mr. Hamel looked at the business carried on +in Lombard Street, being as yet very young in the world and seeing +many things with distorted eyes. + +He was aware that some plan would be proposed to him which might +probably accelerate his marriage, but was aware also that he would be +very unwilling to take advice from Sir Thomas. Sir Thomas, no doubt, +would be coarse and rough, and might perhaps offer him pecuniary +assistance in a manner which would make it impossible for him to +accept it. He had told himself a score of times that, poor as he was, +he did not want any of the Tringle money. His father's arbitrary +conduct towards him had caused him great misery. He had been brought +up in luxury, and had felt it hard enough to be deprived of his +father's means because he would not abandon the mode of life that +was congenial to him. But having been thus, as it were, cast off +by his father, he had resolved that it behoved him to depend only +on himself. In the matter of his love he was specially prone to be +indignant and independent. No one had a right to dictate to him, +and he would follow the dictation of none. To Lucy alone did he +acknowledge any debt, and to her he owed everything. But even for +her sake he could not condescend to accept Sir Thomas's money, and +with his money his advice. Lucy had begged him in her letter to tell +everything to her uncle. He would tell Sir Thomas everything as to +his income, his prospects, and his intentions, because Sir Thomas as +Lucy's uncle would be entitled to such information. But he thought it +very improbable that he should accept any counsel from Sir Thomas. + +Such being the condition of Hamel's mind it was to be feared that but +little good would come from his visit to Lombard Street. Lucy had +simply thought that her uncle, out of his enormous stores, would +provide an adequate income. Hamel thought that Sir Thomas, out of his +enormous impudence, would desire to dictate everything. Sir Thomas +was, in truth, anxious to be good-natured, and to do a kindness to +his niece; but was not willing to give his money without being sure +that he was putting it into good hands. + +"Oh, you're Hamel," said a young man to him, speaking to him across +the counter in the Lombard Street office. This was Tom, who, as the +reader will remember, had not yet got into his trouble on account of +the policeman. + +Tom and Hamel had never met but once before, for a few moments in the +Coliseum at Rome, and the artist, not remembering him, did not know +by whom he was accosted in this familiar manner. "That is my name, +Sir," said Hamel. "Here is my card. Perhaps you will do me the +kindness to take it to Sir Thomas Tringle." + +"All right, old fellow; I know all about it. He has got Puxley with +him from the Bank of England just at this moment. Come through into +this room. He'll soon have polished off old Puxley." Tom was no more +to Hamel than any other clerk, and he felt himself to be aggrieved; +but he followed Tom into the room as he was told, and then prepared +to wait in patience for the convenience of the great man. "So you and +Lucy are going to make a match of it," said Tom. + +This was terrible to Hamel. Could it be possible that all the clerks +in Lombard Street talked of his Lucy in this way, because she was the +niece of their senior partner? Were all the clerks, as a matter of +course, instructed in the most private affairs of the Tringle family? +"I am here in obedience to directions from Sir Thomas," said Hamel, +ignoring altogether the impudent allusion which the young man had +made. + +"Of course you are. Perhaps you don't know who I am?" + +"Not in the least," said Hamel. + +"I am Thomas Tringle, junior," said Tom, with a little accession of +dignity. + +"I beg your pardon; I did not know," said Hamel. + +"You and I ought to be thick," rejoined Tom, "because I'm going in +for Ayala. Perhaps you've heard that before?" + +Hamel had heard it and was well aware that Tom was to Ayala an +intolerable burden, like the old man of the sea. He had heard of Tom +as poor Ayala's pet aversion,--as a lover not to be shaken off though +he had been refused a score of times. Ayala was to the sculptor only +second in sacredness to Lucy. And now he was told by Tom himself that +he was--"going in for Ayala." The expression was so distressing to +his feelings that he shuddered when he heard it. Was it possible that +any one should say of him that he was "going in" for Lucy? At that +moment Sir Thomas opened the door, and grasping Hamel by the hand led +him away into his own sanctum. + +"And now, Mr. Hamel," said Sir Thomas, in his cheeriest voice, "how +are you?" Hamel declared that he was very well, and expressed a hope +that Sir Thomas was the same. "I am not so young as I was, Mr. Hamel. +My years are heavier and so is my work. That's the worst of it. When +one is young and strong one very often hasn't enough to do. I daresay +you find it so sometimes." + +"In our profession," said Hamel, "we go on working, though very often +we do not sell what we do." + +"That's bad," said Sir Thomas. + +"It is the case always with an artist before he has made a name for +himself. It is the case with many up to the last day of a life of +labour. An artist has to look for that, Sir Thomas." + +"Dear me! That seems very sad. You are a sculptor, I believe?" + +"Yes, Sir Thomas." + +"And the things you make must take a deal of room and be very heavy." +At this Mr. Hamel only smiled. "Don't you think if you were to call +an auction you'd get something for them?" At this suggestion the +sculptor frowned but condescended to make no reply. Sir Thomas went +on with his suggestion. "If you and half-a-dozen other beginners made +a sort of gallery among you, people would buy them as they do those +things in the Marylebone Road and stick them up somewhere about their +grounds. It would be better than keeping them and getting nothing." +Hamel had in his studio at home an allegorical figure of Italia +United, and another of a Prostrate Roman Catholic Church, which +in his mind's eye he saw for a moment stuck here or there about +the gardens of some such place as Glenbogie! Into them had been +infused all the poetry of his nature and all the conviction of his +intelligence. He had never dreamed of selling them. He had never +dared to think that any lover of Art would encourage him to put into +marble those conceptions of his genius which now adorned his studio, +standing there in plaster of Paris. But to him they were so valuable, +they contained so much of his thoughts, so many of his aspirations, +that even had the marble counterparts been ordered and paid for +nothing would have induced him to part with the originals. Now he was +advised to sell them by auction in order that he might rival those +grotesque tradesmen whose business it is to populate the gardens of +wealthy but tasteless Britons! It was thus that the idea represented +itself to him. He simply smiled; but Sir Thomas did not fail to +appreciate the smile. + +"And now about this young lady?" said Sir Thomas, not altogether in +so good a humour as he had been when he began his suggestion. "It's a +bad look out for her when, as you say, you cannot sell your work when +you've done it." + +"I think you do not quite understand the matter, Sir Thomas." + +"Perhaps not. It certainly does seem unintelligible that a man should +lumber himself up with a lot of things which he cannot sell. A +tradesman would know that he must get into the bankruptcy court if +he were to go on like that. And what is sauce for the goose will +be sauce for the gander also." Mr. Hamel again smiled but held his +tongue. "If you can't sell your wares how can you keep a wife?" + +"My wares, as you call them, are of two kinds. One, though no doubt +made for sale, is hardly saleable. The other is done to order. Such +income as I make comes from the latter." + +"Heads," suggested Sir Thomas. + +"Busts they are generally called." + +"Well, busts. I call them heads. They are heads. A bust, I take it, +is--well, never mind." Sir Thomas found a difficulty in defining his +idea of a bust. "A man wants to have something more or less like some +one to put up in a church and then he pays you." + +"Or perhaps in his library. But he can put it where he likes when he +has bought it." + +"Just so. But there ain't many of those come in your way, if I +understand right." + +"Not as many as I would wish." + +"What can you net at the end of the year? That's the question." + +Lucy had recommended him to tell Sir Thomas everything; and he had +come there determined to tell at any rate everything referring to +money. He had not the slightest desire to keep the amount of his +income from Sir Thomas. But the questions were put to him in so +distasteful a way that he could not bring himself to be confidential. +"It varies with various circumstances, but it is very small." + +"Very small? Five hundred a year?" This was ill-natured, because Sir +Thomas knew that Mr. Hamel did not earn five hundred a year. But he +was becoming acerbated by the young man's manner. + +"Oh dear, no," said Hamel. + +"Four hundred?" + +"Nor four hundred,--nor three. I have never netted three hundred in +one year after paying the incidental expenses." + +"That seems to me to be uncommonly little for a young man who is +thinking of marrying. Don't you think you had better give it up?" + +"I certainly think nothing of the kind." + +"Does your father do anything for you?" + +"Nothing at all." + +"He also makes heads?" + +"Heads,--and other things." + +"And sells them when he has made them." + +"Yes, Sir Thomas; he sells them. He had a hard time once, but now he +is run after. He refuses more orders than he can accept." + +"And he won't do anything for you." + +"Nothing. He has quarreled with me." + +"That is very bad. Well now, Mr. Hamel, would you mind telling me +what your ideas are?" Sir Thomas, when he asked the question, still +intended to give assistance, was still minded that the young people +should by his assistance be enabled to marry. But he was strongly of +opinion that it was his duty, as a rich and protecting uncle, to say +something about imprudence, and to magnify difficulties. It certainly +would be wrong for an uncle, merely because he was rich, to give +away his money to dependent relatives without any reference to those +hard principles which a possessor of money always feels it to be his +business to inculcate. And up to this point Hamel had done nothing +to ingratiate himself. Sir Thomas was beginning to think that the +sculptor was an impudent prig, and to declare to himself that, should +the marriage ever take place, the young couple would not be made +welcome at Glenbogie or Merle Park. But still he intended to go on +with his purpose, for Lucy's sake. Therefore he asked the sculptor as +to his ideas generally. + +"My idea is that I shall marry Miss Dormer, and support her on the +earnings of my profession. My idea is that I shall do so before long, +in comfort. My idea also is, that she will be the last to complain +of any discomfort which may arise from my straitened circumstances +at present. My idea is that I am preparing for myself a happy +and independent life. My idea also is,--and I assure you that of +all my ideas this is the one to which I cling with the fondest +assurance,--that I will do my very best to make her life happy when +she comes to grace my home." + +There was a manliness in this which would have touched Sir Thomas +had he been in a better humour, but, as it was, he had been so much +irritated by the young man's manner, that he could not bring himself +to be just. "Am I to understand that you intend to marry on something +under three hundred a year?" + +Hamel paused a moment before he made his reply. "How am I to answer +such a question," he said, at last, "seeing that Miss Dormer is in +your hands, and that you are unlikely to be influenced by anything +that I may say?" + +"I shall be very much influenced," said Sir Thomas. + +"Were her father still alive, I think we should have put our heads +together, and between us decided on what might have been best for +Lucy's happiness." + +"Do you think that I'm indifferent to her happiness?" demanded Sir +Thomas. + +"I should have suggested to him," continued Hamel, not noticing the +last question, "that she should remain in her own home till I could +make one for her worthy of her acceptance. And then we should have +arranged among us what would have been best for her happiness. I +cannot do this with you. If you tell her to-morrow that she must give +up either your protection or her engagement with me, then she must +come to me, and make the best of all the little that I can do for +her." + +"Who says that I'm going to turn her out?" said Sir Thomas, rising +angrily from his chair. + +"I do not think that any one has said this of you." + +"Then why do you throw it in my teeth?" + +"Because your wife has threatened it." + +Then Sir Thomas boiled over in his anger. "No one has threatened it. +It is untrue. You are guilty both of impertinence and untruth in +saying so." Here Hamel rose from his chair, and took up his hat. +"Stop, young man, and hear what I have to say to you. I have done +nothing but good to my niece." + +"Nevertheless, it is true, Sir Thomas, that she has been told by your +wife that she must either abandon me or the protection of your roof. +I find no fault with Lady Tringle for saying so. It may have been the +natural expression of a judicious opinion. But when you ask after my +intentions in reference to your niece I am bound to tell you that I +propose to subject her to the undoubted inconveniences of my poor +home, simply because I find her to be threatened with the loss of +another." + +"She has not been threatened, Sir." + +"You had better ask your wife, Sir Thomas. And, if you find that what +I have said is true, I think you will own that I have been obliged to +explain myself as I have done. As you have told me to my face that +I have been guilty of untruth, I shall now leave you." With this he +walked out of the room, and the words which Sir Thomas threw after +him had no effect in recalling him. + +It must be acknowledged that Hamel had been very foolish in referring +to Aunt Emmeline's threat. Who does not know that words are +constantly used which are intended to have no real effect? Who does +not know that an angry woman will often talk after this fashion? +But it was certainly the fact that Aunt Emmeline had more than once +declared to Lucy that she could not be allowed to remain one of +that family unless she would give up her lover. Lucy, in her loyal +endeavours to explain to her lover her own position, had told him of +the threat, and he, from that moment, had held himself prepared to +find a home for his future wife should that threat be carried into +execution. Sir Thomas was well aware that such words had been spoken, +but he knew his wife, and knew how little such words signified. His +wife, without his consent, would not have the power to turn a dog +from Merle Park. The threat had simply been an argument intended to +dissuade Lucy from her choice; and now it had been thrown in his +teeth just when he had intended to make provision for this girl, who +was not, in truth, related to him, in order that he might ratify her +choice! He was very angry with the young prig who had thus rushed out +of his presence. He was angry, too, with his wife, who had brought +him into his difficulty by her foolish threat. But he was angry, +also, with himself, knowing that he had been wrong to accuse the man +of a falsehood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +"I NEVER THREATENED TO TURN YOU OUT." + + +Then there were written the following letters, which were sent and +received before Sir Thomas went to Merle Park, and therefore, also, +before he again saw Lucy. + + + DEAREST, DEAREST LOVE, + + I have been, as desired, to Lombard Street, but I fear + that my embassy has not led to any good. I know myself + to be about as bad an ambassador as any one can send. An + ambassador should be soft and gentle,--willing to make + the best of everything, and never prone to take offence, + nor should he be addicted specially to independence. I + am ungentle, and apt to be suspicious,--especially if + anything be said derogatory to my art. I am proud of being + an artist, but I am often ashamed of myself because I + exhibit my pride. I may say the same of my spirit of + independence. I am determined to be independent if I + live,--but I find my independence sometimes kicking up its + heels, till I hate it myself. + + From this you will perceive that I have not had a success + in Lombard Street. I was quite willing to answer your + uncle any questions he could ask about money. Indeed, + I had no secret from him on any subject. But when he + subjected me to cross-examination, forcing me into a + bathos of poverty, as he thought, I broke down. "Not five + hundred a-year!" "Not four!!" "Not three!!!" "Oh, heavens! + and you propose to take a wife!" You will understand how I + writhed and wriggled under the scorn. + + And then there came something worse than this,--or rather, + if I remember rightly, the worst thing came first. You + were over in my studio, and will remember, perhaps, + some of my own abortive treasures, those melancholy but + soul-inspiring creations of which I have thought so much, + and others have thought so little? That no one else should + value them is natural, but to me it seems unnatural, + almost cruel, that any one should tell me to my face that + they were valueless. Your uncle, of course, had never seen + them, but he knew that sculptors are generally burdened + with these "wares," as he called them; and he suggested + that I should sell them by auction for what they might + fetch,--in order that the corners which they occupy might + be vacant. He thought that, perhaps, they might do for + country gentlemen to stick about among their shrubs. + You, knowing my foolish soreness on the subject, will + understand how well I must have been prepared by this to + endure your uncle's cross-examination. + + Then he asked me as to my ideas,--not art ideas, but ideas + as to bread and cheese for the future. I told him as + exactly as I could. I explained to him that if you were + left in possession of a comfortable home, such as would + have been that of your father, I should think it best for + your sake to delay our marriage till I should be prepared + to do something better for you than I can at present; + but that I hold myself ready to give you all that I have + to give at a moment's notice, should you be required to + leave his house. And, Lucy, speaking in your name, I said + something further, and declared my belief that you, for + my sake, would bear the inconveniences of so poor a home + without complaining. + + Then there arose anger both on his side and on mine; and I + must say, insult on his. He told me that I had no business + to suggest that you would be expelled from his house. I + replied that the threat had come, if not from him, then + from Lady Tringle. Upon this he accused me of positive + falsehood, asserting that your aunt had said nothing of + the kind. I then referred him to Lady Tringle herself, but + refused to stay any longer in the room with him, because + he had insulted me. + + So you will see that I did less than nothing by my + embassy. I told myself that it would be so as I descended + into the underground cavern at the Gloucester Road + Station. You are not to suppose that I blame him more, or, + indeed, so much as I do myself. It was not to be expected + that he should behave as a gentleman of fine feeling. But, + perhaps, it ought to have been expected that I should + behave as a man of common sense. I ought to have taken + his advice about the auction, apparently, in good part. + I ought not to have writhed when he scorned my poor + earnings. When he asked as to my ideas, I should not have + alluded to your aunt's threat as to turning you out. I + should have been placid and humble; and then his want of + generous feeling would have mattered nothing. But spilt + milk and broken eggs are past saving. Whatever good things + may have come from your uncle's generosity had I brushed + his hair for him aright, are now clean gone, seeing that I + scrubbed him altogether the wrong way. + + For myself, I do not know that I should regret it very + much. I have an idea that no money should be sweet to a + man except that which he earns. And I have enough belief + in myself to be confident that sooner or later I shall + earn a sufficiency. But, dearest, I own that I feel + disgusted with myself when I think that I have diminished + your present comfort, or perhaps lessened for the future + resources which would have been yours rather than mine. + But the milk has been spilt, and now we must only think + what we can best do without it. It seems to me that only + two homes are possible for you,--one with Sir Thomas + as his niece, and the other with me as my wife. I am + conceited enough to think that you will prefer the latter + even with many inconveniences. Neither can your uncle + or your aunt prevent you from marrying at a very early + day, should you choose to do so. There would be some + preliminary ceremony, of the nature of which I am + thoroughly ignorant, but which could, I suppose, be + achieved in a month. I would advise you to ask your aunt + boldly whether she wishes you to go or to stay with her, + explaining, of course, that you intend to hold to your + engagement, and explaining at the same time that you are + quite ready to be married at once if she is anxious to be + quit of you. That is my advice. + + And now, dear, one word of something softer! For did any + lover ever write to the lady of his heart so long a letter + so abominably stuffed with matters of business? How shall + I best tell you how dearly I love you? Perhaps I may do it + by showing you that as far as I myself am concerned I long + to hear that your Aunt Emmeline and your Uncle Tom are + more hard-hearted and obdurate than were ever uncle and + aunt before them. I long to hear that you have been turned + out into the cold, because I know that then you must come + to me, though it be even less than three hundred a-year. + I wish you could have seen your uncle's face as those + terribly mean figures reached his ears. I do not for a + moment fear that we should want. Orders come slow enough, + but they come a little quicker than they did. I have never + for a moment doubted my own ultimate success, and if + you were with me I should be more confident than ever. + Nevertheless, should your aunt bid you to stay, and should + you think it right to comply with her desire, I will not + complain. + + Adieu! This comes from one who is altogether happy in his + confidence that at any rate before long you will have + become his wife. + + ISADORE HAMEL. + + I quite expect to be scolded for my awkwardness. Indeed I + shall be disappointed if I am not. + + +The same post which brought Hamel's long letter to Lucy brought also +a short but very angry scrawl from Sir Thomas to his wife. No eyes +but those of Lady Tringle saw this epistle, and no other eyes shall +see it. But the few words which it contained were full of marital +wrath. Why had she threatened to turn her own niece out of his doors? +Why had she subjected him to the necessity of defending her by a +false assertion? Those Dormer nieces of hers were giving him an +amount of trouble and annoyance which he certainly had not deserved. +Lucy, though not a word was said to her of this angry letter, was +conscious that something had been added to her aunt's acerbity. +Indeed, for the last day or two her aunt's acerbity towards her +had been much diminished. Lady Tringle had known that her husband +intended to do something by which the Hamel marriage would be +rendered possible; and she, though she altogether disapproved of +the Hamel marriage, would be obliged to accede to it if Sir Thomas +acceded to it and encouraged it by his money. Let them be married, +and then, as far as the Tringles were concerned, let there be an end +of these Dormer troubles for ever. To that idea Lady Tringle had +reconciled herself as soon as Sir Thomas had declared his purpose, +but now,--as she declared to herself,--"all the fat was again in the +fire." She received Lucy's salutations on that morning with a very +bad grace. + +But she had been desired to give no message, and therefore she was +silent on the subject to Lucy. To the Honourable Mrs. Traffick she +said a few words. "After all Ayala was not half as bad as Lucy," said +Lady Tringle. + +"There, mamma, I think you are wrong," said the Honourable Mrs. +Traffick. "Of all the upsetting things I ever knew Ayala was the +worst. Think of her conduct with Septimus." Lady Tringle made a +little grimace, which, however, her daughter did not see. "And then +with that Marchesa!" + +"That was the Marchesa's fault." + +"And with Tom!" + +"I don't think she was so much to blame with Tom. If she were, why +doesn't she take him now she can have him? He is just as foolish +about her as ever. Upon my word I think Tom will make himself ill +about it." + +"You haven't heard it all, mamma." + +"What haven't I heard?" + +"Ayala has been down with the Alburys at Stalham." + +"I did hear that." + +"And another man has turned up. What on earth they see in her is what +I can't understand." + +"Another man has offered to her! Who is he?" + +"There was a Colonel Stubbs down there. Septimus heard it all from +young Batsby at the club. She got this man to ride about the country +with her everywhere, going to the meets with him and coming home. And +in this way she got him to propose to her. I don't suppose he means +anything; but that is why she won't have anything to do with Tom now. +Do you mean to say she didn't do all she could to catch Tom down at +Glenbogie, and then at Rome? Everybody saw it. I don't think Lucy has +ever been so bad as that." + +"It's quite different, my dear." + +"She has come from a low father," said the Honourable Mrs. Traffick, +proudly, "and therefore she has naturally attached herself to a low +young man. There is nothing to be wondered at in that. I suppose they +are fond of each other, and the sooner they are married the better." + +"But he can't marry her because he has got nothing." + +"Papa will do something." + +"That's just what your papa won't. The man has been to your father +in the City and there has been ever such a row. He spoke ill of me +because I endeavoured to do my duty by the ungrateful girl. I am +sure I have got a lesson as to taking up other people's children. I +endeavoured to do an act of charity, and see what has come of it. I +don't believe in charity." + +"That is wicked, mamma. Faith, Hope, and Charity! But you've got to +be charitable before you begin the others." + +"I don't think it is wicked. People would do best if they were made +to go along on what they've got of their own." This seemed to Augusta +to be a direct blow at Septimus and herself. "Of course I know what +you mean, mamma." + +"I didn't mean anything." + +"But, if people can't stay for a few weeks in their own parents' +houses, I don't know where they are to stay." + +"It isn't weeks, Augusta; it's months. And as to parents, Lord +Boardotrade is Mr. Traffick's parent. Why doesn't he go and stay with +Lord Boardotrade?" Then Augusta got up and marched with stately step +out of the room. After this it was not possible that Lucy would find +much immediate grace in her aunt's eyes. + +From the moment that Lucy had received her letter there came upon her +the great burden of answering it. She was very anxious to do exactly +as Hamel had counselled her. She was quite alive to the fact that +Hamel had been imprudent in Lombard Street; but not the less was she +desirous to do as he bade her,--thinking it right that a woman should +obey some one, and that her obedience could be due only to him. But +in order to obey him she must consult her aunt. "Aunt Emmeline," she +said that afternoon, "I want to ask you something?" + +"What is it now?" said Aunt Emmeline, crossly. + +"About Mr. Hamel." + +"I don't want to hear any more about Mr. Hamel. I have heard quite +enough of Mr. Hamel." + +"Of course I am engaged to him, Aunt Emmeline." + +"So I hear you say. I do not think it very dutiful of you to come and +talk to me about him, knowing as you do what I think about him." + +"What I want to ask is this. Ought I to stay here or ought I to go +away?" + +"I never heard such a girl! Where are you to go to? What makes you +ask the question?" + +"Because you said that I ought to go if I did not give him up." + +"You ought to give him up." + +"I cannot do that, aunt." + +"Then you had better hold your tongue and say nothing further about +it. I don't believe he earns enough to give you bread to eat and +decent clothes to wear. What would you do if children were to come +year after year? If you really love him I wonder how you can think of +being such a millstone round a man's neck!" + +This was very hard to bear. It was so different from the delicious +comfort of his letter. "I do not for a moment believe that we should +want." "I have never for one moment doubted my own ultimate success." +But after all was there not more of truth in her aunt's words, hard +and cruel as they were? And on these words, such as they were, she +must found her answer to her lover; for he had bade her ask her +aunt what she was to do as to staying or preparing herself for an +immediate marriage. Then, before the afternoon was over, she wrote to +Hamel as follows;-- + + + DEAR ISADORE, + + I have got ever so much to say, but I shall begin by doing + as you told me in your postscript. I won't quite scold + you, but I do think you might have been a little gentler + with poor Uncle Tom. I do not say this because I at all + regret anything which perhaps he might have done for us. + If you do not want assistance from him certainly I do + not. But I do think that he meant to be kind; and, though + he may not be quite what you call a gentleman of fine + feeling, yet he has taken me into his house when I had no + other to go to, and in many respects has been generous to + me. When he said that you were to go to him in Lombard + Street, I am sure that he meant to be generous. And, + though it has not ended well, yet he meant to be kind to + both of us. + + There is what you will call my scolding; though, indeed, + dearest, I do not intend to scold at all. Nor am I in the + least disappointed except in regard to you. This morning + I have been to Aunt Emmeline, as you desired, and I must + say that she was very cross. Of course I know that it is + because she is my own aunt that Uncle Tom has me here at + all; and I feel that I ought to be very grateful to her. + But, in spite of all that you say, laughing at Uncle Tom + because he wants you to sell your grand work by auction, + he is much more good-natured than Aunt Emmeline. I am + quite sure my aunt never liked me, and that she will + not be comfortable till I am gone. But when I asked her + whether I ought to stay, or to go, she told me to hold my + tongue, and say nothing further about it. Of course, by + this, she meant that I was to remain, at any rate for the + present. + + My own dearest, I do think this will be best, though I + need not tell you how I look forward to leaving this, and + being always with you. For myself I am not a bit afraid, + though Aunt Emmeline said dreadful things about food + and clothes, and all the rest of it. But I believe much + more in what you say, that success will be sure to come. + But still will it not be wise to wait a little longer? + Whatever I may have to bear here, I shall think that I am + bearing it for your dear sake; and then I shall be happy. + + Believe me to be always and always your own + + LUCY. + + +This was written and sent on a Wednesday, and nothing further was +said either by Lucy herself, or by her aunt, as to the lover, till +Sir Thomas came down to Merle Park on the Saturday evening. On his +arrival he seemed inclined to be gracious to the whole household, +even including Mr. Traffick, who received any attention of that kind +exactly as though the most amicable arrangements were always existing +between him and his father-in-law. Aunt Emmeline, when it seemed that +she was to encounter no further anger on account of the revelation +which Hamel had made in Lombard Street, also recovered her temper, +and the evening was spent as though there were no causes for serious +family discord. In this spirit, on the following morning, they all +went to church, and it was delightful to hear the flattering words +with which Mr. Traffick praised Merle Park, and everything belonging +to it, during the hour of lunch. He went so far as to make some +delicately laudatory hints in praise of hospitality in general, and +especially as to that so nobly exercised by London merchant-princes. +Sir Thomas smiled as he heard him, and, as he smiled, he resolved +that, as soon as the Christmas festivities should be over, the +Honourable Septimus Traffick should certainly be turned out of that +house. + +After lunch there came a message to Lucy by a page-boy, who was +supposed to attend generally to the personal wants of Aunt Emmeline, +saying that her uncle would be glad of her attendance for a walk. "My +dear," said he, "have you got your thick boots on? Then go and put +'em on. We will go down to the Lodge, and then come home round by +Windover Hill." She did as she was bade, and then they started. "I +want to tell you," said he, "that this Mr. Hamel of yours came to me +in Lombard Street." + +"I know that, Uncle Tom." + +"He has written to you, then, and told you all about it?" + +"He has written to me, certainly, and I have answered him." + +"No doubt. Well, Lucy, I had intended to be kind to your Mr. Hamel, +but, as you are probably aware, I was not enabled to carry out my +intentions. He seems to be a very independent sort of young man." + +"He is independent, I think." + +"I have not a word to say against it. If a man can be independent it +is so much the better. If a man can do everything for himself, so +as to require neither to beg nor to borrow, it will be much better +for him. But, my dear, you must understand that a man cannot be +independent with one hand, and accept assistance with the other, at +one and the same time." + +"That is not his character, I am sure," said Lucy, striving to hide +her indignation while she defended her lover's character. + +"I do not think it is. Therefore he must remain independent, and I +can do nothing for him." + +"He knows that, Uncle Tom." + +"Very well. Then there's an end of it. I only want to make you +understand that I was willing to assist him, but that he was +unwilling to be assisted. I like him all the better for it, but there +must be an end of it." + +"I quite understand, Uncle Tom." + +"Then there's one other thing I've got to say. He accused me of +having threatened to turn you out of my house. Now, my dear--" +Hereupon Lucy struggled to say a word, hardly knowing what word she +ought to say, but he interrupted her,--"Just hear me out till I've +done, and then there need not be another word about it. I never +threatened to turn you out." + +"Not you, Uncle Tom," she said, endeavouring to press his arm with +her hand. + +"If your aunt said a word in her anger you should not have made +enough of it to write and tell him." + +"I thought she meant me to go, and then I didn't know whom else to +ask." + +"Neither I nor she, nor anybody else, ever intended to turn you out. +I have meant to be kind to you both,--to you and Ayala; and if things +have gone wrong I cannot say that it has been my fault. Now, you had +better stay here, and not say a word more about it till he is ready +to take you. That can't be yet for a long time. He is making, at +present, not more than two hundred a year. And I am sure it must be +quite as much as he can do to keep a coat on his back with such an +income as that. You must make up your mind to wait,--probably for +some years. As I told you before, if a man chooses to have the glory +of independence he must also bear the inconvenience. Now, my dear, +let there be an end of this, and never say again that I want to turn +you out of my house." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +TOM TRINGLE SENDS A CHALLENGE. + + +The next six weeks went on tranquilly at Merle Park without a word +spoken about Hamel. Sir Thomas, who was in the country as little as +possible, showed his scorn to his son-in-law simply by the paucity +of his words, speaking to him, when he did speak to him, with +a deliberate courtesy which Mr. Traffick perfectly understood. +It was that dangerous serenity which so often presages a storm. +"There is something going to be up with your father," he said to +Augusta. Augusta replied that she had never seen her father so civil +before. "It would be a great convenience," continued the Member of +Parliament, "if he could be made to hold his tongue till Parliament +meets; but I'm afraid that's too good to expect." In other respects +things were comfortable at Merle Park, though they were not always +comfortable up in London. Tom, as the reader knows, was misbehaving +himself sadly at the Mountaineers. This was the period of unlimited +champagne, and of almost total absence from Lombard Street. It was +seldom that Sir Thomas could get hold of his son, and when he did +that broken-hearted youth would reply to his expostulations simply +by asserting that if his father would induce Ayala to marry him +everything should go straight in Lombard Street. Then came the final +blow. Tom was of course expected at Merle Park on Christmas Eve, +but did not make his appearance either then or on Christmas Day. +Christmas fell on a Wednesday, and it was intended that the family +should remain in the country till the following Monday. On the +Thursday Sir Thomas went up to town to make inquiries respecting his +heir, as to whom Lady Tringle had then become absolutely unhappy. In +London he heard the disastrous truth. Tom, in his sportive mood, had +caused serious inconvenience to a most respectable policeman, and +was destined to remain another week in the hands of the Philistines. +Then, for a time, all the other Tringle troubles were buried and +forgotten in this great trouble respecting Tom. Lady Tringle was +unable to leave her room during the period of incarceration. Mr. +Traffick promised to have the victim liberated by the direct +interference of the Secretary of State, but failed to get anything +of the kind accomplished. The girls were completely cowed by the +enormity of the misfortune; so that Tom's name was hardly mentioned +except in sad and confidential whispers. But of all the sufferers Sir +Thomas suffered the most. To him it was a positive disgrace, weighing +down every moment of his life. At Travers and Treason he could not +hold up his head boldly and open his mouth loudly as had always been +his wont. At Travers and Treason there was not a clerk who did not +know that "the governor" was an altered man since this misfortune had +happened to the hope of the firm. What passed between Sir Thomas and +his son on the occasion has already been told in a previous chapter. +That Sir Thomas, on the whole, behaved with indulgence must be +acknowledged; but he felt that his son must in truth absent himself +from Lombard Street for a time. + +Tom had been advised by his father to go forth and see the world. A +prolonged tour had been proposed to him which to most young men might +seem to have great attraction. To him it would have had attraction +enough, had it not been for Ayala. There would have been hardly any +limit to the allowance made to him, and he would have gone forth +armed with introductions, which would have made every port a happy +home to him. But as soon as the tour was suggested he resolved at +once that he could not move himself to a distance from Ayala. What he +expected,--what he even hoped,--he could not tell himself. But while +Ayala was in London, and Ayala was unmarried, he could not be made to +take himself far away. + +He was thoroughly ashamed of himself. He was not at all the man who +could bear a week of imprisonment and not think himself disgraced. +For a day or two he shut himself up altogether in his lodgings, and +never once showed himself at the Mountaineers. Faddle came to him, +but he snubbed Faddle at first, remembering all the severe things his +father had said about the Faddles in general. But he soon allowed +that feeling to die away when the choice seemed to be between Faddle +and solitude. Then he crept out in the dark and ate his dinners with +Faddle at some tavern, generally paying the bill for both of them. +After dinner he would play half-a-dozen games of billiards with his +friend at some unknown billiard-room, and then creep home to his +lodgings,--a blighted human being! + +At last, about the end of the first week in January, he was induced +to go down to Merle Park. There Mr. and Mrs. Traffick were still +sojourning, the real grief which had afflicted Sir Thomas having +caused him to postpone his intention in regard to his son-in-law. +At Merle Park Tom was cosseted and spoilt by the women very +injudiciously. It was not perhaps the fact that they regarded him +as a hero simply because he had punched a policeman in the stomach +and then been locked up in vindication of the injured laws of his +country; but that incident in combination with his unhappy love did +seem to make him heroic. Even Lucy regarded him with favour because +of his constancy to her sister; whereas the other ladies measured +their admiration for his persistency by the warmth of their anger +against the silly girl who was causing so much trouble. His mother +told him over and over again that his cousin was not worth his +regard; but then, when he would throw himself on the sofa in an agony +of despair,--weakened perhaps as much by the course of champagne as +by the course of his love,--then she, too, would bid him hope, and at +last promised that she herself would endeavour to persuade Ayala to +look at the matter in a more favourable light. "It would all be right +if it were not for that accursed Stubbs," poor Tom would say to his +mother. "The man whom I called my friend! The man I lent a horse to +when he couldn't get one anywhere else! The man to whom I confided +everything, even about the necklace! If it hadn't been for Stubbs +I never should have hurt that policeman! When I was striking him +I thought that it was Stubbs!" Then the mother would heap feminine +maledictions on the poor Colonel's head, and so together they would +weep and think of revenge. + +From the moment Tom had heard Colonel Stubbs's name mentioned as that +of his rival he had meditated revenge. It was quite true when he said +that he had been thinking of Stubbs when he struck the policeman. He +had consumed the period of his confinement in gnashing his teeth, all +in regard to our poor friend Jonathan. He told his father that he +could not go upon his long tour because of Ayala. But in truth his +love was now so mixed up with ideas of vengeance that he did not +himself know which prevailed. If he could first have slaughtered +Stubbs then perhaps he might have started! But how was he to +slaughter Stubbs? Various ideas occurred to his mind. At first +he thought that he would go down to Aldershot with the biggest +cutting-whip he could find in any shop in Piccadilly; but then it +occurred to him that at Aldershot he would have all the British army +against him, and that the British army might do something to him +worse even than the London magistrate. Then he would wait till the +Colonel could be met elsewhere. He ascertained that the Colonel was +still at Stalham, where he had passed the Christmas, and he thought +how it might be if he were to attack the Colonel in the presence of +his friends, the Alburys. He assured himself that, as far as personal +injury went, he feared nothing. He had no disinclination to be hit +over the head himself, if he could be sure of hitting the Colonel +over the head. If it could be managed that they two should fly at +each other with their fists, and be allowed to do the worst they +could to each other for an hour, without interference, he would be +quite satisfied. But down at Stalham that would not be allowed. All +the world would be against him, and nobody there to see that he got +fair play. If he could encounter the man in the streets of London it +would be better; but were he to seek the man down at Stalham he would +probably find himself in the County Lunatic Asylum. What must he do +for his revenge? He was surely entitled to it. By all the laws of +chivalry, as to which he had his own ideas, he had a right to inflict +an injury upon a successful--even upon an unsuccessful--rival. Was it +not a shame that so excellent an institution as duelling should have +been stamped out? Wandering about the lawns and shrubberies at Merle +Park he thought of all this, and at last he came to a resolution. + +The institution had been stamped out, as far as Great Britain was +concerned. He was aware of that. But it seemed to him that it had not +been stamped out in other more generous countries. He had happened to +notice that a certain enthusiastic politician in France had enjoyed +many duels, and had never been severely repressed by the laws of his +country. Newspaper writers were always fighting in France, and were +never guillotined. The idea of being hanged was horrible to him,--so +distasteful that he saw at a glance that a duel in England was out +of the question. But to have his head cut off, even if it should +come to that, would be a much less affair. But in Belgium, in Italy, +in Germany, they never did cut off the heads of the very numerous +gentlemen who fought duels. And there were the Southern States of the +American Union, where he fancied that men might fight duels just as +they pleased. He would be ready to go even to New Orleans at a day's +notice if only he could induce Colonel Stubbs to meet him there. And +he thought that, if Colonel Stubbs really possessed half the spirit +which seemed to be attributed to him by the British army generally, +he would come, if properly invoked, and fight such a duel as this, +whether at New Orleans or at some other well-chosen blood-allowing +spot on the world's surface. Tom was prepared to go anywhere for +blood. + +But the invocation must be properly made. When he had wanted another +letter of another kind to be written for him, the Colonel himself +was the man to whom he had gone for assistance. And, had his present +enemy been any other than the Colonel himself, he would have gone +to the Colonel in preference to any one else for aid in this matter. +There was no one, in truth, in whom he believed so thoroughly as in +the Colonel. But that was out of the question. Then he reflected +what friend might now stand him in stead. He would have gone to +Houston, who wanted to marry his sister; but Houston seemed to have +disappeared, and he did not know where he might be found. There was +his brother-in-law, Traffick,--but he feared lest Traffick might give +him over once more into the hands of the police. He thought of Hamel, +as being in a way connected with the family; but he had seen so +little of Hamel, and had so much disliked what he had seen, that he +was obliged to let that hope go by. There was no one left but Faddle +whom he could trust. Faddle would do anything he was told to do. +Faddle would carry the letter, no doubt, or allow himself to be named +as a proposed second. But Faddle could not write the letter. He felt +that he could write the letter himself better than Faddle. + +He went up to town, having sent a mysterious letter to Faddle, +bidding his friend attend him in his lodgings. He did not yet dare +to go to the Mountaineers, where Faddle would have been found. But +Faddle came, true to the appointment. "What is it, now?" said the +faithful friend. "I hope you are going back to Travers and Treason's. +That is what I should do, and walk in just as though nothing had +happened." + +"Not if you were me, you wouldn't." + +"That does make a difference, of course." + +"There is something else to be done before I can again darken the +doors of Travers and Treason,--if I should ever do so!" + +"Something particular?" + +"Something very particular. Faddle, I do think you are a true +friend." + +"You may say that. I have stuck to you always,--though you don't know +the kind of things my people say to me about it. They say I am going +to ruin myself because of you. The governor threatened to put me out +of the business altogether. But I'm a man who will be true to my +friend, whatever happens. I think you have been a little cool to me, +lately; but even that don't matter." + +"Cool! If you knew the state that I'm in you wouldn't talk of a +fellow being cool! I'm so knocked about it all that I don't know what +I'm doing." + +"I do take that into consideration." + +"Now, I'll tell you what I am going to do." Then he stood still, and +looked Faddle full in the face. Faddle, sitting awe-struck on his +chair, returned the gaze. He knew that a moment of supreme importance +was at hand. "Faddle, I'll shoot that fellow down like a dog." + +"Will you, indeed?" + +"Like a dog;--if I can get at him. I should have no more compunction +in taking his life than a mere worm. Why should I, when I know that +he has sapped the very juice of my existence?" + +"Do you mean,--do you mean,--that you would--murder him?" + +"It would not be murder. Of course it might be that he would shoot me +instead. Upon the whole, I think I should like that best." + +"Oh; a duel!" said Faddle. + +"That's what I mean. Murder him! Certainly not. Though I should like +nothing half so well as to thrash him within an inch of his life. +I would not murder him. My plan is this,--I shall write to him a +letter inviting him to meet me in any corner of the globe that he +may select. Torrid zone or Arctic circle will be all the same to me. +You will have to accompany me as my second." Faddle shivered with +excitement and dread of coming events. Among other ideas there came +the thought that it might be difficult to get back from the Arctic +circle without money if his friend Tom should happen to be shot dead +in that locality. "But first of all," continued Tom, "you will have +to carry a letter." + +"To the Colonel?" suggested Faddle. + +"Of course. The man is now staying with friends of his named Albury +at a place called Stalham. From what I hear they are howling swells. +Sir Harry Albury is Master of the Hounds, and Lady Albury when she +is up in London has all the Royal Family constantly at her parties. +Stubbs is a cousin of his; but you must go right away up to him among +'em all, and deliver the letter into his hands without minding 'em a +bit." + +"Couldn't it go by post?" + +"No; this kind of letter musn't go by post. You have to be able to +swear that you delivered it yourself into his own hands. And then you +must wait for an answer. Even though he should want a day to think of +it, you must wait." + +"Where am I to stay, Tom?" + +"Well; it may be they'll ask you to the house, because, though you +carry the letter for me, you are not supposed to be his enemy. If so, +put a jolly face on it, and enjoy yourself as well as you can. You +must seem, you know, to be just as big a swell as anybody there. But +if they don't ask you, you must go to the nearest inn. I'll pay the +bill." + +"Shall I go to-day?" asked Faddle. + +"I've got to write the letter first. It'll take a little time, so +that you'd better put it off till to-morrow. If you will leave me +now I'll write it, and if you will come back at six we'll go and +have a bit of dinner at Bolivia's." This was an eating-house in the +neighbourhood of Leicester Square, to which the friends had become +partial during this troubled period of their existence. + +"Why not come to the Mountaineers, old boy?" Tom shook his head, +showing that he was not yet up to such festivity as that; and then +Faddle took his departure. + +Tom at once got out his pen and paper, and began to write his letter. +It may be imagined that it was not written off-hand, or without many +struggles. When it was written it ran as follows;-- + + + SIR, + + You will not, I think, be surprised to hear from me in + anything but a friendly spirit. I went down to you at + Aldershot as to a friend whom I could trust with my + bosom's dearest secret, and you have betrayed me. I told + you of my love, a love which has long burned in my heart, + and you received my confidence with a smile, knowing all + the time that you were my rival. I leave it to you to + say what reply you can make as to conduct so damning, so + unmanly, so dastardly,--and so very unlike a friend as + this! + + However, there is no place here for words. You have + offered me the greatest insult and the greatest injury + which one man can inflict upon another! There is no + possibility of an apology, unless you are inclined to + say that you will renounce for ever your claim upon the + hand of Miss Ayala Dormer. This I do not expect, and, + therefore, I call upon you to give me that satisfaction + which is all that one gentleman can offer to another. + After the injury you have done me I think it quite + impossible that you should refuse. + + Of course, I know that duels cannot be fought in England + because of the law. I am sorry that the law should have + been altered, because it allows so many cowards to escape + the punishment they deserve. + + +Tom, as he wrote this, was very proud of the keenness of the +allusion. "I am quite sure, however, that a man who bears the colours +of a colonel in the British army will not try to get off by such a +pretext." He was proud, too, about the colours. + + + France, Belgium, Italy, the United States, and all the + world, are open! I will meet you wherever you may choose + to arrange a meeting. I presume that you will prefer + pistols. + + I send this by the hands of my friend, Mr. Faddle, who + will be prepared to make arrangements with you, or with + any friend on your behalf. He will bring back your reply, + which no doubt will be satisfactory.--I am, Sir, your most + obedient servant, + + THOMAS TRINGLE, junior. + + +When, after making various copies, Tom at last read the letter as +finally prepared, he was much pleased with it, doubting whether the +Colonel himself could have written it better, had the task been +confided to his hands. When Faddle came, he read it to him with much +pride, and then committed it to his custody. After that they went out +and ate their dinner at Bolivia's with much satisfaction, but still +with a bearing of deep melancholy, as was proper on such an occasion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +TOM TRINGLE GETS AN ANSWER. + + +Faddle as he went down into the country made up his mind that the law +which required such letters to be delivered by hand was an absurd +law. The post would have done just as well, and would have saved a +great deal of trouble. These gloomy thoughts were occasioned by a +conviction that he could not carry himself easily or make himself +happy among such "howling swells" as these Alburys. If they should +invite him to the house the matter would be worse that way than the +other. He had no confidence in his dress coat, which he was aware +had been damaged by nocturnal orgies. It is all very well to tell a +fellow to be as "big a swell" as anybody else, as Tom had told him. +But Faddle acknowledged to himself the difficulty of acting up to +such advice. Even the eyes of Colonel Stubbs turned upon him after +receipt of the letter would oppress him. + +Nevertheless he must do his best, and he took a gig at the station +nearest to Albury. He was careful to carry his bag with him, but +still he lived in hope that he would be able to return to London the +same day. When he found himself within the lodges of Stalham Park +he could hardly keep himself from shivering, and, when he asked the +footman at the door whether Colonel Stubbs were there, he longed to +be told that Colonel Stubbs had gone away on the previous day to +some--he did not care what--distant part of the globe. But Colonel +Stubbs had not gone away. Colonel Stubbs was in the house. + +Our friend the Colonel had not suffered as Tom had suffered since his +rejection;--but nevertheless he had been much concerned. He had set +his heart upon Ayala before he had asked her, and could not bring +himself to change his heart because she had refused him. He had +gone down to Aldershot and had performed his duties, abstaining for +the present from repeating his offer. The offer of course must be +repeated, but as to the when, the where, and the how, he had not as +yet made up his mind. Then Tom Tringle had come to him at Aldershot +communicating to him the fact that he had a rival;--and also the +other fact that the other rival like himself had hitherto been +unsuccessful. It seemed improbable to him that such a girl as +Ayala should attach herself to such a man as her cousin Tom. But +nevertheless he was uneasy. He regarded Tom Tringle as a miracle of +wealth, and felt certain that the united efforts of the whole family +would be used to arrange the match. Ayala had refused him also, and +therefore, up to the present moment, the chances of the other man +were no better than his own. When Tom left him at Aldershot he hardly +remembered that Tom knew nothing of his secret, whereas Tom had +communicated to him his own. It never for a moment occurred to him +that Tom would quarrel with him; although he had seen that the poor +fellow had been disgusted because he had refused to write the letter. + +On Christmas Eve he had gone down to Stalham, and there he had +remained discussing the matter of his love with Lady Albury. To no +one else in the house had the affair been mentioned, and by Sir Harry +he was supposed to remain there only for the sake of the hunting. +With Sir Harry he was of all guests the most popular, and thus it +came to pass that his prolonged presence at Stalham was not matter +of special remark. Much of his time he did devote to hunting, but +there were half hours devoted in company with Lady Albury to Ayala's +perfection and Ayala's obstinacy. + +Lady Albury was almost inclined to think that Ayala should be given +up. Married ladies seldom estimate even the girls they like best at +their full value. It seems to such a one as Lady Albury almost a +pity that such a one as Colonel Stubbs should waste his energy upon +anything so insignificant as Ayala Dormer. The speciality of the +attraction is of course absent to the woman, and unless she has +considered the matter so far as to be able to clothe her thoughts in +male vestments, as some women do, she cannot understand the longing +that is felt for so small a treasure. Lady Albury thought that young +ladies were very well, and that Ayala was very well among young +ladies; but Ayala in getting Colonel Stubbs for a husband would, as +Lady Albury thought, have received so much more than her desert that +she was now almost inclined to be angry with the Colonel. "My dear +friend," he said to her one day, "you might as well take it for +granted. I shall go after my princess with all the energy which a +princess merits." + +"The question is whether she be a princess," said Lady Albury. + +"Allow me to say that that is a point on which I cannot admit a +doubt. She is a princess to me, and just at present I must be +regarded as the only judge in the matter." + +"She shall be a goddess, if you please," said Lady Albury. + +"Goddess, princess, pink, or pearl;--any name you please supposed to +convey perfection shall be the same to me. It may be that she is in +truth no better, or more lovely, or divine, than many another young +lady who is at the present moment exercising the heart of many +another gentleman. You know enough of the world to be aware that +every Jack has his Gill. She is my Gill, and that's an end of it." + +"I hope then that she may be your Gill." + +"And, in order that she may, you must have her here again. I should +absolutely not know how to go to work were I to find myself in the +presence of Aunt Dosett in Kingsbury Crescent." In answer to this +Lady Albury assured him that she would be quite willing to have the +girl again at Stalham if it could be managed. She was reminding him, +however, how difficult it had been on a previous occasion to overcome +the scruples of Mrs. Dosett, when a servant brought in word to +Colonel Stubbs that there was a man in the hall desirous of seeing +him immediately on particular business. Then the servant presented +our friend Faddle's card. + + + MR. SAMUEL FADDLE, + 1, Badminton Gardens. + + +"Yes, Sir;" said the servant. "He says he has a letter which he must +put into your own particular hands." + +"That looks like a bailiff," said Lady Albury, laughing. Colonel +Stubbs, declaring that he had no special reason to be afraid of any +bailiff, left the room and went down into the hall. + +At Stalham the real hall of the house was used as a billiard-room, +and here, leaning against the billiard table, the Colonel found +poor Faddle. When a man is compelled by some chance circumstance to +address another man whom he does not know, and whom by inspection he +feels he shall never wish to know, he always hardens his face, and +sometimes also his voice. So it was with the Colonel when he looked +at Faddle. A word he did say, not in words absolutely uncivil, as to +the nature of the business in hand. Then Faddle, showing his emotion +by a quaver in his voice, suggested that as the matter was one of +extreme delicacy some more private apartment might be provided. Upon +this Stubbs led the way into a little room which was for the most +part filled with hunting-gear, and offered the stranger one of the +three chairs which it contained. Faddle sat down, finding himself +so compelled, though the Colonel still remained standing, and then +extracted the fatal epistle from his pocket. "Colonel Stubbs," said +he, handing up the missive, "I am directed by my friend, Mr. Thomas +Tringle, junior, to put this letter into your own hand. When you have +read it I shall be ready to consult with you as to its contents." +These few words he had learnt by heart on his journey down, having +practised them continually. + +The Colonel took the letter, and turning to the window read it with +his back to the visitor. He read it twice from beginning to end in +order that he might have time to resolve whether he would laugh aloud +at both Faddle and Tringle, or whether it might not be better to +endeavour to soften the anger of poor Tom by a message which should +be at any rate kindly worded. "This is from my friend, Tom Tringle," +he said. + +"From Mr. Thomas Tringle, junior," said Faddle, proudly. + +"So I perceive. I am sorry to think that he should be in so much +trouble. He is one of the best fellows I know, and I am really +grieved that he should be unhappy. This, you know, is all nonsense." + +"It is not nonsense at all, Colonel Stubbs." + +"You must allow me to be the judge of that, Mr. Faddle. It is at +any rate nonsense to me. He wants me to go somewhere and fight a +duel,--which I should not do with any man under any circumstances. +Here there is no possible ground for any quarrel whatsoever,--as +I will endeavour to explain, myself, to my friend, Mr. Tringle. I +shall be sure to write to him at once,--and so I will bid you good +afternoon." + +But this did not at all suit poor Faddle after so long a journey. +"I thought it probable that you would write, Colonel Stubbs, and +therefore I am prepared to wait. If I cannot be accommodated here I +will wait,--will wait elsewhere." + +"That will not be at all necessary. We have a post to London twice a +day." + +"You must be aware, Colonel Stubbs, that letters of this sort should +not be sent by post." + +"The kind of letter I shall write may be sent by post very well. It +will not be bellicose, and therefore there can be no objection." + +"I really think, Colonel Stubbs, that you are making very little of a +very serious matter." + +"Mr. Faddle, I really must manage my own affairs after my own way. +Would you like a glass of sherry? If not, I need hardly ask you to +stay here any longer." Upon that he went out into the billiard-room +and rang the bell. Poor Faddle would have liked the glass of sherry, +but he felt that it would be incompatible with the angry dignity +which he assumed, and he left the house without another word or even +a gesture of courtesy. Then he returned to London, having taken his +bag and dress coat all the way to Stalham for nothing. + +Tom's letter was almost too good to be lost, but there was no one to +whom the joke could be made known except Lady Albury. She, he was +sure, would keep poor Tom's secret as well as his own, and to her he +showed the letter. "I pity him from the bottom of my heart," he said. +Lady Albury declared that the writer of such a letter was too absurd +for pity. "Not at all. Unless he really loved her he wouldn't have +been so enraged. I suppose he does think that I injured him. He did +tell me his story, and I didn't tell him mine. I can understand it +all, though I didn't imagine he was such a fool as to invite me +to travel all round the world because of the harsh laws of Great +Britain. Nevertheless, I shall write to him quite an affectionate +letter, remembering that, should I succeed myself, he will be my +first cousin by marriage." + +Before he went to bed that night he wrote his letter, and the reader +may as well see the whole correspondence;-- + + + MY DEAR TRINGLE, + + If you will think of it all round you will see that you + have got no cause of quarrel with me any more than I have + with you. If it be the case that we are both attached to + your cousin, we must abide her decision whether it be in + favour of either of us, or, as may be too probably the + case, equally adverse to both of us. If I understand your + letter rightly, you think that I behaved unfairly when I + did not tell you of my own affairs upon hearing yours from + your own lips. Why should I? Why should I have been held + to be constrained to tell my secret because you, for + your own sake, had told me yours? Had I been engaged to + your cousin,--which I regret to say is very far from the + case,--I should have told you, naturally. I should have + regarded the matter as settled, and should have acquainted + you with a fact which would have concerned you. But as + such was not a fact, I was by no means bound to tell you + how my affairs stood. This ought to be clear to you, and I + hope will be when you have read what I say. + + I may as well go on to declare that under no circumstances + should I fight a duel with you. If I thought I had done + wrong in the matter I would beg your pardon. I can't + do that as it is,--though I am most anxious to appease + you,--because I have done you no wrong. + + Pray forget your animosity,--which is in truth + unfounded,--and let us be friends as we were before. + + Yours very sincerely, + + JONATHAN STUBBS. + + +Faddle reached London the evening before the Colonel's letter, and +again dined with his friend at Bolivia's. At first they were both +extremely angry, acerbating each other's wrath. Now that he was safe +back in London Faddle thought that he would have enjoyed an evening +among the "swells" of Stalham, and felt himself to be injured by the +inhospitable treatment he had received--"after going all the way down +there, hardly to be asked to sit down!" + +"Not asked to sit down!" + +"Well, yes, I was;--on a miserable cane-bottomed chair in a sort of +cupboard. And he didn't sit down. You may call them swells, but I +think your Colonel Stubbs is a very vulgar sort of fellow. When I +told him the post isn't the proper thing for such a letter, he only +laughed. I suppose he doesn't know what is the kind of thing among +gentlemen." + +"I should think he does know," said Tom. + +"Then why doesn't he act accordingly? Would you believe it; he never +so much as asked me whether I had a mouth on. It was just luncheon +time, too." + +"I suppose they lunch late." + +"They might have asked me. I shouldn't have taken it. He did say +something about a glass of sherry, but it was in that sort of tone +which tells a fellow that he is expected not to take it. And then +he pretended to laugh. I could see that he was shaking in his shoes +at the idea of having to fight. He go to the torrid zone! He would +much rather go to a police office if he thought that there was any +fighting on hand. I should dust his jacket with a stick if I were +you." + +Later on in the evening Tom declared that this was what he would +do, but, before he came to that, a third bottle of Signor Bolivia's +champagne had been made to appear. The evening passed between them +not without much enjoyment. On the opening of that third cork the +wine was declared to be less excellent than what had gone before, and +Signor Bolivia was evoked in person. A gentleman named Walker, who +looked after the establishment, made his appearance, and with many +smiles, having been induced to swallow a bumper of the compound +himself, declared, with a knowing shake of the head and an astute +twinkle of the eye, that the wine was not equal to the last. He took +a great deal of trouble, he assured them, to import an article which +could not be surpassed, if it could be equalled, in London, always +visiting Epernay himself once a-year for the purpose of going through +the wine-vaults. Let him do what he would an inferior bottle,--or, +rather, a bottle somewhat inferior,--would sometimes make its way +into his cellar. Would Mr. Tringle let him have the honour of drawing +another cork, so that the exact amount of difference might be +ascertained? Tom gave his sanction; the fourth cork was drawn; and +Mr. Walker, sitting down and consuming the wine with his customers, +was enabled to point out to a hair's breadth the nature and the +extent of the variation. Tringle still thought that the difference +was considerable. Faddle was, on the whole, inclined to agree with +Signor Bolivia. It need hardly be said that the four bottles were +paid for,--or rather scored against Tringle, who at the present time +had a little account at the establishment. + +"Show a fellar fellar's letters morrer." Such or something like it +was Faddle's last request to his friend as they bade each other +farewell for the night in Pall Mall. But Faddle was never destined +to see the Colonel's epistle. On his attempting to let himself in at +Badminton Gardens, he was kidnapped by his father in his night-shirt +and dressing-gown; and was sent out of London on the following +morning by long sea down to Aberdeen, whither he was intrusted to +the charge of a stern uncle. Our friend Tom saw nothing more of his +faithful friend till years had rolled over both their heads. + +By the morning post, while Tom was still lying sick with +headache,--for even with Signor Bolivia's wine the pulling of many +corks is apt to be dangerous,--there came the letter from the +Colonel. Bad as Tom was, he felt himself constrained to read it at +once, and learned that neither the Torrid zone or Arctic circle +would require his immediate attendance. He was very sick, and +perhaps, therefore, less high in courage than on the few previous +days. Partly, perhaps, from that cause, but partly, also, from the +Colonel's logic, he did find that his wrath was somewhat abated. +Not but what it was still present to his mind that if two men loved +the same girl as ardently, as desperately, as eternally as he loved +Ayala, the best thing for them would be to be put together like the +Kilkenny cats, till whatever remnant should be left of one might have +its chance with the young lady. He still thought that it would be +well that they should fight to the death, but a glimmering of light +fell upon his mind as to the Colonel's abnegation of all treason in +the matter. "I suppose it wasn't to be expected that he should tell," +he said to himself. "Perhaps I shouldn't have told in the same place. +But as to forgetting animosity that is out of the question! How is +a man to forget his animosity when two men want to marry the same +girl?" + +About three o'clock on that day he dressed himself, and sat waiting +for Faddle to come to him. He knew how anxious his friend would be +to see the Colonel's letter. But Faddle by this time had passed +the Nore, and had added sea-sickness to his other maladies. Faddle +came to him no more, and the tedious hours of the afternoon wore +themselves away in his lodgings till he found his solitude to be +almost more unbearable than his previous misfortunes. At last came +the time when he must go out for his dinner. He did not dare to +attempt the Mountaineers. And as for Bolivia, Bolivia with his corks, +and his eating-house, and his vintages, was abominable to him. About +eight o'clock he slunk into a quiet little house on the north side of +Oxford Street, and there had two mutton chops, some buttered toast, +and some tea. As he drank his tea he told himself that on the morrow +he would go back to his mother at Merle Park, and get from her such +consolation as might be possible. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +GERTRUDE IS UNSUCCESSFUL. + + +It was now the middle of January, and Gertrude Tringle had received +no reply from her lover to the overture which she had made him. Nor, +indeed, had she received any letter from him since that to which +this overture had been a reply. It was now two months since her +proposition had been made, and during that time her anger had waxed +very hot against Mr. Houston. After all, it might be a question +whether Mr. Houston was worth all the trouble which she, with her +hundred thousand pounds, was taking on his behalf. She did not like +the idea of abandoning him, because, by doing so, she would seem to +yield to her father. Having had a young man of her own, it behoved +her to stick to her young man in spite of her parents. But what is +a girl to do with a lover who, at the end of two months, has made +no reply to an offer from herself that he should run away with her, +and take her to Ostend? She was in this frame of mind when, lo +and behold, she found her own letter, still inclosed in her own +envelope,--but opened, and thrust in amongst some of her father's +papers. It was evident enough that the letter had never passed from +out of the house. There had been treachery on the part of some +servant;--or perhaps her father might have condescended to search the +little box;--or, more probable still, Augusta had betrayed her! Then +she reflected that she had communicated her purpose to her sister, +that her sister had abstained from any questions since the letter +had been written, and that her sister, therefore, no doubt, was the +culprit. There, however, was the letter, which had never reached her +lover's hands, and, as a matter of course, her affections returned +with all their full ardour to the unfortunate ill-used man. That her +conduct was now watched would, she thought, be a matter of course. +Her father knew her purpose, and, like stern parents in general, +would use all his energies to thwart it. Sir Thomas had, in truth, +thought but little about the matter since he had first thrust the +letter away. Tom's troubles, and the disgrace brought by them upon +Travers and Treason generally, had so occupied his mind that he cared +but little for Gertrude and her lover. But Gertrude had no doubt +that she was closely watched, and in these circumstances was driven +to think how she could best use her wits so as to countermine her +father. To run away from Queen's Gate would, she thought, be more +difficult, and more uncomfortable, than to perform the same operation +at Merle Park. It was intended that the family should remain in the +country, at any rate, till Easter, and Gertrude resolved that there +might yet be time for another effort before Easter should be past, if +only she could avoid those hundred Argus eyes, which were, no doubt, +fixed upon her from all sides. + +She prepared another letter to her lover, which she addressed to him +at his club in London. In this she told him nothing of her former +project, except that a letter written by her in November had fallen +into the hands of enemies. Then she gave him to understand that there +was need of the utmost caution; but that, if adequate caution were +used, she did not doubt they might succeed. She said nothing about +her great project, but suggested to him that he should run down +into Sussex, and meet her at a certain spot indicated, outside +the Park-palings, half-an-hour after dusk. It might be, she said, +impossible that the meeting should be effected, but she thought that +she could so manage as to leave the house unwatched at the appointed +hour. With the object of being especially safe she began and +concluded her letter without any names, and then managed to deposit +it herself in the box of the village post-office. + +Houston, when he received this letter, at once made up his mind that +he would not be found on the outer side of the Park-palings on the +evening named. He told himself that he was too old for the romance +of love-making, and that should he be received, when hanging about +in the dark, by some custodian with a cudgel, he would have nothing +to thank but his own folly. He wrote back therefore to say that he +regarded the outside of the Park-palings as indiscreet, but that he +would walk up through the lodge-gate to the house at three o'clock in +the afternoon of the day named, and he would take it as an additional +mark of her favour if she would meet him on the road. Gertrude +had sent him a mysterious address; he was to direct the letter to +"O. P. Q., Post Office, Hastings," and she was prepared to hire a +country boy to act as Love's messenger on the occasion. But of this +instruction Frank took no notice, addressing the letter to Merle Park +in the usual way. + +Gertrude received her letter without notice from any one. On that +occasion Argus, with all his eyes, was by chance asleep. She was very +angry with her lover,--almost determined to reject him altogether, +almost disposed to yield to her angry parents and look out for some +other lover who might be accepted in better part; but still, when +the day came she put on her hat and walked down the road towards the +lodge. + +As Fortune had it,--Fortune altogether unfavourable to those perils +for which her soul was longing,--no one watched her, no one dogged +her steps, no one took any notice of her, till she met Frank Houston +when he had passed about a hundred yards on through the gates. "And +so you have come," she said. + +"Oh, yes; I have come. I was sure to come when I said so. No man +is more punctual than I am in these matters. I should have come +before,--only I did not get your letter." + +"Oh, Frank!" + +"Well, my darling. You are looking uncommonly well, and I am so glad +to see you. How are they all?" + +"Frank!" + +"What is it?" + +"Oh, Frank, what are we to do?" + +"The governor will give way at last, I should say." + +"Never;--that is while we are as we are now. If we were married--" + +"Ah,--I wish we were! Wouldn't it be nice?" + +"Do you really think so?" + +"Of course I do. I'm ready to-morrow for the matter of that." + +"But could you do something great?" + +"Something great! As to earning my bread, you mean? I do not think I +could do that. I didn't turn my hand to it early enough." + +"I wasn't thinking of--your bread." + +"You said,--could I do something great?" + +"Frank, I wrote you a letter and described it all. How I got the +courage to do it I do not know. I feel as though I could not bring +myself to say it now. I wonder whether you would have the courage." + +"I should say so. I don't know quite what sort of thing it is; but I +generally have pluck enough for anything in a common way." + +"This is something in an uncommon way." + +"I couldn't break open Travers and Treason, and get at the safe, or +anything in that way." + +"It is another sort of safe of which you must break the lock, Frank; +another treasure you must steal. Do you not understand me?" + +"Not in the least." + +"There is Tom," said Gertrude. "He is always wandering about the +place now like a ghost. Let us go back to the gate." Then Frank +turned. "You heard, I suppose, of that dreadful affair about the +policeman." + +"There was a row, I was told." + +"Did you feel that the family were disgraced?" + +"Not in the least. He had to pay five shillings,--hadn't he,--for +telling a policeman to go about his business?" + +"He was--locked up," said Gertrude, solemnly. + +"It's just the same. Nobody thinks anything about that kind of thing. +Now, what is it I have got to do? We had better turn back again as +soon as we can, because I must go up to the house before I go." + +"You will?" + +"Certainly. I will not leave it to your father to say that I came +skulking about the place, and was ashamed to show my face. That would +not be the way to make him give you your money." + +"I am sure he'd give it,--if we were once married." + +"If we were married without having it assured before hand we should +look very blue if things went wrong afterwards." + +"I asked you whether you had courage." + +"Courage enough, I think, when my body is concerned; but I am an +awful coward in regard to money. I wouldn't mind hashed mutton and +baked potatoes for myself, but I shouldn't like to see you eating +them, dearest, after all the luxuries to which you have been +accustomed." + +"I should think nothing of it." + +"Did you ever try? I never came absolutely to hashed mutton, but I've +known how very uncomfortable it is not to be able to pay for the hot +joints. I'm willing to own honestly that married life without an +income would not have attractions for me." + +"But if it was sure to come?" + +"Ah, then indeed,--with you! I have just said how nice it would be." + +"Have you ever been at Ostend?" she asked, suddenly. + +"Ostend. Oh, yes. There was a man there who used to cheat horribly at +écarté. He did me out of nearly a hundred pounds one night." + +"But there's a clergyman there, I'm told." + +"I don't think this man was in orders. But he might have been. +Parsons come out in so many shapes! This man called himself a count. +It was seven years ago." + +"I am speaking of to-day." + +"I've not been there since." + +"Would you like to go there,--with me?" + +"It isn't a nice sort of place, I should say, for a honeymoon. But +you shall choose. When we are married you shall go where you like." + +"To be married!" she exclaimed. + +"Married at Ostend! Would your mother like that?" + +"Mother! Oh, dear!" + +"I'll be shot if I know what you're after, Gertrude. If you've got +anything to say you'd better speak out. I want to go up to the house +now." + +They had now taken one or two turns between the lodge and a point in +the road from which the house could be observed, and at which Tom +could still be seen wandering about, thinking no doubt of Ayala. Here +Frank stopped as though determined not to turn to the lodge again. It +was wonderful to Gertrude that he should not have understood what she +had already said. When he talked of her mother going with them to the +Ostend marriage she was almost beside herself. This lover of hers was +a man of the world and must have heard of elopements. But now had +come a time in which she must be plain, unless she made up her mind +to abandon her plan altogether. "Frank," she said, "if you were to +run away with me, then we could be married at Ostend." + +"Run away with you!" + +"It wouldn't be the first time that such a thing has been done." + +"The commonest thing in the world, my dear, when a girl has got her +money in her own hands. Nothing I should like so much." + +"Money! It's always money. It's nothing but the money, I believe." + +"That's unkind, Gertrude." + +"Ain't you unkind? You won't do anything I ask." + +"My darling, that hashed mutton and those baked potatoes are too +clear before my eyes." + +"You think of nothing, I believe, but your dinner." + +"I think, unfortunately, of a great many other things. Hashed mutton +is simply symbolical. Under the head of hashed mutton I include poor +lodgings, growlers when we get ourselves asked to eat a dinner at +somebody's table, limited washing-bills, table-napkins rolled up in +their dirt every day for a week, antimacassars to save the backs of +the chairs, a picture of you darning my socks while I am reading +a newspaper hired at a halfpenny from the public-house round the +corner, a pint of beer in the pewter between us,--and perhaps two +babies in one cradle because we can't afford to buy a second." + +"Don't, Sir." + +"In such an emergency I am bound to give you the advantage both of my +experience and imagination." + +"Experience!" + +"Not about the cradles! That is imagination. My darling, it won't do. +You and I have not been brought up to make ourselves happy on a very +limited income." + +"Papa would be sure to give us the money," she said, eagerly. + +"In such a matter as this, where your happiness is concerned, my +dear, I will trust no one." + +"My happiness!" + +"Yes, my dear, your happiness! I am quite willing to own the truth. I +am not fitted to make you happy, if I were put upon the hashed mutton +regime as I have described to you. I will not run the risk,--for your +sake." + +"For your own, you mean," she said. + +"Nor for my own, if you wish me to add that also." + +Then they walked up towards the house for some little way in silence. +"What is it you intend, then?" she asked. + +"I will ask your father once again." + +"He will simply turn you out of the house," she said. Upon this +he shrugged his shoulders, and they walked on to the hall-door in +silence. + +Sir Thomas was not at Merle Park, nor was he expected home that +evening. Frank Houston could only therefore ask for Lady Tringle, +and her he saw together with Mr. and Mrs. Traffick. In presence of +them all nothing could be said of love affairs; and, after sitting +for half-an-hour, during which he was not entertained with much +cordiality, he took his leave, saying that he would do himself the +honour of calling on Sir Thomas in the City. While he was in the +drawing-room Gertrude did not appear. She had retired to her room, +and was there resolving that Frank Houston was not such a lover as +would justify a girl in breaking her heart for him. + +And Frank as he went to town brought his mind to the same way of +thinking. The girl wanted something romantic to be done, and he was +not disposed to do anything romantic for her. He was not in the least +angry with her, acknowledging to himself that she had quite as much a +right to her way of looking at things as he had to his. But he felt +almost sure that the Tringle alliance must be regarded as impossible. +If so, should he look out for another heiress, or endeavour to +enjoy life, stretching out his little income as far as might be +possible;--or should he assume altogether a new character, make a +hero of himself, and ask Imogene Docimer to share with him a little +cottage, in whatever might be the cheapest spot to be found in the +civilised parts of Europe? If it was to be hashed mutton and a united +cradle, he would prefer Imogene Docimer to Gertrude Tringle for his +companion. + +But there was still open to him the one further chance with Sir +Thomas; and this chance he could try with the comfortable feeling +that he might be almost indifferent as to what Sir Thomas might say. +To be prepared for either lot is very self-assuring when any matter +of difficulty has to be taken in hand. On arriving at the house in +Lombard Street he soon found himself ushered once more into Sir +Thomas's presence. "Well, Mr. Houston, what can I do for you to-day?" +asked the man of business, with a pleasant smile. + +"It is the old story, Sir Thomas." + +"Don't you think, Mr. Houston, that there is something,--a +little,--unmanly shall I call it, in coming so often about the same +thing?" + +"No, Sir Thomas, I do not. I think my conduct has been manly +throughout." + +"Weak, perhaps, would have been a better word. I do not wish to be +uncourteous, and I will therefore withdraw unmanly. Is it not weak to +encounter so many refusals on the same subject?" + +"I should feel myself to have been very strong if after so many +refusals I were to be successful at last." + +"There is not the least chance of it." + +"Why should there be no chance if your daughter's happiness depends +upon it?" + +"There is no chance, because I do not believe that my daughter's +happiness does depend upon it. She is foolish, and has made a foolish +proposition to you." + +"What proposition?" asked Houston, in surprise, having heard nothing +of that intercepted letter. + +"That journey to Ostend, with the prospect of finding a good-natured +clergyman in the town! I hardly think you would be fool enough for +that." + +"No, Sir Thomas, I should not do that. I should think it wrong." This +he said quite gravely, asking no questions; but was very much at a +loss to know where Sir Thomas had got his information. + +"I am sure you would think it foolish: and it would be foolish. I +pledge you my word, that were you to do such a thing I should not +give you a shilling. I should not let my girl starve; but I should +save her from suffering in such a manner as to let you have no share +of the sustenance I provided for her." + +"There is no question of that kind," said Frank, angrily. + +"I hope not;--only as I know that the suggestion has been made I +have thought it well to tell you what would be my conduct if it were +carried out." + +"It will not be carried out by me," said Frank. + +"Very well; I am glad to hear it. To tell the truth, I never thought +that you would run the risk. A gentleman of your sort, when he +is looking for a wife with money, likes to have the money quite +certain." + +"No doubt," said Frank, determined not to be browbeaten. + +"And now, Mr. Houston, let me say one word more to you and then we +may part, as I hope, good friends. I do not mean my daughter Gertrude +to marry any man such as you are;--by that I mean an idle gentleman +without means. Should she do so in my teeth she would have to bear +the punishment of sharing that poor gentleman's idleness and poverty. +While I lived she would not be allowed absolutely to want, and when I +died there would be some trifle for her, sufficient to keep the wolf +from the door. But I give you my solemn word and honour that she +shall never be the means of supplying wealth and luxury to such a +husband as you would be. I have better purposes for my hard-earned +money. Now, good-day." With that he rose from his chair and put out +his hand. Frank rose also from his chair, took the hand that was +offered him, and stepped out of Travers and Treason into Lombard +Street, with no special desire to shake the dust off his feet as he +did so. He felt that Sir Thomas had been reasonable,--and he felt +also that Gertrude Tringle would perhaps have been dear at the money. + +Two or three days afterwards he despatched the following little note +to poor Gertrude at Merle Park;-- + + + DEAR GERTRUDE, + + I have seen your father again, and found him to be + absolutely obdurate. I am sure he is quite in earnest + when he tells me that he will not give his daughter to an + impoverished idle fellow such as I am. Who shall say that + he is wrong? I did not dare to tell him so, anxious as I + was that he should change his purpose. + + I feel myself bound in honour, believing, as I do, that he + is quite resolved in his purpose, to release you from your + promise. I should feel that I was only doing you an injury + were I to ask you to be bound by an engagement which could + not, at any rate for many years, be brought to a happy + termination. + + As we may part as sincere friends I hope you will consent + to keep the little token of my regard which I gave you. + + FRANK HOUSTON. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +FRANK HOUSTON IS PENITENT. + + +"And now the Adriatic's free to wed another," said Houston to +himself, as he put himself into a cab, and had himself carried to +his club. There he wrote that valedictory letter to Gertrude which +is given at the end of the last chapter. Had he reason to complain +of his fate, or to rejoice? He had looked the question of an +establishment full in the face,--an establishment to be created by +Sir Thomas Tringle's money, to be shared with Sir Thomas Tringle's +daughter, and had made up his mind to accept it, although the +prospects were not, as he told himself, "altogether rosy." When he +first made up his mind to marry Gertrude,--on condition that Gertrude +should bring with her, at any rate, not less than three thousand +a-year,--he was quite aware that he would have to give up all his +old ways of life, and all his little pleasures. He would become +son-in-law to Sir Thomas Tringle, with a comfortable house to live +in; with plenty to eat and drink, and, probably, a horse or two to +ride. If he could manage things at their best, perhaps he might be +able to settle himself at Pau, or some other place of the kind, so as +to be as far away as possible from Tringle influences. But his little +dinners at one club, his little rubbers of whist at the other club, +his evenings at the opera, the pleasant smiles of the ladies, whom he +loved in a general way,--these would be done with for ever! Earn his +own bread! Why, he was going to earn his bread, and that in a most +disagreeable manner. He would set up an establishment, not because +such an establishment would have any charms for him, but because he +was compelled by lack of money to make some change in his present +manner of life. And yet the time had been when he had looked forward +to a marriage as the happiest thing that could befall him. As far as +his nature could love, he had loved Imogene Docimer. There had come a +glimpse upon him of something better than the little dinners and the +little rubbers. There had been a prospect of an income,--not ample, +as would have been that forthcoming from Sir Thomas,--but sufficient +for a sweet and modest home, in which he thought that it would have +sufficed for his happiness to paint a few pictures, and read a few +books, and to love his wife and children. Even as to that there had +been a doubt. There was a regret as to the charms of London life. +But, nevertheless, he had made up his mind,--and she, without any +doubt, had made up hers. Then that wicked uncle had died, and was +found to have expended on his own pursuits the money which was to +have been left to his nephew. Upon that there was an explanation +between Frank and Imogene; and it was agreed that their engagement +should be over, while a doubtful and dangerous friendship was to be +encouraged between them. + +Such was the condition of things when Frank first met Gertrude +Tringle at Rome, now considerably more than twelve months since. +When Gertrude had first received his proposition favourably he had +written to Imogene a letter in that drolling spirit common to him, in +which he declared his purpose;--or rather, not his purpose, but his +untoward fate, should the gods be unkind to him. She had answered him +after the same fashion, saying, that in regard to his future welfare +she hoped that the gods would prove unkind. But had he known how to +read all that her letter expressed between the lines, he would have +perceived that her heart was more strongly moved than his own. Since +that time he had learned the lesson. There had been a letter or two; +and then there had been that walk in the wood on the Italian side of +the Tyrolese Alps. The reader may remember how he was hurried away +in the diligence for Innspruck, because it was considered that his +further sojourn in the same house with Imogene was dangerous. He had +gone, and even as he went had attempted to make a joke of the whole +affair. But it had not been quite a joke to him even then. There +was Imogene's love and Imogene's anger,--and together with these an +aversion towards the poor girl whom he intended to marry,--which +became the stronger the more strongly he was convinced both of +Imogene's love and of her anger. + +Nevertheless, he persevered,--not with the best success, as has +already been told. Now, as he left the house in Lombard Street, and +wrote what was intended to be his last epistle to Gertrude, he was +driven again to think of Miss Docimer. Indeed, he had in his pocket, +as he sat at his club, a little note which he had lately received +from that lady, which, in truth, had disturbed him much when he made +his last futile efforts at Merle Park and in Lombard Street. The +little note was as follows;-- + + + DEAR FRANK, + + One little friendly word in spite of our storm on + the Tyrolese hill-side! If Miss Tringle is to be the + arbiter of your fate;--why, then, let there be an end of + everything between us. I should not care to be called upon + to receive such a Mrs. Frank Houston as a dear friend. + But if Tringle père should at the last moment prove + hard-hearted, then let me see you again.--Yours, + + I. + + +With this letter in his pocket he had gone down to Merle Park, +determined to put an end to the Tringle affair in one way or +the other. His duty, as he had planned it to himself, would not +be altered by Imogene's letter; but if that duty should become +impracticable, why, then, it would be open to him to consider +whatever Imogene might have to say to him. + +The Docimers were now in London, where it was their custom to live +during six months of the year; but Houston had not been at their +house since he had parted from them in the Tyrol. He had spent but +little of his time in London since the autumn, and, when there, had +not been anxious to see people who had, at any rate, treated him +somewhat roughly. But now it would be necessary that he should +answer Imogene's letter. What should be the nature of such answer he +certainly had not as yet decided, nor could he have decided before +those very convincing assurances of Sir Thomas Tringle. That matter +was at any rate over, and now the "Adriatic might wed another,"--if +the Adriatic thought well to do so. The matter, however, was one +which required a good deal of consideration. He gave to it ten +minutes of intense thought, during which he consumed a cup of coffee +and a cigarette; and then, throwing away the burnt end of the paper, +he hurried into the morning-room, and wrote to the lady as follows;-- + + + DEAR IMOGENE, + + You will not have to press to your bosom as my wife the + second daughter of Sir Thomas Tringle, Bart. The high + honour of that alliance has at last been refused by him in + very plain language. Had she become Mrs. Frank Houston, I + do not doubt but you would have done your duty to your own + cousin. That lot, however, has not been written for me in + the Book of Fates. The father is persistent in looking + upon me as an idle profligate adventurer; and though he + has been kind enough to hint more than once that it might + be possible for me to achieve the young lady, he has + succeeded in convincing me that I never should achieve + anything beyond the barren possession of her beauty. A + wife and family on my present very moderate income would + be burdensome; and, therefore, with infinite regrets, I + have bade adieu to Miss Tringle. + + I have not hitherto been to see either you or your brother + or Mrs. Docimer because I have been altogether unaware + whether you or your brother or Mrs. Docimer would be glad + to see me. As you say yourself, there was a storm on the + Tyrolese hill-side,--in which there was more than one + wind blowing at the same time. I do not find fault with + anybody,--perhaps a storm was needed to clear the air. But + I hate storms. I do not pretend to be a very grand fellow, + but I do endeavour not to be disagreeable. Your brother, + if you remember, was a little hard. But, in truth, I say + this only to account for my apparent incivility. + + And, perhaps, with another object;--to gain a little time + before I plunge into the stern necessity of answering all + that you say in your very comprehensive letter of five + lines. The first four lines I have answered. There will be + no such Mrs. Frank Houston as that suggested. And then, as + to the last line. Of course, you will see me again, and + that very speedily. So it would seem that the whole letter + is answered. + + But yet it is not answered. There is so much in it that + whole sheets would not answer it. A quire of note-paper + stuffed full would hardly contain all that I might find + to say in answer to it,--on one side and the other. Nay, + I might fill as many reams of folio as are required for a + three-volume novel. And then I might call it by one of two + names, "The Doubts of Frank Houston," or "The Constancy of + Imogene Docimer,"--as I should at last bring my story to + one ending or the other. But the novel would contain that + fault which is so prevalent in the novels of the present + day. The hero would be a very namby-mamby sort of a + fellow, whereas the heroine would be too perfect for human + nature. + + The hero would be always repeating to himself a certain + line out of a Latin poet, which, of all lines, is the most + heart-breaking;-- + + The better course I see and know;-- + The worser one is where I go. + + But then in novels the most indifferent hero comes out + right at last. Some god comes out of a theatrical cloud + and leaves the poor devil ten thousand a-year and a title. + He isn't much of a hero when he does go right under such + inducements, but he suffices for the plot, and everything + is rose-coloured. I would be virtuous at a much cheaper + rate;--if only a young man with his family might have + enough to eat and drink. What is your idea of the lowest + income at which a prudent,--say not idiotically-quixotic + hero,--might safely venture to be heroic? + + Now I have written to you a long letter, and think + that I have indicated to you the true state of my + feelings. Whatever may turn up I do not think I shall go + fortune-hunting again. If half-a-million in female hands + were to throw itself at my head, there is no saying + whether I might not yield. But I do not think that I shall + again make inquiry as to the amount of booty supposed + to be within the walls of a city, and then sit down to + besiege the city with regular lines of approach. It is a + disgusting piece of work. I do not say but what I can lie, + and did lie foully on the last siege operation; but I do + not like it. And then to be told that one is unmanly by + the father, and a coward by the young lady, as occurred to + me in this affair, is disheartening. They were both right, + though I repudiated their assertions. This might be borne + as a prelude to success; but, as part of a failure, it is + disgusting. At the present moment I am considering what + economy might effect as to a future bachelor life, and + am meditating to begin with a couple of mutton chops and + half-a-pint of sherry for my dinner to-day. I know I shall + break down and have a woodcock and some champagne. + + I will come to you about three on Sunday. If you can + manage that your brother should go out and make his calls, + and your sister attend divine service in the afternoon, it + would be a comfort. + + Yours always, + + F. HOUSTON. + + +It was a long rambling letter, without a word in it of solid +clearly-expressed meaning; but Imogene, as she read it, understood +very well its real purport. She understood more than its purport, for +she could see by it,--more clearly than the writer did himself,--how +far her influence over the man had been restored, and how far she +might be able to restore it. But was it well that she should regain +her influence? Her influence regained would simply mean a renewed +engagement. No doubt the storm on the hill-side had come from the +violence of true love on her part! No doubt her heart had been +outraged by the idea that he should give himself up to another woman +after all that had passed between them. She had been devoted to him +altogether; but yet she had been taught by him to regard her love as +a passion which of its nature contained something of the ridiculous. +He had never ceased gently to laugh at himself, even in her presence, +because he had subjected himself to her attraction. She had caught +up the same spirit,--or at any rate the expression of spirit,--and, +deceived by that, he had thought that to relieve herself from the +burden of her love would be as easy to her as to him. In making this +mistake he had been ignorant of the intrinsic difference in the +nature of a man's and of a woman's heart, and had been unaware that +that, which to a man at his best can only be a part of his interest +in his life's concerns, will to a woman be everything. She had +attempted to follow his lead when it did not seem that by doing so +she would lose anything. But when the moment of trial came she had +not in truth followed his lead at all. She made the attempt, and in +making the attempt gave him her permission to go from her; but when +she realised the fact that he was gone,--or going,--then she broke +down utterly. Then there came these contentions between her and her +brother, and that storm on the hill-side. + +After that she passed some months of wretchedness. There was no +possibility for her to droll away her love. She had taught herself to +love the man whether he were good or whether he were bad,--whether +he were strong-hearted or whether he were fickle,--and the thing +was there present to her, either as a permanent blessing, or, much +more probably, a permanent curse. As the months went on she learned, +though she never saw Frank himself, that his purpose of marrying +Gertrude Tringle was not likely to be carried out. Then at last she +wrote that comprehensive letter of five lines,--as Houston had called +it. It had been intended to be comprehensive, and did, in fact, +contain much more than it seemed to say. "If you can bring yourself +to return to me, and to endure whatever inconveniences may be +incidental to your doing so, I hereby declare that I will do the +same; and I declare also that I can find for myself no other content +in the world except what may come to me from such an agreement +between us." It was this that she said in that last line, in which +she had begged him to come to her, if at the last moment "Tringle +père" should prove to be hard-hearted. All troubles of poverty, all +the lingering annoyance of waiting, all her possible doubts as to his +future want of persistency, would be preferable to the great loss +which she found herself unable to endure. + +Yes; it would be very well that both her brother and her +sister-in-law should be absent when he came to her. To neither of +them had she said a word of her last correspondence;--to neither of +them a word of her renewed hopes. For the objections which might be +raised by either of them would she care little if she could succeed +with Frank. But while that success was still doubtful it would be +well to get at any rate the assistance of her sister-in-law. On the +Sunday afternoon Mr. Docimer would certainly be away from the house. +It was his custom to go off among his friends almost immediately +after lunch, and his absence might be counted on as assured. But with +his wife it was different. That project of sending her to church was +quite out of the question. Mrs. Docimer generally went to church of a +Sunday morning, and then always considered herself to have performed +the duties of the day. Nor did Imogene like the idea of this +appointment with her lover without a word spoken about it to her +sister-in-law. "Mary," she said, "Frank Houston is coming here on +Sunday." + +"Frank!" exclaimed Mrs. Docimer. "I thought we were to consider +ourselves as altogether separated from that fortunate youth." + +"I don't see why." + +"Well; he left us not with the kindest possible feelings in the +Tyrol; and he has allowed ever so many months to pass by without +coming to see us. I asked Mudbury whether we should have him to +dinner one day last week, and he said it would be better to let him +go his own way." + +"Nevertheless, he is coming here on Sunday." + +"Has he written to you?" + +"Yes, he has written to me,--in answer to a line from me. I told him +that I wished to see him." + +"Was that wise?" + +"Wise or not, I did so." + +"Why should you wish to see him?" + +"Am I to tell you the truth or a lie?" + +"Not a lie, certainly. I will not ask for the truth if the truth be +unpalatable to you." + +"It is unpalatable;--but yet I might as well tell it you. I wrote to +ask him to come and see me, because I love him so dearly." + +"Oh, Imogene!" + +"It is the truth." + +"Did you tell him so?" + +"No; I told him nothing. I merely said, that, if this match was over +between him and that girl of Sir Thomas Tringle, then he might come +and see me again. That was all that I said. His letter was very much +longer, but yet it did not say much. However, he is to come, and I am +prepared to renew our engagement should he declare that he is willing +to do so." + +"What will Mudbury say?" + +"I do not care very much what he says. I do not know that I am +bound to care. If I have resolved to entangle myself with a long +engagement, and Mr. Houston is willing to do the same, I do not +think that my brother should interfere. I am my own mistress, and am +dealing altogether with my own happiness." + +"Imogene, we have discussed this so often before." + +"Not a doubt; and with such effect that with my permission Frank was +enabled to ask this young woman with a lot of money to marry him. Had +it been arranged, I should have had no right to find fault with him, +however sore of heart I might have been. All that has fallen through, +and I consider myself quite entitled to renew my engagement again. I +shall not ask him, you may be sure of that." + +"It comes to the same thing, Imogene." + +"Very likely. It often happens that ladies mean that to be expressed +which it does not become them to say out loud. So it may be with me +on this occasion. Nevertheless, the word, if it have to be spoken, +will have to be spoken by him. What I want you to do now is to let me +have the drawing-room alone at three o'clock on Sunday. If anything +has to be said it will have to be said without witnesses." + +With some difficulty Mrs. Docimer was induced to accede to the +request, and to promise that, at any rate for the present, nothing +should be said to her husband on the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +CAPTAIN BATSBY. + + +In the meantime, poor Ayala, whose days were running on in a very +melancholy manner under her aunt's wings in Kingsbury Crescent, was +creating further havoc and disturbing the bosom of another lover. At +Stalham she had met a certain Captain Batsby, and had there attracted +his attention. Captain Batsby had begged her to ride with him on one +of those hunting-days, and had offered to give her a lead,--having +been at the moment particularly jealous of Colonel Stubbs. On that +day both Ayala and Nina had achieved great honour;--but this, to the +great satisfaction of Captain Batsby, had not been achieved under the +leadership of Colonel Stubbs. Larry Twentyman, long famous among the +riding-men of the Ufford and Rufford United Hunt, had been the hero +of the hour. Thus Captain Batsby's feelings had been spared, and +after that he had imagined that any kindly feelings which Ayala might +have had for the Colonel had sunk into abeyance. Then he had sought +some opportunity to push himself into Ayala's favour, but hitherto +his success in that direction had not been great. + +Captain Batsby was regarded by the inhabitants of Stalham as a +nuisance,--but as a nuisance which could not be avoided. He was +half-brother to Sir Harry, whose mother had married, as her second +husband, a certain opulent Mr. Batsby out of Lancashire. They were +both dead now, and nothing of them remained but this Captain. He +was good-natured, simple, and rich, and in the arrangement of the +Albury-cum-Batsby affairs, which took place after the death of Mrs. +Batsby, made himself pleasant to everybody concerned. Sir Harry, who +certainly had no particular affection for his half-brother, always +bore with him on this account; and Lady Albury was equally gracious, +mindful of the wisdom of keeping on good terms with a rich relation. +It was as yet quite on the cards that the Batsby money might come to +some of the Albury scions. + +But the Captain was anxious to provide himself with a wife who might +be the mother of scions of his own. In fact he had fallen fearfully +in love with Ayala, and was quite resolved to ask her to be his wife +when he found that she was just on the point of flying from Stalham. +He had intended to be quicker in his operations, but had lacked +opportunity. On that last hunting-day the Colonel had always been +still in his way, and circumstances had never seemed to favour him +when he endeavoured to have a few words in private with the young +lady. Then she was gone, and he could only learn respecting her that +she lived with her aunt, Mrs. Dosett, in Kingsbury Crescent. + +"I'm blessed if Benjamin isn't smitten with that girl!" Benjamin was +Captain Batsby, and that girl was of course Ayala Dormer. The man +who blessed himself was Sir Harry Albury, and the observation was +addressed to his wife. This took place within an hour of Ayala's +departure from Stalham. + +"Benjamin in love with Ayala Dormer! I don't believe a word of it," +said Lady Albury. It was not surprising that she should not believe +it. There was her special favourite, Colonel Stubbs, infatuated +by the same girl; and, as she was aware, Tom Tringle, the heir of +Travers and Treason, was in the same melancholy condition. And, after +all, according to her thinking, there was nothing in the girl to +justify all this fury. In her eyes Ayala was pretty, but no more. She +would have declared that Ayala had neither bearing, nor beauty, nor +figure. A bright eye, a changing colour, and something of vivacity +about her mouth, was all of which Ayala had to boast. Yet here were +certainly the heir of the man of millions, and that Crichton of a +Colonel, both knocked off their legs. And now she was told that +Captain Batsby, who always professed himself hard to please in the +matter of young ladies, was in the same condition. "Do you mean to +say he told you?" she asked. + +"No," said Sir Harry; "he is not at all the man to do that. In such a +matter he is sure to have a great secret, and be sure also to let his +secret escape in every word that he speaks. You will find that what I +say is truth." + +Before the day was out Lady Albury did find her husband to be +correct. Captain Batsby, though he was very jealous of his secret, +acknowledged to himself the necessity of having one confidant. He +could hardly, he thought, follow Ayala without some assistance. He +knew nothing of Mrs. Dosett, nothing of Kingsbury Crescent, and very +little as to Ayala herself. He regarded Lady Albury as his chosen +friend, and generally communicated to her whatever troubles he might +have. These had consisted chiefly of the persecutions to which he had +been subjected by the mothers of portionless young ladies. How not to +get married off against his will had been the difficulty of his life. +His half sister-in-law had hitherto preserved him, and therefore to +her he now went for assistance in this opposite affair. "Rosalind," +he said in his gravest voice, "what do you think I have to tell you?" + +Lady Albury knew what was coming, but of course she hid her +knowledge. "I hope Mrs. Motherly has not written to you again," she +said. Mrs. Motherly was a lady who had been anxious that her daughter +should grace Captain Batsby's table, and had written to him letters, +asking him his intentions. + +"Oh, dear; nothing of that kind. I do not care a straw for Mrs. +Motherly or the girl either. I never said a word to her that any one +could make a handle of. But I want to say a word to somebody now." + +"What sort of word is it to be, Ben?" + +"Ah," he groaned. "Rosalind, you must understand that I never was so +much in earnest in my life!" + +"You are always in earnest." + +Then he sighed very deeply. "I shall expect you to help me through +this matter, Rosalind." + +"Do I not always help you?" + +"Yes; you do. But you must stick to me now like wax. What do you +think of that young lady, Miss Dormer?" + +"I think she is a pretty girl; and the gentlemen tell me that she +rides bravely." + +"Don't you consider her divine?" he asked. + +"My dear Ben, one lady never considers another to be divine. Among +ourselves we are terribly human, if not worse. Do you mean to tell me +that you are in love with Ayala Dormer?" + +"You have guessed it," said he. "You always do guess everything." + +"I generally do guess as much as that, when young gentlemen find +young ladies divine. Do you know anything about Miss Dormer?" + +"Nothing but her beauty;--nothing but her wit;--nothing but her +grace! I know all that, and I don't seem to want to know any more." + +"Then you must be in love! In the first place she hasn't got a +sixpence in the world." + +"I don't want sixpences," said the Captain, proudly. + +"And in the next place I am not at all sure that you would like her +people. Father and mother she has none." + +"Then I cannot dislike them." + +"But she has uncles and aunts, who are, I am afraid, objectionable. +She lives with a Mr. Dosett, who is a clerk in Somerset House,--a +respectable man, no doubt, but one whom you would not perhaps want at +your house very often." + +"I don't care about uncles and aunts," said Captain Batsby. "Uncles +and aunts can always be dropped much easier than fathers and mothers. +At any rate I am determined to go on, and I want you to put me in the +way. How must I find her?" + +"Go to No. 10, Kingsbury Crescent, Bayswater. Ask for Mrs. Dosett and +tell her what you've come about. When she knows that you are well +off she will not turn a deaf ear to you. What the girl may do it is +beyond me to say. She is very peculiar." + +"Peculiar?" said the Captain with another sigh. + +Lady Albury did, in truth, think Ayala was very peculiar, seeing that +she had refused two such men as Tom Tringle in spite of his wealth, +and Colonel Stubbs in spite of his position. This she had done though +she had no prospects of her own before her, and no comfortable home +at the present. Might it not be more than probable that she would +also refuse Captain Batsby, who was less rich than the one and +certainly less known to the world than the other? But as to this it +was not necessary that she should say anything. To assist Colonel +Stubbs she was bound by true affection for the man. In regard to her +husband's half-brother she was only bound to seem to assist him. "I +can write a line to Mrs. Dosett, if you wish it," she said, "or to +Miss Dormer." + +"I wish you would. It would be best to the aunt, and just tell her +that I am fairly well off. She'll tell Ayala I could make quite a +proper settlement on her. That kind of thing does go a long way with +young ladies." + +"It ought to do at any rate," said Lady Albury. "It certainly does +with the old ladies." Then the matter was settled. She was to write +to Mrs. Dosett and inform that lady that Captain Batsby intended to +call in Kingsbury Crescent in the form of a suitor for Miss Ayala +Dormer's hand. She would go on to explain that Captain Batsby was +quite in a position to marry and maintain a wife. + +"And if she should accept me you'll have her down here, Rosalind?" +Here was a difficulty, as it was already understood that Ayala was to +be again brought down to Stalham on the Colonel's account; but Lady +Albury could make the promise, as, should the Captain be accepted, +no harm would in that case be done to the Colonel. She was, however, +tolerably sure that the Captain would not be accepted. "And, if she +shouldn't take me all at once, still you might have her," suggested +the lover. As to this, which was so probable, there would be a great +difficulty. Ayala was to be seduced into coming again to Stalham if +possible,--but specially on the Colonel's behoof. In such a case it +must be done behind the Captain's back. Lady Albury saw the troubles +which were coming, but nevertheless she promised that she would see +what could be done. All this having been settled, Captain Batsby took +his leave and went off to London. + +Mrs. Dosett, when she received Lady Albury's letter, was very much +surprised. She too failed to understand what there was in Ayala to +produce such a multiplicity of suitors, one after another. When +Lucy came to her and had begun to be objectionable, she had thought +that she might some day be relieved from her troubles by the girl's +marriage. Lucy, to her eyes, was beautiful, and mistress of a manner +likely to be winning in a man's eyes, though ungracious to herself. +But in regard to Ayala she had expressed nothing of the kind. Ayala +was little, and flighty, and like an elf,--as she had remarked to her +husband. But now, within twelve months, three lovers had appeared, +and each of them suitable for matrimonial purposes. She could only +tell her husband, and then tell Ayala. + +"Captain Batsby! I don't believe it!" said Ayala, almost crying. If +Colonel Stubbs could not be made to assume the garb of an Angel of +Light what was she to think of Captain Batsby? + +"You can read Lady Albury's letter." + +"I don't want to read Lady Albury's letter. I won't see him. I don't +care what my uncle says. I don't care what anybody says. Yes, I do +know him. I remember him very well. I spoke to him once or twice, and +I did not like him at all." + +"You said the same of Colonel Stubbs." + +"I didn't say the same of Colonel Stubbs. He is a great deal worse +than Colonel Stubbs." + +"And you said just the same of Tom." + +"He is the same as Tom;--just as bad. It is no good going on about +him, Aunt Margaret. I won't see him. If I were locked up in a room +with him I wouldn't speak a word to him. He has no right to come." + +"A gentleman, my dear, has always a right to ask a lady to be his +wife if he has got means." + +"You always say so, Aunt Margaret, but I don't believe it. There +should be,--there should have been,--I don't know what; but I am +quite sure the man has no right to come to me, and I won't see him." +To this resolution Ayala clung, and, as she was very firm about it, +Mrs. Dosett, after consultation with her husband, at last gave way, +and consented to see Captain Batsby herself. + +In due time Captain Batsby came. At any knock heard at the door +during this period Ayala flew out of the drawing-room into her own +chamber; and at the Captain's knock she flew with double haste, +feeling sure that this was the special knock. The man was shown +up, and in a set speech declared his purpose to Mrs. Dosett, and +expressed a hope that Lady Albury might have written on the subject. +Might he be allowed to see the young lady? + +"I fear that it would be of no service, Captain Batsby." + +"Of no service?" + +"On receiving Lady Albury's letter I was of course obliged to tell my +niece the honour you proposed to do her." + +"I am quite in earnest, you know," said the Captain. + +"So I suppose, as Lady Albury would not have written, nor would you +have come on such a mission. But so is my niece in earnest." + +"She will, at any rate, hear what I have got to say." + +"She would rather not," said Mrs. Dosett. "She thinks that it would +only be painful to both of you. As she has quite made up her mind +that she cannot accept the honour you propose to do her, what good +would it serve?" + +"Is Miss Dormer at home?" asked the Captain, suddenly. Mrs. Dosett +hesitated for a while, anxious to tell a lie on the matter, but +fearing to do so. "I suppose she is at home," continued the urgent +lover. + +"Miss Dormer is at present in her own chamber." + +"Then I think I ought to see her," continued the Captain. "She can't +know at present what is my income." + +"Lady Albury has told us that it is sufficient." + +"But that means nothing. Your niece cannot be aware that I have a +very pretty little place of my own down in Berkshire." + +"I don't think it would make a difference," said Mrs. Dosett. + +"Or that I shall be willing to settle upon her a third of my income. +It is not many gentlemen who will do as much as that for a young +lady, when the young lady has nothing of her own." + +"I am sure you are very generous." + +"Yes, I am. I always was generous. And I have no impediments to get +rid of; not a trouble of that kind in all the world. And I don't owe +a shilling. Very few young men, who have lived as much in the world +as I have, can say that." + +"I am sure your position is all that is desirable." + +"That's just it. No position could be more desirable. I should +give up the service immediately as soon as I was married." At that +Mrs. Dosett bowed, not knowing what words to find for further +conversation. "After that," continued the Captain, "do you mean to +say that I am not to be allowed to see the young lady?" + +"I cannot force her to come down, Captain Batsby." + +"I would if I were you." + +"Force a young lady?" + +"Something ought to be done," said he, beginning almost to whine. +"I have come here on purpose to see her, and I am quite prepared to +do what is handsome. My half-sister, Lady Albury, had her down at +Stalham, and is quite anxious to have her there again. I suppose you +have no objection to make to me, Mrs. Dosett?" + +"Oh, dear no." + +"Or Mr. Dosett?" + +"I do not say that he has, Captain Batsby; but this is a matter in +which a young lady's word must be paramount. We cannot force her to +marry you, or even to speak to you." The Captain still went on with +entreaties, till Mrs. Dosett found herself so far compelled to accede +to him as to go up to Ayala's room and beg her to come down and +answer this third suitor with her own voice. But Ayala was immovable. +When her aunt came near her she took hold of the bed as though +fearing an attempt would be made to drag her out of the room. She +again declared that if she were forced into the room below nothing +could oblige her to speak even a word. + +"As for thanking him," she said, "you can do that yourself, Aunt +Margaret, if you like. I am not a bit obliged to him; but, if you +choose to say so, you may; only pray do tell him to go away,--and +tell him never, never to come back any more." Then Mrs. Dosett +returned to the drawing-room, and declared that her embassy had been +quite in vain. + +"In all my life," said Captain Batsby, as he took his leave, "I never +heard of such conduct before." Nevertheless, as he went away he made +up his mind that Lady Albury should get Ayala again down to Stalham. +He was very angry, but his love remained as hot as ever. + +"As I did not succeed in seeing her," he said, in a letter to his +half-sister, "of course I do not know what she might have said to +me herself. I might probably have induced her to give me another +hearing. I put it all down to that abominable aunt, who probably has +some scheme of her own, and would not let Miss Dormer come down to +me. If you will have her again at Stalham, everything may be made to +go right." + + + * * * * * * + + +At home, in Kingsbury Crescent, when Ayala had gone to bed, both +Mr. and Mrs. Dosett expressed themselves as much troubled by the +peculiarity of Ayala's nature. Mrs. Dosett declared her conviction +that that promised legacy from Uncle Tom would never be forthcoming, +because he had been so much offended by the rejection of his own son. +And even should the legacy remain written in Sir Thomas's will, where +would Ayala find a home if Mr. Dosett were to die before the baronet? +This rejection of suitors,--of fit, well-to-do, unobjectionable +suitors,--was held by Mrs. Dosett to be very wicked, and a direct +flying in the face of Providence. "Does she think," said Mrs. Dosett, +urging the matter with all her eloquence to her husband, "that young +men with incomes are to be coming after her always like this?" Mr. +Dosett shook his head and scratched it at the same time, which was +always a sign with him that he was not at all convinced by the +arguments used, but that he did not wish to incur further hostility +by answering them. "Why shouldn't she see an eligible man when he +comes recommended like this?" + +"I suppose, my dear, she didn't think him nice enough." + +"Nice! pshaw! I call it a direct flying in the face of Providence. If +he were ever so nasty and twice as old she ought to think twice about +it in her position. There is poor Tom, they say, absolutely ill. The +housekeeper was over here from Queen's Gate the other day, and she +declares that that affair about the policeman all came from his being +in love. And now he has left the business and has gone to Merle Park, +because he is so knocked in a heap that he cannot hold up his head." + +"I don't see why love should make a man punch a policeman's breath +out of him," said Mr. Dosett. + +"Of course Tom was foolish; but he would do very well if she would +have him. Of course your sister, and Sir Thomas, and all of them, +will be very furious. What right will she have to expect money after +that?" + +"Tom is an ass," said Mr. Dosett. + +"I suppose Colonel Stubbs is an ass too. What I want to know is what +it is she looks for. Like any other girl, she expects to get married +some day, I suppose; but she has been reading poetry, and novels, and +trash, till she has got her head so full of nonsense that she doesn't +know what it is she does want. I should like to shake her till I +shook all the romance out of her. If there is anything I do hate it +is romance, while bread and meat, and coals, and washing, are so +dear." With this Mrs. Dosett took herself and her troubles up to her +bedroom. + +Mr. Dosett sat for a while gazing with speculative eyes at the embers +of the fire. He was conscious in his heart that some part of that +attack upon romance in general was intended for himself. Though he +did not look to be romantic, especially when seated at his desk in +Somerset House, with his big index-book before him, still there was +left about him some touch of poetry, and an appreciation of the finer +feelings of our nature. Though he could have wished that Ayala should +have been able to take one of these three well-to-do suitors, who +were so anxious to obtain her hand, still he could not bring himself +not to respect her, still he was unable not to love her, because she +was steadfastly averse to accept as a husband a man for whom she had +no affection. As he looked at the embers he asked himself how it +ought to be. Here was a girl whose only gift in life was her own +personal charm. That that charm must be powerful was evident from the +fact that she could so attract such men as these. Of the good things +of the world, of a pleasant home, of ample means, and of all that +absence of care which comes from money, poor Mr. Dosett had by no +means a poor appreciation. That men are justified in seeking these +good things by their energy, industry, and talents, he was quite +confident. How was it with a girl who had nothing else but her +beauty,--or, perhaps, her wit,--in lieu of energy and industry? Was +she justified in carrying her wares also into the market, and making +the most of them? The embers had burned so low, and he had become so +cold before he had settled the question in his own mind, that he was +obliged to go up to bed, leaving it unsettled. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +AUNT EMMELINE'S NEW PROPOSITION. + + +A few days after this, just as the bread and cheese had been put on +the table for the modest mid-day meal at Kingsbury Crescent, there +came a most unwonted honour on Mrs. Dosett. It was a call from no +less a person than Lady Tringle herself, who had come all the way up +from Merle Park on purpose. It was a Saturday. She had travelled by +herself and intended to go back on the same day with her husband. +This was an amount of trouble which she very seldom gave herself, +not often making a journey to London during the periods of her rural +sojourn; and, when she began by assuring her sister-in-law that she +made the journey with no object but that of coming to Kingsbury +Crescent, Mrs. Dosett was aware that something very important was +to be communicated. Mrs. Dosett and Ayala were together in the +dining-room when Lady Tringle appeared, and the embracings were very +affectionate. They were particularly affectionate towards Ayala, who +was kissed as though nothing had ever happened to interfere with +the perfect love existing between the aunt and the niece. They were +more than friendly, almost sisterly, towards Mrs. Dosett, whom in +truth Lady Tringle met hardly more than once in a year. It was very +manifest that Aunt Emmeline wanted to have something done. "Now, my +darling," she said, turning to Ayala, "if you would not mind going +away for ten minutes, I could say a few words on very particular +business to your aunt." Then she gave her niece a tender little +squeeze and assumed her sweetest smile. + +It will be as well to go back a little and tell the cause which had +produced this unexpected visit. There had been very much of real +trouble at Merle Park. Everything was troublesome. Gertrude had +received her final letter from her lover, had declared herself to be +broken-hearted, and was evincing her sorrow by lying in bed half the +day, abstaining from her meals, and relieving herself from famine by +sly visits to the larder. It was supposed that her object was to bend +the stony heart of her father, but the process added an additional +trouble to her mother. Then the Trafficks were a sore vexation. It +was now nearly the end of January and they were still at Merle Park. +There had been a scene in which Sir Thomas had been very harsh. "My +dear," he had said to his wife, "I find that something must be done +to the chimney of the north room. The workmen must be in it by the +first of February. See and have all the furniture taken out before +they come." Now the north room was the chamber in which the Trafficks +slept, and the Trafficks were present when the order was given. +No one believed the story of the chimney. This was the mode of +expulsion which Sir Thomas had chosen on the spur of the moment. Mr. +Traffick said not a word, but in the course of the morning Augusta +expostulated with her mother. This was also disagreeable. Then the +condition of Tom was truly pitiable. All his trust in champagne, all +his bellicose humour, had deserted him. He moped about the place the +most miserable of human beings, spending hour after hour in imploring +his mother's assistance. But Lucy with her quiet determination, and +mute persistency in waiting, was a source of almost greater annoyance +to her aunt than even her own children. That Lucy should in any +degree have had her way with Mr. Hamel, had gone against the grain +with her. Mr. Hamel, to her thinking, was a person to be connected +with whom would be a disgrace. She was always speaking of his birth, +of his father's life, and of those Roman iniquities. She had given +way for a time when she had understood that her husband intended to +give the young people money enough to enable them to marry. In that +case Lucy would at once be taken away from the house. But now all +that had come to an end. Sir Thomas had given no money, and had even +refused to give any money. Nevertheless he was peacefully indulgent +to Lucy, and was always scolding his wife because she was hostile to +Lucy's lover. + +In this emergency she induced him to accede to a proposition, by +which one of her miseries would be brought to an end and another +might perhaps be remedied. A second exchange should be made. Lucy +should be sent back to Kingsbury Crescent, and Ayala should once more +be brought into favour at Merle Park, Queen's Gate, and Glenbogie. +"Your brother will never put up with it," said Sir Thomas. Lady +Tringle was not afraid of her brother, and thought that by soft words +she might even talk over her sister-in-law. Ayala, she knew, had been +troublesome in Kingsbury Crescent. She was sure, she said, Ayala's +whims would of their nature be more troublesome to such a woman as +Mrs. Dosett than Lucy's obstinacy. Ayala had no doubt been pert and +disobedient at Glenbogie and at Rome, but there had been an unbending +obduracy about Lucy which had been more distasteful to Aunt Emmeline +than even Ayala's pert disobedience. "It will be the only way," she +had said to Sir Thomas, "to put Tom on his legs again. If the girl +comes back here she will be sure to have him at last." There was +much in this which to Sir Thomas was weak and absurd. That prolonged +journey round by San Francisco, Japan, and Pekin, was the remedy +which recommended itself to him. But he was less able to despatch +Tom at once to Japan than the elder Faddle had been to send off the +younger Faddle to the stern realities of life in Aberdeen. He was +quite willing that Tom should marry Ayala if it could be arranged, +and therefore he gave his consent. + +So armed, Lady Tringle had come up to Kingsbury Crescent, and was +now about to undertake a task, which she acknowledged to herself to +be difficult. She, in the first place, had had her choice and had +selected a niece. Then she had quarrelled with her own selection, and +had changed nieces. This had been done to accommodate her own fancy; +and now she wanted to change the nieces back again! She felt aware +that her request was unreasonable, and came, therefore, determined to +wrap it up in her blandest smiles. + +When Ayala had left the room Mrs. Dosett sat mute in attention. She +was quite aware that something very much out of the ordinary way was +to be asked of her. In her ordinary way Lady Tringle never did smile +when she came to Kingsbury Crescent. She would be profuse in finery, +and would seem to throw off sparks of wealth at every word she spoke. +Now even her dress had been toned down to her humbler manner, and +there was no touch of her husband's purse in her gait. "Margaret," +she said, "I have a proposition of great importance to make to you." +Mrs. Dosett opened her eyes wider and sat still mute. "That poor girl +is not,--is not,--is not doing perhaps the very best for herself here +at Kingsbury Crescent." + +"Why is she not doing the best for herself?" asked Mrs. Dosett, +angrily. + +"Do not for a moment suppose that I am finding fault either with you +or my brother." + +"You'd be very wrong if you did." + +"No doubt;--but I am not finding fault. I know how very generous you +have both been. Of course Sir Thomas is a rich man, and what he gives +to one of the girls comes to nothing. Of course it is different with +you. It is hard upon my brother to have any such burden put upon him; +and it is very good both in him and you to bear it." + +"What is it you want us to do now, Emmeline?" + +"Well;--I was going to explain. I do think it a great pity that Tom +and Ayala should not become man and wife. If ever any young man ever +did love a girl I believe that he loves her." + +"I think he does." + +"It is dreadful. I never saw anything like it. He is just for all the +world like those young men we read of who do all manner of horrible +things for love,--smothering themselves and their young women with +charcoal, or throwing them into the Regent's Canal. I am constantly +afraid of something happening. It was all because of Ayala that he +got into that terrible row at the police court,--and then we were +afraid he was going to take to drink. He has given all that up now." + +"I am very glad he has given drink up. That wouldn't do him any +good." + +"He is quite different now. The poor fellow hardly takes anything. He +will sit all the afternoon smoking cigarettes and sipping tea. It is +quite sad to see him. Then he comes and talks to me, and is always +asking me to make Ayala have him." + +"I don't think that anybody can ever make Ayala do anything." + +"Not quite by talking to her. I dare say not. I did not mean to say a +word to her about it just now." + +"We can do nothing, I fear," said Mrs. Dosett. + +"I was going to suggest something. But I wanted first to say a word +or two about poor Lucy." They were just at present all "poor" to +Lady Tringle,--Ayala, Lucy, Tom, and Gertrude. Even Augusta was poor +because she was to be turned out of her bedroom. + +"Is she in trouble?" + +"Oh, dear, yes. But," she added, thinking well to correct herself, +so that Mrs. Dosett might not imagine that she would have to look +forward to troubles with Lucy, "she could arrange her affairs, no +doubt, if she were not with us. She is engaged to that Mr. Isadore +Hamel, the sculptor." + +"So I have heard." + +"He does not earn very much just at present, I fear. Sir Thomas did +offer to help him, but he was perhaps a little hoity-toity, giving +himself airs. That, however, did not come off, and there they are, +waiting. I don't mean to say a word against poor Lucy. I think it a +pity, you know; but perhaps it was natural enough. He isn't what I +should have liked for a niece who was living with me just as though +she was my daughter; but I couldn't help that." + +"But what are we to do, Emmeline?" + +"Let them just change places again." + +"Change again! Ayala go to you and Lucy come back here!" + +"Just that. If Ayala were with us she would be sure to get used to +Tom at last. And then Lucy could manage her affairs with Mr. Hamel so +much better if she were with you." + +"Why should she manage her affairs better if she were with us?" + +Lady Tringle was aware that this was the weak part of her case. On +the poor Ayala and poor Tom side of the question there was a good +deal which might be said. Then, though she might not convince, she +might be eloquent. But, touching Lucy, she could say nothing which +did not simply signify that she wanted to get rid of the girl. Now, +Mrs. Dosett had also wanted to get rid of Lucy when the former +exchange had been made. "What I mean is, that, if she were away, Sir +Thomas would be more likely to do something for her." This was an +invention at the spur of the moment. + +"Do you not feel that the girls should not be chucked about like +balls from a battledore?" asked Mrs. Dosett. + +"For their own good, Margaret. I only propose it for their own good. +You can't but think it would be a good thing for Ayala to be married +to our Tom." + +"If she liked him." + +"Why shouldn't she like him? You know what that means. Poor Ayala is +young, and a little romantic. She would be a great deal happier if +all that could be knocked out of her. She has to marry somebody, and +the sooner she settles down the better. Sir Thomas will do anything +for them;--a horse and carriage, and anything she could set her heart +upon! There is nothing Sir Thomas would not do for Tom so as to get +him put upon his legs again." + +"I don't think Ayala would go." + +"She must, you know," whispered Lady Tringle, "if we both tell her." + +"And Lucy?" + +"She must too," again whispered Lady Tringle. "If they are told they +are to go, what else can they do? Why shouldn't Ayala wish to come?" + +"There were quarrels before." + +"Yes;--because of Augusta. Augusta is married now." Lady Tringle +could not quite say that Augusta was gone. + +"Will you speak to Ayala?" + +"Perhaps it would come better from you, Margaret, if you agree with +me." + +"I am not sure that I do. I am quite sure that your brother would not +force her to go, whether she wished it or not. No doubt we should be +glad if the marriage could be arranged. But we cannot force a girl to +marry, and her aversion in this case is so strong--" + +"Aversion!" + +"Aversion to being married, I mean. It is so strong that I do not +think she will go of her own accord to any house where she is likely +to meet her cousin. I dare say she may be a fool. I say nothing about +that. Of course, she shall be asked; and, if she wishes to go, then +Lucy can be asked too. But of course it must all depend upon what +your brother says." + +Then Lady Tringle took her leave without again seeing Ayala herself, +and as she went declared her intention of calling at Somerset +House. She would not think it right, she said, in a matter of such +importance, to leave London without consulting her brother. It might +be possible, she thought, that she would be able to talk her brother +over; whereas his wife, if she had the first word, might turn him the +other way. + +"Is Aunt Emmeline gone?" asked Ayala, when she came down. "I am glad +she has gone, because I never know how to look when she calls me +dear. I know she hates me." + +"I hope not, Ayala." + +"I am sure she does, because I hated Augusta. I do hate Augusta, and +my aunt hates me. The only one of the lot I like is Uncle Tom." + +Then the proposition was made, Ayala sitting with her mouth wide open +as the details, one after another, were opened out to her. Her aunt +did it with exquisite fairness, abstaining from opening out some +of the details which might be clear enough to Ayala without any +explanation. Her Aunt Emmeline was very anxious to have her back +again,--the only reason for her former expulsion having been the +enmity of Augusta. Her Uncle Tom and her aunt, and, no doubt, +Gertrude, would be very glad to receive her. Not a word was said +about Tom. Then something was urged as to the material comforts of +the Tringle establishments, and of the necessary poverty of Kingsbury +Crescent. + +"And Lucy is to have the poverty?" said Ayala, indignantly. + +"I think it probable, my dear, that before long Lucy will become the +wife of Mr. Hamel." + +"And you want to get rid of me?" demanded Ayala. + +"No, my dear; not so. You must not think that for a moment. The +proposition has not originated with me at all. I am endeavouring to +do my duty by explaining to you the advantages which you would enjoy +by going to your Aunt Emmeline, and which you certainly cannot have +if you remain here. And I must tell you, that, if you return to Sir +Thomas, he will probably provide for you. You know what I mean by +providing for you?" + +"No, I don't," said Ayala, who had in her mind some dim idea that her +cousin Tom was supposed to be a provision. She was quite aware that +her Aunt Margaret, in her explanation as hitherto given, had not +mentioned Tom's name, and was sure that it had not been omitted +without reason. + +"By providing, I mean that if you are living in his house he will +leave you something in his will;--as would be natural that he should +do for a child belonging to him. Your Uncle Reginald"--this she said +in a low and very serious tone--"will, I fear, have nothing to leave +to you." Then there was silence for some minutes, after which Mrs. +Dosett asked the important question, "Well, Ayala, what do you think +about it?" + +"Must I go?" said Ayala. "May I stay?" + +"Yes, my dear; you may certainly stay if you wish it." + +"Then I will stay," said Ayala, jumping up on to her feet. "You do +not want to turn me out, Aunt Margaret?" Then she went down on her +knees, and, leaning on her aunt's lap, looked up into her face. "If +you will keep me I will try to be good." + +"My dear, you are good. I have nothing to complain of. Of course we +will keep you. Nobody has thought for a moment of bidding you go. But +you should understand that when your aunt made the proposition I was +bound to tell it you." Then there was great embracing and kissing, +and Ayala felt that she was relieved from a terrible danger. She had +often declared that no one could make her marry her cousin Tom; but +it had seemed to her for a moment that if she were given up bodily to +the Tringles no mode of escape would be open to her short of suicide. +There had been a moment almost of regret that she had never brought +herself to regard Jonathan Stubbs as an Angel of Light. + +At Somerset House Lady Tringle made her suggestion to her brother +with even more flowery assurance of general happiness than she had +used in endeavouring to persuade his wife. Ayala would, of course, +be married to Tom in the course of the next six months, and during +the same period Lucy, no doubt, would be married to that very +enterprising but somewhat obstinate young man, Mr. Hamel. Thus there +would be an end to all the Dormer troubles; "and you, Reginald," she +said, "will be relieved from a burden which never ought to have been +laid upon your shoulder." + +"We will think of it," he said very gravely, over and over again. +Beyond that "we will think of it" he could not be induced to utter a +word. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +"A COLD PROSPECT!" + + +Three days were allowed to Frank Houston to consider within his own +mind what he would say for himself and what he would propose finally +to do when he should see Miss Docimer on the appointed Sunday. He was +called upon to decide whether, after so many resolutions made to the +contrary, he would now at last bring himself to encounter poverty +and a family,--genteel poverty with about seven hundred and fifty +pounds a-year between himself and his wife. He had hitherto been very +staunch on the subject, and had unfortunately thought that Imogene +Docimer had been as firmly fixed in her determination. His theory had +in itself been good. If two people marry they are likely, according +to the laws of nature, to have very soon more than two. In the +process of a dozen years they may not improbably become ever so many +more than two. Funds which were barely enough, if enough, for two, +would certainly fail to be enough for half-a-dozen. His means were +certainly not enough for himself, as he had hitherto found them. +Imogene's means were less even than his own. Therefore, it was clear +that he and Imogene ought not to marry and encounter the danger of +all those embryo mouths. There was a logic about it which had seemed +to him to be unanswerable. It was a logic which applied to his case +above all others. The man who had a hope of earning money need not +be absolutely bound by it. To him the money might come as quickly +as the mouths. With the cradles would arrive the means of buying +the cradles. And to the man who had much more than enough for +himself,--to such a man as he had expected to be while he was looking +forward to the coffin of that iniquitous uncle,--the logic did +not apply at all. In defending himself, both to himself and to +Imogene, he was very strong upon that point. A man who had plenty +and would not divide his plenty with another might with truth be +called selfish. Rich old bachelors might with propriety be called +curmudgeons. But was it right that a man should be abused,--even by +a young lady to whom, under more propitious circumstances, he had +offered his heart,--when he declared himself unwilling to multiply +suffering by assisting to bring into the world human beings whom he +would be unable to support? He had felt himself to be very strong in +his logic, and had unfortunately made the mistake of supposing that +it was as clear to Imogene as to himself. + +Then he had determined to rectify the inconvenience of his position. +It had become manifest to him whilst he was waiting for his uncle's +money that not only were his own means insufficient for married life +but even for single comfort. It would always come to pass that when +he had resolved on two mutton chops and half-a-pint of sherry the +humble little meal would spread itself into woodcock and champagne. +He regarded it as an unkindness in Providence that he should not have +been gifted with economy. Therefore, he had to look about him for a +remedy; and, as Imogene was out of the question, he found a remedy in +Gertrude Tringle. He had then believed that everything was settled +for him,--not, indeed, in a manner very pleasant, but after a fashion +that would make life possible to him. Sir Thomas had given one of +his daughters, with a large sum of money, to such a man as Septimus +Traffick,--a man more impecunious than himself, one whom Frank did +not hesitate to pronounce to be much less of a gentleman. That seat +in the House of Commons was to him nothing. There were many men in +the House of Commons to whom he would hardly condescend to speak. +To be the younger son of a latter-day peer was to him nothing. He +considered himself in all respects to be a more eligible husband than +Septimus Traffick. Therefore he had entertained but little doubt when +he found himself accepted by Gertrude herself and her mother. Then +by degrees he had learnt to know something of the young lady to whom +he intended to devote himself; and it had come to pass that the +better he had known the less he had liked her. Nevertheless he had +persevered, groaning in spirit as he thought of the burden with which +he was about to inflict himself. Then had come the release. Sir +Thomas had explained to him that no money would be forthcoming; and +the young lady had made to him a foolish proposition, which, as he +thought, fully justified him in regarding the match as at an end. + +And then he had three days in which to make up his mind. It may be a +question whether three days are ever much better than three minutes +for such a purpose. A man's mind will very generally refuse to make +itself up until it be driven and compelled by emergency. The three +days are passed not in forming but in postponing judgment. In nothing +is procrastination so tempting as in thought. So it came to pass, +that through the Thursday, the Friday, and the Saturday, Frank +Houston came to no conclusion, though he believed that every hour +of the time was devoted to forming one. Then, as he ate his dinner +on Saturday night at his club, a letter was brought to him, the +handwriting of which was familiar to him. This letter assisted him +little in thinking. + +The letter was from Gertrude Tringle, and need not be given in its +entirety. There was a good deal of reproach, in that he had been so +fickle as to propose to abandon her at the first touch of adversity. +Then she had gone on to say, that, knowing her father a great deal +better than he could do, she was quite satisfied that the money would +be all right. But the last paragraph of the letter shall be given. +"Papa has almost yielded already. I have been very ill;"--here the +extent of her malady was shown by the strength of the underscoring +with which the words were made significant;--"very ill indeed," she +went on to say, "as you will understand if you have ever really loved +me. I have kept my bed almost ever since I got your cruel letter." +Bed and cruel were again strenuously underscored. "It has made papa +very unhappy, and, though he has said nothing to myself, he has told +mamma that if I am really in earnest he will do something for us." +The letter was long, but this is all the reader need see of it. But +it must be explained that the young lady had greatly exaggerated her +mother's words, and that her mother had exaggerated those which Sir +Thomas had spoken. "She is a stupid idiot," Sir Thomas had said to +his wife. "If she is obedient, and does her duty, of course I shall +do something for her some day." This had been stretched to that +promise of concession which Gertrude communicated to her lover. + +This was the assistance which Frank Houston received in making up +his mind on Saturday night. If what the girl said was true, there +was still open to him the manner of life which he had prepared for +himself; and he did believe the announcement to be true. Though Sir +Thomas had been so persistent in his refusals, his experience in life +had taught him to believe that a parent's sternness is never a match +for a daughter's obstinacy. Had there been a touch of tenderness in +his heart to the young lady herself he would not have abandoned her +so easily. But he had found his consolation when giving up his hope +of Sir Thomas's money. Now, should he again take to the girl, and +find his consolation in accepting the money? Should he resolve upon +doing so, this would materially affect any communication which he +might make to Imogene on the following day. + +While thus in doubt he went into the smoking-room and there he found +any thinking to be out of the question. A great question was being +debated as to club law. One man had made an assertion. He had +declared that another man had been seen playing cards in a third +man's company. A fourth man had, thereupon, put his hat on his head, +and had declared contumaciously that the "assertion was not true." +Having so declared he had contumaciously stalked out of the room, +and had banged the door after him,--very contumaciously indeed. +The question was whether the contumacious gentleman had misbehaved +himself in accordance with the rules of the club, and, if so, what +should be done to him. Not true is as bad as "false." "False," +applied to a gentleman in a club, must be matter either of an apology +or expulsion. The objectionable word had, no doubt, been said in +defence of an absent man, and need not, perhaps, have been taken up +had the speaker not at once put on his hat and stalked out of the +room, and banged the door. It was asserted that a lie may be given +by the way in which a door is banged. And yet no club punishes the +putting on of hats, or stalking off, or the banging of doors. It was +a difficult question, and occupied Frank Houston till two o'clock +in the morning, to the exclusion of Gertrude Tringle and Imogene +Docimer. + +On the Sunday morning he was not up early, nor did he go to church. +The contumacious gentleman was a friend of his, whom he knew that no +arguments would induce to apologise. He believed also that gentleman +No. 3 might have been seen playing cards with gentleman No. 2,--so +that there was no valid excuse for the banging of the door. He was +much exercised by the points to be decided, so that when he got into +a cab to be taken to Mrs. Docimer's house he had hardly come to +any other conclusion than that one which had arisen to him from a +comparison between the two young ladies. Imogene was nearly perfect, +and Gertrude was as nearly the reverse as a young lady could be with +the proper number of eyes in her head and a nose between them. The +style of her letter was abominable to him. "Very ill indeed;--as you +will understand, if you ever really loved me!" There was a mawkish +clap-trap about it which thoroughly disgusted him. Everything from +Imogene was straightforward and downright whether it were love or +whether it were anger. But then to be settled with an income of +£3,000 a year would relieve him from such a load of care! + +"And so Tringle père does not see the advantage of such a +son-in-law," said Imogene, after the first greetings were over +between them. The greetings had been very simple,--just a touch of +the hand, just a civil word,--civil, but not in the least tender, +just an inclination of the head, and then two seats occupied with all +the rug between them. + +"Yes, indeed!" said Frank. "The man is a fool, because he will +probably get somebody who will behave less well to his daughter, and +make a worse use of his money." + +"Just so. One can only be astonished at his folly. Is there no hope +left?" + +"A glimmer there is." + +"Oh, indeed!" + +"I got a letter last night from my lady-love, in which she tells +me that she is very ill, and that her sickness is working upon her +father's bowels." + +"Frank!" + +"It is the proper language;--working upon her father's bowels of +compassion. Fathers always have bowels of compassion at last." + +"You will return then, of course?" + +"What do you say?" + +"As for myself,--or as for you?" + +"As a discreet and trusty counsellor. To me you have always been a +trusty counsellor." + +"Then I should put a few things into a bag, go down to Merle Park, +and declare that, in spite of all the edicts that ever came from a +father's mouth, you cannot absent yourself while you know that your +Gertrude is ill." + +"And so prepare a new cousin for you to press to your bosom." + +"If you can endure her for always, why should not I for an hour or +two, now and again?" + +"Why not, indeed? In fact, Imogene, this enduring, and not +enduring,--even this living, and not living,--is, after all, but an +affair of the imagination. Who can tell but, that as years roll on, +she may be better-looking even than you." + +"Certainly." + +"And have as much to say for herself?" + +"A great deal more that is worth hearing." + +"And behave herself as a mother of a family with quite as much +propriety?" + +"In all that I do not doubt that she would be my superior." + +"More obedient I am sure she would be." + +"Or she would be very disobedient." + +"And then she can provide me and my children with ample comforts." + +"Which I take it is the real purpose for which a wife should be +married." + +"Therefore," said he,--and then he stopped. + +"And therefore there should be no doubt." + +"Though I hate her," he said, clenching his fist with violence as he +spoke, "with every fibre of my heart,--still you think there should +be no doubt?" + +"That, Frank, is violent language,--and foolish." + +"And though I love you so intensely that whenever I see her the +memory of you becomes an agony to me." + +"Such language is only more violent and more foolish." + +"Surely not, if I have made up my mind at last, that I never will +willingly see Miss Tringle again." Here he got up, and walking across +the rug, stood over her, and waited as though expecting some word +from her. But she, putting her two hands up to her head, and brushing +her hair away from her forehead, looked up to him for what further +words might come to him. "Surely not," he continued, "if I have made +up my mind at last, that nothing shall ever again serve to rob me of +your love,--if I may still hope to possess it." + +"Oh, Frank!" she said, "how mean I am to be a creature obedient to +the whistle of such a master as you!" + +"But are you obedient?" + +"You know that well enough. I have had no Gertrude with whom I have +vacillated, whether for the sake of love or lucre. Whatever you may +be,--whether mean or noble,--you are the only man with whom I can +endure to live, for whom I would endure to die. Of course I had +not expected that your love should be like mine. How should it be +so, seeing that you are a man and that I am but a woman." Here he +attempted to seat himself by her on the sofa, which she occupied, but +she gently repulsed him, motioning him towards the chair which he had +occupied, "Sit there, Frank," she said, "so that we may look into +each other's faces and talk seriously. Is it to come to this then, +that I am to ruin you at last?" + +"There will be no ruin." + +"But there will, if we are married now. Shall I tell you the kind of +life which would satisfy me?" + +"Some little place abroad?" he asked. + +"Oh, dear, no! No place to which you would be confined at all. If +I may remain as I am, knowing that you intend to marry no one else, +feeling confident that there is a bond binding us together even +though we should never become man and wife, I should be, if not +happy, at least contented." + +"That is a cold prospect." + +"Cold;--but not ice-cold, as would have been the other. Cold, but not +wretchedly cold, as would be the idea always present to me that I had +reduced you to poverty. Frank, I am so far selfish that I cannot bear +to abandon the idea of your love. But I am not so far selfish as to +wish to possess it at the expense of your comfort. Shall it be so?" + +"Be how?" said he, speaking almost in anger. + +"Let us remain just as we are. Only you will promise me, that as I +cannot be your wife there shall be no other. I need hardly promise +you that there will be no other husband." Now he sat frowning at +her, while she, still pressing back her hair with her hands, looked +eagerly into his face. "If this will be enough for you," she said, +"it shall be enough for me." + +"No, by G----d!" + +"Frank!" + +"It will certainly not be enough for me. I will have nothing to do +with so damnable a compact." + +"Damnable!" + +"Yes; that is what I call it. That is what any man would call +it,--and any woman, too, who would speak her mind." + +"Then, Sir, perhaps you will be kind enough to make your proposition. +I have made mine, such as it is, and am sorry that it should not have +been received at any rate with courtesy." But as she said this there +was a gleam of a bright spirit in her eyes, such as he had not seen +since first the name of Gertrude had been mentioned to her. + +"Yes," said he. "You have made your proposition, and now it is only +fair that I should make mine. Indeed, I made it already when I +suggested that little place abroad. Let it be abroad or at home, or +of what nature it may,--so that you shall be there, and I with you, +it shall be enough for me. That is my proposition; and, if it be not +accepted, then I shall return to Miss Tringle and all the glories of +Lombard Street." + +"Frank--" she said. Then, before she could speak another word, he had +risen from his seat, and she was in his arms. "Frank," she continued, +pushing back his kisses, "how impossible it is that I should not be +obedient to you in all things! I know,--I know that I am agreeing to +that which will cause you some day to repent." + +"By heavens, no!" said he. "I am changed in all that." + +"A man cannot change at once. Your heart is soft, but your nature +remains the same. Frank, I could be so happy at this moment if I +could forget the picture which my imagination points to me of your +future life. Your love, and your generous words, and the look out of +your dear eyes, are sweet to me now, as when I was a child, whom you +first made so proud by telling her that she owned your heart. If I +could only revel in the return of your affections--" + +"It is no return," said he. "There has never been a moment in which +my affections have not been the same." + +"Well, then,--in these permitted signs of your affection,--if it were +not that I cannot shut out the future! Do not press me to name any +early day, because no period of my future life will be so happy to me +as this." + +"Is there any reason why I should not intrude?" said Mrs. Docimer, +opening the door when the above conversation had been extended for +perhaps another hour. + +"Not in the least, as far as I'm concerned," said Frank. "A few words +have been spoken between us, all of which may be repeated to you if +Imogene can remember them." + +"Every one of them," said Imogene; "but I hardly think that I shall +repeat them." + +"I suppose they have been very much a matter of course," said Mrs. +Docimer;--"the old story repeated between you two for the fourth +or fifth time. Considering all things, do you think that I should +congratulate you?" + +"I ask for no congratulation," said Imogene. + +"You may certainly congratulate me," said Frank. After that the +conversation became tame, and the happy lover soon escaped from the +house into the street. When there he found very much to occupy his +mind. He had certainly made his resolution at last, and had done so +in a manner which would now leave him no power of retrogression. The +whole theory of his life had,--with a vengeance,--been thrown to the +winds. "The little place abroad,"--or elsewhere,--was now a settled +certainty. He had nearly got the better of her. He had all but +succeeded in putting down his own love and hers by a little gentle +ridicule, and by a few half-wise phrases which she at the moment had +been unable to answer; but she now had in truth vanquished him by the +absolute sincerity of her love. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +ANOTHER DUEL. + + +Frank Houston on that Sunday afternoon became an altered man. The +reader is not to suppose by this that he is declared to have suddenly +thrown off all his weaknesses, and to have succeeded in clothing +himself in an armour of bright steel, proof for the rest of his life +against all temptations. Such suits of armour are not to be had at +a moment's notice; nor, as I fear, can a man ever acquire one quite +perfect at all points who has not begun to make it for himself before +Houston's age. But he did on that day dine off the two mutton chops, +and comforted himself with no more than the half-pint of sherry. It +was a great beginning. Throughout the whole evening he could not be +got for a moment to join any of the club juntas which were discussing +the great difficulty of the contumacious gentleman. "I think he +must really be going to be married at last!" one club pundit said +when a question was asked as to Houston's singular behaviour on the +occasion. + +He was indeed very sober,--so sober that he left the smoking-room +as soon as his one silent cigar was finished, and went out alone in +order that he might roam the streets in thoughtful solitude. It was +a clear frosty night, and as he buttoned his great coat around him +he felt that the dry cold air would do him good, and assist his +meditations. At last then everything was arranged for him, and he was +to encounter exactly that mode of life which he had so often told +himself to be most unfit for him. There were to be the cradles always +full, and his little coffer so nearly empty! And he had done it +all for himself. She, Imogene, had proposed a mode of life to him +which would at any rate have saved him from this; but it had been +impossible that he should accept a plan so cruel to her when the +proposition came from herself. It must all soon be done now. She had +asked that a distant day might be fixed for their marriage. Even +that request, coming from her, made it almost imperative upon him +to insist upon an early day. It would be well for him to look upon +to-morrow, or a few morrows whose short distance would be immaterial +as the time fixed. + +No;--there should be no going back now! So he declared to himself, +endeavouring to prepare the suit of armour for his own wearing. Pau +might be the best place,--or perhaps one of those little towns in +Brittany. Dresden would not do, because there would be society at +Dresden, and he must of course give up all ideas of society. He +would have liked Rome; but Rome would be far too expensive, and then +residents in Rome require to be absent three or four months every +year. He and his wife and large family,--he had no doubt in life +as to the large family,--would not be able to allow themselves any +recreation such as that. He thought he had heard that the ordinary +comforts of life were cheap in the west of Ireland,--or, if not +cheap, unobtainable, which would be the same thing. Perhaps Castlebar +might be a good locality for his nursery. There would be nothing to +do at Castlebar,--no amusement whatever for such a one as himself, +no fitting companion for Imogene. But then amusement for himself +and companions for Imogene must of course be out of the question. +He thought that perhaps he might turn his hand to a little useful +gardening,--parsnips instead of roses,--while Imogene would be at +work in the nursery. He would begin at once and buy two or three +dozen pipes, because tobacco would be so much cheaper than cigars. He +knew a shop at which were to be had some very pretty new-fashioned +meerschaums, which, he had been told, smokers of pipes found to +be excellent. But, whether it should be Pau or whether it should +be Castlebar, whether it should be pipes or whether, in regard to +economy, no tobacco at all, the question now was at any rate settled +for him. He felt rather proud of his gallantry, as he took himself +home to bed, declaring to himself that he would answer that last +letter from Gertrude in a very few words and in a very decided tone. + +There would be many little troubles. On the Monday morning he got +up early thinking that as a family man such a practice would be +necessary for him. When he had disturbed the house and nearly +driven his own servant mad by demanding breakfast at an altogether +unaccustomed hour, he found that he had nothing to do. There was that +head of Imogene for which she had only once sat, and at which he had +occasionally worked from memory because of her refusal to sit again; +and he thought for a moment that this might be good employment +for him now. But his art was only an expense to him. He could not +now afford for himself paint and brushes and canvas, so he turned +the half-finished head round upon his easel. Then he took out his +banker's book, a bundle of bills and some blotted scraps of ruled +paper, with which he set himself to work to arrange his accounts. +When he did this he must certainly have been in earnest. But he had +not as yet succeeded in seeing light through his figures when he was +interrupted by the arrival of a letter which altogether arrested his +attention. It was from Mudbury Docimer, and this was the letter;-- + + + DEAR HOUSTON, + + Of course I think that you and Imogene are two fools. + She has told me what took place here yesterday, and I + have told her the same as I tell you. I have no power to + prevent it; but you know as well as I do that you and she + cannot live together on the interest of sixteen thousand + pounds. When you've paid everything that you owe I don't + suppose there will be so much as that. It had been + arranged between you that everything should be over; and + if I had thought that anything of the kind would have + occurred again I would have told them not to let you into + the house. What is the good of two such people as you + making yourselves wretched for ever, just to satisfy the + romance of a moment? I call it wicked. So I told Imogene, + and so I tell you. + + You have changed your mind so often that of course you may + change it again. I am sure that Imogene expects that you + will. Indeed I can hardly believe that you intend to be + such a Quixote. But at any rate I have done my duty. She + is old enough to look after herself, but as long as she + lives with me as my sister I shall tell her what I think; + and until she becomes your wife,--which I hope she never + will be,--I shall tell you the same. + + Yours truly, + + MUDBURY DOCIMER. + + +"He always was a hard, unfeeling fellow," said Frank to himself. Then +he put the letter by with a crowd of others, assuring himself that it +was one which required no answer. + +On the afternoon he called at the house, as he did again on the +Tuesday; but on neither day did he succeed in seeing Imogene. This he +thought to be hard, as the pleasure of her society was as sweet to +him as ever, though he was doubtful as to his wisdom in marrying her. +On the Wednesday morning he received a note from her asking him not +to come at once, because Mudbury had chosen to put himself into a +bad humour. Then a few words of honey were added; "Of course you +know that nothing that he can say will make a change. I am too +well satisfied to allow of any change that shall not come from you +yourself." He was quite alive to the sweetness of the honey, and +declared to himself that Mudbury Docimer's ill-humour was a matter to +him of no concern whatever. + +But on the Wednesday there came also another letter,--in regard to +which it will be well that we should travel down again to Merle Park. +An answer altogether averse to the proposed changes as to the nieces +had been received from Mrs. Dosett. "As Ayala does not wish it, of +course nothing can be done." Such was the decision as conveyed by +Mrs. Dosett. It seemed to Lady Tringle that this was absurd. It was +all very well extending charity to the children of her deceased +sister, Mrs. Dormer; but all the world was agreed that beggars should +not be choosers. "As Ayala does not wish it." Why should not Ayala +wish it? What a fool must Ayala be not to wish it? Why should not +Ayala be made to do as she was told, whether she wished it or not? +Such were the indignant questions which Lady Tringle asked of her +husband. He was becoming sick of the young ladies altogether,--of her +own girls as well as the Dormer girls. "They are a pack of idiots +together," he said, "and Tom is the worst of the lot." With this he +rushed off to London, and consoled himself with his millions. + +Mrs. Dosett's letter had reached Merle Park on the Tuesday morning, +Sir Thomas having remained down in the country over the Monday. +Gertrude, having calculated the course of the post with exactness, +had hoped to get a reply from Frank to that last letter of +hers,--dated from her sick bed, but written in truth after a little +surreptitious visit to the larder after the servants' dinner,--on +the Sunday morning. This had been possible, and would have evinced a +charming alacrity on the part of her lover. But this she had hardly +ventured to expect. Then she had looked with anxiety to the arrival +of letters on the Monday afternoon, but had looked in vain. On the +Tuesday morning she had felt so certain that she had contrived to +open the post-bag herself in spite of illness;--but there had been +nothing for her. Then she sent the dispatch which reached Frank on +the Wednesday morning, and immediately afterwards took to her bed +again with such a complication of disorders that the mare with the +broken knees was sent at once into Hastings for the doctor. + +"A little rice will be the best thing for her," said the doctor. + +"But the poor child takes nothing,--literally nothing," said Lady +Tringle, who was frightened for her child. Then the doctor went on +to say that arrowroot would be good, and sago, but offered no other +prescription. Lady Tringle was disgusted by his ignorance, and +thought that it might be well to send up to London for some great +man. The doctor bowed, and made up his mind that Lady Tringle was an +ass. But, being an honest man, and also tender-hearted, he contrived +to get hold of Tom before he left the house. + +"Your sister's health is generally good?" he said. Tom assented. As +far as he knew, Gertrude had always been as strong as a horse. "Eats +well?" asked the doctor. Tom, who occasionally saw the family at +lunch, gave a description of his sister's general performance. + +"She is a fine healthy young lady," said the doctor. Tom gave a +brother's ready adhesion to the word healthy, but passed over the +other epithet as being superfluous. "Now, I'll tell you what it is," +said the doctor. "Of course I don't want to inquire into any family +secrets." + +"My father, you know," said Tom, "won't agree about the man she's +engaged to." + +"That is it? I knew there was some little trouble, but I did not want +to ask any questions. Your mother is unnecessarily frightened, and +I have not wished to disturb her. Your sister is taking plenty of +nourishment?" + +"She does not come to table, nor yet have it in her own room." + +"She gets it somehow. I can say that it is so. Her veins are full, +and her arms are strong. Perhaps she goes into the kitchen. Have a +little tray made ready for her, with something nice. She will be sure +to find it, and when she has found it two or three times she will +know that she has been discovered. If Lady Tringle does send for +a physician from London you could perhaps find an opportunity of +telling him what I have suggested. Her mamma need know nothing about +it." This took place on the Tuesday, and on the Wednesday morning +Gertrude knew that she had been discovered,--at any rate by Tom and +the doctor. "I took care to keep a wing for you," said Tom; "I carved +them myself at dinner." As he so addressed her he came out from his +hiding-place in the kitchen about midnight, and surprised her in the +larder. She gave a fearful scream, which, however, luckily was not +heard through the house. "You won't tell mamma, Tom, will you?" Tom +promised that he would not, on condition that she would come down +to breakfast on the following morning. This she did, and the London +physician was saved a journey. + +But, in the meantime, Gertrude's second letter had gone up to Frank, +and also a very heartrending epistle from Lady Tringle to her +husband. "Poor Gertrude is in a very bad state. If ever there was +a girl really broken-hearted on account of love, she is one. I did +not think she would ever set her heart upon a man with such violent +affection. I do think you might give way when it becomes a question +of life and death. There isn't anything really against Mr. Houston." +Sir Thomas, as he read this, was a little shaken. He had hitherto +been inclined to agree with Rosalind, "That men have died from time +to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love." But now he did +not know what to think about it. There was Tom undoubtedly in a bad +way, and here was Gertrude brought to such a condition, simply by her +love, that she refused to take her meals regularly! Was the world +come to such a pass that a father was compelled to give his daughter +with a large fortune to an idle adventurer, or else to be responsible +for his daughter's life? Would Augusta have pined away and died had +she not been allowed to marry her Traffick? Would Lucy pine and die +unless money were given to her sculptor? Upon the whole, Sir Thomas +thought that the cares of his family were harder to bear than those +of his millions. In regard to Gertrude, he almost thought that he +would give way, if only that he might be rid of that trouble. + +It must be acknowledged that Frank Houston, when he received the +young lady's letter, was less soft-hearted than her father. The +letter was, or should have been, heartrending;-- + + + YOU CRUEL MAN, + + You must have received my former letter, and though I told + you that I was ill and almost dying you have not heeded + it! Three posts have come, and I have not had a line from + you. In your last you were weak enough to say that you + were going to give it all up because you could not make + papa do just what you wanted all at once. Do you know what + it is to have taken possession of a young lady's heart; + or is it true, as Augusta says of you, that you care for + nothing but the money? If it is so, say it at once and + let me die. As it is I am so very ill that I cannot eat a + mouthful of anything, and have hardly strength left to me + to write this letter. + + But I cannot really believe what Augusta says, though I + daresay it may have been so with Mr. Traffick. Perhaps you + have not been to your club, and so you have not got my + former letter. Or, it may be that you are ill yourself. + If so, I do wish that I could come and nurse you, though + indeed I am so ill that I am quite unable to leave my bed. + + At any rate, pray write immediately;--and do come! Mamma + seems to think that papa will give way because I am so + ill. If so, I shall think my illness the luckiest thing + in the world.--You must believe, dearest Frank, that I am + now, as ever, yours most affectionately, + + GERTRUDE. + + +Frank Houston was less credulous than Sir Thomas, and did not believe +much in the young lady's sickness. It was evident that the young lady +was quite up to the work of deceiving her father and mother, and +would no doubt be willing to deceive himself if anything could be got +by it. But, whether she were ill or whether she were well, he could +offer her no comfort. Nevertheless, he was bound to send her some +answer, and with a troubled spirit he wrote as follows;-- + + + MY DEAR MISS TRINGLE, + + It is to me a matter of inexpressible grief that I should + have to explain again that I am unable to persist in + seeking the honour of your hand in opposition to the + absolute and repeated refusals which I have received from + your father. It is so evident that we could not marry + without his consent that I need not now go into that + matter. But I think myself bound to say that, considering + the matter in all its bearing, I must regard our + engagement as finally at an end. Were I to hesitate in + saying this very plainly I think I should be doing you an + injury. + + I am sorry to hear that you are unwell, and trust that you + may soon recover your health. + + Your sincere friend, + + FRANK HOUSTON. + + +On the next morning Gertrude was still in her bed, having there +received her letter, when she sent a message to her brother. Would +Tom come and see her? Tom attended to her behest, and then sat down +by her bedside on being told in a mysterious voice that she had to +demand from him a great service. "Tom," she said, "that man has +treated me most shamefully and most falsely." + +"What man?" + +"What man? Why, Frank Houston. There has never been any other man. +After all that has been said and done he is going to throw me over." + +"The governor threw him over," said Tom. + +"That amounts to nothing. The governor would have given way, of +course, and if he hadn't that was no matter of his. After he had had +my promise he was bound to go on with it. Don't you think so?" + +"Perhaps he was," said Tom, dubiously. + +"Of course he was. What else is the meaning of a promise? Now I'll +tell you what you must do. You must go up to London and find him out. +You had better take a stick with you, and then ask him what he means +to do." + +"And if he says he'll do nothing?" + +"Then, Tom, you should call him out. It is just the position in which +a brother is bound to do that kind of thing for his sister. When he +has been called out, then probably he'll come round, and all will be +well." + +The prospect was one which Tom did not at all like. He had had one +duel on his hands on his own account, and had not as yet come through +it with flying colours. There were still moments in which he felt +that he would be compelled at last to take to violence in reference +to Colonel Stubbs. He was all but convinced that were he to do so +he would fall into some great trouble, but still it was more than +probable that his outraged feelings would not allow him to resist. +But this second quarrel was certainly unnecessary. "That's all +nonsense, Gertrude," he said, "I can do nothing of the kind." + +"You will not?" + +"Certainly not. It would be absurd. You ask Septimus and he will tell +you that it is so." + +"Septimus, indeed!" + +"At any rate, I won't. Men don't call each other out now-a-days. +I know what ought to be done in these kind of things, and such +interference as that would be altogether improper." + +"Then, Tom," said she, raising herself in bed, and looking round upon +him, "I will never call you my brother again!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +ONCE MORE! + + +"Probably you are not aware, Sir, that I am not at present the young +lady's guardian." This was said at the office in Lombard Street by +Sir Thomas, in answer to an offer made to him by Captain Batsby for +Ayala's hand. Captain Batsby had made his way boldly into the great +man's inner room, and had there declared his purpose in a short and +business-like manner. He had an ample income of his own, he said, +and was prepared to make a proper settlement on the young lady. If +necessary, he would take her without any fortune;--but it would, of +course, be for the lady's comfort and for his own if something in the +way of money were forthcoming. So much he added, having heard of this +uncle's enormous wealth, and having also learned the fact that if Sir +Thomas were not at this moment Ayala's guardian he had been not long +ago. Sir Thomas listened to him with patience, and then replied to +him as above. + +"Just so, Sir Thomas. I did hear that. But I think you were once; and +you are still her uncle." + +"Yes; I am her uncle." + +"And when I was so ill-treated in Kingsbury Crescent I thought +I would come to you. It could not be right that a gentleman +making an honourable proposition,--and very liberal, as you must +acknowledge,--should not be allowed to see the young lady. It was not +as though I did not know her. I had been ten days in the same house +with her. Don't you think, Sir Thomas, I ought to have been allowed +to see her?" + +"I have nothing to do with her," said Sir Thomas;--"that is, in the +way of authority." Nevertheless, before Captain Batsby left him, he +became courteous to that gentleman, and though he could not offer any +direct assurance he acknowledged that the application was reasonable. +He was, in truth, becoming tired of Ayala, and would have been glad +to find a husband whom she would accept, so that she might be out +of Tom's way. He had been quite willing that Tom should marry the +girl if it were possible, but he began to be convinced that it was +impossible. He had offered again to open his house to her, with all +its wealth, but she had refused to come into it. His wife had told +him that, if Ayala could be brought back in place of Lucy, she would +surely yield. But Ayala would not allow herself to be brought back. +And there was Tom as bad as ever. If Ayala were once married then Tom +could go upon his travels, and come back, no doubt, a sane man. Sir +Thomas thought it might be well to make inquiry about this Captain, +and then see if a marriage might be arranged. Mrs. Dosett, he told +himself, was a hard, stiff woman, and would never get the girl +married unless she allowed such a suitor as this Captain Batsby to +have access to the house. He did make inquiry, and before the week +was over had determined that if Ayala would become Mrs. Batsby there +might probably be an end to one of his troubles. + +As he went down to Merle Park he arranged his plan. He would, in the +first place, tell Tom that Ayala had as many suitors as Penelope, +and that one had come up now who would probably succeed. But when he +reached home he found that his son was gone. Tom had taken a sudden +freak, and had run up to London. "He seemed quite to have got a +change," said Lady Tringle. + +"I hope it was a change for the better as to that stupid girl." Lady +Tringle could not say that there had been any change for the better, +but she thought that there had been a change about the girl. Tom +had, as she said, quite "brisked up," had declared that he was not +going to stand this thing any longer, had packed up three or four +portmanteaus, and had had himself carried off to the nearest railway +station in time for an afternoon train up to London. "What is he +going to do when he gets there?" asked Sir Thomas. Lady Tringle had +no idea what her son intended to do, but thought that something +special was intended in regard to Ayala. + +"He is an ass," said the father. + +"You always say he is an ass," said the mother, complaining. + +"No doubt I do. What else am I to call him?" Then he went on and +developed his scheme. "Let Ayala be asked to Merle Park for a +week,--just for a week,--and assured that during that time Tom +would not be there. Then let Captain Batsby also be invited." Upon +this there followed an explanation as to Captain Batsby and his +aspirations. Tom must be relieved after some fashion, and Sir Thomas +declared that no better fashion seemed to present itself. Lady +Tringle received her orders with sundry murmurings, still grieving +for her son's grief;--but she assented, as she always did assent, to +her husband's propositions. + +Now we will accompany Tom up to London. The patient reader will +perhaps have understood the condition of his mind when in those +days of his sharpest agony he had given himself up to Faddle and +champagne. By these means he had brought himself into trouble and +disgrace, of which he was fully conscious. He had fallen into the +hands of the police and had been harassed during the whole period by +headache and nausea. Then had come the absurdity of his challenge +to Colonel Stubbs, the folly of which had been made plain to him by +the very letter which his rival had written to him. There was good +sense enough about the poor fellow to enable him to understand +that the police court, and the prison, that Faddle and the orgies +at Bolivia's, that his challenge and the reply to it, were alike +dishonourable to him. Then had come a reaction, and he spent a +miserable fortnight down at Merle Park, doing nothing, resolving on +nothing, merely moping about and pouring the oft-repeated tale of his +woes into his mother's bosom. These days at Merle Park gave him back +at any rate his health, and rescued him from the intense wretchedness +of his condition on the day after the comparison of Bolivia's wines. +In this improved state he told himself that it behoved him even yet +to do something as a man, and he came suddenly to the bold resolution +of having,--as he called it to himself,--another "dash at Ayala." + +How the "dash" was to be made he had not determined when he left +home. But to this he devoted the whole of the following Sunday. He +had received a lachrymose letter from his friend Faddle, at Aberdeen, +in which the unfortunate youth had told him that he was destined to +remain in that wretched northern city for the rest of his natural +life. He had not as yet been to the Mountaineers since his mishap +with the police, and did not care to show himself there at present. +He was therefore altogether alone, and, walking all alone the entire +round of the parks, he at last formed his resolution. + +On the following morning when Mr. Dosett entered his room at Somerset +House, a little after half-past ten o'clock, he found his nephew +Tom there before him, and waiting for him. Mr. Dosett was somewhat +astonished, for he too had heard of Tom's misfortunes. Some +ill-natured chronicle of Tom's latter doings had spread itself among +the Tringle and Dosett sets, and Uncle Reginald was aware that his +nephew had been forced to relinquish his stool in Lombard Street. The +vices of the young are perhaps too often exaggerated, so that Mr. +Dosett had heard of an amount of champagne consumed and a number +of policemen wounded, of which his nephew had not been altogether +guilty. There was an idea at Kingsbury Crescent that Tom had gone +nearly mad, and was now kept under paternal care at Merle Park. When, +therefore, he saw Tom blooming in health, and brighter than usual in +general appearance, he was no doubt rejoiced, but also surprised, at +the change. "What, Tom!" he said; "I'm glad to see you looking so +well. Are you up in London again?" + +"I'm in town for a day or two," said Tom. + +"And what can I do for you?" + +"Well, Uncle Reginald, you can do a great deal for me if you will. Of +course you've heard of all those rows of mine?" + +"I have heard something." + +"Everybody has heard," said Tom, mournfully. "I don't suppose anybody +was ever knocked so much about as I've been for the last six months." + +"I'm sorry for that, Tom." + +"I'm sure you are, because you're always good-natured. Now I wonder +if you will do a great thing to oblige me." + +"Let us hear what it is," said Uncle Reginald. + +"I suppose you know that there is only one thing in the world that I +want." Mr. Dosett thought that it would be discreet to make no reply +to this, but, turning his chair partly round, he prepared to listen +very attentively to what his nephew might have to say to him. "All +this about the policeman and the rest of it has simply come from my +being so unhappy about Ayala." + +"It wouldn't be taken as a promise of your being a good husband, Tom, +when you get into such a mess as that." + +"That's because people don't understand," said Tom. "It is because I +am so earnest about it, and because I can't bear the disappointment! +There isn't one at Travers and Treason who doesn't know that if I'd +married Ayala I should have settled down as quiet a young man as +there is in all London. You ask the governor else himself. As long as +I thought there was any hope I used to be there steady as a rock at +half-past nine. Everybody knew it. So I should again, if she'd only +come round." + +"You can't make a lady come round, as you call it." + +"Not make her; no. Of course you can't make a girl. But persuading +goes a long way. Why shouldn't she have me? As to all these rows, she +ought to feel at any rate that they're her doing. And what she's done +it stands to reason she could undo if she would. It only wants a word +from her to put me all right with the governor,--and to put me all +right with Travers and Treason too. Nobody can love her as I do." + +"I do believe that nobody could love her better," said Mr. Dosett, +who was beginning to be melted by his nephew's earnestness. + +"Oughtn't that to go for something? And then she would have +everything that she wishes. She might live anywhere she pleased,--so +that I might go to the office every day. She would have her own +carriage, you know." + +"I don't think that would matter much with Ayala." + +"It shows that I'm in a position to ask her," said Tom. "If she could +only bring herself not to hate me--" + +"There is a difference, Tom, between hating and not loving." + +"If she would only begin to make a little way, then I could hope +again. Uncle Reginald, could you not tell her that at any rate I +would be good to her?" + +"I think you would be good to her," he said. + +"Indeed, I would. There is nothing I would not do for her. Now will +you let me see her just once again, and have one other chance?" + +This was the great thing which Tom desired from his uncle, and Mr. +Dosett was so much softened by his nephew's earnestness that he did +promise to do as much as this;--to do as much as this, at least, if +it were in his power. Of course, Ayala must be told. No good could +be done by surprising her by a visit. But he would endeavour so +to arrange it that, if Tom were to come to him on the following +afternoon, they two should go to the Crescent together, and then Tom +should remain and dine there,--or go away before dinner, as he might +please, after the interview. This was settled, and Tom left Somerset +House, rejoicing greatly at his success. It seemed to him that now at +last a way was open to him. + +Uncle Reginald, on his return home, took his niece aside and talked +to her very gently and very kindly. "Whether you like him or whether +you do not, my dear, he is so true to you that you are bound to see +him again when he asks it." At first she was very stout, declaring +that she would not see him. Of what good could it be, seeing that she +would rather throw herself into the Thames than marry him? Had she +not told him so over and over again, as often as he had spoken to +her? Why would he not just leave her alone? But against all this her +uncle pleaded gently but persistently. He had considered himself +bound to promise so much on her behalf, and for his sake she must do +as he asked. To this, of course, she yielded. And then he said many +good things of poor Tom. His constancy was a great virtue. A man so +thoroughly in love would no doubt make a good husband. And then there +would be the assent of all the family, and an end, as far as Ayala +was concerned, of all pecuniary trouble. In answer to this she only +shook her head, promising, however, that she would be ready to give +Tom an audience when he should be brought to the Crescent on the +following day. + +Punctually at four Tom made his appearance at Somerset House, and +started with his uncle as soon as the index-books had been put in +their places. Tom was very anxious to take his uncle home in a +cab, but Mr. Dosett would not consent to lose his walk. Along the +Embankment they went, and across Charing Cross into St. James's Park, +and then by Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens, all the +way to Notting Hill. Mr. Dosett did not walk very fast, and Tom +thought they would never reach Kingsbury Crescent. His uncle would +fain have talked about the weather, or politics, or the hardships of +the Civil Service generally; but Tom would not be diverted from his +one subject. Would Ayala be gracious to him? Mr. Dosett had made up +his mind to say nothing on the subject. Tom must plead his own cause. +Uncle Reginald thought that he knew such pleading would be useless, +but still would not say a word to daunt the lover. Neither could he +say a word expressive of hope. As they were fully an hour-and-a-half +on their walk, this reticence was difficult. + +Immediately on his arrival, Tom was taken up into the drawing-room. +This was empty, for it had been arranged that Mrs. Dosett should be +absent till the meeting was over. "Now I'll look for this child," +said Uncle Reginald, in his cheeriest voice as he left Tom alone +in the room. Tom, as he looked round at the chairs and tables, +remembered that he had never received as much as a kind word or look +in the room, and then great drops of perspiration broke out all over +his brow. All that he had to hope for in the world must depend upon +the next five minutes;--might depend perhaps upon the very selection +of the words which he might use. + +Then Ayala entered the room and stood before him. + +"Ayala," he said, giving her his hand. + +"Uncle Reg says that you would like to see me once again." + +"Of course I want to see you once, and twice,--and always. Ayala, if +you could know it! If you could only know it!" Then he clasped his +two hands high upon his breast, not as though appealing to her heart, +but striking his bosom in very agony. "Ayala, I feel that, if I do +not have you as my own, I can only die for the want of you. Ayala, do +you believe me?" + +"I suppose I believe you, but how can I help it?" + +"Try to help it! Try to try and help it! Say a word that you will +perhaps help it by-and-bye." Then there came a dark frown upon her +brow,--not, indeed, from anger, but from a feeling that so terrible a +task should be thrown upon her. "I know you think that I am common." + +"I have never said a word, Tom, but that I could not love you." + +"But I am true,--true as the sun. Would I come again after all if +it were not that I cannot help coming? You have heard that I have +been,--been misbehaving myself?" + +"I have not thought about that." + +"It has been so because I have been so wretched. Ayala, you have made +me so unhappy. Ayala, you can make me the happiest man there is in +London this day. I seem to want nothing else. As for drink, or clubs, +or billiards, and all that, they are nothing to me,--unless when I +try to forget that you are so--so unkind to me!" + +"It is not unkind, not to do as you ask me." + +"To do as I ask you,--that would be kind. Oh, Ayala, cannot you be +kind to me?" She shook her head, still standing in the place which +she had occupied from the beginning. "May I come again? Will you give +me three months, and then think of it? If you would only say that, I +would go back to my work and never leave it." But she still shook her +head. "Must I never hope?" + +"Not for that, Tom. How can I help it?" + +"Not help it." + +"No. How can I help it? One does not fall in love by trying,--nor by +trying prevent it." + +"By degrees you might love me,--a little." She had said all that +she knew how to say, and again shook her head. "It is that accursed +Colonel," he exclaimed, forgetting himself as he thought of his +rival. + +"He is not accursed," said Ayala, angrily. + +"Then you love him?" + +"No! But you should not ask. You have no right to ask. It is not +proper." + +"You are not engaged to him?" + +"No; I am not engaged to him. I do not love him. As you will ask, +I tell you. But you should not ask; and he is not accursed. He is +better than you,--though I do not love him. You should not have +driven me to say this. I do not ask you questions." + +"There is none that I would not answer. Stay, Ayala," for now she was +going to leave the room. "Stay yet a moment. Do you know that you +are tearing my heart in pieces? Why is it that you should make me so +wretched? Dear Ayala;--dearest Ayala;--stay yet a moment." + +"Tom, there is nothing more that I can say. I am very, very sorry if +you are unhappy. I do think that you are good and true; and if you +will shake hands with me, there is my hand. But I cannot say what +you want me to say." Tom took her by the hand and tried to hold her, +without, however, speaking to her again. But she slid away from him +and left the room, not having for a moment sat down in his presence. + +When the door was closed he stood awhile looking round him, trying +to resolve what he might do or what he might say next. He was now +at any rate in the house with her, and did not know whether such +an opportunity as that might ever occur to him again. He felt that +there were words within his bosom which, if he could only bring them +up to his mouth, would melt the heart of a stone. There was his +ineffable love, his whole happiness at stake, his purpose,--his holy +purpose,--to devote himself, and all that he had, to her well-being. +Of all this he had a full conception within his own heart, if only he +could express it so that others should believe him! But of what use +was it now? He had had this further liberty of speech accorded to +him, and in it he had done nothing, made no inch of progress. She had +hardly spoken a dozen words to him, but of those she had spoken two +remained clear upon his memory. He must never hope, she had said; and +she had said also that that other man was better than he. Had she +said that he was dearer, the word would hardly have been more bitter. +All the old feeling came upon him of rage against his rival, and of +a desire that something desperate should be done by which he might +wreak his vengeance. + +But there he was standing alone in Mrs. Dosett's drawing-room, and it +was necessary that he should carry himself off. As for dining in that +house, sitting down to eat and drink in Ayala's presence after such a +conversation as that which was past, that he felt to be quite out of +the question. He crammed his hat upon his head, left the room, and +hurried down the stairs towards the door. + +In the passage he was met by his uncle, coming out of the +dining-room. "Tom," he said, "you'll stay and eat your dinner?" + +"No, indeed," said Tom, angrily. + +"You shouldn't let yourself be disturbed by little trifles such as +these," said his uncle, trying to put a good face upon the matter. + +"Trifles!" said Tom Tringle. "Trifles!" And he banged the door after +him as he left the house. + + +END OF VOL. II. + + + + * * * * * * + + + +AYALA'S ANGEL + +by + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE, + +Author of "Doctor Thorne," "The Prime Minister," "Orley Farm," +&c., &c. + +In Three Volumes. + +VOL. III. + + + + + + + +London: +Chapman and Hall (Limited), +11, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. +1881. +[All Rights Reserved.] + +Westminster: +J. B. Nichols and Sons, Printers. +25, Parliament Street. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. III. + + XLIV. IN THE HAYMARKET. + XLV. THERE IS SOMETHING OF THE ANGEL ABOUT HIM. + XLVI. AYALA GOES AGAIN TO STALHAM. + XLVII. CAPTAIN BATSBY AT MERLE PARK. + XLVIII. THE JOURNEY TO OSTEND. + XLIX. THE NEW FROCK. + L. GOBBLEGOOSE WOOD ON SUNDAY. + LI. "NO!" + LII. "I CALL IT FOLLY." + LIIII. HOW LUCY'S AFFAIRS ARRANGED THEMSELVES. + LIV. TOM'S LAST ATTEMPT. + LV. IN THE CASTLE THERE LIVED A KNIGHT. + LVI. GOBBLEGOOSE WOOD AGAIN. + LVII. CAPTAIN BATSBY IN LOMBARD STREET. + LVIII. MR. TRAFFICK IN LOMBARD STREET. + LIX. TREGOTHNAN. + LX. AUNT ROSINA. + LXI. TOM TRINGLE GOES UPON HIS TRAVELS. + LXII. HOW VERY MUCH HE LOVED HER. + LXIII. AYALA AGAIN IN LONDON. + LXIV. AYALA'S MARRIAGE. + + + + +AYALA'S ANGEL. + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +IN THE HAYMARKET. + + +It was now the beginning of February. As Tom and his uncle had walked +from Somerset House the streets were dry and the weather fine; but, +as Mr. Dosett had remarked, the wind was changing a little out of +the east and threatened rain. When Tom left the house it was already +falling. It was then past six, and the night was very dark. He had +walked there with a top coat and umbrella, but he had forgotten +both as he banged the door after him in his passion; and, though +he remembered them as he hurried down the steps, he would not turn +and knock at the door and ask for them. He was in that humour which +converts outward bodily sufferings almost into a relief. When a +man has been thoroughly illused in greater matters it is almost a +consolation to him to feel that he has been turned out into the +street to get wet through without his dinner,--even though he may +have turned himself out. + +He walked on foot, and as he walked became damp and dirty, till he +was soon wet through. As soon as he reached Lancaster Gate he went +into the park, and under the doubtful glimmer of the lamps trudged on +through the mud and slush, not regarding his path, hardly thinking +of the present moment in the full appreciation of his real misery. +What should he do with himself? What else was there now left to +him? He had tried everything and had failed. As he endeavoured to +count himself up, as it were, and tell himself whether he were +worthy of a happier fate than had been awarded to him, he was very +humble,--humble, though so indignant! He knew himself to be a poor +creature in comparison with Jonathan Stubbs. Though he could not have +been Stubbs had he given his heart for it, though it was absolutely +beyond him to assume one of those tricks of bearing, one of those +manly, winning ways, which in his eyes was so excellent in the other +man, still he saw them and acknowledged them, and told himself that +they would be all powerful with such a girl as Ayala. Though he +trusted to his charms and his rings, he knew that his charms and his +rings were abominable, as compared with that outside look and natural +garniture which belonged to Stubbs, as though of right,--as though it +had been born with him. Not exactly in those words, but with a full +inward sense of the words, he told himself that Colonel Stubbs was a +gentleman,--whereas he acknowledged himself to be a cad. How could +he have hoped that Ayala should accept such a one, merely because he +would have a good house of his own and a carriage? As he thought of +all this, he hardly knew which he hated most,--himself or Jonathan +Stubbs. + +He went down to the family house in Queen's Gate, which was closed +and dark,--having come there with no special purpose, but having +found himself there, as though by accident, in the neighbourhood. +Then he knocked at the door, which, after a great undoing of chains, +was opened by an old woman, who with her son had the custody of the +house when the family were out of town. Sir Thomas in these days had +rooms of his own in Lombard Street in which he loved to dwell, and +would dine at a city club, never leaving the precincts of the city +throughout the week. The old woman was an old servant, and her son +was a porter at the office. "Mr. Tom! Be that you? Why you are as wet +as a mop!" He was wet as any mop, and much dirtier than a mop should +be. There was no fire except in the kitchen, and there he was taken. +He asked for a great coat, but there was no such thing in the house, +as the young man had not yet come home. Nor was there any food that +could be offered him, or anything to drink; as the cellar was locked +up, and the old woman was on board wages. But he sat crouching over +the fire, watching the steam as it came up from his damp boots and +trousers. "And ain't you had no dinner, Mr. Tom?" said the old woman. +Tom only shook his head. "And ain't you going to have none?" The poor +wretch again shook his head. "That's bad, Mr. Tom." Then she looked +up into his face. "There is something wrong I know, Mr. Tom. I hears +that from Jem. Of course he hears what they do be saying in Lombard +Street." + +"What is it they say, Mrs. Tapp?" + +"Well;--that you ain't there as you used to be. Things is awk'ard, +and Sir Thomas, they say, isn't best pleased. But of course it isn't +no affair of mine, Mr. Tom." + +"Do they know why?" he asked. + +"They do say it's some'at about a young lady." + +"Yes; by heavens!" said Tom, jumping up out of his chair. "Oh, Mrs. +Tapp, you can't tell the condition I'm in. A young lady indeed! D---- +the fellow!" + +"Don't 'ee now, Mr. Tom." + +"D---- the fellow! But there's no good in my standing here cursing. +I'll go off again. You needn't say that I've been here, Mrs. Tapp?" + +"But you won't go out into the rain, Mr. Tom?" + +"Rain,--what matters the rain?" Then he started again, disregarding +all her prayers, and went off eastward on foot, disdaining the use +of a cab because he had settled in his mind on no place to which he +would go. + +Yes; they knew all about it, down to the very porters at the office. +Everyone had heard of his love for Ayala; and everyone had heard also +that Ayala had scorned him. Not a man or woman connected by ever so +slight a tie to the establishment was unaware that he had been sent +away from his seat because of Ayala! All this might have been borne +easily had there been any hope; but now he was forced to tell himself +that there was none. He saw no end to his misery,--no possibility of +escape. Where was he to go in this moment of his misery for any shred +of comfort? The solitude of his lodgings was dreadful to him; nor had +he heart enough left to him to seek companionship at his club. + +At about ten o'clock he found himself, as it were, by accident, close +to Mr. Bolivia's establishment. He was thoroughly wet through, jaded, +wretched, and in want of sustenance. He turned in, and found the +place deserted. The diners had gone away, and the hour had not come +at which men in quest of later refreshment were wont to make their +appearance. But there were still one or two gas-lights burning; and +he threw himself wearily into a little box or partition nearest +to the fire. Here Signor Bolivia himself came to him, asking in +commiserating accents what had brought him thither in so wretched a +plight. "I have left my coat and umbrella behind," said Tom, trying +to pluck up a little spirit,--"and my dinner too." + +"No dinner, Mr. Tringle; and you wet through like that! What shall I +get you, Mr. Tringle?" But Tom declared that he would have no dinner. +He was off his appetite altogether, he said. He would have a bottle +of champagne and a devilled biscuit. Mr. Walker, who, as we are +aware, put himself forward to the world generally as Signor Bolivia, +felt for the moment a throb of pity, which overcame in his heart the +innkeeper's natural desire to make the most he could of his customer. +"Better have a mutton chop and a little drop of brandy-and-water +hot." + +"I ain't up to it, Bolivia," said the young man. "I couldn't swallow +it if I had it. Give us the bottle of champagne and the devilled +biscuit." Then Mr. Walker,--for Bolivia was in truth Walker,--fetched +the wine and ordered the biscuit; and poor Tom was again brought back +to the miserable remedy to which he had before applied himself in his +misfortune. There he remained for about an hour, during a part of +which he slept; but before he left the house he finished the wine. +As he got up to take his departure Mr. Walker scanned his gait and +bearing, having a friendly feeling for the young man, and not wishing +him to fall again into the hands of the police. But Tom walked forth +apparently as sober as a judge, and as melancholy as a hangman. As +far as Mr. Walker could see the liquor had made no impression on him. +"If I were you, Mr. Tringle," said the keeper of the eating-house, +"I'd go home at once, because you are so mortal wet." + +"All right," said Tom, going out into the pouring rain. + +It was then something after eleven, and Tom instead of taking the +friendly advice which had been offered to him, walked, as fast as he +could, round Leicester Square; and as he walked the fumes of the wine +mounted into his head. But he was not drunk,--not as yet so drunk as +to misbehave himself openly. He did not make his way round the square +without being addressed, but he simply shook off from him those who +spoke to him. His mind was still intent upon Ayala. But now he was +revengeful rather than despondent. The liquor had filled him once +again with a desire to do something. If he could destroy himself and +the Colonel by one and the same blow, how fitting a punishment would +that be for Ayala! But how was he to do it? He would throw himself +down from the top of the Duke of York's column, but that would be +nothing unless he could force the Colonel to take the jump with him! +He had called the man out and he wouldn't come! Now, with the alcohol +in his brain, he again thought that the man was a coward for not +coming. Had not such a meeting been from time immemorial the resource +of gentlemen injured as he now was injured? The Colonel would not +come when called,--but could he not get at him so as to strike him? +If he could do the man a real injury he would not care what amount of +punishment he might be called upon to bear. + +He hurried at last out of the square into Coventry Street and down +the Haymarket. His lodgings were in Duke Street, turning out of +Piccadilly,--but he could not bring himself to go home to his bed. +He was unutterably wretched, but yet he kept himself going with some +idea of doing something, or of fixing some purpose. He certainly +was tipsy now, but not so drunk as to be unable to keep himself on +his legs. He gloried in the wet, shouting inwardly to himself that +he in his misery was superior to all accidents of the weather. Then +he stood for awhile watching the people as they came out of the +Haymarket Theatre. He was at this time a sorry sight to be seen. His +hat was jammed on to his head and had been almost smashed in the +jamming. His coat reeking wet through was fastened by one button +across his chest. His two hands were thrust into his pockets, and the +bottle of champagne was visible in his face. He was such a one,--to +look at,--that no woman would have liked to touch or any man to +address. In this guise he stood there amidst the crowd, foremost +among those who were watching the ladies as they got into their +vehicles. "And she might be as good as the best of them, and I might +be here to hand her into her own carriage,"--said he to himself,--"if +it were not for that intruder!" + +At that moment the intruder was there before him, and on his arm was +a lady whom he was taking across to a carriage, at the door of which +a servant in livery was standing. They were followed closely by a +pretty young girl who was picking her steps after them alone. These +were Lady Albury and Nina, whom Colonel Stubbs had escorted to the +play. + +"You will be down by the twentieth?" said the elder lady. + +"Punctual as the day comes," said the Colonel. + +"And mind you have Ayala with you," said the younger. + +"If Lady Albury can manage it with her aunt of course I will wait +upon her," said the Colonel. Then the door of the carriage was shut, +and the Colonel was left to look for a cab. He had on an overcoat and +an opera hat, but otherwise was dressed as for dinner. On one side +a link-boy was offering him assistance, and on another a policeman +tendering him some service. He was one of those who by their outward +appearance always extort respect from those around them. + +As long as the ladies had been there,--during the two minutes which +had been occupied while they got into the carriage,--Tom had been +restrained by their presence. He had been restrained by their +presence even though he had heard Ayala's name and had understood the +commission given to the man whom he hated. Had Colonel Stubbs luckily +followed the ladies into the carriage Tom, in his fury, would have +taken himself off to his bed. But now,--there was his enemy within +a yard of him! Here was the opportunity the lack of which seemed, a +few moments since, to be so grievous to him! He took two steps out +from the row in which he stood and struck his rival high on his +breast with his fist. He had aimed at the Colonel's face but in his +eagerness had missed his mark. "There," said he, "there! You would +not fight me, and now you have got it." Stubbs staggered, and would +have fallen but for the policeman. Tom, though no hero, was a strong +young man, and had contrived to give his blow with all his force. The +Colonel did not at first see from whom the outrage had come, but at +once claimed the policeman's help. + +"We've got him, Sir;--we've got him," said the policeman. + +"You've got me," said Tom, "but I've had my revenge." Then, though +two policemen and one waterman were now holding him, he stretched +himself up to his full height and glared at his enemy in the face. + +"It's the chap who gave that hawful blow to Thompson in the bow'ls!" +said one of the policemen, who by this time had both Tom's arms +locked behind his own. + +Then the Colonel knew who had struck him. "I know him," said the +Colonel to the policeman. "It is a matter of no consequence." + +"So do we, Sir. He's Thomas Tringle, junior." + +"He's a friend of mine," said the Colonel. "You must let him come +with me." + +"A friend, is he?" said an amateur attendant. The policeman, who +had remembered the cruel onslaught made on his comrade, looked very +grave, and still held Tom tight by the arms. "A very hugly sort of +friend," said the amateur. Tom only stretched himself still higher, +but remained speechless. + +"Tringle," said the Colonel, "this was very foolish, you know,--a +most absurd thing to do! Come with me, and we will talk it all over." + +"He must come along with us to the watch-house just at present," said +the policeman. "And you, Sir, if you can, had better please to come +with us. It ain't far across to Vine Street, but of course you can +have a cab if you like it." This was ended by two policemen walking +off with Tom between them, and by the Colonel following in a cab, +after having administered divers shillings to the amateur attendants. +Though the journey in the cab did not occupy above five minutes, it +sufficed to enable him to determine what step he should take when he +found himself before the night officers of the watch. + +When he found himself in the presence of the night officer he had +considerable difficulty in carrying out his purpose. That Tom +should be locked up for the night, and be brought before the police +magistrate next morning to answer for the outrage he had committed, +seemed to the officers to be a matter of course. It was long before +the Colonel could persuade the officer that this little matter +between him and Mr. Tringle was a private affair, of which he at +least wished to take no further notice. "No doubt," he said, "he had +received a blow on his chest, but it had not hurt him in the least." + +"'E 'it the gen'leman with all his might and main," said the +policeman. + +"It is quite a private affair," said the Colonel. "My name is Colonel +Stubbs; here is my card. Sir ---- is a particular friend of mine." +Here he named a pundit of the peace, very high in the estimation of +all policemen. "If you will let the gentleman come away with me I +will be responsible for him to-morrow, if it should be necessary +to take any further step in the matter." This he said very eagerly, +and with all the authority which he knew how to use. Tom, in the +meantime, stood perfectly motionless, with his arms folded akimbo on +his breast, wet through, muddy, still tipsy, a sight miserable to +behold. + +The card and the Colonel's own name, and the name of the pundit of +the peace together, had their effect, and after a while Tom was +dismissed in the Colonel's care. The conclusion of the evening's +affair was, for the moment, one which Tom found very hard to bear. It +would have been better for him to have been dragged off to a cell, +and there to have been left to his miserable solitude. But as he went +down through the narrow ways leading from the police-office out into +the main street he felt that he was altogether debarred from making +any further attack upon his protector. He could not strike him again, +as he might have done had he escaped from the police by his own +resources. His own enemy had saved him from durance, and he could +not, therefore, turn again upon his enemy. + +"In heaven's name, my dear fellow," said the Colonel, "what good do +you expect to get by that? You have hit me a blow when you knew that +I was unprepared, and, therefore, unarmed. Was that manly?" To this +Tom made no reply. "I suppose you have been drinking?" And Stubbs, as +he asked this question, looked into his companion's face. "I see you +have been drinking. What a fool you are making of yourself!" + +"It is that girl," said Tom. + +"Does that seem to you to be right? Can you do yourself any good by +that? Will she be more likely to listen to you when she hears that +you have got drunk, and have assaulted me in the street? Have I done +you any harm?" + +"She says that you are better than me," replied Tom. + +"If she does, is that my doing? Come, old fellow, try to be a man. +Try to think of this thing rightly. If you can win the girl you love, +win her; but, if you cannot, do not be such an ass as to suppose that +she is to love no one because she will not love you. It is a thing +which a man must bear if it comes in his way. As far as Miss Dormer +is concerned, I am in the same condition as you. But do you think +that I should attack you in the street if she began to favour you +to-morrow?" + +"I wish she would; and then I shouldn't care what you did." + +"I should think you a happy fellow, certainly; and for a time I +might avoid you, because your happiness would remind me of my own +disappointment; but I should not come behind your back and strike +you! Now, tell me where you live, and I will see you home." Then Tom +told him where he lived, and in a few minutes the Colonel had left +him within his own hall door. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +THERE IS SOMETHING OF THE ANGEL ABOUT HIM. + + +The little accident which was recorded at the close of the last +chapter occurred on a Tuesday night. On the following afternoon Tom +Tringle, again very much out of spirits, returned to Merle Park. +There was now nothing further for him to do in London. He had had +his last chance with Ayala, and the last chance had certainly done +him no good. Fortune, whether kindly or unkindly, had given him an +opportunity of revenging himself upon the Colonel; he had taken +advantage of the opportunity, but did not find himself much relieved +by what he had done. His rival's conduct had caused him to be +thoroughly ashamed of himself. It had at any rate taken from him all +further hope of revenge. So that now there was nothing for him but to +take himself back to Merle Park. On the Wednesday he heard nothing +further of the matter; but on the Thursday Sir Thomas came down from +London, and, showing to poor Tom a paragraph in one of the morning +papers, asked whether he knew anything of the circumstance to which +reference was made. The paragraph was as follows:-- + + + That very bellicose young City knight who at Christmas + time got into trouble by thrashing a policeman within + an inch of his life in the streets, and who was then + incarcerated on account of his performance, again + exhibited his prowess on Tuesday night by attacking + Colonel ----, an officer than whom none in the army is + more popular,--under the portico of the Haymarket theatre. + We abstain from mentioning the officer's name,--which is, + however, known to us. The City knight again fell into the + hands of the police and was taken to the watch-house. + But Colonel ----, who knew something of his family, + accompanied him, and begged his assailant off. The officer + on duty was most unwilling to let the culprit go; but the + Colonel used all his influence and was successful. This + may be all very well between the generous Colonel and the + valiant knight. But if the young man has any friends they + had better look to him. A gentleman with such a desire + for the glories of battle must be restrained if he cannot + control his propensities when wandering about the streets + of the metropolis. + + +"Yes," said Tom,--who scorned to tell a lie in any matter concerning +Ayala. "It was me. I struck Colonel Stubbs, and he got me off at the +police office." + +"And you're proud of what you've done?" + +"No, Sir, I'm not. I'm not proud of anything. Whatever I do or +whatever I say seems to go against me." + +"He didn't go against you as you call it." + +"I wish he had with all my heart. I didn't ask him to get me off. I +struck him because I hated him; and whatever might have happened I +would sooner have borne it than be like this." + +"You would sooner have been locked up again in prison?" + +"I would sooner anything than be as I am." + +"I tell you what it is, Tom," said the father. "If you remain here +any longer with this bee in your bonnet you will be locked up in a +lunatic asylum, and I shall not be able to get you out again. You +must go abroad." To this Tom made no immediate answer. Lamentable as +was his position, he still was unwilling to leave London while Ayala +was living there. Were he to consent to go away for any lengthened +period, by doing so he would seem to abandon his own claim. Hope he +knew there was none; but yet, even yet, he regarded himself as one of +Ayala's suitors. "Do you think it well," continued the father, "that +you should remain in London while such paragraphs as these are being +written about you?" + +"I am not in London now," said Tom. + +"No, you are not in London while you are at Merle Park,--of course. +And you will not go up to London without my leave. Do you understand +that?" Here Tom again was silent. "If you do," continued his father, +"you shall not be received down here again, nor at Queen's Gate, nor +will the cheques for your allowance be honoured any longer at the +bank. In fact if you do not obey me I will throw you off altogether. +This absurdity about your love has been carried on long enough." And +so it came to be understood in the family that Tom was to be kept in +mild durance at Merle Park till everything should have been arranged +for his extended tour about the world. To this Tom himself gave no +positive assent, but it was understood that when the time came he +would yield to his father's commands. + +It had thus come to pass that the affray at the door of the Haymarket +became known to so much of the world at large as interested itself +in the affairs either of Colonel Stubbs or of the Tringles. Other +paragraphs were written in which the two heroes of the evening were +designated as Colonel J---- S---- and as T---- T----, junior, of the +firm of T---- and T----, in the City. All who pleased could read +these initials, and thus the world was aware that our Colonel had +received a blow, and had resented the affront only by rescuing his +assailant from the hands of the police. A word was said at first +which seemed to imply that the Colonel had not exhibited all the +spirit which might have been expected from him. Having been struck +should he not have thrashed the man who struck him;--or at any rate +have left the ruffian in the hands of the policemen for proper +punishment? But many days had not passed over before the Colonel's +conduct had been viewed in a different light, and men and women +were declaring that he had done a manly and a gallant thing. The +affair had in this way become sufficiently well known to justify +the allusion made to it in the following letter from Lady Albury to +Ayala;-- + + + Stalham, Tuesday, 11th February, 18--. + + MY DEAR AYALA, + + It is quite indispensable for the happiness of everybody, + particularly that of myself and Sir Harry, that you should + come down here on the twentieth. Nina will be here on + her farewell visit before her return to her mother. Of + course you have heard that it is all arranged between + her and Lord George Bideford, and this will be the last + opportunity which any of us will have of seeing her once + again before her martyrdom. The world is to be told + that he is to follow her to Rome, where they are to be + married,--no doubt by the Pope himself under the dome of + St. Peter's. But my belief is that Lord George is going + to travel with her all the way. If he is the man I take + him to be he will do so, but of course it would be very + improper. + + You, however, must of course come and say pretty things + to your friend; and, as you cannot go to Rome to see her + married, you must throw your old shoe after her when she + takes her departure from Stalham. I have written a line + to your aunt to press my request for this visit. This she + will no doubt show to you, and you, if you please, can + show her mine in return. + + And now, my dear, I must explain to you one or two other + arrangements. A certain gentleman will _certainly_ not be + here. It was not my fault that a certain gentleman went to + Kingsbury Crescent. The certain gentleman is, as you are + aware, a great friend of ours, and was entitled to explain + himself if it so seemed good to him; but the certain + gentleman was not favoured in that enterprise by the + Stalham interest. At any rate, the certain gentleman + will not be at Stalham on this occasion. So much for the + certain gentleman. + + Colonel Stubbs will be here, and, as he will be coming + down on the twentieth, would be glad to travel by the same + train, so that he may look after your ticket and your + luggage, and be your slave for the occasion. He will leave + the Paddington Station by the 4 P.M. train if that will + suit you. + + We all think that he behaved beautifully in that little + affair at the Haymarket theatre. I should not mention it + only that everybody has heard of it. Almost any other man + would have struck the poor fellow again; but he is one + of the very few who always know what to do at the moment + without taking time to think of it. + + Mind you come like a good girl.--Your affectionate friend, + + ROSALINE ALBURY. + + +It was in this way that Ayala heard what had taken place between her +cousin Tom and Colonel Stubbs. Some hint of a fracas between the two +men had reached her ears; but now she asked various questions of her +aunt, and at last elicited the truth. Tom had attacked her other +lover in the street,--had attacked Colonel Stubbs because of his +injured love, and had grossly misbehaved himself. As a consequence he +would have been locked up by the police had not the Colonel himself +interfered on his behalf. This to Ayala seemed to be conduct worthy +almost of an Angel of Light. + +Then the question of the proposed visit was discussed,--first with +her aunt, and then with herself. Mrs. Dosett was quite willing that +her niece should go to Stalham. To Mrs. Dosett's thinking, a further +journey to Stalham would mean an engagement with Colonel Stubbs. When +she had read Lady Albury's letter she was quite sure that that had +been Lady Albury's meaning. Captain Batsby was not to receive the +Stalham interest;--but that interest was to be used on the part of +Colonel Stubbs. She had not the slightest objection. It was clear to +her that Ayala would have to be married before long. It was out of +the question that one man after another should fall in love with her +violently, and that nothing should come of it. Mrs. Dosett had become +quite despondent about Tom. There was an amount of dislike which it +would be impossible to overcome. And as for Captain Batsby there +could be no chance for a man whom the young lady could not be induced +even to see. But the other lover, whom the lady would not admit that +she loved,--as to whom she had declared that she could never love +him,--was held in very high favour. "I do think it was so noble not +to hit Tom again," she had said. Therefore, as Colonel Stubbs had a +sufficient income, there could be no reason why Ayala should not go +again to Stalham. So it was that Mrs. Dosett argued with herself, and +such was the judgment which she expressed to Ayala. + +But there were difficulties. Ayala's little stock of cash was all +gone. She could not go to Stalham without money, and that money must +come out of her Uncle Reginald's pocket. She could not go to Stalham +without some expenditure, which, as she well knew, it would be hard +for him to bear. And then there was that terrible question of her +clothes! When that suggestion had been made of a further transfer of +the nieces a cheque had come from Sir Thomas. "If Ayala comes to us +she will want a few things," Sir Thomas had said in a note to Mrs. +Dosett. But Mr. Dosett had chosen that the cheque should be sent back +when it was decided that the further transfer should not take place. +The cheque had been sent back, and there had been an end of it. There +must be a morning dress, and there must be another hat, and there +must be boots. So much Mrs. Dosett acknowledged. Let them do what +they might with the old things, Mrs. Dosett acknowledged that so much +as that would at least be necessary. "We will both go to work," Mrs. +Dosett said, "and we will ask your uncle what he can do for us." I +think she felt that she had received some recompense when Ayala +kissed her. + +It was after this that Ayala discussed the matter with herself. She +had longed to go once again to Stalham,--"dear Stalham," as she +called it to herself. And as she thought of the place she told +herself that she loved it because Lady Albury had been so kind to +her, and because of Nina, and because of the hunting, and because +of the general pleasantness and luxury of the big comfortable house. +And yes; there was something to be said, too, of the pleasantness of +Colonel Stubbs. Till he had made love to her he had been, perhaps, +of all these fine new friends the pleasantest. How joyous his voice +had sounded to her! How fraught with gratification to her had been +his bright ugly face! How well he had known how to talk to her, and +to make her talk, so that everything had been easy with her! How +thoroughly she remembered all his drollery on that first night at +the party in London,--and all his keen sayings at the theatre;--and +the way he had insisted that she should hunt! She thought of little +confidences she had had with him, almost as though he had been her +brother! And then he had destroyed it all by becoming her lover! + +Was he to be her lover still; and if so would it be right that she +should go again to Stalham, knowing that she would meet him there? +Would it be right that she should consent to travel with him,--under +his special escort? Were she to do so would she not be forced to do +more,--if he should again ask her? It was so probable that he would +not ask her again! It was so strange that such a one should have +asked her! + +But if he did ask her? Certainly he was not like that Angel of Light +whom she had never seen, but of whom the picture in her imagination +was as clearly drawn as though she were in his presence daily. +No;--there was a wave of hair and a shape of brow, and a peculiarity +of the eye, with a nose and mouth cut as sharp as chisel could cut +them out of marble, all of which graced the Angel but none of which +belonged to the Colonel. Nor were these the chief of the graces which +made the Angel so glorious to her. There was a depth of poetry about +him, deep and clear, pellucid as a lake among grassy banks, which +make all things of the world mean when compared to it. The Angel of +Light lived on the essence of all that was beautiful, altogether +unalloyed by the grossness of the earth. That such a one should come +in her way! Oh, no; she did not look for it! But, having formed such +an image of an angel for herself, would it be possible that she +should have anything less divine, less beautiful, less angelic? + +Yes; there was something of the Angel about him; even about him, +Colonel Jonathan Stubbs. But he was so clearly an Angel of the earth, +whereas the other one, though living upon the earth, would be of the +air, and of the sky, of the clouds, and of the heaven, celestial. +Such a one she knew she had never seen. She partly dreamed that +she was dreaming. But if so had not her dream spoilt her for all +else? Oh, yes; indeed he was good, this red-haired ugly Stubbs. How +well had he behaved to Tom! How kind he had been to herself! How +thoughtful of her he was! If it were not a question of downright +love,--of giving herself up to him, body and soul, as it were,--how +pleasant would it be to dwell with him! For herself she would confess +that she loved earthly things,--such as jumping over the brook with +Larry Twentyman before her to show her the way. But for her love, it +was necessary that there should be an Angel of Light. Had she not +read that angels had come from heaven and taken in marriage the +daughters of men? + +But was it right that she should go to Stalham, seeing that there +were two such strong reasons against it? She could not go without +costing her uncle money, which he could ill afford; and if she did go +would she--would she not confess that she had abandoned her objection +to the Colonel's suit. She, too, understood something of that which +had made itself so plain to her aunt. "Your uncle thinks it is right +that you should go," her aunt said to her in the drawing-room that +evening; "and we will set to work to-morrow and do the best that we +can to make you smart." + +Her uncle was sitting in the room at the time, and Ayala felt herself +compelled to go to him and kiss him, and thank him for all his +kindness. "I am so sorry to cost you so much money, Uncle Reginald," +she said. + +"It will not be very much, my dear," he answered. "It is hard that +young people should not have some amusement. I only hope they will +make you happy at Stalham." + +"They always make people happy at Stalham," said Ayala, +energetically. + +"And now, Ayala," said her aunt, "you can write your letter to Lady +Albury before we go out to-morrow. Give her my compliments, and tell +her that as you are writing I need not trouble her." + +Ayala, when she was alone in her bedroom, felt almost horrified as +she reflected that in this manner the question had been settled for +her. It had been impossible for her to reject her uncle's liberal +offer when it had been made. She could not find the courage at that +moment to say that she had thought better of it all, and would +decline the visit. Before she was well aware of what she was doing +she had assented, and had thus, as it were, thrown over all the +creations of her dream. And yet, as she declared herself, not even +Lady Albury could make her marry this man, merely because she was +at her house. She thought that, if she could only avoid that first +journey with Colonel Stubbs in the railway, still she might hold her +own. But, were she to travel with him of her own accord, would it not +be felt that she would be wilfully throwing herself in his way? Then +she made a little plan for herself, which she attempted to carry out +when writing her letter to Lady Albury on the following morning. What +was the nature of her plan, and how she effected it, will be seen in +the letter which she wrote;-- + + + Kingsbury Crescent, Thursday. + + DEAR LADY ALBURY, + + It is so very good of you to ask me again, and I shall + be so happy to visit Stalham once more! I should have + been very sorry not to see dear Nina before her return to + Italy. I have written to congratulate her of course, and + have told her what a happy girl I think she is. Though + I have not seen Lord George I take all that from her + description. As she is going to be his wife immediately, + I don't at all see why he should not go back with her to + Rome. As for being married by the Pope, I don't think he + ever does anything so useful as that. I believe he sits + all day and has his toe kissed. That is what they told me + at Rome. + + I am very glad of what you tell me about the certain + gentleman, because I don't think I could have been happy + at Stalham if he had been there. It surprised me so much + that I could not think that he meant it in earnest. We + never hardly spoke to each other when we were in the house + together. + + Perhaps, if you don't mind, and I shan't be in the way, + + +--here she began to display the little plan which she had made for +her own protection,-- + + + I will come down by an earlier train than you mention. + There is one at 2.15, and then I need not be in the dark + all the way. You need not say anything about this to + Colonel Stubbs, because I do not at all mind travelling by + myself.--Yours affectionately, + + AYALA. + + +This was her little plan. But she was very innocent when she thought +that Lady Albury would be blind to such a scheme as that. She got +three words from Lady Albury, saying that the 2.15 train would do +very well, and that the carriage would be at the station to meet her. +Lady Albury did not also say in her note that she had communicated +with Colonel Stubbs on the subject, and informed him that he must +come up from Aldershot earlier than he intended in order that he +might adapt himself to Ayala's whims. "Foolish little child," said +Lady Albury to herself! "As if that would make any difference!" It +was clear to Lady Albury that Ayala must surrender now that she was +coming to Stalham a second time, knowing that the Colonel would be +there. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +AYALA GOES AGAIN TO STALHAM. + + +The correspondence between Lady Albury and Colonel Stubbs was close +and frequent, the friendship between them being very close. Ayala had +sometimes asked herself why Lady Albury should have been so kind and +affectionate to her, and had failed to find any sufficient answer. +She had been asked to Stalham at first,--so far as she knew,--because +she had been intimate at Rome with the Marchesa Baldoni. Hence had +apparently risen Lady Albury's great friendship, which had seemed +even to herself to be strange. But in truth the Marchesa had had very +little to do with it,--nor had Lady Albury become attached to Ayala +for Ayala's own sake. To Lady Albury Colonel Stubbs was,--as she +declared to herself very often,--"her own real brother." She had +married a man very rich, well known in the world, whom she loved very +well; and she was not a woman who in such a position would allow +herself to love another man. That there might certainly be no danger +of this kind she was continually impressing on her friend the +expediency of marriage,--if only he could find some one good enough +to marry. Then the Colonel had found Ayala. Lady Albury at the +beginning of all this was not inclined to think that Ayala was good +enough. Judging at first from what she heard and then from what she +saw, she had not been very favourable to Ayala. But when her friend +had insisted,--had declared that his happiness depended on it,--had +shown by various signs that he certainly would carry out his +intentions, if not at Stalham then elsewhere, Lady Albury had yielded +herself to him, and had become Ayala's great friend. If it was +written in the book that Ayala was to become Mrs. Stubbs then it +would certainly be necessary that she and Ayala should be friends. +And she herself had such confidence in Jonathan Stubbs as a man of +power, that she did not doubt of his success in any matter to which +he might choose to devote himself. The wonder had been that Ayala +should have rejected the chance when it had come in her way. The girl +had been foolish, allowing herself to be influenced by the man's red +hair and ill-sounding name,--not knowing a real pearl when she saw +it. So Lady Albury had thought,--having only been partially right +in so thinking,--not having gone to the depth of Ayala's power of +dreaming. She was very confident, however, that the girl, when once +again at Stalham, would yield herself easily; and therefore she went +to work, doing all that she could to smoothen love's road for her +friend Jonathan. Her woman's mind had seen all those difficulties +about clothes, and would have sent what was needful herself had +she not feared to offend both the Dosetts and Ayala. Therefore she +prepared a present which she could give to the girl at Stalham +without offence. If it was to be the girl's high fate to become Mrs. +Jonathan Stubbs, it would be proper that she should be adorned and +decked, and made beautiful among others of her class,--as would +become the wife of such a hero. + +Of all that passed between her and Ayala word was sent down to +Aldershot. "The stupid little wretch will throw you out, I know," +wrote Lady Albury, "by making you start two hours before you have +done your work. But you must let your work do itself for this +occasion. There is nothing like a little journey together to make +people understand each other." + +The Colonel was clearly determined to have the little journey +together. Whatever might be the present military duties at Aldershot, +the duties of love were for the nonce in the Colonel's mind more +imperative. Though his Royal Highness had been coming that afternoon +to inspect all the troops, still he would have resolved so to have +arranged matters as to travel down with Ayala to Stalham. But not +only was he determined to do this, but he found it necessary also to +arrange a previous meeting with Lady Albury before that important +twentieth of the month. This he did by making his friend believe that +her presence in London for a few hours would be necessary for various +reasons. She came up as he desired, and there he met her at her +hotel in Jermyn Street. On his arrival here he felt that he was +almost making a fool of himself by the extent of his anxiety. In his +nervousness about this little girl he was almost as insane as poor +Tom Tringle, who, when she despised his love, was altogether unable +to control himself. "If I cannot persuade her at last, I shall be +knocking somebody over the head, as he did." It was thus he was +talking to himself as he got out of the cab at the door of the hotel. + +"And now, Jonathan," said Lady Albury, "what can there possibly be to +justify you in giving me all this trouble?" + +"You know you had to come up about that cook's character." + +"I know that I have given that as a reason to Sir Harry; but I know +also that I should have gone without a cook for a twelvemonth had you +not summoned me." + +"The truth is I could not get down to Stalham and back without losing +an additional day, which I cannot possibly spare. With you it does +not very much matter how many days you spare." + +"Nor how much money I spend, nor how much labour I take, so that I +obey all the commands of Colonel Jonathan Stubbs! What on earth is +there that I can say or do for you more?" + +"There are one or two things," said he, "that I want you to +understand. In the first place, I am quite in earnest about this." + +"Don't I know that you're in earnest?" + +"But perhaps you do not understand the full extent of my earnestness. +If she were to refuse me ultimately I should go away." + +"Go away! Go where?" + +"Oh; that I have not at all thought of;--probably to India, as I +might manage to get a regiment there. But in truth it would matter +very little." + +"You are talking like a goose." + +"That is very likely, because in this matter I think and feel like +a goose. It is not a great thing in a man to be turned out of his +course by some undefined feeling which he has as to a young woman. +But the thing has occurred before now, and will occur again, in my +case, if I am thrown over." + +"What on earth is there about the girl?" asked Lady Albury. "There +is that precious brother-in-law of ours going to hang himself +incontinently because she will not look at him. And that unfortunate +friend of yours, Tom Tringle, is, if possible, worse than Ben Batsby +or yourself." + +"If two other gentlemen are in the same condition it only makes it +the less singular that I should be the third. At any rate, I am the +third." + +"You do not mean to liken yourself to them?" + +"Indeed I do. As to our connection with Miss Dormer, I can see no +difference. We are all in love with her, and she has refused us +all. It matters little whether a man's ugliness or his rings or his +natural stupidity may have brought about this result." + +"You are very modest, Jonathan." + +"I always was, only you never could see it. I am modest in this +matter; but not for that reason the less persistent in doing the +best I can for myself. My object now in seeing you is to let you +understand that it is--well, not life and death, because she will +not suffice either to kill me or to keep me alive,--but one of those +matters which, in a man's career, are almost as important to him as +life and death. She was very decided in her refusal." + +"So is every girl when a first offer is made to her. How is any girl +so to arrange her thoughts at a moment's notice as to accept a man +off-hand?" + +"Girls do do so." + +"Very rarely, I think; and when they do they are hardly worth +having," said Lady Albury, laying down the law on the matter with +great precision. "If a girl accept a man all at once when she has +had, as it were, no preparation for such a proposal, she must always +surely be in a state of great readiness for matrimonial projects. +When there has been a prolonged period of spooning then of course it +is quite a different thing. The whole thing has in fact been arranged +before the important word has been spoken." + +"What a professor in the art you are!" said he. + +"The odd thing is, that such a one as you should be so ignorant. +Can't you understand that she would not come to Stalham if her mind +were made up against you? I said nothing of you as a lover, but I +took care to let her know that you were coming. You are very ready +to put yourself in the same boat with poor Ben Batsby or that other +unfortunate wretch. Would she, do you think, have consented to come +had she known that Ben would have been there, or your friend Tom +Tringle?" + +There was much more of it, but the upshot was,--as the Colonel had +intended that it should be,--that Lady Albury was made to understand +that Ayala's good-will was essential to his happiness. "Of course +I will do my best," she said, as he parted from her. "Though I am +not quite as much in love with her myself as you are, yet I will +do my best." Then when she was left alone, and was prosecuting her +inquiries about the new cook, and travelling back in the afternoon +to Stalham, she again considered how wonderful a thing it was such a +girl as Ayala, so small, apparently so unimportant, so childish in +her manner, with so little to say for herself, should become a person +of such terrible importance. + +The twentieth came, and at ten minutes before two Ayala was at the +Paddington Railway Station. The train, which was to start at 2.15, +had been chosen by herself so that she might avoid the Colonel, and +there she was, with her aunt, waiting for it. Mrs. Dosett had thought +it to be her duty to see her off, and had come with her in the cab. +There were the two boxes laden with her wardrobe, such as it was. +Both she and her aunt had worked hard; for though,--as she had +declared to herself,--there was no special reason for it, still she +had wished to look her best. As she saw the boxes put into the van, +and had told herself how much shabbier they were than the boxes of +other young ladies who went visiting to such houses as Stalham, +she rejoiced that Colonel Stubbs was not there to see them. And +she considered whether it was possible that Colonel Stubbs should +recognise a dress which she had worn at Stalham before, which was +now to appear in a quite altered shape. She wondered also whether it +would be possible that Colonel Stubbs should know how poor she was. +As she was thinking of all this there was Colonel Stubbs on the +platform. + +She had never doubted but that little plan would be efficacious. Nor +had her aunt doubted,--who had seen through the plan, though not a +word had been spoken between them on the subject. Mrs. Dosett had +considered it to be impossible that a Colonel engaged on duties of +importance at Aldershot should run away from them to wait upon a +child like Ayala,--even though he had professed himself to be in love +with the child. She had never seen the Colonel, and on this occasion +did not expect to see him. But there he was, all suddenly, shaking +hands with Ayala. + +"My aunt, Mrs. Dosett," whispered Ayala. Then the Colonel began to +talk to the elder lady as though the younger lady were a person of +very much less importance. Yes; he had run up from Aldershot a little +earlier than he had intended. There had been nothing particular to +keep him down at Aldershot. It had always been his intention to go to +Stalham on this day, and was glad of the accident which was bringing +Miss Dormer there just at the same time. He spent a good deal of his +time at Stalham because Sir Harry and he, who were in truth cousins, +were as intimate as brothers. He always lived at Stalham when he +could get away from duty and was not in London. Stalham was a very +nice place certainly; one of the most comfortable houses he knew in +England. So he went on till he almost made Mrs. Dosett believe, and +did make Ayala believe, that his visit to Stalham had nothing to +do with herself. And yet Mrs. Dosett knew that the offer had been +made. Ayala bethought herself that she did not care so much for the +re-manufactured frock after all, nor yet for the shabby appearance +of the boxes. The real Angel of Light would not care for her frock +nor for her boxes; and certainly would not be indifferent after the +fashion of,--of,--! Then she began to reflect that she was making a +fool of herself. + +She was put into the carriage, Mr. Dosett having luckily decided +against the use of the second class. Going to such a house as Stalham +Ayala ought, said Mr. Dosett, to go as any other lady would. Had it +been himself or his wife it would have been very different; but for +Ayala, on such an occasion as this, he would be extravagant. Ayala +was therefore put into her seat while the Colonel stood at the door +outside, still talking to Mrs. Dosett. "I don't think she will be +let to come away at the end of a week," said the Colonel. "Sir +Harry doesn't like people to come away very soon." Ayala heard this, +and thought that she remembered that Sir Harry himself was very +indifferent as to the coming and going of the visitors. "They go up +to London about the end of March," said the Colonel, "and if Miss +Dormer were to return about a week before it would do very well." + +"Oh, no," said Ayala, putting her head out of the window; "I couldn't +think of staying so long as that." Then the last final bustle was +made by the guard; the Colonel got in, the door was shut, and Mrs. +Dosett, standing on the platform, nodded her head for the last time. + +There were only four persons in the carriage. In the opposite corner +there were two old persons, probably a husband and wife, who had been +very careful as to a foot-warming apparatus, and were muffled up very +closely in woollen and furs. "If you don't mind shutting the door, +Sir," said the old gentleman, rather testily, "because my wife has a +pain in her face." The door absolutely was shut when the words were +spoken, but the Colonel made some sign of closing all the apertures. +But there was a ventilator above, which the old lady spied. "If you +don't mind shutting that hole up there, Sir, because my husband is +very bad with neuralgia." The Colonel at once got up and found that +the ventilator was fast closed, so as not to admit a breath of air. +"There are draughts come in everywhere," said the old gentleman. "The +Company ought to be prosecuted." "I believe the more people they kill +the better they like it," said the old lady. Then the Colonel looked +at Ayala with a very grave face, with no hint at a smile, with a face +which must have gratified even the old lady and gentleman. But Ayala +understood the face, and could not refrain from a little laugh. She +laughed only with her eyes,--but the Colonel saw it. + +"The weather has been very severe all day," said the Colonel, in a +severe voice. + +Ayala protested that she had not found it cold at all. "Then, Miss, I +think you must be made of granite," said the old lady. "I hope you'll +remember that other people are not so fortunate." Ayala again smiled, +and the Colonel made another effort as though to prevent any possible +breath of air from making its way into the interior of the vehicle. + +There was silence among them for some minutes, and then Ayala was +quite surprised by the tone in which her friend addressed her. "What +an ill-natured girl you must be," said he, "to have put me to such a +terrible amount of trouble all on purpose." + +"I didn't," said Ayala. + +"Yes, you did. Why wouldn't you come down by the four o'clock train +as I told you? Now I've left everything undone, and I shouldn't +wonder if I get into such a row at the Horse Guards that I shall +never hear the end of it. And now you are not a bit grateful." + +"Yes, I am grateful; but I didn't want you to come at all," she said. + +"Of course I should come. I didn't think you were so perverse." + +"I'm not perverse, Colonel Stubbs." + +"When young persons are perverse, it is my opinion they oughtn't to +be encouraged," said the old lady from her corner. + +"My dear, you know nothing about it," said the old gentleman. + +"Yes, I do," said the old lady. "I know all about it. Whatever she +does a young lady ought not to be perverse. I do hate perversity. I +am sure that hole up there must be open, Sir, for the wind does come +in so powerful." Colonel Stubbs again jumped up and poked at the +ventilator. + +In the meantime Ayala was laughing so violently that she could with +difficulty prevent herself from making a noise, which, she feared, +would bring down increased wrath upon her from the old lady. That +feigned scolding from the Colonel at once brought back upon her the +feeling of sudden and pleasant intimacy which she had felt when he +had first come and ordered her to dance with him at the ball in +London. It was once again with her as though she knew this man almost +more intimately, and certainly more pleasantly, than any of her other +acquaintances. Whatever he said she could answer him now, and pretend +to scold him, and have her joke with him as though no offer had ever +been made. She could have told him now all the story of that turned +dress, if that subject had come naturally to her, or have laughed +with him at her own old boxes, and confided to him any other of the +troubles of her poverty, as if they were jokes which she could share +at any rate with him. Then he spoke again. "I do abominate a perverse +young woman," he said. Upon this Ayala could no longer constrain +herself, but burst into loud laughter. + +After a while the two old people became quite familiar, and there +arose a contest, in which the lady took part with the Colonel, and +the old man protected Ayala. The Colonel spoke as though he were +quite in earnest, and went on to declare that the young ladies of +the present time were allowed far too much licence. "They never have +their own bread to earn," he said, "and they ought to make themselves +agreeable to other people who have more to do." + +"I quite agree with you, Sir," said the old lady. "They should run +about and be handy. I like to see a girl that can jump about the +house and make herself useful." + +"Young ladies ought to be young ladies," said the old man, putting +his mouth for a moment up out of his comforter. + +"And can't a young lady be useful and yet be a young lady?" said the +Colonel. + +"It is her special province to be ornamental," said the old +gentleman. "I like to see young ladies ornamental. I don't think +young ladies ought to be scolded, even if they are a little +fractious." + +"I quite agree with you, Sir," said Ayala. And so the fight went on +with sundry breaks and changes in the matter under discussion till +the station for Stalham had been reached. The old gentleman, indeed, +seemed to lose his voice before the journey was half over, but +the lady persevered, so that she and the Colonel became such fast +friends that she insisted on shaking hands with him when he left the +carriage. + +"How could you be so wicked as to go on hoaxing her like that?" said +Ayala, as soon as they were on the platform. + +"There was no hoax at all. I was quite in earnest. Was not every word +true that I said? Now come and get into the carriage quickly, or you +will be as bad as the old gentleman himself." + +Ayala did get into the carriage quickly, where she found Nina. + +The two girls were full of conversation as they went to Stalham; but +through it all Ayala could not refrain from thinking how the Jonathan +Stubbs of to-day had been exactly like that Jonathan Stubbs she had +first known,--and how very unlike a lover. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +CAPTAIN BATSBY AT MERLE PARK. + + +When Ayala went to Stalham Captain Batsby went to Merle Park. They +had both been invited by Lady Tringle, and when the letter was +written to Ayala she was assured that Tom should not be there. At +that time Tom's last encounter with the police had not as yet become +known to the Tringles, and the necessity of keeping Tom at the house +in the country was not manifest. The idea had been that Captain +Batsby should have an opportunity of explaining himself to Ayala. The +Captain came; but, as to Ayala, Mrs. Dosett sent word to say that she +had been invited to stay some days just at that time with her friend +Lady Albury at Stalham. + +What to do with Captain Batsby had been felt to be a difficulty by +Lady Albury. It was his habit to come to Stalham some time in March +and there finish the hunting season. It might be hoped that Ayala's +little affair might be arranged early in March, and then, whether he +came or whether he did not, it would be the same to Ayala. But the +Captain himself would be grievously irate when he should hear the +trick which would have been played upon him. Lady Albury had already +desired him not to come till after the first week in March, having +fabricated an excuse. She had been bound to keep the coast clear both +for Ayala's sake and the Colonel's; but she knew that when her trick +should be discovered there would be unmeasured wrath. "Why the deuce +don't you let the two men come, and then the best man may win!" +said Sir Harry, who did not doubt but that, in such a case, the +Colonel would prove to be the best man. Here too there was another +difficulty. When Lady Albury attempted to explain that Ayala would +not come unless she were told that she would not meet the Captain, +Sir Harry declared that there should be no such favour. "Who the +deuce is this little girl," he asked, "that everybody should be +knocked about in this way for her?" Lady Albury was able to pacify +the husband, but she feared that any pacifying of the Captain would +be impossible. There would be a family quarrel;--but even that must +be endured for the Colonel's sake. + +In the meantime the Captain was kept in absolute ignorance of Ayala's +movements, and went down to Merle Park hoping to meet her there. +He must have been very much in love, for Merle Park was by no +means a spot well adapted for hunting. Hounds there were in the +neighbourhood, but he turned up his nose at the offer when Sir Thomas +suggested that he might bring down a hunter. Captain Batsby, when he +went on hunting exhibitions, never stirred without five horses, and +always confined his operations to six or seven favoured counties. But +Ayala just at present was more to him than hunting, and therefore, +though it was now the end of February, he went to Merle Park. + +"It was all Sir Thomas's doing." It was thus that Lady Tringle +endeavoured to console herself when discussing the matter with her +daughters. The Honourable Septimus Traffick had now gone up to +London, and was inhabiting a single room in the neighbourhood of the +House. Augusta was still at Merle Park, much to the disgust of her +father. He did not like to tell her to be gone; and would indeed have +been glad enough of her presence had it not been embittered by the +feeling that he was being "done." But there she remained, and in +discussing the affairs of the Captain with her mother and Gertrude +was altogether averse to the suggested marriage for Ayala. To her +thinking Ayala was not entitled to a husband at all. Augusta had +never given way in the affair of Tom;--had declared her conviction +that Stubbs had never been in earnest; and was of opinion that +Captain Batsby would be much better off at Merle Park without Ayala +than he would have been in that young lady's presence. When he +arrived nothing was said to him at once about Ayala. Gertrude, +who recovered from the great sickness occasioned by Mr. Houston's +misconduct, though the recovery was intended only to be temporary, +made herself as pleasant as possible. Captain Batsby was made +welcome, and remained three days before he sought an opportunity of +asking a question about Ayala. + +During this time he found Gertrude to be a very agreeable companion, +but he made Mrs. Traffick his first confidant. "Well, you know, +Captain Batsby, to tell you the truth, we are not very fond of our +cousin." + +"Sir Thomas told me she was to be here." + +"So we know. My father is perhaps a little mistaken about Ayala." + +"Was she not asked?" demanded Captain Batsby, beginning to think that +he had been betrayed. + +"Oh, yes; she was asked. She has been asked very often, because she +is mamma's niece, and did live with us once for a short time. But she +did not come. In fact she won't go anywhere, unless--" + +"Unless what?" + +"You know Colonel Stubbs?" + +"Jonathan Stubbs. Oh dear, yes; very intimately. He is a sort of +connection of mine. He is my half-brother's second cousin by the +father's side." + +"Oh indeed! Does that make him very near?" + +"Not at all. I don't like him, if you mean that. He always takes +everything upon himself down at Stalham." + +"What we hear is that Ayala is always running after him." + +"Ayala running after Jonathan?" + +"Haven't you heard of that?" asked Mrs. Traffick. "Why;--she is at +Stalham with the Alburys this moment, and I do not doubt that Colonel +Stubbs is there also. She would not have gone had she not been sure +of meeting him." + +This disturbed the Captain so violently that for two or three hours +he kept himself apart, not knowing what to do with himself or where +to betake himself. Could this be true about Jonathan Stubbs? There +had been moments of deep jealousy down at Stalham; but then he had +recovered from that, having assured himself that he was wrong. It +had been Larry Twentyman and not Jonathan Stubbs who had led the two +girls over the brook,--into which Stubbs had simply fallen, making +himself an object of pity. But now again the Captain believed it all. +It was on this account, then, that his half-sister-in-law, Rosaline, +had desired him to stay away from Stalham for the present! He knew +well how high in favour with Lady Albury was that traitor Stubbs; +how it was by her favour that Stubbs, who was no more than a second +cousin, was allowed to do just what he pleased in the stables, while +Sir Harry himself, the master of the hounds, confined himself to +the kennel! He was determined at first to leave Merle Park and +start instantly for Stalham, and had sent for his servant to begin +the packing of his things; but as he thought of it more maturely +he considered that his arrival at Stalham would be very painful +to himself as well as to others. For the others he did not much +care, but he saw clearly that the pain to himself would be very +disagreeable. No one at Stalham would be glad to see him. Sir Harry +would be disturbed, and the other three persons with whom he was +concerned,--Lady Albury, Stubbs, and Ayala,--would be banded together +in hostility against him. What chance would he have under such +circumstances? Therefore he determined that he would stay at Merle +Park yet a little longer. + +And, after all, was Ayala worth the trouble which he had proposed to +take for her? How much had he offered her, how scornfully had his +offer been received, and how little had she to give him in return! +And now he had been told that she was always running after Jonathan +Stubbs! Could it be worth his while to run after a girl who was +always running after Jonathan Stubbs? Was he not much higher in the +world than Jonathan Stubbs, seeing that he had, at any rate, double +Stubbs's income? Stubbs was a red-haired, ugly, impudent fellow, who +made his way wherever he went simply by "cheek"! Upon reflection, he +found that it would be quite beneath him to run after any girl who +could so demean herself as to run after Jonathan Stubbs. Therefore he +came down to dinner on that evening with all his smiles, and said not +a word about Ayala to Sir Thomas, who had just returned from London. + +"Is he very much provoked?" Sir Thomas asked his wife that evening. + +"Provoked about what?" + +"He was expressly told that he would meet Ayala here." + +"He seems to be making himself very comfortable, and hasn't said a +word to me about Ayala. I am sick of Ayala. Poor Tom is going to be +really ill." Then Sir Thomas frowned, and said nothing more on that +occasion. + +Tom was certainly in an uncomfortable position, and never left his +bed till after noon. Then he would mope about the place, moping even +worse than he did before, and would spend the evening all alone in +the housekeeper's room, with a pipe in his mouth, which he seemed +hardly able to take the trouble to keep alight. There were three +or four other guests in the house, including two Honourable Miss +Trafficks, and a couple of young men out of the City, whom Lady +Tringle hoped might act as antidotes to Houston and Hamel. But with +none of them would Tom associate. With Captain Batsby he did form +some little intimacy; driven to it, no doubt, by a community of +interest. "I believe you were acquainted with my cousin, Miss Dormer, +at Stalham?" asked Tom. At the moment the two were sitting over the +fire in the housekeeper's room, and Captain Batsby was smoking a +cigar, while Tom was sucking an empty pipe. + +"Oh, yes," said Captain Batsby, pricking up his ears, "I saw a good +deal of her." + +"A wonderful creature!" ejaculated Tom. + +"Yes, indeed!" + +"For a real romantic style of beauty, I don't suppose that the world +ever saw her like before. Did you?" + +"Are you one among your cousin's admirers?" demanded the Captain. + +"Am I?" asked Tom, surprised that there should be anybody who had +not as yet heard his tragic story. "Am I one of her admirers? +Why,--rather! Haven't you heard about me and Stubbs?" + +"No, indeed." + +"I thought that everybody had heard that. I challenged him, you +know." + +"To fight a duel?" + +"Yes; to fight a duel. I sent my friend Faddle down with a letter to +Stalham, but it was of no use. Why should a man fight a duel when he +has got such a girl as Ayala to love him?" + +"That is quite true, then?" + +"I fear so! I fear so! Oh, yes; it is too true. Then you know;"--and +as he came to this portion of his story he jumped up from his chair +and frowned fiercely;--"then, you know, I met him under the portico +of the Haymarket, and struck him." + +"Oh,--was that you?" + +"Indeed it was." + +"And he did not do anything to you?" + +"He behaved like a hero," said Tom. "I do think that he behaved like +a hero,--though of course I hate him." The bitterness of expression +was here very great. "He wouldn't let them lock me up. Though, in +the matter of that, I should have been best pleased if they would +have locked me up for ever, and kept me from the sight of the world. +Admire that girl, Captain Batsby! I don't think that I ever heard of +a man who loved a girl as I love her. I do not hesitate to say that I +continue to walk the world,--in the way of not committing suicide, I +mean,--simply because there is still a possibility while she has not +as yet stood at the hymeneal altar with another man. I would have +shot Stubbs willingly, though I knew I was to be tried for it at the +Old Bailey,--and hung! I would have done it willingly,--willingly; or +any other man." After that Captain Batsby thought it might be prudent +not to say anything especial as to his own love. + +And how foolish would it be for a man like himself, with a good +fortune of his own, to marry any girl who had not a sixpence! +The Captain was led into this vain thought by the great civility +displayed to him by the ladies of the house. With Lucy, whom he knew +to be Ayala's sister, he had not prospered very well. It came to +his ears that she was out of favour with her aunt, and he therefore +meddled with her but little. The Tringle ladies, however, were very +kind to him,--so kind that he was tempted to think less than ever of +one who had been so little courteous to him as Ayala. Mrs. Traffick +was of course a married woman, and it amounted to nothing. But +Gertrude--! All the world knew that Septimus Traffick without a +shilling of his own had become the happy possessor of a very large +sum of money. He, Batsby, had more to recommend him than Traffick! +Why should not he also become a happy possessor? He went away for a +week's hunting into Northamptonshire, and then, at Lady Tringle's +request, came back to Merle Park. + +At this time Miss Tringle had quite recovered her health. She had +dropped all immediate speech as to Mr. Houston. Had she not been +provoked, she would have allowed all that to drop into oblivion. But +a married sister may take liberties. "You are well rid of him, I +think," said Augusta. Gertrude heaved a deep sigh. She did not wish +to acknowledge herself to be rid of him until another string were +well fitted to her bow. "After all, a man with nothing to do in the +world, with no profession, no occupation, with no money--" + +"Mr. Traffick had not got very much money of his own." + +"He has a seat in Parliament, which is very much more than fortune, +and will undoubtedly be in power when his party comes in. And he is a +man of birth. But Frank Houston had nothing to recommend him." + +"Birth!" said Gertrude, turning up her nose. + +"The Queen, who is the fountain of honour, made his father a +nobleman, and that constitutes birth." This the married sister +said with stern severity of manner, and perfect reliance on the +constitutional privileges of her Sovereign. + +"I don't know that we need talk about it," said Gertrude. + +"Not at all. Mr. Houston has behaved very badly, and I suppose there +is an end of him as far as this house is concerned. Captain Batsby +seems to me to be a very nice young man, and I suppose he has got +money. A man should certainly have got money,--or an occupation." + +"He has got both," said Gertrude, which, however, was not true, as +Captain Batsby had left the service. + + + * * * * * * + + +"Have you forgotten my cousin so soon?" Gertrude asked one day, as +she was walking with the happy Captain in the park. The Captain, no +doubt, had been saying soft things to her. + +"Do you throw that in my teeth as an offence?" + +"Inconstancy in men is generally considered as an offence," said +Gertrude. What it might be in women she did not just then declare. + +"After all I have heard of your cousin since I have been here, I +should hardly have thought that it would be reckoned so in this +case." + +"You have heard nothing against her from me." + +"I am told that she has treated your brother very badly." + +"Poor Tom!" + +"And that she is flirting with a man I particularly dislike." + +"I suppose she does make herself rather peculiar with that Colonel +Stubbs." + +"And, after all, only think how little I saw of her! She is pretty." + +"So some people think. I never saw it myself," said Gertrude. "We +always thought her a mass of affectation. We had to turn her out of +the house once you know. She was living here, and then it was that +her sister had to come in her place. It is not their fault that they +have got nothing;--poor girls! They are mamma's nieces, and so papa +always has one of them." After that forgiveness was accorded to the +Captain on account of his fickle conduct, and Gertrude consented to +accept of his services in the guise of a lover. That this was so Mrs. +Traffick was well aware. Nor was Lady Tringle very much in the dark. +Frank Houston was to be considered as good as gone, and if so it +would be well that her daughter should have another string. She +was tired of the troubles of the girls around her, and thought +that as Captain Batsby was supposed to have an income he would do +as a son-in-law. But she had not hitherto been consulted by the +young people, who felt among themselves that there still might be +a difficulty. The difficulty lay with Sir Thomas. Sir Thomas had +brought Captain Batsby there to Merle Park as Ayala's lover, and as +he had been very little at home was unaware of the changes which +had taken place. And then Gertrude was still supposed to be engaged +to Mr. Houston, although this lover had been so violently rejected +by himself. The ladies felt that, as he was made of sterner stuff +than they, so would it be more difficult to reconcile him to the +alterations which were now proposed in the family arrangements. Who +was to bell the cat? "Let him go to papa in the usual way, and ask +his leave," said Mrs. Traffick. + +"I did suggest that," said Gertrude, "but he seems not to like to do +it quite yet." + +"Is he such a coward as that?" + +"I do not know that he is more a coward than anybody else. I remember +when Septimus was quite afraid to go near papa. But then Benjamin has +got money of his own, which does make a difference." + +"It's quite untrue saying that Septimus was ever afraid of papa. Of +course he knows his position as a Member of Parliament too well for +that. I suppose the truth is, it's about Ayala." + +"It is a little odd about Ayala," said Gertrude, resuming her +confidential tone. "It is so hard to make papa understand about these +kind of things. I declare I believe he thinks that I never ought to +speak to another man because of that scoundrel Frank Houston." + +All this was in truth so strange to Sir Thomas that he could not +understand any of the existing perplexities. Why did Captain Batsby +remain as a guest at Merle Park? He had no special dislike to the +man, and when Lady Tringle had told him that she had asked the +Captain to prolong his visit he had made no objection. But why should +the man remain there, knowing as he did now that there was no chance +of Ayala's coming to Merle Park? At last, on a certain Saturday +evening, he did make inquiry on the subject. "What on earth is that +man staying here for?" he said to his wife. + +"I think he likes the place." + +"Perhaps he likes the place as well as Septimus Traffick, and means +to live here always!" Such allusions as these were constant with Sir +Thomas, and were always received by Lady Tringle with dismay and +grief. "When does he mean to go away?" asked Sir Thomas, gruffly. + +Lady Tringle had felt that the time had come in which some word +should be said as to the Captain's intentions; but she feared to +say it. She dreaded to make the clear explanation to her husband. +"Perhaps," said she, "he is becoming fond of some of the young +ladies." + +"Young ladies! What young ladies? Do you mean Lucy?" + +"Oh dear no!" said Lady Tringle. + +"Then what the deuce do you mean? He came here after Ayala, because +I wanted to have all that nonsense settled about Tom. Ayala is not +here, nor likely to be here; and I don't know why he should stay here +philandering away his time. I hate men in a country-house who are +thorough idlers. You had better take an opportunity of letting him +know that he has been here long enough." + +All this was repeated by Lady Tringle to Mrs. Traffick, and by Mrs. +Traffick to Gertrude. Then they felt that this was no time for +Captain Batsby to produce himself to Sir Thomas as a suitor for his +youngest daughter. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +THE JOURNEY TO OSTEND. + + +"No doubt it will be very hard to make papa understand." This was +said by Gertrude to her new lover a few days after that order had +been given that the lover should be sent away from Merle Park. The +purport of the order in all its severity had not been conveyed +to Captain Batsby. The ladies had felt,--Gertrude had felt very +strongly,--that were he informed that the master of the house +demanded his absence he would take himself off at once. But still +something had to be said,--and something done. Captain Batsby was, +just at present, in a matrimonial frame of mind. He had come to Merle +Park to look for a wife, and, as he had missed one, was, in his +present mood, inclined to take another. But there was no knowing +how long this might last. Augusta had hinted that "something must +be done, either with papa's consent or without it." Then there had +come the conversation in which Gertrude acknowledged the existing +difficulty. "Papa, too probably, would not consent quite at once." + +"He must think it very odd that I am staying here," said the Captain. + +"Of course it is odd. If you could go to him and tell him +everything!" But the Captain, looking at the matter all round, +thought that he could not go to Sir Thomas and tell him anything. +Then she began gently to introduce the respectable clergyman at +Ostend. It was not necessary that she should refer at length to the +circumstances under which she had studied the subject, but she gave +Captain Batsby to understand that it was one as to which she had +picked up a good deal of information. + +But the money! "If Sir Thomas were made really angry, the +consequences would be disastrous," said the Captain. But Gertrude was +of a different way of thinking. Her father was, no doubt, a man who +could be very imperious, and would insist upon having his own way +as long as his own way was profitable to him. But he was a man who +always forgave. + +"If you mean about the money," said Gertrude, "I am quite sure +that it would all come right." He did mean about the money, and +was evidently uneasy in his mind when the suggested step was made +manifest to him. Gertrude was astonished to see how long and +melancholy his face could become. "Papa was never unkind about money +in his life," said Gertrude. "He could not endure to have any of us +poor." + +On the next Saturday Sir Thomas again came down, and still found his +guest at Merle Park. We are now a little in advance of our special +story, which is, or ought to be, devoted to Ayala. But, with the +affairs of so many lovers and their loves, it is almost impossible to +make the chronicle run at equal periods throughout. It was now more +than three weeks since Ayala went to Stalham, and Lady Albury had +written to the Captain confessing something of her sin, and begging +to be forgiven. This she had done in her anxiety to keep the Captain +away. He had not answered his sister-in-law's letter, but, in his +present frame of mind, was not at all anxious to finish up the +hunting-season at Stalham. Sir Thomas, on his arrival, was very full +of Tom's projected tour. He had arranged everything,--except in +regard to Tom's own assent. He had written to New York, and had +received back a reply from his correspondent assuring him that Tom +should be made most heartily welcome. It might be that Tom's fighting +propensities had not been made known to the people of New York. Sir +Thomas had taken a berth on board of one of the Cunard boats, and had +even gone so far as to ask the Captain to come down for a day or two +to Merle Park. He was so much employed with Tom that he could hardly +afford time and consideration to Captain Batsby and his affairs. +Nevertheless he did ask a question, and received an answer with which +he seemed to be satisfied. "What on earth is that man staying here +for?" he said to his wife. + +"He is going on Friday," replied Lady Tringle, doubtingly;--almost +as though she thought that she would be subjected to further anger +because of this delay. But Sir Thomas dropped the subject, and passed +on to some matter affecting Tom's outfit. Lady Tringle was very +glad to change the subject, and promised that everything should be +supplied befitting the hottest and coldest climates on the earth's +surface. + +"She sails on the nineteenth of April," said Sir Thomas to his son. + +"I don't think I could go as soon as that, Sir," replied Tom, +whining. + +"Why not? There are more than three weeks yet, and your mother will +have everything ready for you. What on earth is there to hinder you?" + +"I don't think I could go--not on the nineteenth of April." + +"Well then, you must. I have taken your place, and Firkin expects you +at New York. They'll do everything for you there, and you'll find +quite a new life. I should have thought you'd have been delighted to +get away from your wretched condition here." + +"It is wretched," said Tom; "but I'd rather not go quite so soon." + +"Why not?" + +"Well, then--" + +"What is it, Tom? It makes me unhappy when I see you such a fool." + +"I am a fool! I know I am a fool!" + +"Then make a new start of it. Cut and run, and begin the world again. +You're young enough to forget all this." + +"So I would, only--" + +"Only what?" + +"I suppose she is engaged to that man Stubbs! If I knew it for +certain then I would go. If I went before, I should only come back as +soon as I got to New York. If they were once married and it were all +done with I think I could make a new start." + +In answer to this his father told him that he must go on the +nineteenth of April, whether Ayala were engaged or disengaged, +married or unmarried;--that his outfit would be bought, his cabin +would be ready, circular notes for his use would be prepared, +and everything would be arranged to make his prolonged tour as +comfortable as possible; but that if he did not start on that day +all the Tringle houses would be closed against him, and he would be +turned penniless out into the world. "You'll have to learn that I'm +in earnest," said Sir Thomas, as he turned his back and walked away. +Tom took himself off to reflect whether it would not be a grand thing +to be turned penniless out into the world,--and all for love! + +By the early train on Monday Sir Thomas returned to London, having +taken little or no heed of Captain Batsby during his late visit to +the country. Even at Merle Park Captain Batsby's presence was less +important than it would otherwise have been to Lady Tringle and Mrs. +Traffick, because of the serious nature of Sir Thomas's decision as +to his son. Lady Tringle perhaps suspected something. Mrs. Traffick, +no doubt, had her own ideas as to her sister's position; but nothing +was said and nothing was done. Both on the Wednesday and on the +Thursday Lady Tringle went up to town to give the required orders on +Tom's behalf. On the Thursday her elder daughter accompanied her, and +returned with her in the evening. On their arrival they learnt that +neither Captain Batsby nor Miss Gertrude had been seen since ten +o'clock; that almost immediately after Lady Tringle's departure in +the morning Captain Batsby had caused all his luggage to be sent into +Hastings; and that it had since appeared that a considerable number +of Miss Gertrude's things were missing. There could be no doubt that +she had caused them to be packed up with the Captain's luggage. "They +have gone to Ostend, mamma," said Augusta. "I was sure of it, because +I've heard Gertrude say that people can always get themselves married +at Ostend. There is a clergyman there on purpose to do it." + +It was at this time past seven o'clock, and Lady Tringle when she +heard the news was so astounded that she did not at first know how +to act. It was not possible for her to reach Dover that night before +the night-boat for Ostend should have started,--even could she have +done any good by going there. Tom was in such a condition that she +hardly dared to trust him; but it was settled at last that she should +telegraph at once to Sir Thomas, in Lombard Street, and that Tom +should travel up to London by the night train. + +On the following morning Lady Tringle received a letter from +Gertrude, posted by that young lady at Dover as she passed through on +her road to Ostend. It was as follows;-- + + + DEAR MAMMA, + + You will be surprised on your return from London to + find that we have gone. After much thinking about it we + determined it would be best, because we had quite made + up our mind _not to be kept separated_. Ben was so eager + about it that I was obliged to yield. We were afraid that + if we asked papa at once he would not have given his + consent. Pray give him my most dutiful love, and tell him + that I am sure he will never have occasion to be ashamed + of his son-in-law. I don't suppose he knows, but it is + the fact that Captain Batsby has about three thousand a + year of his own. It is very different from having nothing, + like that wretch Frank Houston, or, for that matter, Mr. + Traffick. Ben was quite in a position to ask papa, but + things had happened which made us both feel that papa + would not like it just at present. We mean to be married + at Ostend, and then will come back as soon as you and papa + say that you will receive us. In the meantime I wish you + would send some of my clothes after me. Of course I had to + come away with very little luggage, because I was obliged + to have my things mixed up with Ben's. I did not dare to + have my boxes brought down by the servants. Could you send + me the green silk in which I went to church the last two + Sundays, and my pink gauze, and the grey poplin? Please + send two or three flannel petticoats, as I could not put + them among his things, and as many cuffs and collars as + you can cram in. I suppose I can get boots at Ostend, + but I should like to have the hat with the little brown + feather. There is my silk jacket with the fur trimming; + I should like to have that. I suppose I shall have to be + married without any regular dress, but I am sure papa will + make up my trousseau to me afterwards. I lent a little + lace fichu to Augusta; tell her that I shall so like to + have it. + + Give papa my best love, and Augusta, and poor Tom, and + accept the same from your affectionate daughter, + + GERTRUDE. + + I suppose I must not add the other name yet. + + +Sir Thomas did not receive the telegram till eleven o'clock, when he +returned from dinner, and could do nothing that night. On the next +morning he was disturbed soon after five o'clock by Tom, who had come +on the same errand. "Idiots!" exclaimed Sir Thomas, "What on earth +can they have gone to Ostend for? And what can you do by coming up?" + +"My mother thought that I might follow them to Ostend." + +"They wouldn't care for you. No one will care for you until you have +got rid of all this folly. I must go. Idiots! Who is to marry them at +Ostend? If they are fools enough to want to be married, why shouldn't +they get married in England?" + +"I suppose they thought you wouldn't consent." + +"Of course I shan't consent. But why should I consent a bit more +because they have gone to Ostend? I don't suppose anybody ever had +such a set of fools about him as I have." This would have been hard +upon Tom had it not been that he had got beyond the feeling of any +hardness from contempt or contumely. As he once said of himself, +all sense of other injury had been washed out of him by Ayala's +unkindness. + +On that very day Sir Thomas started for Ostend, and reached the place +about two o'clock. Captain Batsby and Gertrude had arrived only +during the previous night, and Gertrude, as she had been very sick, +was still in bed. Captain Batsby was not in bed. Captain Batsby had +been engaged since an early hour in the morning looking for that +respectable clergyman of the Church of England of whose immediate +services he stood in need. By the time that Sir Thomas had reached +Ostend he had found that no such clergyman was known in the place. +There was a regular English clergyman who would be very happy to +marry him,--and to accept the usual fees,--after the due performance +of certain preliminaries as ordained by the law, and as usual at +Ostend. The lady, no doubt, could be married at Ostend, after such +preliminaries,--as she might have been married also in England. All +this was communicated by the Captain to Gertrude,--who was still very +unwell,--at her bedroom door. Her conduct during this trying time was +quite beyond reproach,--and also his,--as Captain Batsby afterwards +took an opportunity of assuring her father. + +"What on earth, Sir, is the meaning of all this?" said Sir Thomas, +encountering the man who was not his son-in-law in the sitting-room +of the hotel. + +"I have just run away with your daughter, Sir Thomas. That is the +simple truth." + +"And I have got the trouble of taking her back again." + +"I have behaved like a gentleman through it all, Sir Thomas," said +the Captain, thus defending his own character and the lady's. + +"You have behaved like a fool. What on earth am I to think of +it, Sir? You were asked down to my house because you gave me to +understand that you proposed to ask my niece, Miss Dormer, to be your +wife; and now you have run away with my daughter. Is that behaviour +like a gentleman?" + +"I must explain myself?" + +"Well, Sir?" Captain Batsby found the explanation very difficult; and +hummed and hawed a great deal. "Do you mean to say that it was a lie +from beginning to end about Miss Dormer?" Great liberties of speech +are allowed to gentlemen whose daughters have been run away with, and +whose hospitality has been outraged. + +"Oh dear no. What I said then was quite true. It was my intention. +But--but--." The perspiration broke out upon the unhappy man's brow +as the great immediate trouble of his situation became clear to him. +"There was no lie,--no lie at all. I beg to assure you, Sir Thomas, +that I am not a man to tell a lie." + +"How has it all been, then?" + +"When I found how very superior a person your daughter was!" + +"It isn't a month since she was engaged to somebody else," said the +angry father, forgetting all propriety in his indignation. + +"Gertrude?" demanded Captain Batsby. + +"You are two fools. So you gave up my niece?" + +"Oh dear yes, altogether. She didn't come to Merle Park, you know. +How was I to say anything to her when you didn't have her there?" + +"Why didn't you go away then, instead of remaining under a false +pretence? Or why, at any rate, didn't you tell me the truth?" + +"And what would you have me to do now?" asked Captain Batsby. + +"Go to the d----," said Sir Thomas, as he left the room, and went to +his daughter's chamber. + +Gertrude had heard that her father was in the house, and endeavoured +to hurry herself into her clothes while the interview was going on +between him and her father. But she was not yet perfectly arrayed +when her father burst into her room. "Oh, papa," she said, going down +on her knees, "you do mean to forgive us?" + +"I mean to do nothing of the kind. I mean to carry you home and have +you locked up." + +"But we may be married!" + +"Not with my leave. Why didn't you come and ask if you wanted to get +yourselves married? Why didn't you tell me?" + +"We were ashamed." + +"What has become of Mr. Houston, whom you loved so dearly?" + +"Oh, papa!" + +"And the Captain was so much attached to Ayala!" + +"Oh, papa!" + +"Get up, you stupid girl. Why is it that my children are so much more +foolish than other people's? I don't suppose you care for the man in +the least." + +"I do, I do. I love him with all my heart." + +"And as for him,--how can he care for you when it is but the other +day he was in love with your cousin?" + +"Oh, papa!" + +"What he wants is my money, of course." + +"He has got plenty of money, papa." + +"I can understand him, fool as he is. There is something for him to +get. He won't get it, but he might think it possible. As for you, +I cannot understand you at all. What do you expect? It can't be for +love of a hatchet-faced fellow like that, whom you had never seen a +fortnight ago." + +"It is more than a month ago, papa." + +"Frank Houston was, at any rate, a manly-looking fellow." + +"He was a scoundrel," said Gertrude, now standing up for the first +time. + +"A good-looking fellow was Frank Houston; that at least may be said +for him," continued the father, determined to exasperate his daughter +to the utmost. "I had half a mind to give way about him, because he +was a manly, outspoken fellow, though he was such an idle dog. If +you'd gone off with him, I could have understood it;--and perhaps +forgiven it," he added. + +"He was a scoundrel!" screamed Gertrude, remembering her ineffectual +attempts to make her former lover perform this same journey. + +"But this fellow! I cannot bring myself to believe that you really +care for him." + +"He has a good income of his own, while Houston was little better +than a beggar." + +"I'm glad of that," said Sir Thomas, "because there will be something +for you to live upon. I can assure you that Captain Batsby will never +get a shilling of my money. Now, you had better finish dressing +yourself, and come down and eat your dinner with me if you've got any +appetite. You will have to go back to Dover by the boat to-night." + +"May Ben dine with us?" asked Gertrude, timidly. + +"Ben may go to the d----. At any rate he had better not show himself +to me again," said Sir Thomas. + +The lovers, however, did get an opportunity of exchanging a few +words, during which it was settled between them that as the young +lady must undoubtedly obey her father's behests, and return to Dover +that night, it would be well for Captain Batsby to remain behind at +Ostend. Indeed, he spoke of making a little tour as far as Brussels, +in order that he might throw off the melancholy feelings which had +been engendered. "You will come to me again, Ben," she said. Upon +this he looked very grave. "You do not mean to say that after all +this you will desert me?" + +"He has insulted me so horribly!" + +"What does that signify? Of course he is angry. If you could only +hear how he has insulted me." + +"He says that you were in love with somebody else not a month since." + +"So were you, Ben, for the matter of that." He did, however, before +they parted, make her a solemn promise that their engagement should +remain an established fact, in spite both of father and mother. + +Gertrude, who had now recovered the effects of her +sea-sickness,--which, however, she would have to encounter again +so very quickly,--contrived to eat a hearty dinner with her father. +There, however, arose a little trouble. How should she contrive to +pack up the clothes which she had brought with her, and which had +till lately been mixed with the Captain's garments. She did, however, +at last succeed in persuading the chamber-maid to furnish her with +a carpet-bag, with which in her custody she arrived safely on the +following day at Merle Park. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +THE NEW FROCK. + + +Ayala's arrival at Stalham was full of delight to her. There was +Nina with all her new-fledged hopes and her perfect assurance in the +absolute superiority of Lord George Bideford to any other man either +alive or dead. Ayala was quite willing to allow this assurance to +pass current, as her Angel of Light was as yet neither alive nor +dead. But she was quite certain,--wholly certain,--that when the +Angel should come forth he would be superior to Lord George. The +first outpouring of all this took place in the carriage as Nina and +Ayala were driven from the station to the house, while the Colonel +went home alone in a dog-cart. It had been arranged that nothing +should be said to Ayala about the Colonel, and in the carriage the +Colonel's name was not mentioned. But when they were all in the +hall at Stalham, taking off their cloaks and depositing their wraps, +standing in front of the large fire, Colonel Stubbs was there. Lady +Albury was present also, welcoming her guests, and Sir Harry, who +had already come home from hunting, with one or two other men in red +coats and top breeches, and a small bevy of ladies who were staying +in the house. Lady Albury was anxious to know how her friend had +sped with Ayala, but at such a moment no question could be asked. +But Ayala's spirits were so high that Lady Albury was at a loss to +understand whether the whole thing had been settled by Jonathan with +success,--or whether, on the other hand, Ayala was so happy because +she had not been troubled by a word of love. + +"He has behaved so badly, Lady Albury," said Ayala. + +"What;--Stubbs?" asked Sir Harry, not quite understanding all the ins +and outs of the matter. + +"Yes, Sir Harry. There was an old lady and an old gentleman. They +were very funny and he would laugh at them." + +"I deny it," said the Colonel. + +"Why shouldn't he laugh at them if they were funny?" asked Lady +Albury. + +"He knew it would make me laugh out loud. I couldn't help myself, but +he could be as grave as a judge all the time. So he went till the old +woman scolded me dreadfully." + +"But the old man took your part," said the Colonel. + +"Yes;--he did. He said that I was ornamental." + +"A decent and truth-speaking old gentleman," said one of the +sportsmen in top-boots. + +"Quite so;--but then the old lady said that I was perverse, and +Colonel Stubbs took her part. If you had been there, Lady Albury, you +would have thought that he had been in earnest." + +"So I was," said the Colonel. + +All this was very pleasant to Ayala. It was a return to the old +joyousness when she had first discovered the delight of having such a +friend as Colonel Stubbs. Had he flattered her, paid her compliments, +been soft and delicate to her,--as a lover might have been,--she +would have been troubled in spirit and heavy at heart. But now it +seemed as though all that love-making had been an episode which had +passed away, and that the old pleasant friendship still remained. +As yet, while they were standing there in the hall, there had come +no moment for her to feel whether there was anything to regret in +this. But certainly there had been comfort in it. She had been able +to appear before all her Stalham friends, in the presence even of +the man himself, without any of that consciousness which would have +oppressed her had he come there simply as her acknowledged lover, and +had she come there conscious before all the guests that it was so. + +Then they sat for a while drinking tea and eating buttered toast in +the drawing-room. A supply of buttered toast fully to gratify the +wants of three or four men just home from hunting has never yet been +created by the resources of any establishment. But the greater marvel +is that the buttered toast has never the slightest effect on the +dinner which is to follow in an hour or two. During this period the +conversation turned chiefly upon hunting,--which is of all subjects +the most imperious. It never occurs to a hunting-man to suppose +that either a lady, or a bishop, or a political economist, can be +indifferent to hunting. There is something beyond millinery,--beyond +the interests of the church,--beyond the price of wheat,--in that +great question whether the hounds did or did not change their fox in +Gobblegoose Wood. On the present occasion Sir Harry was quite sure +that the hounds did carry their fox through Gobblegoose Wood, whereas +Captain Glomax, who had formerly been master of the pack which now +obeyed Sir Harry, was perfectly certain that they had got upon +another animal, who went away from Gobblegoose as fresh as paint. He +pretended even to ridicule Sir Harry for supposing that any fox could +have run at that pace up Buddlecombe Hill who had travelled all the +way from Stickborough Gorse. To this Sir Harry replied resentfully +that the Captain did not know what were the running powers of a +dog-fox in March. Then he told various stories of what had been done +in this way at this special period of the year. Glomax, however, +declared that he knew as much of a fox as any man in England, and +that he would eat both the foxes, and the wood, and Sir Harry, and, +finally, himself, if the animal which had run up Buddlecombe Hill was +the same which they brought with them from Stickborough Gorse into +Gobblegoose Wood. So the battle raged, and the ladies no doubt were +much interested;--as would have been the bishop had he been there, or +the political economist. + +After this Ayala was taken up into her room, and left to sit there by +herself for a while till Lady Albury should send her maid. "My dear," +said Lady Albury, "there is something on the bed which I expect you +to wear to-night. I shall be broken-hearted if it doesn't fit you. +The frock is a present from Sir Harry; the scarf comes from me. Don't +say a word about it. Sir Harry always likes to make presents to young +ladies." Then she hurried out of the room while Ayala was still +thanking her. Lady Albury had at first intended to say something +about the Colonel as they were sitting together over Ayala's fire, +but she had made up her mind against this as soon as she saw their +manner towards each other on entering the house. If Ayala had +accepted him at a word as they were travelling together, then there +would be need of no further interference in the matter. But if not, +it would be better that she should hold her peace for the present. + +Ayala's first instinct was to look at the finery which had been +provided for her. It was a light grey silk, almost pearl colour, as +to which she thought she had never seen anything so lovely before. +She measured the waist with her eye, and knew at once that it +would fit her. She threw the gauzy scarf over her shoulders and +turned herself round before the large mirror which stood near the +fire-place. "Dear Lady Albury!" she exclaimed; "dear Lady Albury!" +It was impossible that she should have understood that Lady Albury's +affection had been shown to Jonathan Stubbs much rather than to her +when those presents were prepared. + +She got rid of her travelling dress and her boots, and let down her +hair, and seated herself before the fire, that she might think of +it all in her solitude. Was she or was she not glad,--glad in sober +earnest, glad now the moment of her mirth had passed by, the mirth +which had made her return to Stalham so easy for her,--was she or was +she not glad that this change had come upon the Colonel, this return +to his old ways? She had got her friend again, but she had lost her +lover. She did not want the lover. She was sure of that. She was +still sure that if a lover would come to her who would be in truth +acceptable,--such a lover as would enable her to give herself up to +him altogether, and submit herself to him as her lord and master,--he +must be something different from Jonathan Stubbs. That had been the +theory of her life for many months past, a theory on which she had +resolved to rely with all her might from the moment in which this +man had spoken to her of his love. Would she give way and render +up herself and all her dreams simply because the man was one to be +liked? She had declared to herself again and again that it should not +be so. There should come the Angel of Light or there should come no +lover for her. On that very morning as she was packing up her boxes +at Kingsbury Crescent she had arranged the words in which, should +he speak to her on the subject in the railway train, she would make +him understand that it could never be. Surely he would understand +if she told him so simply, with a little prayer that his suit might +not be repeated. His suit had not been repeated. Nothing apparently +had been further from his intention. He had been droll, pleasant, +friendly,--just like his old dear self. For in truth the pleasantness +and the novelty of his friendship had made him dear to her. He had +gone back of his own accord to the old ways, without any little +prayer from her. Now was she contented? As the question would thrust +itself upon her in opposition to her own will, driving out the +thoughts which she would fain have welcomed, she gazed listlessly at +the fire. If it were so, then for what purpose, then for what reason, +had Lady Albury procured for her the pale grey pearl-coloured dress? + +And why were all these grand people at Stalham so good to her,--to +her, a poor little girl, whose ordinary life was devoted to the +mending of linen and to the furtherance of economy in the use of +pounds of butter and legs of mutton? Why was she taken out of her own +sphere and petted in this new luxurious world? She had a knowledge +belonging to her,--if not quite what we may call common sense,--which +told her that there must be some cause. Of some intellectual +capacity, some appreciation of things and words which were divine in +their beauty, she was half conscious. It could not be, she felt, that +without some such capacity she should have imaged to herself that +Angel of Light. But not for such capacity as that had she been made +welcome at Stalham. As for her prettiness, her beauty of face and +form, she thought about them not at all,--almost not at all. In +appearing in that pale-pearl silk, with that gauzy scarf upon her +shoulders, she would take pride. Not to be shamed among other girls +by the poorness of her apparel was a pride to her. Perhaps to excel +some others by the prettiness of her apparel might be a pride to +her. But of feminine beauty, as a great gift bestowed upon her, she +thought not at all. She would look in the mirror for the effect of +the scarf, but not for the effect of the neck and shoulders beneath +it. Could she have looked in any mirror for the effect of the dreams +she had thus dreamed,--ah! that would have been the mirror in which +she would have loved yet feared to look! + +Why was Lady Albury so kind to her? Perhaps Lady Albury did not know +that Colonel Stubbs had changed his mind. She would know it very +soon, and then, maybe, everything would be changed. As she thought of +this she longed to put the pearl silk dress aside, and not to wear +it as yet,--to put it aside so that it might never be worn by her if +circumstances should so require. It was to be hoped that the man had +changed his mind,--and to be hoped that Lady Albury would know that +he had done so. Then she would soon see whether there was a change. +Could she not give a reason why she should not wear the dress this +night? As she sat gazing at the fire a tear ran down her cheek. Was +it for the dress she would not wear, or for the lover whom she would +not love? + +The question as to the dress was settled for her very soon. Lady +Albury's maid came into the room,--not a chit of a girl without a +thought of her own except as to her own grandness in being two steps +higher than the kitchen-maid,--but a well-grown, buxom, powerful +woman, who had no idea of letting such a young lady as Ayala do +anything in the matter of dress but what she told her. When Ayala +suggested something as to the next evening in reference to the +pale-pearl silk the buxom powerful woman pooh-poohed her down in +a moment. What;--after Sir Harry had taken so much trouble about +having it made; having actually inquired about it with his own mouth. +"To-night, Miss; you must wear it to-night! My lady would be quite +angry!" "My lady not know what you wear! My lady knows what all the +ladies wear,--morning, noon, and night." That little plan of letting +the dress lie by till she should know how she should be received +after Colonel Stubbs's change of mind had been declared, fell to the +ground altogether under the hands of the buxom powerful woman. + +When she went into the drawing-room some of the guests were +assembled. Sir Harry and Lady Albury were there, and so was Colonel +Stubbs. As she walked in Sir Harry was standing well in front of the +fire, in advance of the rug, so as to be almost in the middle of the +room. Captain Glomax was there also, and the discussion about the +foxes was going on. It had occurred to Ayala that as the dress was a +present from Sir Harry she must thank him. So she walked up to him +and made a little curtsey just before him. "Am I nice, Sir Harry?" +she said. + +"Upon my word," said Sir Harry, "that is the best spent +ten-pound-note I ever laid out in my life." Then he took her by the +hand and gently turned her round, so as to look at her and her dress. + +"I don't know whether I am nice, but you are," she said, curtseying +again. Everybody felt that she had had quite a little triumph as she +subsided into a seat close by Lady Albury, who called her. As she +seated herself she caught the Colonel's eye, who was looking at her. +She fancied that there was a tear in it. Then he turned himself and +looked away into the fire. + +"You have won his heart for ever," said Lady Albury. + +"Whose heart?" asked Ayala, in her confusion. + +"Sir Harry's heart. As for the other, cela va sans dire. You must go +on wearing it every night for a week or Sir Harry will want to know +why you have left it off. If the woman had made it on you it couldn't +have fitted better. Baker,--" Baker was the buxom female,--"said that +she knew it was right. You did that very prettily to Sir Harry. Now +go up and ask Colonel Stubbs what he thinks of it." + +"Indeed, I won't," said Ayala. Lady Albury, a few minutes afterwards, +when she saw Ayala walking away towards the drawing-room leaning +on the Colonel's arm, acknowledged to herself that she did at last +understand it. The Colonel had been able to see it all, even without +the dress, and she confessed in her mind that the Colonel had eyes +with which to see, and ears with which to hear, and a judgment with +which to appreciate. "Don't you think that girl very lovely?" she +said to Lord Rufford, on whose arm she was leaning. + +"Something almost more than lovely," said Lord Rufford, with unwonted +enthusiasm. + +It was acknowledged now by everybody. "Is it true about Colonel +Stubbs and Miss Dormer?" whispered Lady Rufford to her hostess in the +drawing-room. + +"Upon my word, I never inquire into those things," said Lady Albury. +"I suppose he does admire her. Everybody must admire her." + +"Oh yes;" said Lady Rufford. "She is certainly very pretty. Who is +she, Lady Albury?" Lady Rufford had been a Miss Penge, and the Penges +were supposed to be direct descendants from Boadicea. + +"She is Miss Ayala Dormer. Her father was an artist, and her mother +was a very handsome woman. When a girl is as beautiful as Miss +Dormer, and as clever, it doesn't much signify who she is." Then the +direct descendant from Boadicea withdrew, holding an opinion much at +variance with that expressed by her hostess. + +"Who is that young lady who sat next to you?" asked Captain Glomax of +Colonel Stubbs, after the ladies had gone. + +"She is a Miss Ayala Dormer." + +"Did I not see her out hunting with you once or twice early in the +season?" + +"You saw her out hunting, no doubt, and I was there. I did not +specially bring her. She was staying here, and rode one of Albury's +horses." + +"Take her top and bottom, and all round," said Captain Glomax, "she +is the prettiest little thing I've seen for many a day. When she +curtsyed to Sir Harry in the drawing-room I almost thought that I +should like to be a marrying man myself." Stubbs did not carry on the +conversation, having felt displeased rather than otherwise by the +admiration expressed. + +"I didn't quite understand before," said Sir Harry to his wife that +night, "what it was that made Jonathan so furious about that girl; +but I think I see it now." + +"Fine feathers make fine birds," said his wife, laughing. + +"Feathers ever so fine," said Sir Harry, "don't make well-bred +birds." + +"To tell the truth," said Lady Albury, "I think we shall all have to +own that Jonathan has been right." + +This took place upstairs, but before they left the drawing-room Lady +Albury whispered a few words to her young friend. "We have had a +terrible trouble about you, Ayala." + +"A trouble about me, Lady Albury? I should be so sorry." + +"It is not exactly your fault;--but we haven't at all known what to +do with that unfortunate man." + +"What man?" asked Ayala, forgetful at the moment of all men except +Colonel Stubbs. + +"You naughty girl! Don't you know that my brother-in-law is +broken-hearted about you?" + +"Captain Batsby!" whispered Ayala, in her faintest voice. + +"Yes; Captain Batsby. A Captain has as much right to be considered +as a Colonel in such a matter as this." Here Ayala frowned, but said +nothing. "Of course, I can't help it, who may break his heart, but +poor Ben is always supposed to be at Stalham just at this time of the +year, and now I have been obliged to tell him one fib upon another to +keep him away. When he comes to know it all, what on earth will he +say to me?" + +"I am sure it has not been my fault," said Ayala. + +"That's what young ladies always say when gentlemen break their +hearts." + +When Ayala was again in her room, and had got rid of the buxom +female who came to assist her in taking off her new finery, she was +aware of having passed the evening triumphantly. She was conscious +of admiration. She knew that Sir Harry had been pleased by her +appearance. She was sure that Lady Albury was satisfied with her, and +she had seen something in the Colonel's glance that made her feel +that he had not been indifferent. But in their conversation at the +dinner table he had said nothing which any other man might not have +said, if any other man could have made himself as agreeable. Those +hunting days were all again described with their various incidents, +with the great triumph over the brook, and Twentyman's wife and baby, +and fat Lord Rufford, who was at the moment sitting there opposite to +them; and the ball in London, with the lady who was thrown out of the +window; and the old gentleman and the old lady of to-day who had been +so peculiar in their remarks. There had been nothing else in their +conversation, and it surely was not possible that a man who intended +to put himself forward as a lover should have talked in such fashion +as that! But then there were other things which occurred to her. Why +had there been that tear in his eye? And that "cela va sans dire" +which had come from Lady Albury in her railing mood;--what had that +meant? Lady Albury, when she said that, could not have known that the +Colonel had changed his purpose. + +But, after all, what is a dress, let it be ever so pretty? The Angel +of Light would not care for her dress, let her wear what she might. +Were he to seek her because of her dress, he would not be the Angel +of Light of whom she had dreamed. It was not by any dress that +she could prevail over him. She did rejoice because of her little +triumph;--but she knew that she rejoiced because she was not an Angel +of Light herself. Her only chance lay in this, that the angels of +yore did come down from heaven to ask for love and worship from the +daughters of men. + +As she went to bed, she determined that she would still be true to +her dream. Not because folk admired a new frock would she be ready to +give herself to a man who was only a man,--a man of the earth really; +who had about him no more than a few of the real attributes of an +Angel of Light. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +GOBBLEGOOSE WOOD ON SUNDAY. + + +The next two days were not quite so triumphant to Ayala as had been +the evening of her arrival. There was hunting on both of those days, +the gentlemen having gone on the Friday away out of Sir Harry's +country to the Brake hounds. Ayala and the Colonel had arrived on the +Thursday. Ayala had not expected to be asked to hunt again,--had not +even thought about it. It had been arranged before on Nina's account, +and Nina now was not to hunt any more. Lord George did not altogether +approve of it, and Nina was quite in accord with Lord George,--though +she had held up her whip and shaken it in triumph when she jumped +over the Cranbury Brook. And the horse which Ayala had ridden was no +longer in the stables. "My dear, I am so sorry; but I'm afraid we +can't mount you," Lady Albury said. In answer to this Ayala declared +that she had not thought of it for a moment. But yet the days seemed +to be dull with her. Lady Rufford was,--well,--perhaps a little +patronising to her, and patronage such as that was not at all to +Ayala's taste. "Lady Albury seems to be quite a kind friend to you," +Lady Rufford said. Nothing could be more true. The idea implied was +true also,--the idea that such a one as Ayala was much in luck's +way to find such a friend as Lady Albury. It was true no doubt; but, +nevertheless, it was ungracious, and had to be resented. "A very kind +friend, indeed. Some people only make friends of those who are as +grand as themselves." + +"I am sure we should be very glad to see you at Rufford if you remain +long in the country," said Lady Rufford, a little time afterwards. +But even in this there was not a touch of that cordiality which might +have won Ayala's heart. "I am not at all likely to stay," said Ayala. +"I live with my uncle and aunt at Notting Hill, and I very rarely go +away from home." Lady Rufford, however, did not quite understand it. +It had been whispered to her that morning that Ayala was certainly +going to marry Colonel Stubbs; and, if so, why should she not come to +Rufford? + +On that day, the Friday, she was taken out to dinner by Captain +Glomax. "I remember quite as if it were yesterday," said the Captain. +"It was the day we rode the Cranbury Brook." + +Ayala looked up into his face, also remembering everything as well +as it were yesterday. "Mr. Twentyman rode over it," she said, "and +Colonel Stubbs rode into it." + +"Oh, yes; Stubbs got a ducking; so he did." The Captain had not got a +ducking, but then he had gone round by the road. "It was a good run +that." + +"I thought so." + +"We haven't been lucky since Sir Harry has had the hounds somehow. +There doesn't seem to be the dash about 'em there used to be when I +was here. I had them before Sir Harry, you know." All this was nearly +in a whisper. + +"Were you Master?" asked Ayala, with a tone of surprise which was not +altogether pleasing to the Captain. + +"Indeed I was, but the fag of it was too great, and the thanks too +small, so I gave it up. They used to get four days a week out of me." +During the two years that the Captain had had the hounds, there had +been, no doubt, two or three weeks in which he had hunted four days. + +Ayala liked hunting, but she did not care much for Captain Glomax, +who, having seen her once or twice on horseback, would talk to her +about nothing else. A little away on the other side of the table Nina +was sitting next to Colonel Stubbs, and she could hear their voices +and almost their words. Nina and Jonathan were first cousins, and, +of course, could be happy together without giving her any cause for +jealousy;--but she almost envied Nina. Yet she had hoped that it +might not fall to her lot to be taken out again that evening by the +Colonel. Hitherto she had not even spoken to him during the day. They +had started to the meet very early, and the gentlemen had almost +finished their breakfast before she had come down. If there had been +any fault it was her fault, but yet she almost felt that there was +something of a disruption between them. It was so evident to her that +he was perfectly happy whilst he was talking to Nina. + +After dinner it seemed to be very late before the men came into the +drawing-room, and then they were still engaged upon that weary talk +about hunting, till Lady Rufford, in order to put a stop to it, +offered to sing. "I always do," she said, "if Rufford ventures to +name a fox in the drawing-room after dinner." She did sing, and Ayala +thought that the singing was more weary than the talk about hunting. + +While this was going on, the Colonel had got himself shut up in +a corner of the room. Lady Albury had first taken him there, and +afterwards he had been hemmed in when Lady Rufford sat down to the +piano. Ayala had hardly ventured even to glance at him, but yet she +knew all that he did, and heard almost every word that he spoke. +The words were not many, but still when he did speak his voice was +cheerful. Nina now and again had run up to him, and Lady Rufford had +asked him some questions about the music. But why didn't he come out +and speak to her? thought Ayala. Though all that nonsense about love +was over, still he ought not to have allowed a day to pass at Stalham +without speaking to her. He was the oldest friend there in that +house except Nina. It was indeed no more than nine months since she +had first seen him, but still it seemed to her that he was an old +friend. She did feel, as she endeavoured to answer the questions that +Lord Rufford was asking her, that Jonathan Stubbs was treating her +unkindly. + +Then came the moment in which Lady Albury marshalled her guests out +of the room towards their chambers. "Have you found yourself dull +without the hunting?" the Colonel said to Ayala. + +"Oh dear no; I must have a dull time if I do, seeing that I have +only hunted three days in my life." There was something in the tone +of her voice which, as she herself was aware, almost expressed +dissatisfaction. And yet not for worlds would she have shown herself +to be dissatisfied with him, could she have helped it. + +"I thought that perhaps you might have regretted the little pony," he +said. + +"Because a thing has been very pleasant, it should not be regretted +because it cannot be had always." + +"To me a thing may become so pleasant, that unless I can have it +always my life must be one long regret." + +"The pony is not quite like that," said Ayala, smiling, as she +followed the other ladies out of the room. + +On the next morning the meet was nearer, and some of the ladies were +taken there in an open carriage. Lady Rufford went, and Mrs. Gosling, +and Nina and Ayala. "Of course there is a place for you," Lady Albury +had said to her. "Had I wanted to go I would have made Sir Harry send +the drag; but I've got to stop at home and see that the buttered +toast is ready by the time the gentlemen all come back." The morning +was almost warm, so that the sportsmen were saying evil things of +violets and primroses, as is the wont of sportsmen on such occasions, +and at the meet the ladies got out of the carriage and walked about +among the hounds, making civil speeches to old Tony. "No, my lady," +said Tony, "I don't like these sunshiny mornings at all; there ain't +no kind of scent, and I goes riding about these big woods, up and +down, till my shirt is as wet on my back with the sweat as though I'd +been pulled through the river." Then Lady Rufford walked away and did +not ask Tony any more questions. + +Ayala was patting one of the hounds when the Colonel, who had given +his horse to a groom, came and joined her. "If you don't regret that +pony," said he, "somebody else does." + +"I do regret him in one way, of course. I did like it very much; but +I don't think it nice, when much has been done for me, to say that I +want to have more done." + +"Of course I knew what you meant." + +"Perhaps you would go and tell Sir Harry, and then he would think me +very ungrateful." + +"Ayala," he said, "I will never say anything of you that will make +anybody think evil of you. But, between ourselves, as Sir Harry is +not here, I suppose I may confess that I regret the pony." + +"I should like it, of course," whispered Ayala. + +"And so should I,--so much! I suppose all these men here would +think me an ass if they knew how little I care about the day's +work,--whether we find, or whether we run, or whether we kill,--just +because the pony is not here. If the pony were here I should have +that feeling of expectation of joy, which is so common to girls when +some much-thought-of ball or promised pleasure is just before them." +Then Tony went off with his hounds, and Jonathan, mounting his horse, +followed with the ruck. + +Ayala knew very well what the pony meant, as spoken of by the +Colonel. When he declared that he regretted the pony, it was because +the pony might have carried herself. He had meant her to understand +that the much-thought-of ball or promised pleasure would have been +the delight of again riding with herself. And then he had again +called her Ayala. She could remember well every occasion on which +he had addressed her by her Christian name. It had been but seldom. +Once, however, it had occurred in the full flow of their early +intimacy, before that love-making had been begun. It had struck her +as being almost wrong, but still as very pleasant. If it might be +made right by some feeling of brotherly friendship, how pleasant +would it be! And now she would like it again, if only it might be +taken as a sign of friendship rather than of love. It never occurred +to her to be angry as she would have been angry with any other +man. How she would have looked at Captain Batsby had he dared to +call her Ayala! Colonel Stubbs should call her Ayala as long as he +pleased,--if it were done only in friendship. + +After that they were driven about for a while, seeing what Tony did +with the hounds, as tidings came to them now and again that one +fox had broken this way and another had gone the other. But Ayala, +through it all, could not interest herself about the foxes. She was +thinking only of Jonathan Stubbs. She knew that she was pleased +because he had spoken to her, and had said kind, pleasant words to +her. She knew that she had been displeased while he had sat apart +from her, talking to others. But yet she could not explain to herself +why she had been either pleased or displeased. She feared that there +was more than friendship,--than mere friendship, in that declaration +of his that he did in truth regret the pony. His voice had been, oh, +so sweet as he had said it! Something told her that men do not speak +in mere friendship after that fashion. Not even in the softness of +friendship between a man and a woman will the man's voice become +as musical as that! Young as she was, child as she was, there was +an instinct in her breast which declared to her that it was so. But +then, if it were so, was not everything again wrong with her? If it +were so, then must that condition of things be coming back which it +had been, and still was her firm resolve to avoid. And yet, as the +carriage was being driven about, and as the frequent exclamations +came that the fox had traversed this way or that, her pride was +gratified and she was happy. + +"What was Colonel Stubbs saying to you?" asked Nina, when they were +at home at the house after lunch. + +"He was talking about the dear pony which I used to ride." + +"About nothing else?" + +"No;--about nothing else." This Ayala said with a short, dry manner +of utterance which she would assume when she was determined not to +have a subject carried on. + +"Ayala, why do you not tell me everything? I told you everything as +soon as it happened." + +"Nothing has happened." + +"I know he asked you," said Nina. + +"And I answered him." + +"Is that to be everything?" + +"Yes;--that is to be everything," said Ayala, with a short, dry +manner of utterance. It was so plain, that even Nina could not pursue +the subject. + +There was nothing done on that day in the way of sport. Glomax +thought that Tony had been idle, and had made a holiday of the day +from the first. But Sir Harry declared that there had not been a yard +of scent. The buttered toast, however, was eaten, and the regular +sporting conversation was carried on. Ayala, however, was not there +to hear it. Ayala was in her own room dreaming. + +She was taken in to dinner by a curate in the neighbourhood,--to whom +she endeavoured to make herself very pleasant, while the Colonel +sat at her other side. The curate had a good deal to say as to lawn +tennis. If the weather remained as it was, it was thought that +they could all play lawn tennis on the Tuesday,--when there would +be no hunting. The curate was a pleasant young fellow, and Ayala +devoted herself to him and to their joint hopes for next Tuesday. +Colonel Stubbs never once attempted to interfere with the curate's +opportunity. There was Lady Rufford on the other side of him, and +to Lady Rufford he said all that he did say during dinner. At one +period of the repast she was more than generally lively, because she +felt herself called upon to warn her husband that an attack of the +gout was imminent, and would be certainly produced instantaneously +if he could not deny himself the delight of a certain diet which +was going the round of the table. His lordship smiled and denied +himself,--thinking, as he did so, whether another wife, plus +the gout, would or would not have been better for him. All this +either amused Colonel Stubbs so sufficiently, or else made him so +thoughtful, that he made no attempt to interfere with the curate. In +the evening there was again music,--which resulted in a declaration +made upstairs by Sir Harry to his wife that that wife of Rufford's +was a confounded bore. "We all knew that, my dear, as soon as he +married her," said Lady Albury. + +"Why did he marry a bore?" + +"Because he wanted a wife to look after himself, and not to amuse his +friends. The wonder used to be that he had done so well." + +Not a word had there been,--not a word, since that sound of "Ayala" +had fallen upon her ears. No;--he was not handsome, and his name was +Jonathan Stubbs;--but surely no voice so sweet had ever fallen from a +man's lips! So she sat and dreamed far into the night. He, the Angel +of Light, would certainly have a sweeter voice! That was an attribute +without which no angel could be angelic! As to the face and the name, +that would not perhaps signify. But he must have an intellect high +soaring, a soul tuned to music, and a mind versed in nothing but +great matters. He might be an artist, or more probably a poet;--or +perhaps a musician. Yet she had read of poets, artists, and +musicians, who had misused their wives, been fond of money, and had +perhaps been drunkards. The Angel of Light must have the gifts, and +must certainly be without the vices. + +The next day was Sunday and they all went to church. In the afternoon +they, as many of them as pleased, were to walk as far as Gobblegoose +Wood, which was only three miles from the house. They could not hunt +and therefore they must go to the very scene of the late contest and +again discuss it there. Sir Harry and the Captain would walk and +so would Ayala and Nina and some others. Lord Rufford did not like +walking, and Lady Rufford would stay at home to console him. Ayala +used her little wiles to keep herself in close company with Nina; but +the Colonel's wiles were more effective;--and then, perhaps, Nina +assisted the Colonel rather than Ayala. It came to pass that before +they had left Gobblegoose Wood Ayala and the Colonel were together. +When it was so he did not beat about the bush for a moment longer. He +had fixed his opportunity for himself and he put it to use at once. +"Ayala," he said, "am I to have any other answer?" + +"What answer?" + +"Nay, my dearest,--my own, own dearest as I fain would have you,--who +shall say what answer but you? Ayala, you know that I love you!" + +"I thought you had given it up." + +"Given it up. Never,--never! Does a man give up his joy,--the pride +of his life,--the one only delight on which his heart has set itself! +No, my darling, I have not given it up. Because you would not have it +as I wished when I first spoke to you, I have not gone on troubling +you. I thought I would wait till you were used again to the look of +me, and to my voice. I shall never give it up, Ayala. When you came +into the room that night with your new frock on--" Then he paused, +and she glanced round upon him, and saw that a tear again was in his +eye. "When you came in and curtseyed to Sir Harry I could hardly keep +within myself because I thought you were so beautiful." + +"It was the new gown which he had given me." + +"No, my pet;--no! You may add a grace to a dress, but it can do but +little for you. It was the little motion, the little word, the light +in your eye! It twinkles at me sometimes when you glance about, so +that I do not know whether it is meant for me or not. I fear that it +is never meant for me." + +"It is meant for nothing," said Ayala. + +"And yet it goes into my very bosom. When you were talking to that +clergyman at dinner I could see every sparkle that came from it. Then +I wonder to myself whether you can ever be thinking of me as I am +always thinking of you." She knew that she had been thinking of him +every waking moment since she had been at Albury and through many of +her sleeping moments also. "Ayala, one little word, one other glance +from your eyes, one slightest touch from your hand upon my arm, shall +tell me,--shall tell me,--shall tell me that I am the happiest, the +proudest man in all the world." She walked on steadfastly, closing +her very teeth against a word, with her eyes fixed before her so that +no slightest glance should wander. Her two hands were in her little +muff, and she kept them with her fingers clasped together, as though +afraid lest one might rebel, and fly away, and touch the sleeve of +his coat. "Ayala, how is it to be with me?" + +"I cannot," she said sternly. And her eyes were still fixed before +her, and her fingers were still bound in one with another. And yet +she loved him. Yet she knew that she loved him. She could have hung +upon his arm and smiled up into his face, and frowned her refusal +only with mock anger as he pressed her to his bosom,--only that those +dreams were so palpable to her and so dear, had been to her so vast a +portion of her young life! "I cannot," she said again. "I cannot." + +"Is that to be your answer for ever?" To this she made no immediate +reply. "Must it be so, Ayala?" + +"I cannot," she said. But the last little word was so impeded by the +sobs which she could not restrain as almost to be inaudible. + +"I will not make you unhappy, Ayala." Yes, she was unhappy. She was +unhappy because she knew that she could not rule herself to her own +happiness; because, even at this moment, she was aware that she was +wrong. If she could only release part of herself from the other, then +could she fly into his arms and tell him that that spirit which had +troubled her had flown. But the spirit was too strong for her, and +would not fly. "Shall we go and join them?" he asked her in a voice +altered, but still so sweet to her ears. + +"If you think so," she replied. + +"Perhaps it will be best, Ayala. Do not be angry with me now. I will +not call you so again." Angry! Oh, no! She was not angry with him! +But it was very bitter to her to be told that she should never hear +the word again from his lips. + +"The hunted fox never went up Buddlecombe Hill;--never. If he did +I'll eat every fox in the Rufford and Ufford country." This was +heard, spoken in most angry tones by Captain Glomax, as the Colonel +and Ayala joined the rest of the party. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +"NO!" + + +Ayala, on her return from the walk to the wood, spent the remainder +of the afternoon in tears. During the walk she kept close to Sir +Harry, pretending to listen to the arguments about the fox, but she +said nothing. Her ears were really intent on endeavouring to catch +the tones of her lover's voice as he went on in front of them talking +to Nina. Nothing could be more pleasant than the sound as he said a +word or two now and again, encouraging Nina in her rhapsodies as to +Lord George and all Lord George's family. But Ayala learned nothing +from that. She had come to know the man well enough to be aware that +he could tune his voice to the occasion, and could hide his feelings +let them be ever so strong. She did not doubt his love now. She did +not doubt but that at this moment his heart was heavy with rejected +love. She quite believed in him. But nevertheless his words were +pleasant and kind as he encouraged Nina. + +Nor did she doubt her own love. She was alone in her room that +afternoon till she told herself at last the truth. Oh, yes; she loved +him. She was sure of that. But now he was gone! Why had she been +so foolish? Then it seemed as though at that moment the separation +took place between herself and the spirit which had haunted her. She +seemed to know now,--now at this very moment,--that the man was too +good for her. The knowledge had been coming to her. It had almost +come when he had spoken to her in the wood. If it could only have +been that he should have delayed his appeal to her yet for another +day or two! She thought now that if he could have delayed it but +for a few hours the cure would have been complete. If he had talked +to her as he so well knew how to talk while they were in the wood +together, while they were walking home,--so as to have exorcised the +spirit from her by the sweetness of his words,--and then have told +her that there was his love to have if she chose to have it, then she +thought she would have taken it. But he had come to her while those +words which she had prepared under the guidance of the spirit were +yet upon her tongue. "I cannot," she had said. "I cannot." But she +had not told him that she did not love him. + +"I did love him," she said to herself, almost acknowledging that +the spirit had been wholly exorcised. The fashion of her mind was +altogether different from that which had so strongly prevailed +with her. He was an honest, noble man, high in the world's repute, +clever, a gentleman, a man of taste, and possessed of that gentle +ever-present humour which was so inexpressibly delightful to her. She +never again spoke to herself even in her thoughts of that Angel of +Light,--never comforted herself again with the vision of that which +was to come! There had appeared to her a man better than all other +men, and when he had asked her for her hand she had simply said,--"I +cannot." And yet she had loved him all the time. How foolish, how +false, how wicked she had been! It was thus that she thought of it +all as she sat there alone in her bedroom through the long hours of +the afternoon. When they sent up for her asking her to come down, she +begged that she might be allowed to remain there till dinner-time, +because she was tired with her walk. + +He would not come again now. Oh, no,--he was too proud, too firm, +too manly for that. It was not for such a one as he to come whining +after a girl,--like her cousin Tom. Would it be possible that she +should even yet tell him? Could she say to him one little word, +contradicting that which she had so often uttered in the wood? +"Now I can," once whispered in his ear, would do it all. But as to +this she was aware that there was no room for hope. To speak such +a word, low as it might be spoken, simple and little as it might +be, was altogether impossible. She had had her chance and had lost +it,--because of those idle dreams. That the dreams had been all idle +she declared to herself,--not aware that the Ayala whom her lover had +loved would not have been an Ayala to be loved by him, but for the +dreams. Now she must go back to her uncle and aunt and to Kingsbury +Crescent, with the added sorrow that the world of dreams was closed +to her for ever. When the maid came to her she consented to have +the frock put on, the frock which Sir Harry had given her, boldly +resolving to struggle through her sorrow till Lady Albury should have +dismissed her to her home. Nobody would want her now at Stalham, and +the dismissal would soon come. + +While she had been alone in her room the Colonel had been closeted +with Lady Albury. They had at least been thus shut up together for +some half-hour during which he had told his tale. "I have to own," +said he, half-laughing as he began his tale, "that I thoroughly +respect Miss Dormer." + +"Why is she to be called Miss Dormer?" + +"Because she has shown herself worthy of my respect." + +"What is it that you mean, Jonathan?" + +"She knew her own mind when she told me at first that she could not +accept the offer which I did myself the honour of making her, and now +she sticks to her purpose. I think that a young lady who will do that +should be respected." + +"She has refused you again?" + +"Altogether." + +"As how?" + +"Well, I hardly know that I am prepared to explain the 'as how' even +to you. I am about as thick-skinned a man in such matters as you may +find anywhere, but I do not know that even I can bring myself to tell +the 'as how.' The 'as how' was very clear in one respect. It was +manifest that she knew her own mind, which is a knowledge not in the +possession of all young ladies. She told me that she could not marry +me." + +"I do not believe it." + +"Not that she told me so?" + +"Not that she knew her own mind. She is a little simple fool, who +with some vagary in her brain is throwing away utterly her own +happiness, while she is vexing you." + +"As to the vexation you are right." + +"Cross-grained little idiot!" + +"An idiot she certainly is not; and as to being cross-grained I have +never found it. A human being with the grains running more directly +all in the same way I have never come across." + +"Do not talk to me, Jonathan, like that," she said. "When I call +her cross-grained I mean that she is running counter to her own +happiness." + +"I cannot tell anything about that. I should have endeavoured, +I think, to make her happy. She has certainly run counter to my +happiness." + +"And now?" + +"What;--as to this very moment! I shall leave Stalham to-morrow." + +"Why should you do that? Let her go if one must go." + +"That is just what I want to prevent. Why should she lose her little +pleasure?" + +"You don't suppose that we can make the house happy to her now! Why +should we care to do so when she will have driven you away?" He sat +silent for a minute or two looking at the fire, with his hands on his +two knees. "You must acknowledge, Jonathan," continued she, "that I +have taken kindly to this Ayala of yours." + +"I do acknowledge it." + +"But it cannot be that she should be the same to us simply as a young +lady, staying here as it were on her own behalf, as she was when we +regarded her as your possible wife. Then every little trick and grace +belonging to her endeared itself to us because we regarded her as one +who was about to become one of ourselves. But what are her tricks and +graces to us now?" + +"They are all the world to me," said the Colonel. + +"But you must wipe them out of your memory,--unless, indeed, you mean +to ask her again." + +"Ah!--that is it." + +"You will ask her again?" + +"I do not say so; but I do not wish to rob myself of the chance. It +may be that I shall. Of course I should to-morrow if I thought there +was a hope. To-morrow there would be none,--but I should like to +know, that I could find her again in hands so friendly as yours, +if at the end of a month I should think myself strong enough to +encounter the risk of another refusal. Would Sir Harry allow her to +remain here for another month?" + +"He would say, probably, nothing about it." + +"My plan is this," he continued; "let her remain here, say, for three +weeks or a month. Do you continue all your kindness to her,--if not +for her sake then for mine. Let her feel that she is made one of +yourselves, as you say." + +"That will be hard," said Lady Albury. + +"It would not be hard if you thought that she was going to become so +at last. Try it, for my sake. Say not a word to her about me,--though +not shunning my name. Be to her as though I had told you nothing of +this. Then when the period is over I will come again,--if I find +that I can do so. If my love is still stronger than my sense of +self-respect, I shall do so." All this Lady Albury promised to do, +and then the interview between them was over. + +"Colonel Stubbs is going to Aldershot to-morrow," said she to Ayala +in the drawing-room after dinner. "He finds now that he cannot very +well remain away." There was no hesitation in her voice as she said +this, and no look in her eye which taught Ayala to suppose that she +had heard anything of what had occurred in the wood. + +"Is he indeed?" said Ayala, trying, but in vain, to be equally +undemonstrative. + +"It is a great trouble to us, but we are quite unable to prevent +it,--unless you indeed can control him." + +"I cannot control him," said Ayala, with that fixed look of +resolution with which Lady Albury had already become familiar. + +That evening before they went to bed the Colonel bade them all +good-bye, as he intended to start early in the morning. "I never saw +such a fellow as you are for sudden changes," said Sir Harry. + +"What is the good of staying here for hunting when the ground and +Tony's temper are both as hard as brick-bats. If I go now I can get +another week further on in March if the rain should come." With this +Sir Harry seemed to be satisfied; but Ayala felt sure that Tony's +temper and the rain had had nothing to do with it. + +"Good-bye, Miss Dormer," he said, with his pleasantest smile, and his +pleasantest voice. + +"Good-bye," she repeated. What would she not have given that her +voice should be as pleasant as his, and her smile! But she failed so +utterly that the little word was inaudible,--almost obliterated by +the choking of a sob. How bitterly severe had that word, Miss Dormer, +sounded from his mouth! Could he not have called her Ayala for the +last time,--even though all the world should have heard it? She was +wide awake in the morning and heard the wheels of his cart as he was +driven off. As the sound died away upon her ear she felt that he +was gone from her for ever. How had it been that she had said, "I +cannot," so often, when all her heart was set upon "I can?" + +And now it remained to her to take herself away from Stalham as fast +as she might. She understood perfectly all those ideas which Lady +Albury had expressed to her well-loved friend. She was nothing to +anybody at Stalham, simply a young lady staying in the house;--as +might be some young lady connected with them by blood, or some +young lady whose father and mother had been their friends. She had +been brought there to Stalham, now this second time, in order that +Jonathan Stubbs might take her as his wife. Driven by some madness +she had refused her destiny, and now nobody would want her at Stalham +any longer. She had better begin to pack up at once,--and go. The +coldness of the people, now that she had refused to do as she had +been asked, would be unbearable to her. And yet she must not let it +appear that Stalham was no longer dear to her merely because Colonel +Stubbs had left it. She would let a day go by, and then say with all +the ease she could muster that she would take her departure on the +next. After that her life before her would be a blank. She had known +up to this,--so at least she told herself,--that Jonathan Stubbs +would afford her at any rate another chance. Now there could be no +other chance. + +The first blank day passed away, and it seemed to her almost as +though she had no right to speak to any one. She was sure that Lady +Rufford knew what had occurred, because nothing more was said as +to the proposed visit. Mrs. Colonel Stubbs would have been welcome +anywhere, but who was Ayala Dormer? Even though Lady Albury bade her +come out in the carriage, it seemed to her to be done as a final +effort of kindness. Of course they would be anxious to be rid of her. +That evening the buxom woman did not come to help her dress herself. +It was an accident. The buxom woman was wanted here and there till it +was too late, and Ayala had left her room. Ayala, in truth, required +no assistance in dressing. When the first agonizing moment of the new +frock had been passed over, she would sooner have arrayed herself +without assistance. But now it seemed as though the buxom woman was +running away, because she, Ayala, was thought to be no longer worthy +of her services. + +On the next morning she began her little speech to Lady Albury. +"Going away to-morrow?" said Lady Albury. + +"Or perhaps the next day," suggested Ayala. + +"My dear, it has been arranged that you should stay here for another +three weeks." + +"No." + +"I say it was arranged. Everybody understood it. I am sure your aunt +understood it. Because one person goes, everybody else isn't to +follow so as to break up a party. Honour among thieves!" + +"Thieves!" + +"Well;--anything else you like to call us all. The party has been +made up. And to tell the truth I don't think that young ladies have +the same right of changing their minds and rushing about as men +assume. Young ladies ought to be more steady. Where am I to get +another young lady at a moment's notice to play lawn tennis with Mr. +Greene? Compose yourself and stay where you are like a good girl." + +"What will Sir Harry say?" + +"Sir Harry will probably go on talking about the Stillborough fox and +quarreling with that odious Captain Glomax. That is, if you remain +here. If you go all of a sudden, he will perhaps hint--" + +"Hint what, Lady Albury?" + +"Never mind. He shall make no hints if you are a good girl." Nothing +was said at the moment about the Colonel,--nothing further than the +little allusion made above. Then there came the lawn tennis, and +Ayala regained something of her spirits as she contrived with the +assistance of Sir Harry to beat Nina and the curate. But on the +following day Lady Albury spoke out more plainly, "it was because of +Colonel Stubbs that you said that you would go away." + +Ayala paused a moment, and then answered stoutly, "Yes, it was +because of Colonel Stubbs." + +"And why?" + +Ayala paused again and the stoutness almost deserted her. "Because--" + +"Well, my dear?" + +"I don't think I ought to be asked," said Ayala. + +"Well, you shall not be asked. I will not be cruel to you. But do you +not know that if I ask anything it is with a view to your own good?" + +"Oh, yes," said Ayala. + +"But though I may not ask I suppose I may speak." To this Ayala made +no reply, either assenting or dissenting. "You know, do you not, that +I and Colonel Stubbs love each other like brother and sister,--more +dearly than many brothers and sisters?" + +"I suppose so." + +"And that therefore he tells me everything. He told me what took +place in the wood,--and because of that he has gone away." + +"Of course you are angry with me;--because he has gone away." + +"I am sorry that he has gone,--because of the cause of it. I always +wish that he should have everything that he desires; and now I wish +that he should have this thing because he desires it above all other +things." Does he desire it above all other things?--thought Ayala to +herself. And, if it be really so, cannot I now tell her that he shall +have it? Cannot I say that I too long to get it quite as eagerly +as he longs to have it? The suggestion rushed quickly to her mind; +but the answer to it came as quickly. No;--she would not do so. No +offer of the kind would come from her. By what she had said must she +abide,--unless, indeed, he should come to her again. "But why should +you go, Ayala, because he has gone? Why should you say aloud that you +had come here to listen to his offer, and that you had gone away as +soon as you had resolved that, for this reason or that, it was not +satisfactory to you?" + +"Oh, Lady Albury." + +"That would be the conclusion drawn. Remain here with us, and see if +you can like us well enough to be one of us." + +"Dear Lady Albury, I do love you dearly." + +"What he may do I cannot say. Whether he may bring himself to try +once again I do not know,--nor will I ask you whether there might +possibly be any other answer were he to do so." + +"No!" said Ayala, driven by a sudden fit of obstinacy which she could +not control. + +"I ask no questions about it, but I am sure it will be better for you +to remain here for a few weeks. We will make you happy if we can, and +you can learn to think over what has passed without emotion." Thus it +was decided that Ayala should prolong her visit into the middle of +March. She could not understand her own conduct when she again found +herself alone. Why had she ejaculated that sudden "No," when Lady +Albury had suggested to her the possibility of changing her purpose? +She knew that she would fain change it if it were possible; and yet +when the idea was presented to her she replied with a sudden denial +of its possibility. But still there was hope, even though the hope +was faint. "Whether he may bring himself to try again I do not know." +So it was that Lady Albury had spoken of him, and of what Lady Albury +said to her she now believed every word. "Whether he could bring +himself!" Surely such a one as he would not condescend so far as +that. But if he did one word should be sufficient. By no one else +would she allow it to be thought, for an instant, that she would wish +to reverse her decision. It must still be No to any other person from +whom such suggestion might come. But should he give her the chance +she would tell him instantly the truth of everything. "Can I love +you! Oh, my love, it is impossible that I should not love you!" It +would be thus that the answer should be given to him, should he allow +her the chance of making it. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +"I CALL IT FOLLY." + + +Three weeks passed by, and Ayala was still at Stalham. Colonel Stubbs +had not as yet appeared, and very little had been said about him. +Sir Henry would sometimes suggest that if he meant to see any more +hunting he had better come at once, but this was not addressed to +Ayala. She made up her mind that he would not come, and was sure +that she was keeping him away by her presence. He could not--"bring +himself to try over again," as Lady Albury had put it! Why should +he--"bring himself"--to do anything on behalf of one who had treated +him so badly? It had been settled that she should remain to the 25th +of March, when the month should be up from the time in which Lady +Albury had decided upon that as the period of her visit. Of her +secret she had given no slightest hint. If he ever did come again it +should not be because she had asked for his coming. As far as she +knew how to carry out such a purpose, she concealed from Lady Albury +anything like a feeling of regret. And she was so far successful that +Lady Albury thought it expedient to bring in other assistance to help +her cause,--as will be seen by a letter which Ayala received when the +three weeks had passed by. + +In the meantime there had been at first dismay, then wonder, and +lastly, some amusement, at the condition of Captain Batsby. When +Captain Batsby had first learned at Merle Park that Ayala and +Jonathan Stubbs were both at Stalham, he wrote very angrily to Lady +Albury. In answer to this his sister-in-law had pleaded guilty,--but +still defending herself. How could she make herself responsible +for the young lady,--who did not indeed seem ready to bestow her +affections on any of her suitors? But still she acknowledged that a +little favour was being shown to Colonel Stubbs,--wishing to train +the man to the idea that, in this special matter, Colonel Stubbs must +be recognised as the Stalham favourite. Then no further letters were +received from the Captain, but there came tidings that he was staying +at Merle Park. Ayala heard continually from her sister, and Lucy sent +some revelations as to the Captain. He seemed to be very much at home +at Merle Park, said Lucy; and then, at last, she expressed her own +opinion that Captain Batsby and Gertrude were becoming very fond of +each other. And yet the whole story of Gertrude and Mr. Houston was +known, of course, to Lucy, and through Lucy to Ayala. To Ayala these +sudden changes were very amusing, as she certainly did not wish to +retain her own hold on the Captain, and was not specially attached to +her cousin Gertrude. From Ayala the tidings went to Lady Albury, and +in this way the fears which had been entertained as to the Captain's +displeasure were turned to wonder and amusement. But up to this +period nothing had been heard of the projected trip to Ostend. + +Then came the letter to Ayala, to which allusion has been made, a +letter from her old friend the Marchesa, who was now at Rome. It was +ostensibly in answer to a letter from Ayala herself, but was written +in great part in compliance with instructions received from Lady +Albury. It was as follows;-- + + + DEAR AYALA,-- + + I was glad to get your letter about Nina. She is very + happy, and Lord George is here. Indeed, to tell the truth, + they arrived together,--which was not at all proper; but + everything will be made proper on Tuesday, 8th April, + which is the day at last fixed for the wedding. I wish you + could have been here to be one of the bridesmaids. Nina + says that you will have it that the Pope is to marry her. + Instead of that it is going to be done by Lord George's + uncle, the Dean of Dorchester, who is coming for this + purpose. Then they are going up to a villa they have + taken on Como, where we shall join them some time before + the spring is over. After that they seem to have no + plans,--except plans of connubial bliss, which is never to + know any interruption. + + Now that I have come to connubial bliss, and feel so + satisfied as to Nina's prospects, I have a word or two + to say about the bliss of somebody else. Nina is my own + child, and of course comes first. But one Jonathan Stubbs + is my nephew, and is also very near to my heart. From all + that I hear, I fancy that he has set his mind also on + connubial bliss. Have you not heard that it is so? + + A bird has whispered to me that you have not been kind + to him. Why should it be so? Nobody knows better than I + do that a young lady is entitled to the custody of her + own heart, and that she should not be compelled, or even + persuaded, to give her hand in opposition to her own + feelings. If your feelings and your heart are altogether + opposed to the poor fellow, of course there must be an end + of it. But I had thought that from the time you first met + him he had been a favourite of yours;--so much so that + there was a moment in which I feared that you might think + too much of the attentions of a man who has ever been a + favourite with all who have known him. But I have found + that in this I was altogether mistaken. When he came that + evening to see the last of you at the theatre, taking, as + I knew he did, considerable trouble to release himself + from other engagements, I was pretty sure how it was going + to be. He is not a man to be in love with a girl for a + month and then to be in love with another the next month. + When once he allowed himself to think that he was in + love, the thing was done and fixed either for his great + delight,--or else to his great trouble. + + I knew how it was to be, and so it has been. Am I not + right in saying that on two occasions, at considerable + intervals, he has come to you and made distinct offers of + his hand? I fear, though I do not actually know it, that + you have just as distinctly rejected those offers. I do + not know it, because none but you and he can know the + exact words with which you received from him the tender + of all that he had to give you. I can easily believe that + he, with all his intelligence, might be deceived by the + feminine reserve and coyness of such a girl as you. If it + be so, I do pray that no folly may be allowed to interfere + with his happiness and with yours. + + I call it folly, not because I am adverse to feminine + reserve, not because I am prone to quarrel even with what + I call coyness; but because I know his nature so well, and + feel that he would not bear rebuffs of which many another + man would think nothing; that he would not bring himself + to ask again, perhaps even for a seventh time, as they + might do. And, if it be that by some frequent asking his + happiness and yours could be insured, would it not be + folly that such happiness should be marred by childish + disinclination on your part to tell the truth? + + As I said before, if your heart be set against him, there + must be an end of it. I can understand that a girl so + young as you should fail to see the great merit of such a + man. I therefore write as I do, thinking it possible that + in this respect you may be willing to accept from my mouth + something as to the man which shall be regarded as truth. + It is on the inner man, on his nature and disposition, + that the happiness of a wife must depend. A more noble + nature, a more truthful spirit than his, I have never + met. He is one on whom in every phase of life you may + depend,--or I may depend,--as on a rock. He is one without + vacillation, always steady to his purpose, requiring from + himself in the way of duty and conduct infinitely more + than he demands from those around him. If ever there was + a man altogether manly, he is one. And yet no woman, no + angel, ever held a heart more tender within his bosom. See + him with children! Think of his words when he has spoken + to yourself! Remember the estimation in which those + friends hold him who know him best,--such as I and your + friend, Lady Albury, and Sir Harry, and his cousin Nina. + I could name many others, but these are those with whom + you have seen him most frequently. If you can love such a + man, do you not think that he would make you happy? And + if you cannot, must there not be something wrong in your + heart,--unless indeed it be already predisposed to some + one else? Think of all this, dear Ayala, and remember that + I am always + + Your affectionate friend, + + JULIA BALDONI. + + +Ayala's first feeling as she read the letter was a conviction that +her friend had altogether wasted her labour in writing it. Of what +use was it to tell her of the man's virtues,--to tell her that the +man's heart was as tender as an angel's, his truth as assured as a +god's, his courage that of a hero,--that he was possessed of all +those attributes which should by right belong to an Angel of Light? +She knew all that without requiring the evidence of a lady from +Rome,--having no need of any evidence on that matter from any other +human being. Of what use could any evidence be on such a subject from +the most truthful lips that ever spoke! Had she not found it all out +herself would any words from others have prevailed with her? But she +had found it out herself. It was already her gospel. That he was +tender and true, manly, heroic,--as brightly angelic as could be +any Angel of Light,--was already an absolute fact to her. No!--her +heart had never been predisposed to any one else. It was of him she +had always dreamed even long before she had seen him. He was the +man, perfect in all good things, who was to come and take her with +him;--if ever man should come and take her. She wanted no Marchesa +Baldoni now to tell her that the angel had in truth come and realised +himself before her in all his glory. + +But she had shown herself to be utterly unfit for the angel. Though +she recognised him now, she had not recognised him in time:--and even +when she had recognised him she had been driven by her madness to +reject him. Feminine reserve and coyness! Folly! Yes, indeed; she +knew all that, too, without need of telling from her elders. The kind +of coyness which she had displayed had been the very infatuation of +feminine imbecility. It was because nature had made her utterly unfit +for such a destiny that she had been driven by coyness and feminine +reserve to destroy herself! It was thus that Ayala conversed with +herself. + +"I know his nature so well, and feel that he would not bear rebuffs +of which many another man would think nothing." Thus, she did not +doubt, the Marchesa had spoken very truly. But of what value was +all that now? She could not recall the rebuff. She could not now +eradicate the cowardice which had made her repeat those wicked fatal +words,--"I cannot." "I cannot." "I cannot." The letter had come too +late, for there was nothing she could do to amend her doom. She must +send some answer to her friend in Italy, but there could be nothing +in her answer to her to assist her. The feminine reserve and coyness +had become odious to her,--as it had been displayed by herself to +him. But it still remained in full force as to any assistance from +others. She could not tell another to send him back to her. She could +not implore help in her trouble. If he would come himself,--himself +of his own accord,--himself impelled once more by his great +tenderness of heart,--himself once more from his real, real love; +then there should be no more coyness. "If you will still have me,--oh +yes!" + +But there was the letter to be written. She so wrote it that by far +the greater part of it,--the larger part at least,--had reference to +Nina and her wedding. "I will think of her on the 8th of April," she +said. "I shall then be at home at Kingsbury Crescent, and I shall +have nothing else to think of." In that was her first allusion to +her own condition with her lover. But on the last side of the sheet +it was necessary that she should say more than that. Something must +be said thoughtfully, carefully, and gratefully in reply to so much +thought, and care, and friendship, as had been shown to her. But it +must be so written that nothing of her secret should be read in it. +The task was so troublesome that she was compelled to recopy the +whole of her long letter, because the sentences as first written did +not please her. "I am so much obliged to you," she said, "by your +kindness about Colonel Stubbs. He did do me the honour of asking me +to be his wife. And I felt it so. You are not to suppose that I did +not understand that. It is all over now, and I cannot explain to +you why I felt that it would not do. It is all over, and therefore +writing about it is no good. Only I want you to be sure of two +things,--that there is no one else, and that I do love you so +much for all your kindness. And you may be sure of a third thing, +too,--that it is all over. I do hope that he will still let me be his +friend. As a friend I have always liked him so much." It was brave +and bold, she thought, in answer to such words as the Marchesa's; but +she did not know how to do it any better. + +On Tuesday, the 25th of March, she was to return to Kingsbury +Crescent. Various little words were said at Stalham indicating an +intended break in the arrangement. "The Captain certainly won't come +now," said Lady Albury, alluding to the arrangement as though it had +been made solely with the view of saving Ayala from an encounter with +her objectionable lover. "Croppy has come back," said Sir Harry one +day;--Croppy being the pony which Ayala had ridden. "Miss Dormer can +have him now for what little there is left of the hunting." This was +said on the Saturday before she was to go. How could she ride Croppy +for the rest of the hunting when she would be at Kingsbury Crescent? +On neither of these occasions did she say a word, but she assumed +that little look of contradiction which her friends at Stalham +already knew how to read. Then, on the Sunday morning, there came +a letter for Lady Albury. "What does he say?" asked Sir Harry, at +breakfast. "I'll show it you before you go to church," answered his +wife. Then Ayala knew that the letter was from Colonel Stubbs. + +But she did not expect that the letter should be shown her,--which, +however, came to be the case. When she was in the library, waiting +to start to church, Lady Albury came in and threw the letter to her +across the table. "That concerns you," she said, "you had better read +it." There was another lady in the room, also waiting to start on +their walk across the park, and therefore it was natural that nothing +else should be said at the moment. Ayala read the letter, returned +it to the envelope, and then handed it back to Lady Albury,--so that +there was no word spoken about it before church. The letter, which +was very short, was as follows;-- + +"I shall be at Stalham by the afternoon train on Sunday, 30th,--in +time for dinner, if you will send the dog-cart. I could not leave +this most exigeant of all places this week. I suppose Albury will +go on in the woodlands for a week or ten days in April, and I must +put up with that. I hear that Batsby is altogether fixed by the +fascinations of Merle Park. I hope that you and Albury will receive +consolation in the money." Then there was a postscript. "If Croppy +can be got back again, Miss Dormer might see me tumble into another +river." + +It was evident that Lady Albury did not expect anything to be said +at present. She put the letter into her pocket, and there, for the +moment, was the end of it. It may be feared that Ayala's attention +was not fixed that morning so closely as it should have been on the +services of the Church. There was so much in that little letter which +insisted upon having all her attention! Had there been no postscript, +the letter would have been very different. In that case the body +of the letter itself would have intended to have no reference to +her,--or rather it would have had a reference altogether opposite to +that which the postscript gave it. In that case it would have been +manifest to her that he had intentionally postponed his coming till +she had left Stalham. Then his suggestion about the hunting would +have had no interest for her. Everything would have been over. She +would have been at Kingsbury Crescent, and he would have been at +Stalham. But the postscript declared his intention of finding her +still in the old quarters. She would not be there,--as she declared +to herself. After this there would be but one other day, and then she +would be gone. But even this allusion to her and to the pony made the +letter something to her of intense interest. Had it not been so Lady +Albury would not have shown it to her. As it was, why had Lady Albury +shown it to her in that quiet, placid, friendly way,--as though it +were natural that any letter from Colonel Stubbs to Stalham should be +shown to her? + +At lunch Sir Harry began about the pony at once. "Miss Dormer," he +said, "the pony will hardly be fit to-morrow, and the distances +during the rest of the week are all too great for you; you had better +wait till Monday week, when Stubbs will be here to look after you." + +"But I am going home on Tuesday," said Ayala. + +"I've had the pony brought on purpose for you," said Sir Harry. + +"You are not going at all," said Lady Albury. "All that has to be +altered. I'll write to Mrs. Dosett." + +"I don't think--" began Ayala. + +"I shall take it very much amiss," said Sir Harry, "if you go now. +Stubbs is coming on purpose." + +"I don't think--" began Ayala again. + +"My dear Ayala, it isn't a case for thinking," said Lady Albury. "You +most positively will not leave this house till some day in April, +which will have to be settled hereafter. Do not let us have a word +more about it." Then, on that immediate occasion, no further word +about it was spoken. Ayala was quite unable to speak as she sat +attempting to eat her lunch. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +HOW LUCY'S AFFAIRS ARRANGED THEMSELVES. + + +We must go again to Merle Park, where the Tringle family was still +living,--and from which Gertrude had not as yet been violently +abducted at the period to which the reader has been brought in the +relation which has been given of the affairs at Stalham. Jonathan +Stubbs's little note to Lady Albury was received on Sunday, 23rd +March, and Gertrude was not abducted till the 29th. On Sunday, the +30th, she was brought back,--not in great triumph. At that time the +house was considerably perturbed. Sir Thomas was very angry with +his daughter Augusta, having been led to believe that she had been +privy to Gertrude's escapade,--so angry that very violent words had +been spoken as to her expulsion from the house. Tom also was ill, +absolutely ill in bed, with a doctor to see him,--and all from love, +declaring that he would throw himself over the ship's side and drown +himself while there was yet a chance left to him for Ayala. And in +the midst of this Lady Tringle herself was by no means exempt from +the paternal wrath. She was told that she must have known what was +going on between her daughter and that idiot Captain,--that she +encouraged the Trafficks to remain,--that she coddled up her son +till he was sick from sheer lackadaisical idleness. The only one +in the house who seemed to be exempt from the wrath of Sir Thomas +was Lucy,--and therefore it was upon Lucy's head that fell the +concentrated energy of Aunt Emmeline's revenge. When Captain Batsby +was spoken of with contumely in the light of a husband,--this being +always done by Sir Thomas,--Lady Tringle would make her rejoinder to +this, when Sir Thomas had turned his back, by saying that a captain +in Her Majesty's army, with good blood in his veins and a competent +fortune, was at any rate better than a poor artist, who had, so to +say, no blood, and was unable to earn his bread; and when Tom was +ridiculed for his love for Ayala she would go on to explain,--always +after Sir Thomas's back had been turned,--that poor Tom had been +encouraged by his father, whereas Lucy had taken upon herself to +engage herself in opposition to her pastors and masters. And then +came the climax. It was all very well to say that Augusta was +intruding,--but there were people who intruded much worse than +Augusta, without half so much right. When this was said the poor +sore-hearted woman felt her own cruelty, and endeavoured to withdraw +the harsh words; but the wound had been given, and the venom rankled +so bitterly that Lucy could no longer bear her existence among the +Tringles. "I ought not to remain after that," she wrote to her lover. +"Though I went into the poor-house I ought not to remain." + +"I wrote to Mr. Hamel," she said to her aunt, "and told him that as +you did not like my being here I had better,--better go away." + +"But where are you to go? And I didn't say that I didn't like you +being here. You oughtn't to take me up in that way." + +"I do feel that I am in the way, aunt, and I think that I had better +go." + +"But where are you to go? I declare that everybody says everything to +break my heart. Of course you are to remain here till he has got a +house to keep you in." But the letter had gone and a reply had come +telling Lucy that whatever might be the poor-house to which she would +be destined he would be there to share it with her. + +Hamel wrote this with high heart. He had already resolved, previous +to this, that he would at once prepare a home for his coming bride, +though he was sore distressed by the emergency of his position. His +father had become more and more bitter with him as he learned that +his son would in no respect be guided by him. There was a sum of +money which he now declared to be due to him, and which Isadore +acknowledged to have been lent to him. Of this the father demanded +repayment. "If," said he, "you acknowledge anything of the obedience +of a son, that money is at your disposal,--and any other that you may +want. But, if you determine to be as free from my control and as deaf +to my advice as might be any other young man, then you must be to me +as might be any other young man." He had written to his father saying +that the money should be repaid as soon as possible. The misfortune +had come to him at a trying time. It was, however, before he had +received Lucy's last account of her own misery at Merle Park, so that +when that was received he was in part prepared. + +Our Colonel, in writing to Lady Albury, had declared Aldershot to be +a most exigeant place,--by which he had intended to imply that his +professional cares were too heavy to allow his frequent absence; but +nevertheless he would contrive occasionally to fly up to London for +a little relief. Once when doing so he had found himself sitting +in the sculptor's studio, and there listening to Hamel's account +of Lucy's troubles at Merle Park. Hamel said nothing as to his own +difficulties, but was very eager in explaining the necessity of +removing Lucy from the tyranny to which she was subjected. It will +perhaps be remembered that Hamel down in Scotland had declared to his +friend his purpose of asking Lucy Dormer to be his wife, and also +the success of his enterprise after he had gone across the lake to +Glenbogie. It will be borne in mind also that should the Colonel +succeed in winning Ayala to his way of thinking the two men would +become the husbands of the two sisters. Each fully sympathised with +the other, and in this way they had become sincere and intimate +friends. + +"Is she like her sister?" asked the Colonel, who was not as yet +acquainted with Lucy. + +"Hardly like her, although in truth there is a family likeness. Lucy +is taller, with perhaps more regular features, and certainly more +quiet in her manner." + +"Ayala can be very quiet too," said the lover. + +"Oh, yes,--because she varies in her moods. I remember her almost as +a child, when she would remain perfectly still for a quarter of an +hour, and then would be up and about the house everywhere, glancing +about like a ray of the sun reflected from a mirror as you move it in +your hand." + +"She has grown steadier since that," said the Colonel. + +"I cannot imagine her to be steady,--not as Lucy is steady. Lucy, if +it be necessary, can sit and fill herself with her own thoughts for +the hour together." + +"Which of them was most like their father?" + +"They were both of them like him in their thorough love for things +beautiful;--but they are both of them unlike him in this, that he +was self-indulgent, while they, like women in general, are always +devoting themselves to others." She will not devote herself to me, +thought Jonathan Stubbs to himself, but that may be because, like her +father, she loves things beautiful. "My poor Lucy," continued Hamel, +"would fain devote herself to those around her if they would only +permit it." + +"She would probably prefer devoting herself to you," said the +Colonel. + +"No doubt she would,--if it were expedient. If I may presume that she +loves me, I may presume also that she would wish to live with me." + +"Is it not expedient?" asked the other. + +"It will be so, I trust, before long." + +"But it seems to be so necessary just at present." To this the +sculptor at the moment made no reply. "If," continued Stubbs, "they +treat her among them as you say, she ought at any rate to be relieved +from her misery." + +"She ought to be relieved certainly. She shall be relieved." + +"But you say that it is not expedient." + +"I only meant that there were difficulties;--difficulties which will +have to be got over. I think that all difficulties are got over when +a man looks at them steadily." + +"This, I suppose, is an affair of money." + +"Well, yes. All difficulties seem to me to be an affair of money. +A man, of course, would wish to earn enough before he marries to +make his wife comfortable. I would struggle on as I am, and not be +impatient, were it not that I fear she is more uncomfortable as she +is now than she would be here in the midst of my poverty." + +"After all, Hamel, what is the extent of the poverty? What are the +real circumstances? As you have gone so far you might as well tell +me everything." Then after considerable pressure the sculptor did +tell him everything. There was an income of less than three hundred +a year,--which would probably become about four within the next +twelvemonth. There were no funds prepared with which to buy the +necessary furniture for the incoming of a wife, and there was that +debt demanded by his father. + +"Must that be paid?" asked the Colonel. + +"I would starve rather than not pay it," said Hamel, "if I alone were +to be considered. It would certainly be paid within the next six +months if I were alone, even though I should starve." + +Then his friend told him that the debt should be paid at once. It +amounted to but little more than a hundred pounds. And then, of +course, the conversation was carried further. When a friend inquires +as to the pecuniary distresses of a friend he feels himself as a +matter of course bound to relieve him. He would supply also the means +necessary for the incoming of the young wife. With much energy, and +for a long time, Hamel refused to accept the assistance offered +to him; but the Colonel insisted in the first place on what he +considered to be due from himself to Ayala's sister, and then on +the fact that he doubted not in the least the ultimate success +which would attend the professional industry of his friend. And so +before the day was over it was settled among them. The money was +to be forthcoming at once, so that the debt might be paid and the +preparations made, and Hamel was to write to Lucy and declare that he +should be ready to receive her as soon as arrangements should be made +for their immediate marriage. Then came the further outrage,--that +cruel speech as to intruders, and Lucy wrote to her lover, owning +that it would be well for her that she should be relieved. + +The news was, of course, declared to the family at Merle Park. "I +never knew anything so hard," said Aunt Emmeline. "Of course you have +told him that it was all my fault." When Lucy made no answer to this, +she went on with her complaint. "I know that you have told him that I +have turned you out,--which is not true." + +"I told him it was better I should go, as you did not like my being +here." + +"I suppose Lucy was in a little hurry to have the marriage come off," +said Augusta,--who would surely have spared her cousin if at the +moment she had remembered the haste which had been displayed by her +sister. + +"I thought it best," said Lucy. + +"I'm sure I don't know how it is to be done," said Aunt Emmeline. +"You must tell your uncle yourself. I don't know how you are to be +married from here, seeing the trouble we are in." + +"We shall be up in London before that," said Gertrude. + +"Or from Queen's Gate either," continued Aunt Emmeline. + +"I don't suppose that will much signify. I shall just go to the +church." + +"Like a servant-maid?" asked Gertrude. + +"Yes;--like a servant-maid," said Lucy. "That is to say, a +servant-maid would, I suppose, simply walk in and be married; and I +shall do the same." + +"I think you had better tell your uncle," said Aunt Emmeline. "But I +am sure I did not mean that you were to go away like this. It will be +your own doing, and I cannot help it if you will do it." + +Then Lucy did tell her uncle. "And you mean to live upon three +hundred a year!" exclaimed Sir Thomas. "You don't know what you are +talking about." + +"I think Mr. Hamel knows." + +"He is as ignorant as a babe unborn;--I mean about that kind of +thing. I don't doubt he can make things in stone as well as anybody." + +"In marble, Uncle Tom." + +"Marble is stone, I suppose;--or in iron." + +"Bronze, Uncle Tom." + +"Very well. There is iron in bronze, I suppose. But he doesn't know +what a wife will cost. Has he bought any furniture?" + +"He is going to buy it,--just a little;--what will do?" + +"Why should you want to bring him into this?" Lucy looked wistfully +up into his face. He himself had been personally kind to her, and she +found it to be impossible to complain to him of her aunt. "You are +not happy here?" + +"My aunt and cousins think that I am wrong; but I must be married to +him now, Uncle Tom." + +"Why did he kick up his heels when I wanted to help him?" +Nevertheless, he gave his orders on the subject very much in Lucy's +favour. She was to be married from Queen's Gate, and Gertrude must +be her bridesmaid. Ayala no doubt would be the other. When his wife +expostulated, he consented that the marriage should be very quiet, +but still he would have it as he had said. Then he bestowed a cheque +upon Lucy,--larger in amount than Stubbs's loan,--saying that after +what had passed in Lombard Street he would not venture to send money +to so independent a person as Mr. Isadore Hamel; but adding that +Lucy, perhaps, would condescend to accept it. There was a smile in +his eye as he said the otherwise ill-natured word, so that Lucy, +without any wound to her feelings, could kiss him and accept his +bounty. + +"I suppose I am to have nothing to do in settling the day," said Aunt +Emmeline. It was, however, settled between them that the marriage +should take place on a certain day in May. Upon this Lucy was of +course overjoyed, and wrote to her lover in a full flow of spirits. +And she sent him the cheque, having written her name with great pride +on the back of it. There was a little trouble about this as a part of +it had to come back as her trousseau, but still the arrangement was +pleasantly made. Then Sir Thomas again became more kind to her, in +his rough manner,--even when his troubles were at the worst after +the return of Gertrude. "If it will not be altogether oppressive to +his pride you may tell him that I shall make you an allowance of a +hundred a year as my niece,--just for your personal expenses." + +"I don't know that he is so proud, Uncle Tom." + +"He seemed so to me. But if you say nothing to him about it, and just +buy a few gowns now and again, he will perhaps be so wrapt up in the +higher affairs of his art as not to take any notice." + +"I am sure he will notice what I wear," said Lucy. However she +communicated her uncle's intentions to her lover, and he sent back +his grateful thanks to Sir Thomas. As one effect of all this the +Colonel's money was sent back to him, with an assurance that as +things were now settling themselves such pecuniary assistance was not +needed. But this was not done till Ayala had heard what the Angel of +Light had done on her sister's behalf. But as to Ayala's feelings +in that respect we must be silent here, as otherwise we should make +premature allusion to the condition in which Ayala found herself +before she had at last managed to escape from Stalham Park. + +"Papa," said Gertrude, to her father one evening, "don't you think +you could do something for me too now?" Just at this time Sir Thomas, +greatly to his own annoyance, was coming down to Merle Park every +evening. According to their plans as at present arranged, they were +to stay in the country till after Easter, and then they were to go up +to town in time to despatch poor Tom upon his long journey round the +world. But poor Tom was now in bed, apparently ill, and there seemed +to be great doubt whether he could be made to go on the appointed +day in spite of the taking of his berth and the preparation of his +outfit. Tom, if well enough, was to sail on the nineteenth of April, +and there now wanted not above ten days to that time. "Don't you +think you could do something for me now?" asked Gertrude. Hitherto +Sir Thomas had extended no sign of pardon to his youngest daughter, +and never failed to allude to her and to Captain Batsby as "those two +idiots" whenever their names were mentioned before him. + +"Yes, my dear; I will endeavour to do a good deal for you if you will +behave yourself." + +"What do you call behaving myself, papa?" + +"In the first place telling me that you are very sorry for your +misbehaviour with that idiot." + +"Of course I am sorry if I have offended you." + +"Well, that shall go for something. But how about the idiot?" + +"Papa!" she exclaimed. + +"Was he not an idiot? Would any one but an idiot have gone on such an +errand as that?" + +"Gentlemen and ladies have done it before, papa." + +"I doubt it," he said. "Gentlemen have run away with young ladies +before, and generally have behaved very badly when they have done so. +He behaved very badly indeed, because he had come to my house, with +my sanction, with the express purpose of expressing his affection +for another young lady. But I think that his folly in this special +running away was worse even than his conduct. How did he come +to think that he could get himself married merely by crossing +over the sea to Ostend? I should be utterly ashamed of him as a +son-in-law,--chiefly because he has shown himself to be an idiot." + +"But, papa, you will accept him, won't you?" + +"No, my dear, I will not." + +"Not though I love him?" + +"If I were to give you a choice which you would take, him or Mr. +Houston?" + +"Houston is a scoundrel." + +"Very likely; but then he is not an idiot. My choice would be +altogether in favour of Mr. Houston. Shall I tell you what I will do, +my dear? I will consent to accept Captain Batsby as my son-in-law if +he will consent to become your husband without having a shilling with +you." + +"Would that be kind, papa?" + +"I do not think that I can show you any greater kindness than to +protect you from a man who I am quite sure does not care a farthing +about you. He has, you tell me, an ample income of his own." + +"Oh yes, papa." + +"Then he can afford to marry you without a fortune. Poor Mr. Houston +could not have done so, because he had nothing of his own. I declare, +as I think of it all, I am becoming very tender-hearted towards Mr. +Houston. Don't you think we had better have Mr. Houston back again? +I suppose he would come if you were to send for him." Then she burst +into tears and went away and hid herself. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +TOM'S LAST ATTEMPT. + + +While Gertrude was still away on her ill-omened voyage in quest of a +parson, Lady Tringle was stirred up to a great enterprise on behalf +of her unhappy son. There wanted now little more than a fortnight +before the starting of the ship which his father still declared +should carry him out across the world, and he had progressed so far +in contemplating the matter as to own to himself that it would be +best for him to obey his father if there was no hope. But his mind +was still swayed by a theory of love and constancy. He had heard of +men who had succeeded after a dozen times of asking. If Stubbs, the +hated but generous Stubbs, were in truth a successful rival, then +indeed the thing would be over;--then he would go, the sooner the +better; and, as he told his mother half-a-dozen times a day, it would +matter nothing to him whether he were sent to Japan, or the Rocky +Mountains, or the North Pole. In such case he would be quite content +to go, if only for the sake of going. But how was he to be sure? He +was, indeed, nearly sure in the other direction. If Ayala were in +truth engaged to Colonel Stubbs it would certainly be known through +Lucy. Then he had heard, through Lucy, that, though Ayala was staying +at Stalham, the Colonel was not there. He had gone, and Ayala had +remained week after week without him. Then, towards the end of March, +he wrote a letter to his Uncle Reginald, which was very piteous in +its tone;-- + +"DEAR UNCLE REGINALD," the letter said, + + + I don't know whether you have heard of it, but I have + been very ill--and unhappy. I am now in bed, and nobody + here knows that I am sending this letter to you. It is + all about Ayala, and I am not such a fool as to suppose + that you can do anything for me. If you could I think + you would,--but of course you can't. She must choose for + herself,--only I do so wish that she should choose me. + Nobody would ever be more kind to her. But you can tell + me really how it is. Is she engaged to marry Colonel + Stubbs? I know that she refused him, because he told me + so himself. If she is not engaged to him I think that + I would have another shy at it. You know what the poet + says,--"Faint heart never won fair lady." Do tell me if + she is or is not engaged. I know that she is with those + Alburys, and that Colonel Stubbs is their friend. But + they can't make her marry Colonel Stubbs any more than my + friends can make her marry me. I wish they could. I mean + my friends, not his. + + If she were really engaged I would go away and hide myself + in the furthermost corner of the world. Siberia or Central + Africa would be the same to me. They would have little + trouble in getting rid of me if I knew that it was all + over with me. BUT I WILL NEVER STIR FROM THESE REALMS TILL + I KNOW MY FATE!--Therefore, waiting your reply, I am your + affectionate nephew, + + THOMAS TRINGLE, junior. + + +Mr. Dosett, when he received this letter, consulted his wife before +he replied to it, and then did so very shortly;-- + + + MY DEAR TOM, + + As far as I know, or her aunt, your cousin Ayala is not + engaged to marry any one. But I should deceive you if I + did not add my belief that she is resolved not to accept + the offer you have done her the honour to make her. + + Your affectionate uncle, + + REGINALD DOSETT. + + +The latter portion of this paragraph had no influence whatsoever +on Tom. Did he not know all that before? Had he ever attempted to +conceal from his relations the fact that Ayala had refused him again +and again? Was not that as notorious to the world at large as a +minister's promise that the income-tax should be abolished? But the +income-tax was not abolished,--and, as yet, Ayala was not married to +any one else. Ayala was not even engaged to any other suitor. Why +should she not change her mind as well as the minister? Certainly he +would not go either to the North Pole or to New York as long as there +should be a hope of bliss for him in England. Then he called his +mother to his bedside. + +"Go to Stalham, my dear!" said his mother. + +"Why not? They can't eat you. Lady Albury is no more than a Baronet's +wife,--just the same as you." + +"It isn't about eating me, Tom. I shouldn't know what to say to +them." + +"You need not tell them anything. Say that you had come to call upon +your niece." + +"But it would be such an odd thing to do. I never do call on +Ayala,--even when I am in London." + +"What does it matter being odd? You could learn the truth at any +rate. If she does not care for any one else why shouldn't she have +me? I could make her a baronet's wife,--that is, some day when the +governor--" + +"Don't, Tom;--don't talk in that way." + +"I only mean in the course of nature. Sons do come after their +fathers, you know. And as for money, I suppose the governor is quite +as rich as those Alburys." + +"I don't think that would matter." + +"It does count, mother. I suppose Ayala is the same as other girls in +that respect. I am sure I don't know why it is that she should have +taken such an aversion to me. I suppose it is that she doesn't think +me so much,--quite such a swell as some other men." + +"One can't account for such things, Tom." + +"No;--that is just it. And therefore she might come round without +accounting for it. At any rate, you might try. You might tell her +that it is ruining me;--that I shall have to go about wandering over +all the world because she is so hard-hearted." + +"I don't think I could, my dear," said Lady Tringle, after +considering the matter for a while. + +"Why not? Is it because of the trouble?" + +"No, my dear; a mother does not think what trouble she may take for +her child, if any good may be done. It is not the trouble. I would +walk all round England to get her for you if that would do it." + +"Why not, then? At any rate you might get an answer from her. She +would tell you something of her intention. Mother, I shall never +go away till I know more about it than I do now. The governor says +that he will turn me out. Let him turn me out. That won't make me go +away." + +"Oh, Tom, he doesn't mean it." + +"But he says it. If I knew that it was all over,--that every chance +was gone, then I would go away." + +"It is not the Alburys that I am afraid of," said Lady Tringle. + +"What then?" + +"It is your father. I cannot go if he will not let me." Nevertheless +she promised before she left his bedside that she would ask Sir +Thomas when he came home whether he would permit her to make the +journey. All this occurred while Sir Thomas was away in quest of his +daughter. And it may be imagined that immediately after his return he +was hardly in a humour to yield to any such request as that which had +been suggested. He was for the moment almost sick of his children, +sick of Merle Park, sick of his wife, and inclined to think that +the only comfort to be found in the world was to be had among his +millions, in that little back parlour in Lombard Street. + +It was on a Sunday that he returned, and on that day he did not see +his son. On the Monday morning he went into the room, and Tom was +about to press upon him the prayer which he had addressed to his +mother when his lips were closed by his father's harshness. "Tom," +he said, "you will be pleased to remember that you start on the +nineteenth." + +"But, father--" + +"You start on the nineteenth," said Sir Thomas. Then he left the +room, closing the door behind him with none of the tenderness +generally accorded to an invalid. + +"You have not asked him?" Tom said to his mother shortly afterwards. + +"Not yet, my dear. His mind is so disturbed by this unfortunate +affair." + +"And is not my mind disturbed? You may tell him that I will not go, +though he should turn me out a dozen times, unless I know more about +it than I do now." + +Sir Thomas came home again that evening, very sour in temper, and +nothing could be said to him. He was angry with everybody, and Lady +Tringle hardly dared to go near him, either then or on the following +morning. On the Tuesday evening, however, he returned somewhat +softened in his demeanour. The millions had perhaps gone right, +though his children would go so wrong. When he spoke either to his +younger daughter or of her he did so in that jeering tone which he +afterwards always assumed when allusion was made to Captain Batsby, +and which, disagreeable as it was, seemed to imply something of +forgiveness. And he ate his dinner, and drank his glass of wine, +without making any allusion to the parsimonious habits of his +son-in-law, Mr. Traffick. Lady Tringle, therefore, considered that +she might approach him with Tom's request. + +"You go to Stalham!" he exclaimed. + +"Well, my dear, I suppose I could see her?" + +"And what could you learn from her?" + +"I don't suppose I could learn much. She was always a pig-headed, +stiff-necked creature. I am sure it wouldn't be any pleasure to me to +see her." + +"What good would it do?" demanded Sir Thomas. + +"Well, my dear; he says that he won't go unless he can get a message +from her. I am sure I don't want to go to Stalham. Nothing on earth +could be so disagreeable. But perhaps I could bring back a word or +two which would make him go upon his journey." + +"What sort of word?" + +"Why;--if I were to say that she were engaged to this Colonel Stubbs, +then he would go. He says that he would start at once if he knew that +his cousin were really engaged to somebody else." + +"But if she be not?" + +"Perhaps I could just colour it a little. It would be such a grand +thing to get him away, and he in this miserable condition! If he were +once on his travels, I do think he would soon begin to forget it +all." + +"Of course he would," said Sir Thomas. + +"Then I might as well try. He has set his heart upon it, and if he +thinks that I have done his bidding then he will obey you. As for +turning him out, Tom, of course you do not really mean that!" + +In answer to this Sir Thomas said nothing. He knew well enough that +Tom couldn't be turned out. That turning out of a son is a difficult +task to accomplish, and one altogether beyond the power of Sir +Thomas. The chief cause of his sorrow lay in the fact that he, as the +head of Travers and Treason, was debarred from the assistance and +companionship of his son. All Travers and Treason was nothing to him, +because his son would run so far away from the right path. There was +nothing he would not do to bring him back. If Ayala could have been +bought by any reasonable, or even unreasonable, amount of thousands, +he would have bought her willingly for his boy's delight. It was a +thing wonderful to him that Tom should have been upset so absolutely +by his love. He did appreciate the feeling so far that he was willing +to condone all those follies already committed if Tom would only put +himself in the way of recovery. That massacreing of the policeman, +those ill-spent nights at the Mountaineers and at Bolivia's, that +foolish challenge, and the almost more foolish blow under the portico +at the Haymarket, should all be forgiven if Tom would only consent +to go through some slight purgation which would again fit him for +Travers and Treason. And the purgation should be made as pleasant as +possible. He should travel about the world with his pocket full of +money and with every arrangement for luxurious comfort. Only he must +go. There was no other way in which he could be so purged as to be +again fit for Travers and Treason. He did not at all believe that +Ayala could now be purchased. Whether pig-headed or not, Ayala was +certainly self-willed. No good such as Tom expected would come from +this projected visit to Stalham. But if he would allow it to be made +in obedience to Tom's request,--then perhaps some tidings might be +brought back which, whether strictly true or not, might induce Tom to +allow himself to be put on board the ship. Arguing thus with himself, +Sir Thomas at last gave his consent. + +It was a most disagreeable task which the mother thus undertook. +She could not go from Merle Park to Stalham and back in one day. It +was necessary that she should sleep two nights in London. It was +arranged, therefore, that she should go up to London on the Thursday; +then make her journey down to Stalham and back on the Friday, and +get home on the Saturday. There would then still remain nearly a +fortnight before Tom would have to leave Merle Park. After much +consideration it was decided that a note should be written to Ayala +apprising her of her aunt's coming. "I hope Lady Albury will not be +surprised at my visit," said the note, "but I am so anxious to see +you, just for half-an-hour, upon a matter of great importance, that I +shall run my chance." She would prefer to have seen the girl without +any notice; but then, had no notice been given, the girl would +perhaps have been out of the way. As it was a telegram was received +back in reply. "I shall be at home. Lady Albury will be very glad to +see you at lunch. She says there shall be a room all ready if you +will sleep." + +"I certainly shall not stay there," Lady Tringle said to Mrs. +Traffick, "but it is as well to know that they will be civil to me." + +"They are stuck-up sort of people I believe," said Augusta; "just +like that Marchesa Baldoni, who is one of them. But, as to their +being civil, that is a matter of course. They would hardly be uncivil +to any one connected with Lord Boardotrade!" + +Then came the Thursday on which the journey was to be commenced. As +the moment came near Lady Tringle was very much afraid of the task +before her. She was afraid even of her niece Ayala, who had assumed +increased proportions in her eyes since she had persistently refused +not only Tom but also Colonel Stubbs and Captain Batsby, and then in +spite of her own connexion with Lord Boardotrade,--of whom since her +daughter's marriage she had learned to think less than she had done +before,--she did feel that the Alburys were fashionable people, and +that Ayala as their guest had achieved something for herself. Stalham +was, no doubt, superior in general estimation to Merle Park, and with +her there had been always a certain awe of Ayala, which she had not +felt in reference to Lucy. Ayala's demand that Augusta should go +upstairs and fetch the scrap-book had had its effect,--as had also +her success in going up St. Peter's and to the Marchesa's dance; and +then there would be Lady Albury herself,--and all the Alburys! Only +that Tom was very anxious, she would even now have abandoned the +undertaking. + +"Mother," said Tom, on the last morning, "you will do the best you +can for me." + +"Oh yes, my dear." + +"I do think that, if you would make her understand the real truth, +she might have me yet. She wouldn't like that a fellow should die." + +"I am afraid that she is hard-hearted, Tom." + +"I do not believe it, mother. I have seen her when she wouldn't kill +even a fly. If she could only be made to see all the good she could +do." + +"I am afraid she won't care for that unless she can bring herself +really to love you." + +"Why shouldn't she love me?" + +"Ah, my boy; how am I to tell you? Perhaps if you hadn't loved her so +well it might have been different. If you had scorned her--" + +"Scorn her! I couldn't scorn her. I have heard of that kind of thing +before, but how is one to help oneself? You can't scorn a friend +just because you choose to say so to yourself. When I see her she is +something so precious to me that I could not be rough to her to save +my life. When she first came it wasn't so. I could laugh at her then. +But now--! They talk about goddesses, but I am sure she is a goddess +to me." + +"If you had made no more than a woman of her it might have been +better, Tom." All that was too late now. The doctrine which Lady +Tringle was enunciating to her son, and which he repudiated, is one +that has been often preached and never practised. A man when he is +conscious of the presence of a mere woman, to whom he feels that no +worship is due, may for his own purpose be able to tell a lie to her, +and make her believe that he acknowledges a divinity in her presence. +But, when he feels the goddess, he cannot carry himself before her as +though she were a mere woman, and, as such, inferior to himself in +her attributes. Poor Tom had felt the touch of something divine, and +had fallen immediately prostrate before the shrine with his face to +the ground. His chance with Ayala could in no circumstances have been +great; but she was certainly not one to have yielded to a prostrate +worshipper. + +"Mother!" said Tom, recalling Lady Tringle as she was leaving the +room. + +"What is it, my dear? I must really go now or I shall be too late for +the train." + +"Mother, tell her, tell her,--tell her that I love her." His mother +ran back, kissed his brow, and then left the room. + +Lady Tringle spent that evening in Queen's Gate, where Sir Thomas +remained with her. The hours passed heavily, as they had not much +present to their mind with which to console each other. Sir Thomas +had no belief whatever in the journey except in so far as it might +help to induce his son to proceed upon his travels;--but his wife had +been so far softened by poor Tom's sorrows as to hope a little, in +spite of her judgment, that Ayala might yet relent. Her heart was +soft towards her son, so that she felt that the girl would deserve +all manner of punishment unless she would at last yield to Tom's +wishes. She was all but sure that it could not be so, and yet, in +spite of her convictions, she hoped. + +On the next morning the train took her safely to the Stalham Road +Station, and as she approached the end of her journey her heart +became heavier within her. She felt that she could not but fail to +give any excuse to the Alburys for such a journey,--unless, indeed, +Ayala should do as she would have her. At the station she found the +Albury carriage, with the Albury coachman, and the Albury footman, +and the Albury liveries, waiting for her. It was a closed carriage, +and for a moment she thought that Ayala might be there. In that case +she could have performed her commission in the carriage, and then +have returned to London without going to the house at all. But Ayala +was not there. Lady Tringle was driven up to the house, and then +taken through the hall into a small sitting-room, where for a moment +she was alone. Then the door opened, and Ayala, radiant with beauty, +in all the prettiness of her best morning costume, was in a moment +in her arms. She seemed in her brightness to be different from that +Ayala who had been known before at Glenbogie and in Rome. "Dear +aunt," said Ayala, "I am so delighted to see you at Stalham!" + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +IN THE CASTLE THERE LIVED A KNIGHT. + + +Ayala was compelled to consent to remain at Stalham. The "I don't +think" which she repeated so often was, of course, of no avail to +her. Sir Harry would be angry, and Lady Albury would be disgusted, +were she to go,--and so she remained. There was to be a week before +Colonel Stubbs would come, and she was to remain not only for the +week but also for some short time afterwards,--so that there might +be yet a few days left of hunting under the Colonel. It could +not, surely, have been doubtful to her after she had read that +letter,--with the postscript,--that if she remained her happiness +would be insured! He would not have come again and insisted on +her being there to receive him if nothing were to come of it. And +yet she had fought for permission to return to Kingsbury Crescent +after her little fashion, and had at last yielded, as she told Lady +Albury,--because Sir Harry seemed to wish it. "Of course he wishes +it," said Lady Albury. "He has got the pony on purpose, and nobody +likes being disappointed when he has done a thing so much as Sir +Harry." Ayala, delighted as she was, did not make her secret known. +She was fluttered, and apparently uneasy,--so that her friend did +not know what to make of it, or which way to take it. Ayala's secret +was to herself a secret still to be maintained with holy reticence. +It might still be possible that Jonathan Stubbs should never say +another word to her of his love. If he did,--why then all the world +might know. Then there would be no secret. Then she could sit and +discuss her love, and his love, all night long with Lady Albury, +if Lady Albury would listen to her. In the meantime the secret +must be a secret. To confess her love, and then to have her love +disappointed,--that would be death to her! + +And thus it went on through the whole week, Lady Albury not quite +knowing what to make of it. Once she did say a word, thinking that +she would thus extract the truth, not as yet understanding how potent +Ayala could be to keep her secret. "That man has, at any rate, been +very true to you," she said. Ayala frowned, and shook her head, +and would not say a word upon the subject. "If she did not mean to +take him now, surely she would have gone," Lady Albury said to her +husband. + +"She is a pretty little girl enough," said Sir Harry, "but I doubt +whether she is worth all the trouble." + +"Of course she is not. What pretty little girl ever was? But as long +as he thinks her worth it the trouble has to be taken." + +"Of course she'll accept him?" + +"I am not at all so sure of it. She has been made to believe that you +wanted her to stay, and therefore she has stayed. She is quite master +enough of herself to ride out hunting with him again and then to +refuse him." And so Lady Albury doubted up to the Sunday, and all +through the Sunday,--up to the very moment when the last preparations +were to be made for the man's arrival. + +The train reached the Stalham Road Station at 7 P.M., and the +distance was five miles. On Sundays they usually dined at Stalham at +7.30. The hour fixed was to be 8 on this occasion,--and even with +this there would be some bustling. The house was now nearly empty, +there being no visitors there except Mr. and Mrs. Gosling and Ayala. +Lady Albury gave many thoughts to the manner of the man's reception, +and determined at last that Jonathan should have an opportunity of +saying a word to Ayala immediately on his arrival if he so pleased. +"Mind you are down at half-past seven," she said to Ayala, coming to +her in her bedroom. + +"I thought we should not dine till eight." + +"There is no knowing. Sir Harry is so fussy. I shall be down, and I +should like you to be with me." Then Ayala promised. "And mind you +have his frock on." + +"You'll make me wear it out before any one else sees it," she said, +laughing. But again she promised. She got a glimmer of light from it +all, nearly understanding what Lady Albury intended. But against such +intentions as these she had no reason to fight. Why should she not be +ready to see him? Why should she not have on her prettiest dress when +he came? If he meant to say the word,--then her prettiest dress would +all be too poor, and her readiest ears not quick enough to meet so +great a joy. If he were not to say the other word,--then should she +shun him by staying behind, or be afraid of the encounter? Should she +be less gaily attired because it would be unnecessary to please his +eye? + +Oh, no! "I'll be there at half-past seven," she said. "But I know the +train will be late, and Sir Harry won't get his dinner till nine." + +"Then, my dear, great as the Colonel is, he may come in and get what +is left for him in the middle. Sir Harry will not wait a minute after +eight." + +The buxom woman came and dressed her. The buxom woman probably knew +what was going to happen;--was perhaps more keenly alive to the truth +than Lady Albury herself. "We have taken great care of it, haven't +we, Miss?" she said, as she fastened the dress behind. "It's just as +new still." + +"New!" said Ayala. "It has got to be new with me for the next two +years." + +"I don't know much about that, Miss. Somebody will have to pay for +a good many more new dresses before two years are over, I take it." +To this Ayala made no answer, but she was quite sure that the buxom +woman intended to imply that Colonel Stubbs would have to pay for the +new dresses. + +Punctually at half-past seven she was in the drawing-room, and there +she remained alone for a few minutes. She endeavoured to sit down +and be quiet, but she found it impossible to compose herself. Almost +immediately he would be there, and then,--as she was quite sure,--her +fate would be known to her instantly. She knew that the first moment +of his presence in the room with her would tell her everything. +If that were told to her which she desired to hear, everything +should be re-told to him as quickly. But, if it were otherwise, +then she thought that when the moment came she would still have +strength enough to hide her sorrow. If he had come simply for the +hunting,--simply that they two might ride a-hunting together so that +he might show to her that all traces of his disappointment were +gone,--then she would know how to teach him to think that her heart +towards him was as it had ever been. The thing to be done would be so +sad as to call from her tears almost of blood in her solitude; but +it should be so done that no one should know that any sorrow such as +this had touched her bosom. Not even to Lucy should this secret be +told. + +There was a clock on the mantelpiece to which her eye was continually +turned. It now wanted twenty minutes to eight, and she was aware that +if the train was punctual he might now be at the hall-door. At this +moment Lady Albury entered the room. "Your knight has come at last," +she said; "I hear his wheels on the gravel." + +"He is no knight of mine," said Ayala, with that peculiar frown of +hers. + +"Whose ever knight he is, there he is. Knight or not, I must go and +welcome him." Then Lady Albury hurried out of the room and Ayala +was again alone. The door had been left partly open, so that she +could hear the sound of voices and steps across the inner hall or +billiard-room. There were the servants waiting upon him, and Sir +Harry bidding him to go up and dress at once so as not to keep +the whole house waiting, and Lady Albury declaring that there was +yet ample time as the dinner certainly would not be on the table +for half-an-hour. She heard it all, and heard him to whom all her +thoughts were now given laughing as he declared that he had never +been so cold in his life, and that he certainly would not dress +himself till he had warmed his fingers. She was far away from the +door, not having stirred from the spot on which she was standing +when Lady Albury left her; but she fancied that she heard the murmur +of some slight whisper, and she told herself that Lady Albury was +telling him where to seek her. Then she heard the sound of the man's +step across the billiard-room, she heard his hand upon the door, and +there he was in her presence! + +When she thought of it all afterwards, as she did so many scores of +times, she never could tell how it had occurred. When she accused him +in her playfulness, telling him that he had taken for granted that +of which he had had no sign, she never knew whether there had been +aught of truth in her accusation. But she did know that he had hardly +closed the door behind him when she was in his arms, and felt the +burning love of his kisses upon her cheeks. There had been no more +asking whether he was to have any other answer. Of that she was quite +sure. Had there been such further question she would have answered +him, and some remembrance of her own words would have remained with +her. She was quite sure that she had answered no question. Some +memory of mingled granting and denying, of repulses and assents all +quickly huddled upon one another, of attempts to escape while she was +so happy to remain, and then of a deluge of love terms which fell +upon her ears,--"his own one, his wife, his darling, his Ayala, at +last his own sweet Ayala,"--this was what remained to her of that +little interview. She had not spoken a word. She thought she was sure +of that. Her breath had left her,--so that she could not speak. And +yet it had been taken for granted,--though on former occasions he had +pleaded with slow piteous words! How had it been that he had come to +know the truth so suddenly? Then she became aware that Lady Albury +was speaking to Mrs. Gosling in the billiard-room outside, detaining +her other guest till the scene within should be over. At that moment +she did speak a word which she remembered afterwards. "Go;--go; you +must go now." Then there had been one other soft repulse, one other +sweet assent, and the man had gone. There was just a moment for her, +in which to tell herself that the Angel of Light had come for her, +and had taken her to himself. + +Mrs. Gosling, who was a pretty little woman, crept softly into the +room, hiding her suspicion if she had any. Lady Albury put out her +hand to Ayala behind the other woman's back, not raising it high, but +just so that her young friend might touch it if she pleased. Ayala +did touch it, sliding her little fingers into the offered grasp. "I +thought it would be so," whispered Lady Albury. "I thought it would +be so." + +"What the deuce are you all up to," said Sir Harry, bursting into +the room. "It's eight now, and that man has only just gone up to his +room." + +"He hasn't been in the house above five minutes yet," said Lady +Albury, "and I think he has been very quick." Ayala thought so too. + +During dinner and afterwards they were very full of hunting for the +next day. It was wonderful to Ayala that there should be thought for +such a trifle when there was such a thing as love in the world. While +there was so much to fill her heart, how could there be thoughts +of anything else? But Jonathan,--he was Jonathan to her now, her +Jonathan, her Angel of Light,--was very keen upon the subject. There +was but one week left. He thought that Croppy might manage three days +as there was to be but one week. Croppy would have leisure and rest +enough afterwards. "It's a little sharp," said Sir Harry. + +"Oh, pray don't," said Ayala. + +But Lady Albury and Jonathan together silenced Sir Harry, and Mrs. +Gosling proved the absurdity of the objection by telling the story of +a pony who had carried a lady three days running. "I should not have +liked to be either the pony, or the owner, or the lady," said Sir +Harry. But he was silenced. What did it matter though the heavens +fell, so that Ayala was pleased? What is too much to be done for a +girl who proves herself to be an angel by accepting the right man at +the right time? + +She had but one moment alone with her lover that night. "I always +loved you," she whispered to him as she fled away. The Colonel did +not quite understand the assertion, but he was contented with it as +he sat smoking his cigar with Sir Harry and Mr. Gosling. + +But, though she could have but one word that night with her lover, +there were many words between her and Lady Albury before they went to +bed. "And so, like wise people, you have settled it all between you +at last," said Lady Albury. + +"I don't know whether he is wise." + +"We will take that for granted. At any rate he has been very true." + +"Oh, yes." + +"And you,--you knew all about it." + +"No;--I knew nothing. I did not think he would ever ask again. I only +hoped." + +"But why on earth did you give him so much trouble?" + +"I can't tell you," said Ayala, shaking her head. + +"Do you mean that there is still a secret?" + +"No, not that. I would tell you anything that I could tell, because +you have been so very, very good to me. But I cannot tell. I cannot +explain even to myself. Oh, Lady Albury, why have you been so good to +me?" + +"Shall I say because I have loved you?" + +"Yes;--if it be true." + +"But it is not true." + +"Oh, Lady Albury!" + +"I do love you dearly. I shall always love you now. I do hope I shall +love you now, because you will be his wife. But I have not been kind +to you as you call it because I loved you." + +"Then why?" + +"Because I loved him. Cannot you understand that? Because I was +anxious that he should have all that he wanted. Was it not necessary +that there should be some house in which he might meet you? Could +there have been much of a pleasant time for wooing between you in +your aunt's drawing-room in Kingsbury Crescent?" + +"Oh, no," said Ayala. + +"Could he have taken you out hunting unless you had been here? How +could he and you have known each other at all unless I had been kind +to you? Now you will understand." + +"Yes," said Ayala, "I understand now. Did he ask you?" + +"Well,--he consulted me. We talked you all over, and made up our +minds, between us, that if we petted you down here that would be the +best way to win you. Were we not right?" + +"It was a very nice way. I do so like to be petted." + +"Sir Harry was in the secret, and he did his petting by buying the +frock. That was a success too, I think." + +"Did he care about that, Lady Albury?" + +"What he?" + +"Jonathan," said Ayala, almost stumbling over the word, as she +pronounced it aloud for the first time. + +"I think he liked it. But whether he would have persevered without it +you must ask yourself. If he tells you that he would never have said +another word to you only for this frock, then I think you ought to +thank Sir Harry, and give him a kiss." + +"I am sure he will not tell me that," said Ayala, with mock +indignation. + +"And now, my dear, as I have told you all my secret, and have +explained to you how we laid our heads together, and plotted against +you, I think you ought to tell me your secret. Why was it that you +refused him so pertinaciously on that Sunday when you were out +walking, and yet you knew your mind about it so clearly as soon as he +arrived to-day?" + +"I can't explain it," said Ayala. + +"You must know that you liked him." + +"I always liked him." + +"You must have more than liked on that Sunday." + +"I adored him." + +"Then I don't understand you." + +"Lady Albury, I think I fell in love with him the first moment I saw +him. The Marchesa took me to a party in London, and there he was." + +"Did he say anything to you then?" + +"No. He was very funny,--as he often is. Don't you know his way? +I remember every word he said to me. He came up without any +introduction and ordered me to dance with him." + +"And you did?" + +"Oh yes. Whatever he told me I should have done. Then he scolded me +because I did not stand up quick enough. And he invented some story +about a woman who was engaged to him and would not marry him because +he had red hair and his name was Jonathan. I knew it was all a joke, +and yet I hated the woman." + +"That must have been love at first sight." + +"I think it was. From that day to this I have always been thinking +about him." + +"And yet you refused him twice over?" + +"Yes." + +"At ever so long an interval?" Ayala bobbed her head at her +companion. "And why?" + +"Ah;--that I can't tell. I shall try to tell him some day, but I know +that I never shall. It was because--. But, Lady Albury, I cannot tell +it. Did you ever picture anything to yourself in a waking dream?" + +"Build castles in the air?" suggested Lady Albury. + +"That's just it." + +"Very often. But they never come true." + +"Never have come true,--exactly. I had a castle in the air, and in +the castle lived a knight." She was still ashamed to say that the +inhabitant of the castle was an Angel of Light. "I wanted to find out +whether he was the knight who lived there. He was." + +"And you were not quite sure till to-day?" + +"I have been sure a long time. But when we walked out on that Sunday +I was such an idiot that I did not know how to tell him. Oh, Lady +Albury, I was such a fool! What should I have done if he hadn't come +back?" + +"Sent for him." + +"Never;--never! I should have been miserable always! But now I am so +happy." + +"He is the real knight?" + +"Oh, yes; indeed. He is the real,--real knight, that has always been +living in my castle." + +Ayala's promotion was now so firmly fixed that the buxom female came +to assist her off with her clothes when Lady Albury had left her. +From this time forth it was supposed that such assistance would be +necessary. "I take it, Miss," said the buxom female, "there will be a +many new dresses before the end of this time two years." From which +Ayala was quite sure that everybody in the house knew all about it. + + + * * * * * * + + +But it was now, now when she was quite alone, that the great sense +of her happiness came to her. In the fulness of her dreams there +had never been more than the conviction that such a being, and none +other, could be worthy of her love. There had never been faith in the +hope that such a one would come to her,--never even though she would +tell herself that angels had come down from heaven and had sought in +marriage the hands of the daughters of men. Her dreams had been to +her a barrier against love rather than an encouragement. But now he +that she had in truth dreamed of had come for her. Then she brought +out the Marchesa's letter and read that description of her lover. +Yes; he was all that; true, brave, tender,--a very hero. But then +he was more than all that,--for he was in truth the very "Angel of +Light." + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +GOBBLEGOOSE WOOD AGAIN. + + +The Monday was devoted to hunting. I am not at all sure that riding +about the country with a pack of hounds is an amusement specially +compatible with that assured love entertainment which was now within +the reach of Ayala and her Angel. For the rudiments of love-making, +for little endearing attentions, for a few sweet words to be +whispered with shortened breath as one horse gallops beside another, +perhaps for a lengthened half-hour together, amidst the mazes of +a large wood when opportunities are no doubt given for private +conversation, hunting may be very well. But for two persons who are +engaged, with the mutual consent of all their friends, a comfortable +sofa is perhaps preferable. Ayala had heard as yet but very little +of her lover's intentions;--was acquainted only with that one single +intention which he had declared in asking her to be his wife. There +were a thousand things to be told,--the how, the where, and the when. +She knew hitherto the why, and that was all. Nothing could be told +her while she was galloping about a big wood on Croppy's back. "I +am delighted to see you again in these parts, Miss," said Larry +Twentyman, suddenly. + +"Oh, Mr. Twentyman; how is the baby?" + +"The baby is quite well, Miss. His mamma has been out ever so many +times." + +"I ought to have asked for her first. Does baby come out too?" + +"Not quite. But when the hounds are near mamma comes for an hour or +so. We have had a wonderful season,--quite wonderful. You have heard, +perhaps, of our great run from Dillsborough Wood. We found him there, +close to my place, you know, and run him down in the Brake country +after an hour and forty minutes. There were only five or six of them. +You'd have been one, Miss, to a moral, if you'd have been here on the +pony. I say we never changed our fox." + +Ayala was well disposed towards Larry Twentyman, and was quite aware +that, according to the records and established usages of that hunt, +he was a man with whom she might talk safely. But she did not care +about the foxes so much as she had done before. There was nothing +now for which she cared much, except Jonathan Stubbs. He was always +riding near her throughout the day, so that he might be with her +should there arise anything special to be done; but he was not always +close to her,--as she would have had him. He had gained his purpose, +and he was satisfied. She had entered in upon the fruition of +positive bliss, but enjoyed it in perfection only when she heard the +sound of his voice, or could look into his eyes as she spoke to him. +She did not care much about the great run from Dillsborough, or even +for the compliment with which Mr. Twentyman finished his narrative. +They were riding about the big woods all day, not without killing +a fox, but with none of the excitement of a real run. "After that +Croppy will be quite fit to come again on Wednesday," suggested the +Colonel on their way home. To which Sir Harry assented. + +"What do you folks mean to do to-day?" asked Lady Albury at breakfast +on the following morning. Ayala had her own little plan in her head, +but did not dare to propose it publicly. "Will you choose to be +driven, or will you choose to walk?" said Lady Albury, addressing +herself to Ayala. Ayala, in her present position, was considered to +be entitled to special consideration. Ayala thought she would prefer +to walk. At last there came a moment in which she could make her +request to the person chiefly concerned. "Walk with me to the wood +with that absurd name," suggested Ayala. + +"Gobblegoose Wood," suggested the Colonel. Then that was arranged +according to Ayala's wishes. + +A walk in a wood is perhaps almost as good as a comfortable seat in a +drawing-room, and is, perhaps, less liable to intrusion. They started +and walked the way which Ayala remembered so well when she had +trudged along, pretending to listen to Sir Harry and Captain Glomax +as they carried on their discussion about the hunted fox, but giving +all her ears to the Colonel, and wondering whether he would say +anything to her before the day was over. Then her mind had been in a +perturbed state which she herself had failed to understand. She was +sure that she would say "No" to him, should he speak, and yet she +desired that it should be "Yes." What a fool she had been, she told +herself as she walked along now, and how little she had deserved all +the good that had come to her! + +The conversation was chiefly with him as they went. He told her much +now of the how, and the when, and the where. He hoped there might be +no long delay. He would live, he said, for the next year or two at +Aldershot, and would be able to get a house fit for her on condition +that they should be married at once. He did not explain why the house +could not be taken even though their marriage were delayed two or +three months,--but as to this she asked no questions. Of course they +must be married in London if Mrs. Dosett wished it; but if not it +might be arranged that the wedding should take place at Stalham. +Upon all this and many other things he had much to propose, and +all that he said Ayala accepted as gospel. As the Angel of Light +had appeared,--as the knight who was lord of the castle had come +forth,--of course he must be obeyed in everything. He could hardly +have made a suggestion to which she would not have acceded. When they +had entered the wood Ayala in her own quiet way led him to the very +spot in which on that former day he had asked her his question. "Do +you remember this path?" she asked. + +"I remember that you and I were walking here together," he said. + +"Ay, but this very turn? Do you remember this branch?" + +"Well, no; not the branch." + +"You put your hand on it when you said that 'never--never,' to me." + +"Did I say 'never,--never'?" + +"Yes, you did;--when I was so untrue to you." + +"Were you untrue?" he asked. + +"Jonathan, you remember nothing about it. It has all passed away from +you just as though you were talking to Captain Glomax about the fox." + +"Has it, dear?" + +"I remember every word of it. I remember how you stood and how you +looked, even to the hat you wore and the little switch you held in +your hand,--when you asked for one little word, one glance, one +slightest touch. There, now;--you shall have all my weight to bear." +Then she leant upon him with both her hands, turned round her arm, +glanced up into his face, and opened her lips as though speaking that +little word. "Do you remember that I said I thought you had given it +all up?" + +"I remember that, certainly." + +"And was not that untrue? Oh, Jonathan, that was such a story. Had I +thought so I should have been miserable." + +"Then why did you swear to me so often that you could not love me?" + +"I never said so," replied Ayala; "never." + +"Did you not?" he asked. + +"I never said so. I never told you such a story as that. I did love +you then, almost as well as I do now. Oh, I had loved you for so long +a time!" + +"Then why did you refuse me?" + +"Ah; that is what I would explain to you now,--here on this very +spot,--if I could. Does it not seem odd that a girl should have all +that she wants offered to her, and yet not be able to take it?" + +"Was it all that you wanted?" + +"Indeed it was. When I was in church that morning I told myself that +I never, never, could be happy unless you came to me again." + +"But when I did come you would not have me." + +"I knew how to love you," she said, "but I did not know how to tell +you that I loved you. I can tell you now; cannot I?" and then she +looked up at him and smiled. "Yes, I think I shall never be tired of +telling you now. It is sweet to hear you say that you love me, but it +is sweeter still to be always telling you. And yet I could not tell +you then. Suppose you had taken me at my word?" + +"I told you that I should never give you up." + +"It was only that that kept me from being altogether wretched. +I think that I was ashamed to tell you the truth when I had once +refused to do as you would have me. I had given you so much trouble +all for nothing. I think that if you had asked me on that first day +at the ball in London I should have said yes, if I had told the +truth." + +"That would have been very sudden. I had never seen you before that." + +"Nevertheless it was so. I don't mind owning it to you now, though +I never, never, would own it to any one else. When you came to us at +the theatre I was sure that no one else could ever have been so good. +I certainly did love you then." + +"Hardly that, Ayala." + +"I did," she said. "Now I have told you everything, and if you choose +to think I have been bad,--why you must think so, and I must put up +with it." + +"Bad, my darling?" + +"I suppose it was bad to fall in love with a man like that; and +very bad to give him the trouble of coming so often. But now I +have made a clean breast of it, and if you want to scold me you +must scold me now. You may do it now, but you must never scold me +afterwards,--because of that." It may be left to the reader to +imagine the nature of the scolding which she received. + +Then on their way home she thanked him for all the good that he +had done to all those belonging to her. "I have heard it all from +Lucy;--how generous you have been to Isadore." + +"That has all come to nothing," he said. + +"How come to nothing? I know that you sent him the money." + +"I did offer to lend him something, and, indeed, I sent him a cheque; +but two days afterwards he returned it. That tremendous uncle of +yours--" + +"Uncle Tom?" + +"Yes, your Uncle Tom; the man of millions! He came forward and cut +me out altogether. I don't know what went on down there in Sussex, +but when he heard that they intended to be married shortly he put +his hand into his pocket, as a magnificent uncle, overflowing with +millions, ought to do." + +"I did not hear that." + +"Hamel sent my money back at once." + +"And poor Tom! You were so good to poor Tom." + +"I like Tom." + +"But he did behave badly." + +"Well; yes. One gentleman shouldn't strike another, even though he be +ever so much in love. It's an uncomfortable proceeding, and never has +good results. But then, poor fellow, he has been so much in earnest." + +"Why couldn't he take a No when he got it?" + +"Why didn't I take a No when I got it?" + +"That was very different. He ought to have taken it. If you had taken +it you would have been very wrong, and have broken a poor girl's +heart. I am sure you knew that all through." + +"Did I?" + +"And then you were too good-natured. That was it. I don't think you +really love me;--not as I love you. Oh, Jonathan, if you were to +change your mind now! Suppose you were to tell me that it was a +mistake! Suppose I were to awake and find myself in bed at Kingsbury +Crescent?" + +"I hope there may be no such waking as that!" + +"I should go mad,--stark mad. Shake me till I find out whether it is +real waking, downright, earnest. But, Jonathan, why did you call me +Miss Dormer when you went away? That was the worst of all. I remember +when you called me Ayala first. It went through and through me like +an electric shock. But you never saw it;--did you?" + +On that afternoon when she returned home she wrote to her sister +Lucy, giving a sister's account to her sister of all her happiness. +"I am sure Isadore is second best, but Jonathan is best. I don't want +you to say so; but if you contradict me I shall stick to it. You +remember my telling you that the old woman in the railway said that +I was perverse. She was a clever old woman, and knew all about it, +for I was perverse. However, it has come all right now, and Jonathan +is best of all. Oh, my man,--my man! Is it not sweet to have a man +of one's own to love?" If this letter had been written on the day +before,--as would have been the case had not Ayala been taken out +hunting,--it would have reached Merle Park on the Wednesday, the news +would have been made known to Aunt Emmeline, and so conveyed to poor +Tom, and that disagreeable journey from Merle Park to Stalham would +have been saved. But there was no time for writing on the Monday. The +letter was sent away in the Stalham post-bag on the Tuesday evening, +and did not reach Merle Park till the Thursday, after Lady Tringle +had left the house. Had it been known on that morning that Ayala was +engaged to Colonel Stubbs that would have sufficed to send Tom away +upon his travels without any more direct messenger from Stalham. + +On the Wednesday there was more hunting, and on this day Ayala, +having liberated her mind to her lover in Gobblegoose Wood, was able +to devote herself more satisfactorily to the amusement in hand. Her +engagement was now an old affair. It had already become matter for +joking to Sir Harry, and had been discussed even with Mrs. Gosling. +It was, of course, "a joy for ever,"--but still she was beginning to +descend from the clouds and to walk the earth,--no more than a simple +queen. When, therefore, the hounds went away and Larry told her that +he knew the best way out of the wood, she collected her energies and +rode "like a little brick," as Sir Harry said when they got back to +Stalham. On that afternoon she received the note from her aunt and +replied to it by telegram. + +On the Thursday she stayed at home and wrote various letters. The +first was to the Marchesa, and then one to Nina,--in both of which +much had to be said about "Jonathan." To Nina also she could repeat +her idea of the delight of having a man to love. Then there was a +letter to Aunt Margaret,--which certainly was due, and another to +Aunt Emmeline,--which was not however received until after Lady +Tringle's visit to Stalham. There was much conversation between her +and Lady Albury as to the possible purpose of the visit which was to +be made on the morrow. Lady Albury was of opinion that Lady Tringle +had heard of the engagement, and was coming with the intention of +setting it on one side on Tom's behalf. "But she can't do that, you +know," said Ayala, with some manifest alarm. "She is nothing to me +now, Lady Albury. She got rid of me, you know. I was changed away for +Lucy." + +"If there had been no changing away, she could do nothing," said Lady +Albury. + +About a quarter of an hour before the time for lunch on the following +day Lady Tringle was shown into the small sitting-room which has been +mentioned in a previous chapter, and Ayala, radiant with happiness +and beauty, appeared before her. There was a look about her of being +at home at Stalham, as though she were almost a daughter of the +house, that struck her aunt with surprise. There was nothing left +of that submissiveness which, though Ayala herself had not been +submissive, belonged, as of right, to girls so dependent as she and +her sister Lucy. "I am so delighted to see you at Stalham," said +Ayala, as she embraced her aunt. + +"I am come to you," said Lady Tringle, "on a matter of very +particular business." Then she paused, and assumed a look of peculiar +solemnity. + +"Have you got my letter?" demanded Ayala. + +"I got your telegram, and I thought it very civil of Lady Albury. But +I cannot stay. Your poor cousin Tom is in such a condition that I +cannot leave him longer than I can help." + +"But you have not got my letter?" + +"I have had no letter from you, Ayala." + +"I have sent you such news,--oh, such news, Aunt Emmeline!" + +"What news, my dear?" Lady Tringle as she asked the question seemed +to become more solemn than ever. + +"Oh, Aunt Emmeline--; I am--" + +"You are what, Ayala?" + +"I am engaged to be married to Colonel Jonathan Stubbs." + +"Engaged!" + +"Yes, Aunt Emmeline;--engaged. I wrote to you on Tuesday to tell you +all about it. I hope you and Uncle Tom will approve. There cannot +possibly be any reason against it,--except only that I have nothing +to give him in return; that is in the way of money. Colonel Stubbs, +Aunt Emmeline, is not what Uncle Tom will call a rich man, but +everybody here says that he has got quite enough to be comfortable. +If he had nothing in the world it could not make any difference to +me. I don't understand how anybody is to love any one or not to love +him just because he is rich or poor." + +"But you are absolutely engaged!" exclaimed Lady Tringle. + +"Oh dear yes. Perhaps you would like to ask Lady Albury about it. He +did want it before, you know." + +"But now you are engaged to him?" In answer to this Ayala thought it +sufficient simply to nod her head. "It is all over then?" + +"All over!" exclaimed Ayala. "It is just going to begin." + +"All over for poor Tom," said Lady Tringle. + +"Oh yes. It was always over for him, Aunt Emmeline. I told him ever +so many times that it never could be so. Don't you know, Aunt +Emmeline, that I did?" + +"But you said that to this man just the same." + +"Aunt Emmeline," said Ayala, putting on all the serious dignity which +she knew how to assume, "I am engaged to Colonel Stubbs, and nothing +on earth that anybody can say can change it. If you want to hear all +about it, Lady Albury will tell you. She knows that you are my aunt, +and therefore she will be quite willing to talk to you. Only nothing +that anybody can say can change it." + +"Poor Tom!" ejaculated the rejected lover's mother. + +"I am very sorry if my cousin is displeased." + +"He is ill,--terribly ill. He will have to go away and travel all +about the world, and I don't know that ever he will come back again. +I am sure this Stubbs will never love you as he has done." + +"Oh, aunt, what is the use of that?" + +"And then Tom will have twice as much. But, however--" Ayala stood +silent, not seeing that any good could be done by addition to her +former assurances. "I will go and tell him, my dear, that's all. Will +you not send him some message, Ayala?" + +"Oh, yes; any message that I can that shall go along with my sincere +attachment to Colonel Stubbs. You must tell him that I am engaged to +Colonel Stubbs. You will tell him, Aunt Emmeline?" + +"Oh, yes; if it must be so." + +"It must," said Ayala. "Then you may give him my love, and tell him +that I am very unhappy that I should have been a trouble to him, and +that I hope he will soon be well, and come back from his travels." +By this time Aunt Emmeline was dissolved in tears. "I could not help +it, Aunt Emmeline, could I?" Her aunt had once terribly outraged her +feelings by telling her that she had encouraged Tom. Ayala remembered +at this moment the cruel words and the wound which they had inflicted +on her; but, nevertheless, she behaved tenderly, and endeavoured to +be respectful and submissive. "I could not help it,--could I, Aunt +Emmeline?" + +"I suppose not, my dear." + +After that Lady Tringle declared that she would return to London at +once. No;--she would rather not go in to lunch. She would rather go +back at once to the station if they would take her. She had been +weeping, and did not wish to show her tears. Therefore, at Ayala's +request, the carriage came round again,--to the great disgust, no +doubt, of the coachman,--and Lady Tringle was taken back to the +station without having seen any of the Albury family. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +CAPTAIN BATSBY IN LOMBARD STREET. + + +It was not till Colonel Stubbs had been three or four days at +Stalham, basking in the sunshine of Ayala's love, that any of the +Stalham family heard of the great event which had occurred in the +life of Ayala's third lover. During that walk to and from Gobblegoose +Wood something had been said between the lovers as to Captain +Batsby,--something, no doubt, chiefly in joke. The idea of the poor +Captain having fallen suddenly into so melancholy a condition was +droll enough. "But he never spoke to me," said Ayala. "He doesn't +speak very much to any one," said the Colonel, "but he thinks a great +deal about things. He has had ever so many affairs with ever so many +ladies, who generally, I fancy, want to marry him because of his +money. How he has escaped so long nobody knows." A man when he has +just engaged himself to be married is as prone as ever to talk of +other men "escaping," feeling that, though other young ladies were no +better than evils to be avoided, his young lady is to be regarded as +almost a solitary instance of a blessing. Then, two days afterwards, +arrived the news of the trip to Ostend. Sir Harry received a letter +from a friend in which an account was given of his half-brother's +adventure. "What do you think has happened?" said Sir Harry, jumping +up from his chair at the breakfast table. + +"What has happened?" asked his wife. + +"Benjamin has run off to Ostend with a young lady." + +"Benjamin,--with a young lady!" exclaimed Lady Albury. Ayala and +Stubbs were equally astonished, each of them knowing that the +Captain had been excluded from Stalham because of the ardour of his +unfortunate love for Ayala. "Ayala, that is your doing!" + +"No!" said Ayala. "But I am very glad if he's happy." + +"Who is the young lady?" asked Stubbs. + +"It is that which makes it so very peculiar," said Sir Harry, looking +at Ayala. He had learned something of the Tringle family, and was +aware of Ayala's connection with them. + +"Who is it, Harry?" demanded her ladyship. + +"Sir Thomas Tringle's younger daughter." + +"Gertrude!" exclaimed Ayala, who also knew of the engagement with Mr. +Houston. + +"But the worst of it is," continued Sir Harry, "that he is not at +all happy. The young lady has come back, while nobody knows what has +become of Benjamin." + +"Benjamin never will get a wife," said Lady Albury. Thus all the +details of the little event became known at Stalham,--except the +immediate condition and whereabouts of the lover. + +Of the Captain's condition and whereabouts something must be told. +When the great disruption came, and he had been abused and ridiculed +by Sir Thomas at Ostend, he felt that he could neither remain there +where the very waiters knew what had happened, nor could he return +to Dover in the same vessel with Sir Thomas and his daughter. He +therefore took the first train and went to Brussels. + +But Brussels did not offer him many allurements in his present frame +of mind. He found nobody there whom he particularly knew, and nothing +particular to do. Solitude in a continental town with no amusements +beyond those offered by the table d'hôte and the theatre is +oppressing. His time he endeavoured to occupy with thinking of the +last promise he had made to Gertrude. Should he break it or should +he keep it? Sir Thomas Tringle was, no doubt, a very rich man,--and +then there was the fact which would become known to all the world, +that he had run off with a young lady. Should he ultimately succeed +in marrying the young lady the enterprise would bear less of an +appearance of failure than it would do otherwise. But then, should +the money not be forthcoming, the consolation coming from the +possession of Gertrude herself would hardly suffice to make him a +happy man. Sir Thomas, when he came to consider the matter, would +certainly feel that his daughter had compromised herself by her +journey, and that it would be good for her to be married to the man +who had taken her. It might be that Sir Thomas would yield, and +consent to make, at any rate, some compromise. A rumour had reached +his ears that Traffick had received £200,000 with the elder daughter. +He would consent to take half that sum. After a week spent amidst +the charms of Brussels he returned to London, without any public +declaration of his doing so,--"sneaked back," as a friend of his said +of him at the club;--and then went to work to carry out his purpose +as best he might. All that was known of it at Stalham was that he had +returned to his lodgings in London. + +On Friday, the 11th of April, when Ayala was a promised bride of +nearly two weeks' standing, and all the uncles and aunts were aware +that her lot in life had been fixed for her, Sir Thomas was alone in +the back-room in Lombard Street, with his mind sorely diverted from +the only joy of his life. The whole family were now in town, and +Septimus Traffick with his wife was actually occupying a room in +Queen's Gate. How it had come to pass Sir Thomas hardly knew. Some +word had been extracted from him signifying a compliance with a +request that Augusta might come to the house for a night or two until +a fitting residence should be prepared for her. Something had been +said of Lord Boardotrade's house being vacated for her and her +husband early in April. An occurrence to which married ladies are +liable was about to take place with Augusta, and Sir Thomas certainly +understood that the occurrence was to be expected under the roof of +the coming infant's noble grandfather. Something as to ancestral +halls had been thrown out in the chance way of conversation. Then he +certainly had assented to some minimum of London hospitality for his +daughter,--as certainly not including the presence of his son-in-law; +and now both of them were domiciled in the big front spare bed-room +at Queen's Gate! This perplexed him sorely. And then Tom had been +brought up from the country still as an invalid, his mother moaning +and groaning over him as though he were sick almost past hope of +recovery. And yet the nineteenth of the month, now only eight days +distant, was still fixed for his departure. Tom, on the return of his +mother from Stalham, had to a certain extent accepted as irrevocable +the fact of which she bore the tidings. Ayala was engaged to Stubbs, +and would, doubtless, with very little delay, become Mrs. Jonathan +Stubbs. "I knew it," he said; "I knew it. Nothing could have +prevented it unless I had shot him through the heart. He told me that +she had refused him; but no man could have looked like that after +being refused by Ayala." Then he never expressed a hope again. It +was all over for him as regarded Ayala. But still he refused to be +well, or even, for a day or two, to leave his bed. He had allowed +his mother to understand that if the fact of her engagement were +indubitably brought home to him he would gird up his loins for his +journey and proceed at once wherever it might be thought good to send +him. His father had sternly reminded him of his promise; but, when +so reminded, Tom had turned himself in his bed and uttered groans +instead of replies. Now he had been brought up to London and was +no longer actually in bed; but even yet he had not signified his +intention of girding up his loins and proceeding upon his journey. +Nevertheless the preparations were going on, and, under Sir Thomas's +directions, the portmanteaus were already being packed. Gertrude also +was a source of discomfort to her father. She considered herself +to have been deprived of her two lovers, one after the other, in a +spirit of cruel parsimony. And with this heavy weight upon her breast +she refused to take any part in the family conversations. Everything +had been done for Augusta, and everything was to be done for Tom. For +her nothing had been done, and nothing had been promised;--and she +was therefore very sulky. With these troubles all around him, Sir +Thomas was sitting oppressed and disheartened in Lombard Street on +Friday, the 11th of April. + +Then there entered to him one of the junior clerks with a card +announcing the name of Captain Batsby. He looked at it for some +seconds before he gave any notification of his intention, and then +desired the young man to tell the gentleman that he would not see +him. The message had been delivered, and Captain Batsby with a frown +of anger on his brow was about to shake the dust off from his feet on +the uncourteous threshold when there came another message saying that +Captain Batsby could go in and see Sir Thomas if he wished it. Upon +this he turned round and was shown into the little sitting-room. +"Well, Captain Batsby," said Sir Thomas; "what can I do for you now? +I am glad to see that you have come back safely from foreign parts." + +"I have called," said the Captain, "to say something about your +daughter." + +"What more can you have to say about her?" + +At this the Captain was considerably puzzled. Of course Sir Thomas +must know what he had to say. "The way in which we were separated at +Ostend was very distressing to my feelings." + +"I daresay." + +"And also I should think to Miss Tringle's." + +"Not improbably. I have always observed that when people are +interrupted in the performance of some egregious stupidity their +feelings are hurt. As I said before, what can I do for you now?" + +"I am very anxious to complete the alliance which I have done myself +the honour to propose to you." + +"I did not know that you had proposed anything. You came down to my +house under a false pretence; and then you persuaded my daughter,--or +else she persuaded you,--to go off together to Ostend. Is that what +you call an alliance?" + +"That, as far as it went was,--was an elopement." + +"Am I to understand that you now want to arrange another elopement, +and that you have come to ask my consent?" + +"Oh dear no." + +"Then what do you mean by completing an alliance?" + +"I want to make," said the Captain, "an offer for the young lady's +hand in a proper form. I consider myself to be in a position which +justifies me in doing so. I am possessed of the young lady's +affections, and have means of my own equal to those which I presume +you will be disposed to give her." + +"Very much better means I hope, Captain Batsby. Otherwise I do not +see what you and your wife would have to live upon. I will tell you +exactly what my feelings are in this matter. My daughter has gone +off with you, forgetting all the duty that she owed to me and to her +mother, and throwing aside all ideas of propriety. After that I will +not say that you shall not marry her if both of you think fit. I do +not doubt your means, and I have no reason for supposing that you +would be cruel to her. You are two fools, but after all fools must +live in the world. What I do say is, that I will not give a sixpence +towards supporting you in your folly. Now, Captain Batsby, you can +complete the alliance or not as you please." + +Captain Batsby had been called a fool also at Ostend, and there, +amidst the distressing circumstances of his position, had been +constrained to bear the opprobious name, little customary as it is +for one gentleman to allow himself to be called a fool by another; +but now he had collected his thoughts, had reminded himself of his +position in the world, and had told himself that it did not become +him to be too humble before this City man of business. It might have +been all very well at Ostend; but he was not going to be called a +fool in London without resenting it. "Sir Thomas," said he, "fool and +folly are terms which I cannot allow you to use to me." + +"If you do not present yourself to me here, Captain Batsby, or at my +own house,--or, perhaps I may say, at Ostend,--I will use no such +terms to you." + +"I suppose you will acknowledge that I am entitled to ask for your +daughter's hand." + +"I suppose you will acknowledge that when a man runs away with my +daughter I am entitled to express my opinion of his conduct." + +"That is all over now, Sir Thomas. What I did I did for love. There +is no good in crying over spilt milk. The question is as to the +future happiness of the young lady." + +"That is the only wise word I have heard you say, Captain Batsby. +There is no good in crying after spilt milk. Our journey to Ostend is +done and gone. It was not very agreeable, but we have lived through +it. I quite think that you show a good judgment in not intending to +go there again in quest of a clergyman. If you want to be married +there are plenty of them in London. I will not oppose your marriage, +but I will not give you a shilling. No man ever had a better +opportunity of showing the disinterestedness of his affection. Now, +good morning." + +"But, Sir Thomas--" + +"Captain Batsby, my time is precious. I have told you all that there +is to tell." Then he stood up, and the Captain with a stern demeanour +and angry brow left the room and took himself in silence away from +Lombard Street. + +"Do you want to marry Captain Batsby?" Sir Thomas said to his +daughter that evening, having invited her to come apart with him +after dinner. + +"Yes, I do." + +"You think that you prefer him on the whole to Mr. Houston?" + +"Mr. Houston is a scoundrel. I wish that you would not talk about +him, papa." + +"I like him so much the best of the two," said Sir Thomas. "But of +course it is for you to judge. I could have brought myself to give +something to Houston. Luckily, however, Captain Batsby has got an +income of his own." + +"He has, papa." + +"And you are sure that you would like to take him as your husband?" + +"Yes, papa." + +"Very well. He has been with me to-day." + +"Is he in London?" + +"I tell you that he has been with me to-day in Lombard Street." + +"What did he say? Did he say anything about me?" + +"Yes, my dear. He came to ask me for your hand." + +"Well, papa." + +"I told him that I should make no objection,--that I should leave +it altogether to you. I only interfered with one small detail as to +my own wishes. I assured him that I should never give him or you +a single shilling. I don't suppose it will matter much to him, as +he has, you know, means of his own." It was thus that Sir Thomas +punished his daughter for her misconduct. + +Captain Batsby and the Trafficks were acquainted with each other. The +Member of Parliament had, of course, heard of the journey to Ostend +from his wife, and had been instigated by her to express an opinion +that the young people ought to be married. "It is such a very serious +thing," said Augusta to her husband, "to be four hours on the sea +together! And then you know--!" Mr. Traffick acknowledged that it was +serious, and was reminded by his wife that he, in the capacity of +brother, was bound to interfere on his sister's behalf. "Papa, you +know, understands nothing about these kind of things. You, with your +family interest, and your seat in Parliament, ought to be able to +arrange it." Mr. Traffick probably knew how far his family interest +and his seat in Parliament would avail. They had, at any rate, got +him a wife with a large fortune. They were promising for him, still +further, certain domiciliary advantages. He doubted whether he could +do much for Batsby; but still he promised to try. If he could arrange +these matters it might be that he would curry fresh favour with Sir +Thomas by doing so. He therefore made it his business to encounter +Captain Batsby on the Sunday afternoon at a club to which they both +belonged. "So you have come back from your little trip?" said the +Member of Parliament. + +The Captain was not unwilling to discuss the question of their family +relations with Mr. Traffick. If anybody would have influence with Sir +Thomas it might probably be Mr. Traffick. "Yes; I have come back." + +"Without your bride." + +"Without my bride,--as yet. That is a kind of undertaking in which a +man is apt to run many dangers before he can carry it through." + +"I dare say. I never did anything of the kind myself. Of course you +know that I am the young lady's brother-in-law." + +"Oh yes." + +"And therefore you won't mind me speaking. Don't you think you ought +to do something further?" + +"Something further! By George, I should think so," said the Captain, +exultingly. "I mean to do a great many things further. You don't +suppose I am going to give it up?" + +"You oughtn't, you know. When a man has taken a girl off with him in +that way, he should go on with it. It's a deuced serious thing, you +know." + +"It was his fault in coming after us." + +"That was a matter of course. If he hadn't done it, I must. I have +made the family my own, and, of course, must look after its honour." +The noble scion of the house of Traffick, as he said this, showed by +his countenance that he perfectly understood the duty which +circumstances had imposed upon him. + +"He made himself very rough, you know," said the Captain. + +"I dare say he would." + +"And said things,--well,--things which he ought not to have said." + +"In such a case as that a father may say pretty nearly what comes +uppermost." + +"That was just it. He did say what came uppermost,--and very rough it +was." + +"What does it matter?" + +"Not much if he'd do as he ought to do now. As you are her +brother-in-law, I'll tell you just how it stands. I have been to him +and made a regular proposal." + +"Since you have been back?" + +"Yes; the day before yesterday. And what do you think he says?" + +"What does he say?" + +"He gives his consent; only--" + +"Only what?" + +"He won't give her a shilling! Such an idea, you know! As though she +were to be punished after marriage for running away with the man she +did marry." + +"Take your chance, Batsby," said the Member of Parliament. + +"What chance?" + +"Take your chance of the money. I'd have done it; only, of course, +it was different with me. He was glad to catch me, and therefore the +money was settled." + +"I've got a tidy income of my own, you know," said the Captain, +thinking that he was entitled to be made more welcome as a son-in-law +than the younger son of a peer who had no income. + +"Take your chance," continued Traffick. "What on earth can a man +like Tringle do with his money except give it to his children? He is +rough, as you say, but he is not hard-hearted, nor yet stubborn. I +can do pretty nearly what I like with him." + +"Can you, though?" + +"Yes; by smoothing him down the right way. You run your chance, and +we'll get it all put right for you." The Captain hesitated, rubbing +his head carefully to encourage the thoughts which were springing up +within his bosom. The Honourable Mr. Traffick might perhaps succeed +in getting the affair put right, as he called it, in the interest +rather of the elder than of the second daughter. "I don't see how +you can hesitate now, as you have been off with the girl," said Mr. +Traffick. + +"I don't know about that. I should like to see the money settled." + +"There would have been nothing settled if you had married her at +Ostend." + +"But I didn't," said the Captain. "I tell you what you might do. You +might talk him over and make him a little more reasonable. I should +be ready to-morrow if he'd come forward." + +"What's the sum you want?" + +"The same as yours, I suppose." + +"That's out of the question," said Mr. Traffick, shaking his head. +"Suppose we say sixty thousand pounds." Then after some chaffering on +the subject it was decided between them that Mr. Traffick should use +his powerful influence with his father-in-law to give his daughter on +her marriage,--say a hundred thousand pounds if it were possible, or +sixty thousand pounds at the least. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +MR. TRAFFICK IN LOMBARD STREET. + + +Mr. Traffick entertained some grand ideas as to the house of Travers +and Treason. Why should not he become a member, and ultimately the +leading member, of that firm? Sir Thomas was not a young man, though +he was strong and hearty. Tom had hitherto succeeded only in making +an ass of himself. As far as transacting the affairs of the firm, +Tom,--so thought Mr. Traffick,--was altogether out of the question. +He might perish in those extensive travels which he was about to +take. Mr. Traffick did not desire any such catastrophe;--but the +young man might perish. There was a great opening. Mr. Traffick, with +his thorough knowledge of business, could not but see that there was +a great opening. Besides Tom, there were but two daughters, one of +whom was his own wife. Augusta, his wife, was, he thought, certainly +the favourite at the present moment. Sir Thomas could, indeed, say +rough things even to her; but then Sir Thomas was of his nature +rough. Now, at this time, the rough things said to Gertrude were +very much the rougher. In all these circumstances the wisdom of +interfering in Gertrude's little affairs was very clear to Mr. +Traffick. Gertrude would, of course, get herself married sooner or +later, and almost any other husband would obtain a larger portion +than that which would satisfy Batsby. Sir Thomas was now constantly +saying good things about Mr. Houston. Mr. Houston would be much more +objectionable than Captain Batsby,--much more likely to interfere. +He would require more money at once, and might possibly come forward +himself in the guise of a partner. Mr. Traffick saw his way clearly. +It was incumbent upon him to see that Gertrude should become Mrs. +Batsby with as little delay as possible. + +But one thing he did not see. One thing he had failed to see since +his first introduction to the Tringle family. He had not seen the +peculiar nature of his father-in-law's foibles. He did not understand +either the weakness or the strength of Sir Thomas,--either the +softness or the hardness. Mr. Traffick himself was blessed with a +very hard skin. In the carrying out of a purpose there was nothing +which his skin was not sufficiently serviceable to endure. But Sir +Thomas, rough as he was, had but a thin skin;--a thin skin and a +soft heart. Had Houston and Gertrude persevered he would certainly +have given way. For Tom, in his misfortune, he would have made any +sacrifice. Though he had given the broadest hints which he had been +able to devise he had never as yet brought himself absolutely to turn +Traffick out of his house. When Ayala was sent away he still kept her +name in his will, and added also that of Lucy as soon as Lucy had +been entrusted to him. Had things gone a little more smoothly between +him and Hamel when they met,--had he not unluckily advised that all +the sculptor's grand designs should be sold by auction for what they +would fetch,--he would have put Hamel and Lucy upon their legs. He +was a soft-hearted man;--but there never was one less willing to +endure interference in his own affairs. + +At the present moment he was very sore as to the presence of Traffick +in Queen's Gate. The Easter parliamentary holidays were just at +hand, and there was no sign of any going. Augusta had whispered +to her mother that the poky little house in Mayfair would be very +uncomfortable for the coming event,--and Lady Tringle, though she had +not dared to say even as much as that in plain terms to her husband, +had endeavoured to introduce the subject by little hints,--which +Sir Thomas had clearly understood. He was hardly the man to turn a +daughter and an expected grandchild into the streets; but he was, +in his present mood, a father-in-law who would not unwillingly +have learned that his son-in-law was without a shelter except that +afforded by the House of Commons. Why on earth should he have given +up one hundred and twenty thousand pounds,--£6,000 a-year as it was +under his fostering care,--to a man who could not even keep a house +over his wife's head? This was the humour of Sir Thomas when Mr. +Traffick undertook to prevail with him to give an adequate fortune to +his youngest daughter on her marriage with Captain Batsby. + +The conversation between Traffick and Batsby took place on a Sunday. +On the following day the Captain went down to the House and saw the +Member. "No; I have not spoken to him yet." + +"I was with him on Friday, you know," said Batsby. "I can't well +go and call on the ladies in Queen's Gate till I hear that he has +changed his mind." + +"I should. I don't see what difference it would make." + +Then Captain Batsby was again very thoughtful. "It would make a +difference, you know. If I were to say a word to Gertrude now,--as to +being married or anything of that kind,--it would seem that I meant +to go on whether I got anything or not." + +"And you should seem to want to go on," said Traffick, with all that +authority which the very surroundings of the House of Commons always +give to the words and gait of a Member. + +"But then I might find myself dropped in a hole at last." + +"My dear Batsby, you made that hole for yourself when you ran off +with the young lady." + +"We settled all that before." + +"Not quite. What we did settle was that we'd do our best to fill the +hole up. Of course you ought to go and see them. You went off with +the young lady,--and since that have been accepted as her suitor by +her father. You are bound to go and see her." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Certainly! Certainly! It never does to talk to Tringle about +business at his own house. I'll make an hour to see him in the City +to-morrow. I'm so pressed by business that I can hardly get away from +the House after twelve;--but, I'll do it. But, while I'm in Lombard +Street, do you go to Queen's Gate." The Captain after further +consideration said that he would go to Queen's Gate. + +At three o'clock on the next day he did go to Queen's Gate. He had +many misgivings, feeling that by such a step he would be committing +himself to matrimony with or without the money. No doubt he could so +offer himself, even to Lady Tringle, as a son-in-law, that it should +be supposed that the offer would depend upon the father-in-law's +goodwill. But then the father-in-law had told him that he would be +welcome to the young lady,--without a farthing. Should he go on +with his matrimonial purpose, towards which this visit would be an +important step, he did not see the moment in which he could stop the +proceedings by a demand for money. Nevertheless he went, not being +strong enough to oppose Mr. Traffick. + +Yes;--the ladies were at home, and he found himself at once in Lady +Tringle's presence. There was at the time no one with her, and the +Captain acknowledged to himself that a trying moment had come to him. +"Dear me! Captain Batsby!" said her ladyship, who had not seen him +since he and Gertrude had gone off together. + +"Yes, Lady Tringle. As I have come back from abroad I thought that I +might as well come and call. I did see Sir Thomas in the City." + +"Was not that a very foolish thing you did?" + +"Perhaps it was, Lady Tringle. Perhaps it would have been better to +ask permission to address your daughter in the regular course of +things. There was, perhaps,--perhaps a little romance in going off in +that way." + +"It gave Sir Thomas a deal of trouble." + +"Well, yes; he was so quick upon us you know. May I be allowed to see +Gertrude now?" + +"Upon my word I hardly know," said Lady Tringle, hesitating. + +"I did see Sir Thomas in the City." + +"But did he say you were to come and call?" + +"He gave his consent to the marriage." + +"But I am afraid there was to be no money," whispered Lady Tringle. +"If money is no matter I suppose you may see her." But before +the Captain had resolved how he might best answer this difficult +suggestion the door opened, and the young lady herself entered the +room, together with her sister. + +"Benjamin," said Gertrude, "is this really you?" And then she flew +into his arms. + +"My dear," said Augusta, "do control your emotions." + +"Yes, indeed, Gertrude," said the mother. "As the things are at +present you should control yourself. Nobody as yet knows what may +come of it." + +"Oh, Benjamin!" again exclaimed Gertrude, tearing herself from his +arms, throwing herself on the sofa, and covering her face with both +her hands. "Oh, Benjamin,--so you have come at last." + +"I am afraid he has come too soon," said Augusta, who however had +received her lesson from her husband, and had communicated some +portion of her husband's tidings to her sister. + +"Why too soon?" exclaimed Gertrude. "It can never be too soon. Oh, +mamma, tell him that you make him welcome to your bosom as your +second son-in-law." + +"Upon my word, my dear, I do not know, without consulting your +father." + +"But papa has consented," said Gertrude. + +"But only if--" + +"Oh, mamma," said Mrs. Traffick, "do not talk about matters of +business on such an occasion as this. All that must be managed +between the gentlemen. If he is here as Gertrude's acknowledged +lover, and if papa has told him that he shall be accepted as such, I +don't think that we ought to say a word about money. I do hate money. +It does make things so disagreeable." + +"Nobody can be more noble in everything of that kind than Benjamin," +said Gertrude. "It is only because he loves me with all his heart +that he is here. Why else was it that he took me off to Ostend?" + +Captain Batsby as he listened to all this felt that he ought to say +something. And yet how dangerous might a word be! It was apparent to +him, even in his perturbation, that the ladies were in fact asking +him to renew his offer, and to declare that he renewed it altogether +independently of any money consideration. He could not bring himself +quite to agree with that noble sentiment in expressing which Mrs. +Traffick had declared her hatred of money. In becoming the son-in-law +of a millionaire he would receive the honest congratulations of all +his friends,--on condition that he received some comfortable fraction +out of the millions, but he knew well that he would subject himself +to their ridicule were he to take the girl and lose the plunder. If +he were to answer them now as they would have him answer he would +commit himself to the girl without any bargain as to the plunder. +And yet what else was there for him to do? He must be a brave man +who can stand up before a girl and declare that he will love her for +ever,--on condition that she shall have so many thousand pounds; but +he must be more than brave, he will be heroic, who can do so in the +presence not only of the girl but of the girl's mother and married +sister as well. Captain Batsby was no such hero. "Of course," he said +at last. + +"Of course what?" asked Augusta. + +"It was because I loved her." + +"I knew that he loved me," sobbed Gertrude. + +"And you are here, because you intend to make her your wife in +presence of all men?" asked Augusta. + +"Oh certainly." + +"Then I suppose that it will be all right," said Lady Tringle. + +"It will be all right," said Augusta. "And now, mamma, I think that +we may leave them alone together." But to this Lady Tringle would +not give her assent. She had not had confided to her the depth of Mr. +Traffick's wisdom, and declared herself opposed to any absolute overt +love-making until Sir Thomas should have given his positive consent. + +"It is all the same thing, Benjamin, is it not?" said Augusta, +assuming already the familiarity of a sister in-law. + +"Oh quite," said the Captain. + +But Gertrude looked as though she did not think it to be exactly +the same. Such deficiency as that, however, she had to endure; and +she received from her sister after the Captain's departure full +congratulations as to her lover's return. "To tell you the truth," +said Augusta, "I didn't think that you would ever see him again. +After what papa said to him in the City he might have got off and +nobody could have said a word to him. Now he's fixed." + +Captain Batsby effected his escape as quickly as he could, and went +home a melancholy man. He, too, was aware that he was fixed; and, as +he thought of this, a dreadful idea fell upon him that the Honourable +Mr. Traffick had perhaps played him false. + +In the meantime Mr. Traffick was true to his word and went into the +City. In the early days of his married life his journeys to Lombard +Street were frequent. The management and investing of his wife's +money had been to him a matter of much interest, and he had felt a +gratification in discussing any money matter with the man who handled +millions. In this way he had become intimate with the ways of the +house, though latterly his presence there had not been encouraged. +"I suppose I can go in to Sir Thomas," he said, laying his hand upon +a leaf in the counter, which he had been accustomed to raise for the +purpose of his own entrance. But here he was stopped. His name should +be taken in and Sir Thomas duly apprised. In the meantime he was +relegated to a dingy little waiting-room, which was odious to him, +and there he was kept waiting for half-an-hour. This made him angry, +and he called to one of the clerks. "Will you tell Sir Thomas that +I must be down at the House almost immediately, and that I am +particularly anxious to see him on business of importance?" For +another ten minutes he was still kept, and then he was shown into +his father-in law's presence. "I am very sorry, Traffick," said Sir +Thomas, "but I really can't turn two Directors of the Bank of England +out of my room, even for you." + +"I only thought I would just let you know that I am in a hurry." + +"So am I, for the matter of that. Have you gone to your father's +house to-day, so that you would not be able to see me in Queen's +Gate?" + +This was intended to be very severe, but Mr. Traffick bore it. It +was one of those rough things which Sir Thomas was in the habit of +saying, but which really meant nothing. "No. My father is still at +his house as yet, though they are thinking of going every day. It is +about another matter, and I did not want to trouble you with it at +home." + +"Let us hear what it is." + +"Captain Batsby has been with me." + +"Oh, he has, has he?" + +"I've known him ever so long. He's a foolish fellow." + +"So he seems." + +"But a gentleman." + +"Perhaps I am not so good a judge of that. His folly I did perceive." + +"Oh yes; he's a gentleman. You may take my word for that. And he has +means." + +"That's an advantage." + +"While that fellow Houston is hardly more than a beggar. And Batsby +is quite in earnest about Gertrude." + +"If the two of them wish it he can have her to-morrow. She has made +herself a conspicuous ass by running away with him, and perhaps it's +the best thing she can do." + +"That's just it. Augusta sees it quite in the same light." + +"Augusta was never tempted. You wouldn't have run away." + +"It wasn't necessary, Sir Thomas, was it? There he is,--ready to +marry her to-morrow. But, of course, he is a little anxious about the +money." + +"I dare say he is." + +"I've been talking to him,--and the upshot is, that I have promised +to speak to you. He isn't at all a bad fellow." + +"He'd keep a house over his wife's head, you think?" Sir Thomas had +been particularly irate that morning, and before the arrival of his +son-in-law had sworn to himself that Traffick should go. Augusta +might remain, if she pleased, for the occurrence; but the Honourable +Septimus should no longer eat and drink as an inhabitant of his +house. + +"He'd do his duty by her as a man should do," said Traffick, +determined to ignore the disagreeable subject. + +"Very well. There she is." + +"But of course he would like to hear something about money." + +"Would he?" + +"That's only natural." + +"You found it so,--did you not? What's the good of giving a girl +money when her husband won't spend it. Perhaps this Captain Batsby +would expect to live at Queen's Gate or Merle Park." + +It was impossible to go on enduring this without notice. Mr. +Traffick, however, only frowned and shook his head. It was clear +at last that Sir Thomas intended to be more than rough, and it was +almost imperative upon Mr. Traffick to be rough in return. "I am +endeavouring to do my duty by the family," he said. + +"Oh indeed." + +"Gertrude has eloped with this man, and the thing is talked about +everywhere. Augusta feels it very much." + +"She does, does she?" + +"And I have thought it right to ask his intentions." + +"He didn't knock you down, or anything of that sort?" + +"Knock me down?" + +"For interfering. But he hasn't pluck for that. Houston would have +done it immediately. And I should have said he was right. But if you +have got anything to say, you had better say it. When you have done, +then I shall have something to say." + +"I've told him that he couldn't expect as much as you would have +given her but for this running away." + +"You told him that?" + +"Yes; I told him that. Then some sum had to be mentioned. He +suggested a hundred thousand pounds." + +"How very modest. Why should he have put up with less than you, +seeing that he has got something of his own?" + +"He hasn't my position, Sir. You know that well enough. Now to make a +long and short of it, I suggested sixty." + +"Out of your own pocket?" + +"Not exactly." + +"But out of mine?" + +"You're her father, and I suppose you intend to provide for her." + +"And you have come here to dictate to me the provision which I am to +make for my own child! That is an amount of impudence which I did not +expect even from you. But suppose that I agree to the terms. Will he, +do you think, consent to have a clause put into the settlement?" + +"What clause?" + +"Something that shall bind him to keep a house for his own wife's +use, so that he should not take my money and then come and live upon +me afterwards." + +"Sir Thomas," said the Member of Parliament, "that is a mode of +expression so uncourteous that I cannot bear it even from you." + +"Is there any mode of expression that you cannot bear?" + +"If you want me to leave your house, say it at once." + +"Why I have been saying it for the last six months! I have been +saying it almost daily since you were married." + +"If so you should have spoken more clearly, for I have not understood +you." + +"Heavens and earth," ejaculated Sir Thomas. + +"Am I to understand that you wish your child to leave your roof +during this inclement weather in her present delicate condition?" + +"Are you in a delicate condition?" asked Sir Thomas. To this Mr. +Traffick could condescend to make no reply. "Because, if not, you, at +any rate, had better go,--unless you find the weather too inclement." + +"Of course I shall go," said Mr. Traffick. "No consideration on earth +shall induce me to eat another meal under your roof until you shall +have thought good to have expressed regret for what you have said." + +"Then it is very long before I shall have to give you another meal." + +"And now what shall I say to Captain Batsby?" + +"Tell him from me," said Sir Thomas, "that he cannot possibly set +about his work more injudiciously than by making you his ambassador." +Then Mr. Traffick took his departure. + +It may be as well to state here that Mr. Traffick kept his threat +religiously,--at any rate, to the end of the Session. He did not eat +another meal during that period under his father-in-law's roof. But +he slept there for the next two or three days until he had suited +himself with lodgings in the neighbourhood of the House. In doing +this, however, he contrived to get in and out without encountering +Sir Thomas. His wife in her delicate condition,--and because of the +inclemency of the weather,--awaited the occurrence at Queen's Gate. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +TREGOTHNAN. + + +The writer, in giving a correct chronicle of the doings of the +Tringle family at this time, has to acknowledge that Gertrude, during +the prolonged absence of Captain Batsby at Brussels,--an absence +that was cruelly prolonged for more than a week,--did make another +little effort in another direction. Her father, in his rough way, had +expressed an opinion that she had changed very much for the worse in +transferring her affections from Mr. Houston to Captain Batsby, and +had almost gone so far as to declare that had she been persistent +with her Houston the money difficulty might have been overcome. This +was imprudent,--unless, indeed, he was desirous of bringing back Mr. +Houston into the bosom of the Tringles. It instigated Gertrude to +another attempt,--which, however, she did not make till Captain +Batsby had been away from her for at least four days without writing +a letter. Then it occurred to her that if she had a preference it +certainly was for Frank Houston. No doubt the general desirability of +marriage was her chief actuating motive. Will the world of British +young ladies be much scandalised if I say that such is often an +actuating motive? They would be justly scandalised if I pretended +that many of its members were capable of the speedy transitions which +Miss Tringle was strong enough to endure; but transitions do take +place, and I claim, on behalf of my young lady, that she should be +regarded as more strong-minded and more determined than the general +crowd of young ladies. She had thought herself to be off with the old +love before she was on with the new. Then the "new" had gone away to +Brussels,--or heaven only knows where,--and there seemed to be an +opportunity of renewing matters with the "old." Having perceived the +desirability of matrimony, she simply carried out her purpose with +a determined will. It was with a determined will, but perhaps with +deficient judgment, that she had written as follows: + +"Papa has altered his mind altogether. He speaks of you in the +highest terms, and says that had you persevered he would have yielded +about the money. Do try him again. When hearts have been united it is +terrible that they should be dragged asunder." Mr. Traffick had been +quite right in telling his father-in-law that "the thing had been +talked about everywhere." The thing talked about had been Gertrude's +elopement. The daughter of a baronet and a millionaire cannot go off +with the half-brother of another baronet and escape that penalty. The +journey to Ostend was in everybody's mouth, and had surprised Frank +Houston the more because of the recent termination of his own little +affair with the lady. That he should already have re-accommodated +himself with Imogene was intelligible to him, and seemed to admit of +valid excuse before any jury of matrons. It was an old affair, and +the love,--real, true love,--was already existing. He, at any rate, +was going back to the better course,--as the jury of matrons would +have admitted. But Gertrude's new affair had had to be arranged +from the beginning, and shocked him by its celerity. "Already!" +he had said to himself,--"gone off with another man already?" +He felt himself to have been wounded in a tender part, and was +conscious of a feeling that he should like to injure the successful +lover,--blackball him at a club, or do him some other mortal +mischief. When, therefore, he received from the young lady the little +billet above given, he was much surprised. Could it be a hoax? It was +certainly the young lady's handwriting. Was he to be enticed once +again into Lombard Street, in order that the clerks might set upon +him in a body and maltreat him? Was he to be decoyed into Queen's +Gate, and made a sacrifice of by the united force of the housemaids? +Not understanding the celerity of the young lady, he could hardly +believe the billet. + +When he received the note of which we have here spoken two months +had elapsed since he had seen Imogene and had declared to her his +intention of facing the difficulties of matrimony in conjunction with +herself as soon as she would be ready to undergo the ceremony with +him. The reader will remember that her brother, Mudbury Docimer, had +written to him with great severity, abusing both him and Imogene for +the folly of their intention. And Houston, as he thought of their +intention, thought to himself that perhaps they were foolish. The +poverty, and the cradles, and the cabbages, were in themselves evils. +But still he encouraged himself to think that there might be an evil +worse even than folly. After that scene with Imogene, in which she +had offered to sacrifice herself altogether, and to be bound to +him, even though they should never be married, on condition that he +should take to himself no other wife, he had quite resolved that it +behoved him not to be exceeded by her in generosity. He had stoutly +repudiated her offer, which he had called a damnable compact. And +then there had been a delightful scene between them, in which it had +been agreed that they should face the cradles and the cabbages with +bold faces. Since that he had never allowed himself to fluctuate in +his purpose. Had Sir Thomas come to him with Gertrude in one hand and +the much-desired £120,000 in the other, he would have repudiated the +lot of them. He declared to himself with stern resolution that he +had altogether washed his hands from dirt of that kind. Cabbages +and cradles for ever was the unpronounced cry of triumph with which +he buoyed up his courage. He set himself to work earnestly, if not +altogether steadfastly, to alter the whole tenor of his life. The +champagne and the woodcocks,--or whatever might be the special +delicacies of the season,--he did avoid. For some few days he +absolutely dined upon a cut of mutton at an eating-house, and as he +came forth from the unsavoury doors of the establishment regarded +himself as a hero. Cabbages and cradles for ever! he would say to +himself, as he went away to drink a cup of tea with an old maiden +aunt, who was no less surprised than gratified by his new virtue. +Therefore, when it had at last absolutely come home to him that +the last little note had in truth been written by Gertrude with no +object of revenge, but with the intention of once more alluring +him into the wealth of Lombard Street, he simply put it into his +breastcoat-pocket, and left it there unanswered. + +Mudbury Docimer did not satisfy himself with writing the very +uncourteous letter which the reader has seen, but proceeded to do his +utmost to prevent the threatened marriage. "She is old enough to look +after herself," he had said, as though all her future actions must be +governed by her own will. But within ten days of the writing of that +letter he had found it expedient to go down into the country, and +to take his sister with him. As the head of the Docimer family he +possessed a small country-house almost in the extremity of Cornwall; +and thither he went. It was a fraternal effort made altogether on his +sister's behalf, and was so far successful that Imogene was obliged +to accompany him. It was all very well for her to feel that as +she was of age she could do as she pleased. But a young lady is +constrained by the exigencies of society to live with somebody. She +cannot take a lodging by herself, as her brother may do. Therefore, +when Mudbury Docimer went down to Cornwall, Imogene was obliged to +accompany him. + +"Is this intended for banishment?" she said to him, when they had +been about a week in the country. + +"What do you call banishment? You used to like the country in the +spring." It was now the middle of April. + +"So I do, and in summer also. But I like nothing under constraint." + +"I am sorry that circumstances should make it imperative upon me to +remain here just at present." + +"Why cannot you tell the truth, Mudbury?" + +"Have I told you any falsehood?" + +"Why do you not say outright that I have been brought down here to be +out of Frank Houston's way?" + +"Because Frank Houston is a name which I do not wish to mention to +you again,--at any rate for some time." + +"What would you do if he were to show himself here?" she asked. + +"Tell him at once that he was not welcome. In other words, I would +not have him here. It is very improbable I should think that he would +come without a direct invitation from me. That invitation he will +never have until I feel satisfied that you and he have changed your +mind again, and that you mean to stick to it." + +"I do not think we shall do that." + +"Then he shall not come down here; nor, as far as I am able to +arrange it, shall you go up to London." + +"Then I am a prisoner?" + +"You may put it as you please," said her brother. "I have no power of +detaining you. Whatever influence I have I think it right to use. I +am altogether opposed to this marriage, believing it to be an absurd +infatuation. I think that he is of the same opinion." + +"No!" said she, indignantly. + +"That I believe to be his feeling," he continued, taking no notice +of her assertion. "He is as perfectly aware as I am that you two are +not adapted to live happily together on an income of a few hundreds +a year. Some time ago it was agreed between you that it was so. You +both were quite of one mind, and I was given to understand that the +engagement was at an end. It was so much at an end that he made +an arrangement for marrying another woman. But your feelings are +stronger than his, and you allowed them to get the better of you. +Then you enticed him back from the purpose on which you had both +decided." + +"Enticed!" said she. "I did nothing of the kind!" + +"Would he have changed his mind if you had not enticed him?" + +"I did nothing of the kind. I offered to remain just as we are." + +"That is all very well. Of course he could not accept such an offer. +Thinking as I do, it is my duty to keep you apart as long as I can. +If you contrive to marry him in opposition to my efforts, the misery +of both of you must be on your head. I tell you fairly that I do not +believe he wishes anything of the kind." + +"I am quite sure he does," said Imogene. + +"Very well. Do you leave him alone; stay down here, and see what will +come of it. I quite agree that such a banishment, as you call it, +is not a happy prospect for you;--but it is happier than that of a +marriage with Frank Houston. Give that up, and then you can go back +to London and begin the world again." + +Begin the world again! She knew what that meant. She was to throw +herself into the market, and look for such other husband as +Providence might send her. She had tried that before, and had +convinced herself that Providence could never send her any that could +be acceptable. The one man had taken possession of her, and there +never could be a second. She had not known her own strength,--or her +own weakness as the case might be,--when she had agreed to surrender +the man she loved because there had been an alteration in their +prospects of an income. She had struggled with herself, had attempted +to amuse herself with the world, had told herself that somebody would +come who would banish that image from her thoughts and heart. She had +bade herself to submit to the separation for his welfare. Then she +had endeavoured to quiet herself by declaring to herself that the +man was no hero,--was unworthy of so much thinking. But it had all +been of no avail. Gertrude Tringle had been a festering sore to her. +Frank, whether a hero or only a commonplace man, was,--as she owned +to herself,--hero enough for her. Then came the opening for a renewal +of the engagement. Frank had been candid with her, and had told her +everything. The Tringle money would not be forthcoming on his behalf. +Then,--not resolving to entice him back again,--she had done so. +The word was odious to her, and was rejected with disdain when used +against her by her brother;--but, when alone, she acknowledged to +herself that it was true. She had enticed her lover back again,--to +his great detriment. Yes; she certainly had enticed him back. She +certainly was about to sacrifice him because of her love. "If I could +only die, and there be an end of it!" she exclaimed to herself. + +Though Tregothnan Hall, as the Docimers' house was called, was not +open to Frank Houston, there was the post running always. He had +written to her half-a-dozen times since she had been in Cornwall, +and had always spoken of their engagement as an affair at last +irrevocably fixed. She, too, had written little notes, tender and +loving, but still tinged by that tone of despondency which had become +common to her. "As for naming a day," she said once, "suppose we fix +the first of January, ten years hence. Mudbury's opposition will be +worn out by old age, and you will have become thoroughly sick of the +pleasures of London." But joined to this there would be a few jokes, +and then some little word of warmest, most enduring, most trusting +love. "Don't believe me if I say that I am not happy in knowing that +I am altogether your own." Then there would come a simple "I" as +a signature, and after that some further badinage respecting her +"Cerberus," as she called her brother. + +But after that word, that odious word, "enticed," there went another +letter up to London of altogether another nature. + +"I have changed my mind again," she said, + + + and have become aware that, though I should die in doing + it,--though we should both die if it were possible,--there + should be an end of everything between you and me. Yes, + Frank; there! I send you back my troth, and demand my own + in return. After all why should not one die;--hang oneself + if it be necessary? To be self-denying is all that is + necessary,--at any rate to a woman. Hanging or lying down + and dying, or lingering on and saying one's prayers and + knitting stockings, is altogether immaterial. I have + sometimes thought Mudbury to be brutal to me, but I have + never known him to be untrue,--or even, as I believe, + mistaken. He sees clearly and knows what will happen. He + tells me that I have enticed you back. I am not true as + he is. So I threw him back the word in his teeth,--though + its truth at the moment was going like a dagger through + my heart. I know myself to have been selfish, unfeeling, + unfeminine, when I induced you to surrender yourself to + a mode of life which will make you miserable. I have + sometimes been proud of myself because I have loved you so + truly; but now I hate myself and despise myself because I + have been incapable of the first effort which love should + make. Love should at any rate be unselfish. + + He tells me that you will be miserable and that the misery + will be on my head,--and I believe him. There shall be an + end of it. I want no promise from you. There may, perhaps, + be a time in which Imogene Docimer as a sturdy old maid + shall be respected and serene of mind. As a wife who had + enticed her husband to his misery she would be respected + neither by him nor by herself,--and as for serenity + it would be quite out of the question. I have been + unfortunate. That is all;--but not half so unfortunate as + others that I see around me. + + _Pray_, _pray_, PRAY, take this as final, and thus save + me from renewed trouble and renewed agony. + + Now I am yours truly,-- + never again will I be affectionate to any one + with true feminine love, + + IMOGENE DOCIMER. + + +Houston when he received the above letter of course had no +alternative but to declare that it could not possibly be regarded +as having any avail. And indeed he had heart enough in his bosom to +be warmed to something like true heat by such words as these. The +cabbages and cradles ran up in his estimation. The small house at +Pau, which in some of his more despondent moments had assumed an +unqualified appearance of domestic discomfort, was now ornamented and +accoutred till it seemed to be a little paradise. The very cabbages +blossomed into roses, and the little babies in the cradles produced +a throb of paternal triumph in his heart. If she were woman enough +to propose to herself such an agony of devotion, could he not be +man enough to demand from her a devotion of a different kind? As to +Mudbury Docimer's truth, he believed in it not at all, but was quite +convinced of the man's brutality. Yes; she should hang herself--but +it should be round his neck. The serenity should be displayed by her +not as an aunt but as a wife and mother. As for enticing, did he +not now,--just in this moment of his manly triumph,--acknowledge to +himself that she had enticed him to his happiness, to his glory, to +his welfare? In this frame of mind he wrote his answer as follows;-- + + + MY DEAREST, + + You have no power of changing your mind again. There must + be some limit to vacillations, and that has been reached. + Something must be fixed at last. Something has been fixed + at last, and I most certainly shall not consent to any + further unfixing. What right has Mudbury to pretend to + know my feelings? or, for the matter of that, what right + have you to accept his description of them? I tell you now + that I place my entire happiness in the hope of making + you my wife. I call upon you to ignore all the selfish + declarations as to my own ideas which I have made in times + past. The only right which you could now possibly have + to separate yourself from me would come from your having + ceased to love me. You do not pretend to say that such is + the case; and therefore, with considerable indignation, + but still very civilly, I desire that Mudbury with his + hard-hearted counsels may go to the ---- + + Enticed! Of course you have enticed me. I suppose that + women do as a rule entice men, either to their advantage + or disadvantage. I will leave it to you to say whether + you believe that such enticement, if it be allowed its + full scope, will lead to one or the other as far as I am + concerned. I never was so happy as when I felt that you + had enticed me back to the hopes of former days. + + Now I am yours, as always, and most affectionately, + + FRANK HOUSTON. + + I shall expect the same word back from you by return of + post scored under as eagerly as those futile "prays." + + +Imogene when she received this was greatly disturbed,--not knowing +how to carry herself in her great resolve,--or whether indeed that +resolve must not be again abandoned. She had determined, should her +lover's answer be as she had certainly intended it to be when she +wrote her letter, to go at once to her brother and to declare to him +that the danger was at an end, and that he might return to London +without any fear of a relapse on her part. But she could not do so +with such a reply as that she now held in her pocket. If that reply +could, in very truth, be true, then there must be another revulsion, +another change of purpose, another yielding to absolute joy. If it +could be the case that Frank Houston no longer feared the dangers +that he had feared before, if he had in truth reconciled himself to +a state of things which he had once described as simple poverty, +if he really placed his happiness on the continuation of his love, +then,--then, why should she make the sacrifice? Why should she place +such implicit confidence in her brother's infallibility against +error, seeing that by doing so she would certainly shipwreck her own +happiness,--and his too, if his words were to be trusted? + +He called upon her to write to him again by return of post. She was +to write to him and unsay those prayers, and comfort him with a +repetition of that dear word which she had declared that she would +never use again with all its true meaning. That was his express order +to her. Should she obey it, or should she not obey it? Should she +vacillate again, or should she leave his last letter unanswered +with stern obduracy? She acknowledged to herself that it was a dear +letter, deserving the best treatment at her hands, giving her lover +credit, probably, for more true honesty than he deserved. What was +the best treatment? Her brother had plainly shown his conviction that +the best treatment would be to leave him without meddling with him +any further. Her sister-in-law, though milder in her language, was, +she feared, of the same opinion. Would it not be better for him not +to be meddled with? Ought not that to be her judgment, looking at the +matter all round? + +She did not at any rate obey him at all points, for she left his +letter in her pocket for three or four days, while she considered the +matter backwards and forwards. + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +AUNT ROSINA. + + +During this period of heroism it had been necessary to Houston to +have some confidential friend to whom from time to time he could +speak of his purpose. He could not go on eating slices of boiled +mutton at eating-houses, and drinking dribblets of bad wine out +of little decanters no bigger than the bottles in a cruet stand, +without having some one to encourage him in his efforts. It was a +hard apprenticeship, and, coming as it did rather late in life for +such a beginning, and after much luxurious indulgence, required some +sympathy and consolation. There were Tom Shuttlecock and Lord John +Battledore at the club. Lord John was the man as to whose expulsion +because of his contumacious language so much had been said, but who +lived through that and various other dangers. These had been his +special friends, and to them he had confided everything in regard +to the Tringle marriage. Shuttlecock had ridiculed the very idea of +love, and had told him that everything else was to be thrown to the +dogs in pursuit of a good income. Battledore had reminded him that +there was "a deuced deal of cut-and-come-again in a hundred and +twenty thousand pounds." They had been friends, not always altogether +after his own heart, but friends who had served his purpose when he +was making his raid upon Lombard Street. But they were not men to +whom he could descant on the wholesomeness of cabbages as an article +of daily food, or who would sympathise with the struggling joys of +an embryo father. To their thinking, women were occasionally very +convenient as being the depositaries of some of the accruing wealth +of the world. Frank had been quite worthy of their friendship as +having "spotted" and nearly "run down" for himself a well-laden +city heiress. But now Tom Shuttlecock and Lord John Battledore +were distasteful to him,--as would he be to them. But he found the +confidential friend in his maiden aunt. + +Miss Houston was an old lady,--older than her time, as are some +people,--who lived alone in a small house in Green Street. She was +particular in calling it Green Street, Hyde Park. She was very +anxious to have it known that she never occupied it during the months +of August, September, and October,--though it was often the case with +her that she did not in truth expatriate herself for more than six +weeks. She was careful to have a fashionable seat in a fashionable +church. She dearly loved to see her name in the papers when she was +happy enough to be invited to a house whose entertainments were +chronicled. There were a thousand little tricks,--I will not be harsh +enough to call them unworthy,--by which she served Mammon. But she +did not limit her service to the evil spirit. When in her place in +church she sincerely said her prayers. When in London, or out of it, +she gave a modicum of her slender income to the poor. And, though she +liked to see her name in the papers as one of the fashionable world, +she was a great deal too proud of the blood of the Houstons to toady +any one or to ask for any favour. She was a neat, clean, nice-looking +old lady, who understood that if economies were to be made in eating +and drinking they should be effected at her own table and not at that +of the servants who waited upon her. This was the confidential friend +whom Frank trusted in his new career. + +It must be explained that Aunt Rosina, as Miss Houston was called, +had been well acquainted with her nephew's earlier engagement, +and had approved of Imogene as his future wife. Then had come the +unexpected collapse in the uncle's affairs, by which Aunt Rosina as +well as others in the family had suffered,--and Frank, much to his +aunt's displeasure, had allowed himself to be separated from the lady +of his love on account of his comparative poverty. She had heard +of Gertrude Tringle and all her money, but from a high standing of +birth and social belongings had despised all the Tringles and all +their money. To her, as a maiden lady, truth in love was everything. +To her, as a well-born lady, good blood was everything. Therefore, +though there had been no quarrel between her and Frank, there had +been a cessation of sympathetic interest, and he had been thrown into +the hands of the Battledores and Shuttlecocks. Now again the old +sympathies were revived, and Frank found it convenient to drink tea +with his aunt when other engagements allowed it. + +"I call that an infernal interference," he said to his aunt, showing +her Imogene's letters. + +"My dear Frank, you need not curse and swear," said the old lady. + +"Infernal is not cursing nor yet swearing." Then Miss Houston, having +liberated her mind by her remonstrance, proceeded to read the letter. +"I call that abominable," said Frank, alluding of course to the +allusions made in the letter to Mudbury Docimer. + +"It is a beautiful letter;--just what I should have expected from +Imogene. My dear, I will tell you what I propose. Remain as you are +both of you for five years." + +"Five years. That's sheer nonsense." + +"Five years, my dear, will run by like a dream. Five years to look +back upon is as nothing." + +"But these five years are five years to be looked forward to. It is +out of the question." + +"But you say that you could not live as a married man." + +"Live! I suppose we could live." Then he thought of the cabbages and +the cottage at Pau. "There would be seven hundred a-year I suppose." + +"Couldn't you do something, Frank?" + +"What, to earn money? No; I don't think I could. If I attempted to +break stones I shouldn't break enough to pay for the hammers." + +"Couldn't you write a book?" + +"That would be worse than the stones. I sometimes thought I could +paint a picture,--but, if I did, nobody would buy it. As to making +money that is hopeless. I could save some, by leaving off gloves and +allowing myself only three clean shirts a-week." + +"That would be dreadful, Frank." + +"It would be dreadful, but it is quite clear that I must do +something. An effort has to be made." This he said with a voice the +tone of which was almost heroic. Then they discussed the matter at +great length, in doing which Aunt Rosina thoroughly encouraged him +in his heroism. That idea of remaining unmarried for another short +period of five years was allowed to go by the board, and when they +parted on that night it was understood that steps were to be taken to +bring about a marriage as speedily as possible. + +"Perhaps I can do a little to help," said Aunt Rosina, in a faint +whisper as Frank left the room. + +Frank Houston, when he showed Imogene's letter to his aunt, had +already answered it. Then he waited a day or two, not very patiently, +for a further rejoinder from Imogene,--in which she of course was +to unsay all that she had said before. But when, after four or five +days, no rejoinder had come, and his fervour had been increased by +his expectation, then he told his aunt that he should immediately +take some serious step. The more ardent he was the better his aunt +loved him. Could he have gone down and carried off his bride, and +married her at once, in total disregard of the usual wedding-cake and +St.-George's-Hanover-Square ceremonies to which the Houston family +had always been accustomed, she could have found it in her heart to +forgive him. "Do not be rash, Frank," she said. He merely shook his +head, and as he again left her declared that he was not going to be +driven this way or that by such a fellow as Mudbury Docimer. + +"As I live, there's Frank coming through the gate." This was said by +Imogene to her sister-in-law, as they were walking up and down the +road which led from the lodge to the Tregothnan house. The two ladies +were at that moment discussing Imogene's affairs. No rejoinder had +as yet been made to Frank's last letter, which, to Imogene's feeling, +was the most charming epistle which had ever come from the hands of +a true lover. There had been passion and sincerity in every word of +it;--even when he had been a little too strong in his language as he +denounced the hard-hearted counsels of her brother. But yet she had +not responded to all this sincerity, nor had she as yet withdrawn +the resolution which she had herself declared. Mrs. Docimer was of +opinion that that resolution should not be withdrawn, and had striven +to explain that the circumstances were now the same as when, after +full consideration, they had determined that the engagement should +come to an end. At this very moment she was speaking words of wisdom +to this effect, and as she did so Frank appeared, walking up from the +gate. + +"What will Mudbury say?" was Mrs. Docimer's first ejaculation. +But Imogene, before she had considered how this danger might be +encountered, rushed forward and gave herself up,--I fear we must +confess,--into the arms of her lover. After that it was felt at once +that she had withdrawn all her last resolution and had vacillated +again. There was no ground left even for an argument now that she had +submitted herself to be embraced. Frank's words of affection need not +here be repeated, but they were of a nature to leave no doubt on the +minds of either of the ladies. + +Mudbury had declared that he would not receive Houston in his +house as his sister's lover, and had expressed his opinion that +even Houston would not have the face to show his face there. But +Houston had come, and something must be done with him. It was soon +ascertained that he had walked over from Penzance, which was but +two miles off, and had left his portmanteau behind him. "I wouldn't +bring anything," said he. "Mudbury would find it easier to maltreat +my things than myself. It would look so foolish to tell the man with +a fly to carry them back at once. Is he in the house?" + +"He is about the place," said Mrs. Docimer, almost trembling. + +"Is he very fierce against me?" + +"He thinks it had better be all over." + +"I am of a different way of thinking, you see. I cannot acknowledge +that he has any right to dictate to Imogene." + +"Nor can I," said Imogene. + +"Of course he can turn me out." + +"If he does I shall go with you," said Imogene. + +"We have made up our minds to it," said Frank, "and he had better let +us do as we please. He can make himself disagreeable, of course; but +he has got no power to prevent us." Now they had reached the house, +and Frank was of course allowed to enter. Had he not entered neither +would Imogene, who was so much taken by this further instance of +her lover's ardour that she was determined now to be led by him +in everything. His explanation of that word "enticed" had been so +thoroughly satisfactory to her that she was no longer in the least +angry with herself because she had enticed him. She had quite come to +see that it is the duty of a young woman to entice a young man. + +Frank and Imogene were soon left alone, not from any kindness of +feeling on the part of Mrs. Docimer, but because the wife felt it +necessary to find her husband. "Oh, Mudbury, who do you think has +come? He is here!" + +"Houston!" + +"Yes; Frank Houston!" + +"In the house?" + +"He is in the house. But he hasn't brought anything. He doesn't mean +to stay." + +"What does that matter? He shall not be asked even to dine here." + +"If he is turned out she will go with him! If she says so she will do +it. You cannot prevent her. That's what would come of it if she were +to insist on going up to London with him." + +"He is a scoundrel!" + +"No; Mudbury;--not a scoundrel. You cannot call him a scoundrel. +There is something firm about him; isn't there?" + +"To come to my house when I told him not?" + +"But he does really love her." + +"Bother!" + +"At any rate there they are in the breakfast-parlour, and something +must be done. I couldn't tell him not to come in. And she wouldn't +have come without him. There will be enough for them to live upon. +Don't you think you'd better?" Docimer, as he returned to the house, +declared that he "did not think he'd better." But he had to confess +to himself that, whether it were better or whether it were worse, he +could do very little to prevent it. + +The greeting of the two men was anything but pleasant. "What I have +got to say I would rather say outside," said Docimer. + +"Certainly," said Frank. "I suppose I'm to be allowed to return?" + +"If he does not,"--said Imogene, who at her brother's request had +left the room, but still stood at the open door,--"if he does not +I shall go to him in Penzance. You will hardly attempt to keep me a +prisoner." + +"Who says that he is not to return? I think that you are two idiots, +but I am quite aware that I cannot prevent you from being married if +you are both determined." Then he led the way out through the hall, +and Frank followed him. "I cannot understand that any man should be +so fickle," he said, when they were both out on the walk together. + +"Constant, I should suppose you mean." + +"I said fickle, and I meant it. It was at your own suggestion that +you and Imogene were to be separated." + +"No doubt; it was at my suggestion, and with her consent. But you see +that we have changed our minds." + +"And will change them again." + +"We are steady enough in our purpose, now, at any rate. You hear +what she says. If I came down here to persuade her to alter her +purpose,--to talk her into doing something of which you disapproved, +and as to which she agreed with you,--then you might do something by +quarreling with me. But what's the use of it, when she and I are of +one mind? You know that you cannot talk her over." + +"Where do you mean to live?" + +"I'll tell you all about that if you'll allow me to send into +Penzance for my things. I cannot discuss matters with you if you +proclaim yourself to be my enemy. You say we are both idiots." + +"I do." + +"Very well. Then you had better put up with two idiots. You can't +cure their idiocy. Nor have you any authority to prevent them from +exhibiting it." The argument was efficacious though the idiocy was +acknowledged. The portmanteau was sent for, and before the evening +was over Frank had again been received at Tregothnan as Imogene's +accepted lover. + +Then Frank had his story to tell and his new proposition to make. +Aunt Rosina had offered to join her means with his. The house in +Green Street, no doubt, was small, but room it was thought could be +made, at any rate till the necessity had come for various cribs and +various cradles. "I cannot imagine that you will endure to live with +Aunt Rosina," said the brother. + +"Why on earth should I object to Aunt Rosina?" said Imogene. "She and +I have always been friends." In her present mood she would hardly +have objected to live with any old woman, however objectionable. "And +we shall be able to have a small cottage somewhere," said Frank. "She +will keep the house in London, and we shall keep the cottage." + +"And what on earth will you do with yourself?" + +"I have thought of that too," said Frank. "I shall take to painting +pictures in earnest;--portraits probably. I don't see why I shouldn't +do as well as anybody else." + +"That head of yours of old Mrs. Jones," said Imogene, "was a great +deal better than dozens of things one sees every year in the +Academy." + +"Bother!" exclaimed Docimer. + +"I don't see why he should not succeed, if he really will work hard," +said Mrs. Docimer. + +"Bother!" + +"Why should it be bother?" said Frank, put upon his mettle. "Ever so +many fellows have begun and have got on, older than I am. And, even +if I don't earn anything, I've got an employment." + +"And is the painting-room to be in Green Street also?" asked Docimer. + +"Just at present I shall begin by copying things at the National +Gallery," explained Houston, who was not as yet prepared with his +answer to that difficulty as to a studio in the little house in Green +Street. + +When the matter had been carried as far as this it was manifest +enough that anything like opposition to Imogene's marriage was to be +withdrawn. Houston remained at Tregothnan for a couple of days and +then returned to London. A week afterwards the Docimers followed +him, and early in the following June the two lovers, after all their +troubles and many vacillations, were made one at St. George's church, +to the great delight of Aunt Rosina. It cannot be said that the +affair gave equal satisfaction to all the bridegroom's friends, as +may be learnt from the following narration of two conversations which +took place in London very shortly after the wedding. + +"Fancy after all that fellow Houston going and marrying such a +girl as Imogene Docimer, without a single blessed shilling to keep +themselves alive." This was said in the smoking-room of Houston's +club by Lord John Battledore to Tom Shuttlecock; but it was said +quite aloud, so that Houston's various acquaintances might be enabled +to offer their remarks on so interesting a subject; and to express +their pity for the poor object of their commiseration. + +"It's the most infernal piece of folly I ever heard in my life," said +Shuttlecock. "There was that Tringle girl with two hundred thousand +pounds to be had just for the taking;--Traffick's wife's sister, you +know." + +"There was something wrong about that," said another. "Benjamin +Batsby, that stupid fellow who used to be in the twentieth, ran off +with her just when everything had been settled between Houston and +old Tringle." + +"Not a bit of it," said Battledore. "Tringle had quarrelled with +Houston before that. Batsby did go with her, but the governor +wouldn't come down with the money. Then the girl was brought back +and there was no marriage." Upon that the condition of poor Gertrude +in reference to her lovers and her fortune was discussed by those +present with great warmth; but they all agreed that Houston had +proved himself to be a bigger fool than any of them had expected. + +"By George, he's going to set up for painting portraits," said Lord +John, with great disgust. + +In Queen's Gate the matter was discussed by the ladies there very +much in the same spirit. At this time Gertrude was engaged to Captain +Batsby, if not with the full approbation at any rate with the consent +both of her father and mother, and therefore she could speak of +Frank Houston and his bride, if with disdain, still without wounded +feelings. "Here it is in the papers, Francis Houston and Imogene +Docimer," said Mrs. Traffick. + +"So she has really caught him at last!" said Gertrude. + +"There was not much to catch," rejoined Mrs. Traffick. "I doubt +whether they have got £500 a year between them." + +"It does seem so very sudden," said Lady Tringle. + +"Sudden!" said Gertrude. "They have been about it for the last five +years. Of course he has tried to wriggle out of it all through. I am +glad that she has succeeded at last, if only because he deserves it." + +"I wonder where they'll find a place to live in," said Augusta. This +took place in the bedroom which Mrs. Traffick still occupied in +Queen's Gate, when she had been just a month a mother. + +Thus, with the kind assistance of Aunt Rosina, Frank Houston and +Imogene Docimer were married at last, and the chronicler hereby +expresses a hope that it may not be long before Frank may see a +picture of his own hanging on the walls of the Academy, and that he +may live to be afraid of the coming of no baby. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +TOM TRINGLE GOES UPON HIS TRAVELS. + + +We must again go back and pick up our threads to April, having rushed +forward to be present at the wedding of Frank Houston and Imogene +Docimer, which did not take place till near Midsummer. This we must +do at once in regard to Tom Tringle, who, if the matter be looked at +aright, should be regarded as the hero of this little history. Ayala +indeed, who is no doubt the real heroine among so many young ladies +who have been more or less heroic, did not find in him the angel of +whom she had dreamed, and whose personal appearance on earth was +necessary to her happiness. But he had been able very clearly to pick +out an angel for himself, and, though he had failed in his attempts +to take the angel home with him, had been constant in his endeavours +as long as there remained to him a chance of success. He had shown +himself to be foolish, vulgar, and ignorant. He had given way to +Bolivian champagne and Faddle intimacies. He had been silly enough +to think that he could bribe his Ayala with diamonds for herself, +and charm her with cheaper jewelry on his own person. He had thought +to soar high by challenging his rival to a duel, and had then been +tempted by pot courage to strike him in the streets. A very vulgar +and foolish young man! But a young man capable of a persistent +passion! Young men not foolish and not vulgar are, perhaps, common +enough. But the young men of constant heart and capable of such +persistency as Tom's are not to be found every day walking about the +streets of the metropolis. Jonathan Stubbs was constant, too; but it +may be doubted whether the Colonel ever really despaired. The merit +is to despair and yet to be constant. When a man has reason to be +assured that a young lady is very fond of him, he may always hope +that love will follow,--unless indeed the love which he seeks +has been already given away elsewhere. Moreover, Stubbs had many +substantial supports at his back; the relationship of the Marchesa, +the friendship of Lady Albury, the comforts of Stalham,--and not +least, if last, the capabilities and prowess of Croppy. Then, too, +he was neither vulgar nor foolish nor ignorant. Tom Tringle had +everything against him,--everything that would weigh with Ayala; and +yet he fought his battle out to the last gasp. Therefore, I desire my +hearers to regard Tom Tringle as the hero of the transactions with +which they have been concerned, and to throw their old shoes after +him as he starts away upon his grand tour. + +"Tom, my boy, you have to go, you know, in four days," said his +father to him. At this time Tom had as yet given no positive consent +as to his departure. He had sunk into a low state of moaning and +groaning, in which he refused even to accede to the doctrine of the +expediency of a manly bearing. "What's the good of telling a lie +about it?" he would say to his mother. "What's the good of manliness +when a fellow would rather be drowned?" He had left his bed indeed, +and had once or twice sauntered out of the house. He had been +instigated by his sister to go down to his club, under the idea +that by such an effort he would shake off the despondency which +overwhelmed him. But he had failed in the attempts, and had walked by +the doors of the Mountaineers, finding himself unable to face the +hall-porter. But still the preparations for his departure were going +on. It was presumed that he was to leave London for Liverpool on the +Friday, and his father had now visited him in his own room on the +Tuesday evening with the intention of extorting from him his final +consent. Sir Thomas had on that morning expressed himself very freely +to his son-in-law Mr. Traffick, and on returning home had been glad +to find that his words had been of avail, at any rate as regarded the +dinner-hour. He was tender-hearted towards his son, and disposed to +tempt him rather than threaten him into obedience. + +"I haven't ever said I would go," replied Tom. + +"But you must, you know. Everything has been packed up, and I want to +make arrangements with you about money. I have got a cabin for you to +yourself, and Captain Merry says that you will have a very pleasant +passage. The equinoxes are over." + +"I don't care about the equinoxes," said Tom. "I should like bad +weather if I am to go." + +"Perhaps you may have a touch of that, too." + +"If the ship could be dashed against a rock I should prefer it!" +exclaimed Tom. + +"That's nonsense. The Cunard ships never are dashed against rocks. +By the time you've been three days at sea you'll be as hungry as a +hunter. Now, Tom, how about money?" + +"I don't care about money," said Tom. + +"Don't you? Then you're very unlike anybody else that I meet. I think +I had better give you power to draw at New York, San Francisco, +Yokohama, Pekin, and Calcutta." + +"Am I to go to Pekin?" asked Tom, with renewed melancholy. + +"Well, yes;--I think so. You had better see what the various houses +are doing in China. And then from Calcutta you can go up the country. +By that time I dare say we shall have possession of Cabul. With such +a government as we have now, thank God! the Russians will have been +turned pretty nearly out of Asia by this time next year."* + + + [*It has to be stated that this story was written in 1878.] + + +"Am I to be away more than a year?" + +"If I were you," said the father, glad to catch the glimmer of assent +which was hereby implied,--"if I were you I would do it thoroughly +whilst I was about it. Had I seen so much when I was young I should +have been a better man of business." + +"It's all the same to me," said Tom. "Say ten years, if you like it! +Say twenty! I shan't ever want to come back again. Where am I to go +after Cabul?" + +"I didn't exactly fix it that you should go to Cabul. Of course you +will write home and give me your own opinion as you travel on. You +will stay two or three months probably in the States." + +"Am I to go to Niagara?" he asked. + +"Of course you will, if you wish it. The Falls of Niagara, I am told, +are very wonderful." + +"If a man is to drown himself," said Tom, "it's the sort of place to +do it effectually." + +"Oh, Tom!" exclaimed his father. "Do you speak to me in that way when +I am doing everything in my power to help you in your trouble?" + +"You cannot help me," said Tom. + +"Circumstances will. Time will do it. Employment will do it. A sense +of your dignity as a man will do it, when you find yourself amongst +others who know nothing of what you have suffered. You revel in your +grief now because those around you know that you have failed. All +that will be changed when you are with strangers. You should not talk +to your father of drowning yourself!" + +"That was wrong. I know it was wrong," said Tom, humbly. "I won't do +it if I can help it,--but perhaps I had better not go there. And how +long ought I to stay at Yokohama? Perhaps you had better put it all +down on a bit of paper." Then Sir Thomas endeavoured to explain to +him that all that he said now was in the way of advice. That it would +be in truth left to himself to go almost where he liked, and to stay +at each place almost as long as he liked;--that he would be his own +master, and that within some broad and undefined limits he would have +as much money as he pleased to spend. Surely no preparations for a +young man's tour were ever made with more alluring circumstances! But +Tom could not be tempted into any expression of satisfaction. + +This, however, Sir Thomas did gain,--that before he left his son's +room it was definitely settled,--that Tom should take his departure +on the Friday, going down to Liverpool by an afternoon train on that +day. "I tell you what," said Sir Thomas; "I'll go down with you, see +you on board the ship, and introduce you to Captain Merry. I shall be +glad of an opportunity of paying a visit to Liverpool." And so the +question of Tom's departure was settled. + +On the Wednesday and Thursday he seemed to take some interest in +his bags and portmanteaus, and began himself to look after those +assuagements of the toils of travel which are generally dear to young +men. He interested himself in a fur coat, in a well-arranged despatch +box, and in a very neat leathern case which was intended to hold two +brandy flasks. He consented to be told of the number of his shirts, +and absolutely expressed an opinion that he should want another pair +of dress-boots. When this occurred every female bosom in the house, +from Lady Tringle's down to the kitchenmaid's, rejoiced at the signs +of recovery which evinced themselves. But neither Lady Tringle nor +the kitchenmaid, nor did any of the intermediate female bosoms, know +how he employed himself when he left the house on that Thursday +afternoon. He walked across the Park, and, calling at Kingsbury +Crescent, left a note addressed to his aunt. It was as follows:--"I +start to-morrow afternoon,--I hardly know whither. It may be for +years or it may be for ever. I should wish to say a word to Ayala +before I go. Will she see me if I come at twelve o'clock exactly +to-morrow morning? I will call for an answer in half-an-hour. T. T., +junior. Of course I am aware that Ayala is to become the bride of +Colonel Jonathan Stubbs." In half-an-hour he returned, and got his +answer. "Ayala will be glad to have an opportunity of saying good-bye +to you to-morrow morning." + +From this it will be seen that Ayala had at that time returned from +Stalham to Kingsbury Crescent. She had come back joyful in heart, +thoroughly triumphant as to her angel, with everything in the world +sweet and happy before her,--desirous if possible to work her fingers +off in mending the family linen, if only she could do something for +somebody in return for all the joy that the world was giving her. +When she was told that Tom wished to see her for the last time,--for +the last time at any rate before her marriage,--she assented at once. +"I think you should see him as he asks it," said her aunt. + +"Poor Tom! Of course I will see him." And so the note was written +which Tom received when he called the second time at the door. + +At half-past eleven he skulked out of the house in Queen's Gate, +anxious to avoid his mother and sisters, who were on their side +anxious to devote every remaining minute of the time to his comfort +and welfare. I am afraid it must be acknowledged that he went with +all his jewelry. It could do no good. At last he was aware of that. +But still he thought that she would like him better with his jewelry +than without it. Stubbs wore no gems, not even a ring, and Ayala when +she saw her cousin enter the room could only assure herself that the +male angels certainly were never be-jewelled. She was alone in the +drawing-room, Mrs. Dosett having arranged that at the expiration of +ten minutes, which were to be allowed to Tom for his private adieux, +she would come down to say good-bye to her nephew. "Ayala!" said Tom. + +"So you are going away,--for a very long journey, Tom." + +"Yes, Ayala; for a very long journey; to Pekin and Cabul, if I live +through, to get to those sort of places." + +"I hope you will live through, Tom." + +"Thank you, Ayala. Thank you. I daresay I shall. They tell me I shall +get over it. I don't feel like getting over it now." + +"You'll find some beautiful young lady at Pekin, perhaps." + +"Beauty will never have any effect upon me again, Ayala. Beauty +indeed! Think what I have suffered from beauty! From the first moment +in which you came down to Glenbogie I have been a victim to it. It +has destroyed me,--destroyed me!" + +"I am sure you will come back quite well," said Ayala, hardly knowing +how to answer the last appeal. + +"Perhaps I may. If I can only get my heart to turn to stone, then I +shall. I don't know why I should have been made to care so much about +it. Other people don't." + +"And now we must say, Good-bye, I suppose." + +"Oh, yes;--good-bye! I did want to say one or two words if you ain't +in a hurry. Of course you'll be his bride now." + +"I hope so," said Ayala. + +"I take that for granted. Of course I hate him." + +"Oh, Tom; you shan't say that." + +"It's human nature! I can tell a lie if you want it. I'd do anything +for you. But you may tell him this: I'm very sorry I struck him." + +"He knows that, Tom. He has said so to me." + +"He behaved well to me,--very well,--as he always does to everybody." + +"Now, Tom, that is good of you. I do like you so much for saying +that." + +"But I hate him!" + +"No!" + +"The evil spirits always hate the good ones. I am conscious of an +evil spirit within my bosom. It is because my spirit is evil that you +would not love me. He is good, and you love him." + +"Yes; I do," said Ayala. + +"And now we will change the conversation. Ayala, I have got a little +present which you must take from me." + +"Oh, no!" said Ayala, thinking of the diamond necklace. + +"It's only a little thing,--and I hope you will." Then he brought out +from his pocket a small brooch which he had selected from his own +stock of jewelry for the occasion. "We are cousins, you know." + +"Yes, we are cousins," said Ayala, accepting the brooch, but still +accepting it unwillingly. + +"He must be very disdainful if he would object to such a little thing +as this," said Tom, referring to the Colonel. + +"He is not at all disdainful. He will not object in the least. I am +sure of that, Tom. I will take it then, and I will wear it sometimes +as a memento that we have parted like friends,--as cousins should +do." + +"Yes, as friends," said Tom, who thought that even that word was +softer to his ear than cousins. Then he took her by the hand and +looked into her face wistfully, thinking what might be the effect +if for the last and for the first time he should snatch a kiss. Had +he done so I think she would have let it pass without rebuke under +the guise of cousinship. It would have been very disagreeable;--but +then he was going away for so long a time, for so many miles! But at +the moment Mrs. Dosett came in, and Ayala was saved. "Good-bye," he +said; "good-bye," and without waiting to take the hand which his aunt +offered him he hurried out of the room, out of the house, and back +across the Gardens to Queen's Gate. + +At Queen's Gate there was an early dinner, at three o'clock, at which +Sir Thomas did not appear, as he had arranged to come out of the +city and meet his son at the railway station. There were, therefore, +sitting at the board for the last time the mother and the two sisters +with the intending traveller. "Oh, Tom," said Lady Tringle, as +soon as the servant had left them together, "I do so hope you will +recover." + +"Of course he will recover," said Augusta. + +"Why shouldn't he recover?" asked Gertrude. "It's all in a person's +mind. If he'd only make up his mind not to think about her the thing +would be done, and there would be nothing the matter with him." + +"There are twenty others, ever so much better than Ayala, would have +him to-morrow," said his mother. + +"And be glad to catch him," said Gertrude. "He's not like one of +those who haven't got anything to make a wife comfortable with." + +"As for Ayala," said Augusta, "she didn't deserve such good luck. +I am told that that Colonel Stubbs can't afford to keep any kind of +carriage for her. But then, to be sure, she has never been used to a +carriage." + +"Oh, Tom, do look up," said his mother, "and say that you will try to +be happy." + +"He'll be all right in New York," said Gertrude. "There's no place in +the world, they say, where the girls put themselves forward so much, +and make things so pleasant for the young men." + +"He will soon find some one there," said Augusta, "with a deal more +to say for herself than Ayala, and a great deal better-looking." + +"I hope he will find some one who will really love him," said his +mother. + +Tom sat silent while he listened to all this encouragement, turning +his face from one speaker to the other. It was continued, with many +other similar promises of coming happiness, and assurances that +he had been a gainer in losing all that he lost, when he suddenly +turned sharply upon them, and strongly expressed his feelings to his +sisters. "I don't believe that either of you know anything about it," +he said. + +"Don't know anything about what?" said Augusta, who as a lady who +had been married over twelve months, and was soon about to become a +mother, felt that she certainly did know all about it. + +"Why don't we know as well as you?" asked Gertrude, who had also had +her experiences. + +"I don't believe you do know anything about it;--that's all," said +Tom. "And now there's the cab. Good-bye, mother! Good-bye, Augusta. +I hope you'll be all right." This alluded to the baby. "Good-bye, +Gertrude. I hope you'll get all right too some day." This alluded to +Gertrude's two lovers. Then he left them, and as he got into his cab +declared to himself that neither of them had ever, or would ever, +know anything of that special trouble which had so nearly overwhelmed +himself. + +"Upon my word, Tom," said his father, walking about the vessel with +him, "I wish I were going to New York myself with you;--it all looks +so comfortable." + +"Yes," said Tom, "it's very nice." + +"You'll enjoy yourself amazingly. There is that Mrs. Thompson has two +as pretty daughters with her as ever a man wished to see." Tom shook +his head. "And you're fond of smoking. Did you see the smoking-room? +They've got everything on board these ships now. Upon my word I envy +you the voyage." + +"It's as good as anything else, I daresay," said Tom. "Perhaps it's +better than London." + +Then his father, who had been speaking aloud to him, whispered a word +in his ear. "Shake yourself, Tom;--shake yourself, and get over it." + +"I am trying," said Tom. + +"Love is a very good thing, Tom, when a man can enjoy it, and make +himself warm with it, and protect himself by it from selfishness and +hardness of heart. But when it knocks a man's courage out of him, and +makes him unfit for work, and leaves him to bemoan himself, there's +nothing good in it. It's as bad as drink. Don't you know that I am +doing the best I can for you, to make a man of you?" + +"I suppose so." + +"Then shake yourself, as I call it. It is to be done, if you set +about it in earnest. Now, God bless you, my boy." Then Sir Thomas +got into his boat, and left his son to go upon his travels and get +himself cured by a change of scene. + +I have no doubt that Tom was cured, if not before he reached New +York, at any rate before he left that interesting city;--so that when +he reached Niagara, which he did do in company with Mrs. Thompson and +her charming daughters, he entertained no idea of throwing himself +down the Falls. We cannot follow him on that prolonged tour to Japan +and China, and thence to Calcutta and Bombay. I fancy that he did +not go on to Cabul, as before that time the Ministry in England was +unfortunately changed, and the Russians had not as yet been expelled +from Asia;--but I have little doubt that he obtained a great deal of +very useful mercantile information, and that he will live to have +a comfortable wife and a large family, and become in the course of +years the senior partner in the great house of Travers and Treason. +Let us, who have soft hearts, now throw our old shoes after him. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +HOW VERY MUCH HE LOVED HER. + + +We have seen how Mr. Traffick was finally turned out of his +father-in-law's house;--or, rather, not quite finally when we last +saw him, as he continued to sleep at Queen's Gate for two or three +nights after that, until he had found shelter for his head. This he +did without encountering Sir Thomas, Sir Thomas pretending the while +to believe that he was gone; and then in very truth his last pair +of boots was removed. But his wife remained, awaiting the great +occurrence with all the paternal comforts around her, Mr. Traffick +having been quite right in surmising that the father would not expose +his daughter in her delicate condition to the inclemencies of the +weather. + +But this no more than natural attention on the part of the father and +grandfather to the needs of his own daughter and grandchild did not +in the least mitigate in the bosom of the Member of Parliament the +wrath which he felt at his own expulsion. It was not, as he said to +himself, the fact that he was expelled, but the coarseness of the +language used. "The truth is," he said to a friend in the House, +"that, though it was arranged I should remain there till after my +wife's confinement, I could not bear his language." It will probably +be acknowledged that the language was of a nature not to be borne. + +When, therefore, Captain Batsby went down to the House on the day +of Tom's departure to see his counsellor he found Mr. Traffick full +rather of anger than of counsel. "Oh, yes," said the Member, walking +with the Captain up and down some of the lobbies, "I spoke to him, +and told him my mind very freely. When I say I'll do a thing, I +always do it. And as for Tringle, nobody knows him better than I. It +does not do to be afraid of him. There is a little bit of the cur +about him." + +"What did he say?" + +"He didn't like it. The truth is--. You know I don't mind speaking to +you openly." + +"Oh, no," said Batsby. + +"He thinks he ought to do as well with the second girl as he has +done with the first." Captain Batsby at this opened his eyes, but +he said nothing. Having a good income of his own, he thought much +of it. Not being the younger son of a lord, and not being a Member +of Parliament, he thought less of the advantages of those high +privileges. It did not suit him, however, to argue the question at +the present moment. "He is proud of his connection with our family, +and looks perhaps even more than he ought to do to a seat in the +House." + +"I could get in myself if I cared for it," said Batsby. + +"Very likely. It is more difficult than ever to find a seat just now. +A family connection of course does help one. I had to trust to that a +good deal before I was known myself." + +"But what did Sir Thomas say?" + +"He made himself uncommonly disagreeable;--I can tell you that. He +couldn't very well abuse me, but he wasn't very particular in what he +said about you. Of course he was cut up about the elopement. We all +felt it. Augusta was very much hurt. In her precarious state it was +so likely to do a mischief." + +"It can't be undone now." + +"No;--it can't be undone. But it makes one feel that you can't make +a demand for money as though you set about it in the other way. When +I made up my mind to marry I stated what I thought I had a right +to demand, and I got it. He knew very well that I shouldn't take a +shilling less. It does make a difference when he knows very well that +you've got to marry the girl whether with or without money." + +"I haven't got to marry the girl at all." + +"Haven't you? I rather think you have, old fellow. It is generally +considered that when a gentleman has gone off with a girl he means to +marry her." + +"Not if the father comes after her and brings her back." + +"And when he has gone afterwards to the family house and proposed +himself again in the mother's presence." In all this Mr. Traffick +received an unfair advantage from the communications which were made +to him by his wife. "Of course you must marry her. Sir Thomas knows +that, and, knowing it, why should he be flush with his money? I never +allowed myself to say a single word they could use against me till +the ready-money-down had been all settled." + +"What was it he did say?" Batsby was thoroughly sick of hearing his +counsellor tell so many things as to his own prudence and his own +success, and asked the question in an angry tone. + +"He said that he would not consider the question of money at all till +the marriage had been solemnised. Of course he stands on his right. +Why shouldn't he? But, rough as he is, he isn't stingy. Give him his +due. He isn't stingy. The money's there all right; and the girl is +his own child. You'll have to wait his time;--that's all." + +"And have nothing to begin with?" + +"That'll be about it, I think. But what does it matter, Batsby? You +are always talking about your income." + +"No, I ain't; not half so much as you do of your seat in +Parliament,--which everybody says you are likely to lose at the next +election." Then, of course, there was a quarrel. Mr. Traffick took +his offended dignity back to the House,--almost doubting whether it +might not be his duty to bring Captain Batsby to the bar for contempt +of privilege; and the Captain took himself off in thorough disgust. + +Nevertheless there was the fact that he had engaged himself to the +young lady a second time. He had run away with her with the object +of marrying her, and had then, according to his own theory in such +matters,--been relieved from his responsibility by the appearance of +the father and the re-abduction of the young lady. As the young lady +had been taken away from him it was to be supposed that the intended +marriage was negatived by a proper authority. When starting for +Brussels he was a free man; and had he been wise he would have +remained there, or at some equally safe distance from the lady's +charms. Then, from a distance, he might have made his demand for +money, and the elopement would have operated in his favour rather +than otherwise. But he had come back, and had foolishly allowed +himself to be persuaded to show himself at Queen's Gate. He had +obeyed Traffick's advice, and now Traffick had simply thrown him over +and quarrelled with him. He had too promised, in the presence both of +the mother and the married sister, that he would marry the young lady +without any regard to money. He felt it all and was very angry with +himself, consoling himself as best he might with the reflection that +Sir Thomas's money was certainly safe, and that Sir Thomas himself +was a liberal man. In his present condition it would be well for him, +he thought, to remain inactive and see what circumstances would do +for him. + +But circumstances very quickly became active. On his return to his +lodgings, after leaving Mr. Traffick, he found a note from Queen's +Gate. "Dearest Ben,--Mamma wants you to come and lunch to-morrow. +Papa has taken poor Tom down to Liverpool, and won't be back till +dinner-time.--G." He did not do as he was bid, alleging some +engagement of business. But the persecution was continued in such +a manner as to show him that all opposition on his part would be +hopeless unless he were to proceed on some tour as prolonged as that +of his future brother-in-law. "Come and walk at three o'clock in +Kensington Gardens to-morrow." This was written on the Saturday after +his note had been received. What use would there be in continuing a +vain fight? He was in their hands, and the more gracefully he yielded +the more probable it would be that the father would evince his +generosity at an early date. He therefore met his lady-love on the +steps of the Albert Memorial, whither she had managed to take herself +all alone from the door of the family mansion. + +"Ben," she said, as she greeted him, "why did you not come for me to +the house?" + +"I thought you would like it best." + +"Why should I like it best? Of course mamma knows all about it. +Augusta would have come with me just to see me here, only that she +cannot walk out just at present." Then he said something to her about +the Monument, expressed his admiration of the Prince's back, abused +the east wind, remarked that the buds were coming on some of the +trees, and suggested that the broad road along by the Round Pond +would be drier than the little paths. It was not interesting, as +Gertrude felt; but she had not expected him to be interesting. The +interest she knew must be contributed by herself. "Ben," she said, +"I was so happy to hear what you said to mamma the other day." + +"What did I say?" + +"Why, of course, that, as papa has given his consent, our engagement +is to go on just as if--" + +"Just as if what?" + +"As if we had found the clergyman at Ostend." + +"If we had done that we should have been married now," suggested +Batsby. + +"Exactly. And it's almost as good as being married;--isn't it?" + +"I suppose it comes to the same thing." + +"Hadn't you better go to papa again and have it all finished?" + +"He makes himself so very unpleasant." + +"That's only because he wants to punish us for running away. I +suppose it was wrong. I shall never be sorry, because it made me know +how very, very much you loved me. Didn't it make you feel how very, +very dearly I loved you,--to trust myself all alone with you in that +way?" + +"Oh, yes; of course." + +"And papa can't bite you, you know. You go to him, and tell him that +you hope to be received in the house as my,--my future husband, you +know." + +"Shall I say nothing else?" + +"You mean about the day?" + +"I was meaning about money." + +"I don't think I would. He is very generous, but he does not like to +be asked. When Augusta was to be married he arranged all that himself +after they were engaged." + +"But Traffick demanded a certain sum?" This question Captain Batsby +asked with considerable surprise, remembering what Mr. Traffick had +said to him in reference to Augusta's fortune. + +"Not at all. Septimus knew nothing about it till after the +engagement. He was only too glad to get papa's consent. You mustn't +believe all that Septimus says, you know. You may be sure of +this,--that you can trust papa's generosity." Then, before he landed +her at the door in Queen's Gate, he had promised that he would make +another journey to Lombard Street, with the express purpose of +obtaining Sir Thomas's sanction to the marriage,--either with or +without money. + +"How are you again?" said Sir Thomas, when the Captain was for the +third time shown into the little back parlour. "Have you had another +trip to the continent since I saw you?" Sir Thomas was in a good +humour. Tom had gone upon his travels; Mr. Traffick had absolutely +taken himself out of the house; and the millions were accommodating +themselves comfortably. + +"No, Sir Thomas; I haven't been abroad since then. I don't keep on +going abroad constantly in that way." + +"And what can I do for you now?" + +"Of course it's about your daughter. I want to have your permission +to consider ourselves engaged." + +"I explained to you before that if you and Gertrude choose to marry +each other I shall not stand in your way." + +"Thank you, Sir." + +"I don't know that it is much to thank me for. Only that she made a +fool of herself by running away with you I should have preferred to +wait till some more sensible candidate had proposed himself for her +hand. I don't suppose you'll ever set the Thames on fire." + +"I did very well in the army." + +"It's a pity you did not remain there, and then, perhaps, you would +not have gone to Ostend with my daughter. As it is, there she is. I +think she might have done better with herself; but that is her fault. +She has made her bed and she must lie upon it." + +"If we are to be married I hope you won't go on abusing me always, +Sir Thomas." + +"That's as you behave. You didn't suppose that I should allow such a +piece of tomfoolery as that to be passed over without saying anything +about it! If you marry her and behave well to her I will--" Then he +paused. + +"What will you do, Sir Thomas?" + +"I'll say as little as possible about the Ostend journey." + +"And as to money, Sir Thomas?" + +"I think I have promised quite enough for you. You are not in a +position, Captain Batsby, to ask me as to money;--nor is she. You +shall marry her without a shilling,--or you shall not marry her at +all. Which is it to be? I must have an end put to all this. I won't +have you hanging about my house unless I know the reason why. Are you +two engaged to each other?" + +"I suppose we are," said Batsby, lugubriously. + +"Suppose is not enough." + +"We are," said Batsby, courageously. + +"Very well. Then, from this moment, Ostend shall be as though there +weren't such a seaport anywhere in Europe. I will never allude to the +place again,--unless, perhaps, you should come and stay with me too +long when I am particularly anxious to get rid of you. Now you had +better go and settle about the time and all that with Lady Tringle, +and tell her that you mean to come and dine to-morrow or next day, +or whenever it suits. Come and dine as often as you please, only do +not bring your wife to live with me pertinaciously when you're not +asked." All this Captain Batsby did not understand, but, as he left +Lombard Street, he made up his mind that of all the men he had ever +met, Sir Thomas Tringle, his future father-in-law, was the most +singular. "He's a better fellow than Traffick," said Sir Thomas to +himself when he was alone, "and as he has trusted me so far I'll not +throw him over." + +The Captain now had no hesitation in taking himself to Queen's Gate. +As he was to be married he might as well make the best of such +delights as were to be found in the happy state of mutual affection. +"My dear, dearest Benjamin, I am so happy," said Lady Tringle, +dissolved in tears as she embraced her son-in-law that was to be. +"You will always be so dear to me!" In this she was quite true. +Traffick was not dear to her. She had at first thought much of Mr. +Traffick's position and noble blood, but, of late, she too had +become very tired of Mr. Traffick. Augusta took almost too much upon +herself, and Mr. Traffick's prolonged presence had been an eyesore. +Captain Batsby was softer, and would be much more pleasant as a +son-in-law. Even the journey to Ostend had had a good effect in +producing a certain humility. + +"My dear Benjamin," said Augusta, "we shall always be so happy to +entertain you as a brother. Mr. Traffick has a great regard for +you, and said from the first that if you behaved as you ought to do +after that little journey he would arrange that everything should go +straight between you and papa. I was quite sure that you would come +forward at once as a man." + +But Gertrude's delight was, of course, the strongest, and Gertrude's +welcoming the warmest,--as was proper. "When I think of it," she said +to him, "I don't know how I should ever have looked anybody in the +face again,--after our going away with our things mixed up in that +way." + +"I am glad rather now that we didn't find the clergyman." + +"Oh, certainly," said Gertrude. "I don't suppose anybody would have +given me anything. Now there'll be a regular wedding, and, of course, +there will be the presents." + +"And, though nothing is to be settled, I suppose he will do +something." + +"And it would have been very dreadful, not having a regular +trousseau," said Gertrude. "Mamma will, of course, do now just as she +did about Augusta. He allowed her £300! Only think;--if we had been +married at Ostend you would have had to buy things for me before +the first month was out. I hadn't more than half-a-dozen pair of +stockings with me." + +"He can't but say now that we have done as he would have us," added +the Captain. "I do suppose that he will not be so unnatural as not to +give something when Augusta had £200,000." + +"Indeed, she had not. But you'll see that sooner or later papa will +do for me quite as well as for Augusta." In this way they were happy +together, consoling each other for any little trouble which seemed +for a while to cloud their joys, and basking in the full sunshine of +their permitted engagement. + +The day was soon fixed, but fixed not entirely in reference to the +wants of Gertrude and her wedding. Lucy had also to be married +from the same house, and the day for her marriage had already been +arranged. Sir Thomas had ordered that everything should be done for +Lucy as though she were a daughter of the house, and her wedding had +been arranged for the last week in May. When he heard that Ayala and +Colonel Stubbs were also engaged he was anxious that the two sisters +should be "buckled," as he called it, on the same occasion,--and he +magnanimously offered to take upon himself the entire expense of the +double arrangement, intimating that the people in Kingsbury Crescent +had hardly room enough for a wedding. But Ayala, acting probably +under Stalham influences, would not consent to this. Lady Albury, who +was now in London, was determined that Ayala's marriage should take +place from her own house; and, as Aunt Margaret and Uncle Reginald +had consented, that matter was considered as settled. But Sir Thomas, +having fixed his mind upon a double wedding, resolved that Gertrude +and Lucy should be the joint brides. Gertrude, who still suffered +perhaps a little in public estimation from the Ostend journey, was +glad enough to wipe out that stain as quickly as possible, and did +not therefore object to the arrangement. But to the Captain there was +something in it by which his more delicate feelings were revolted. +It was a matter of course that Ayala should be present at her +sister's wedding, and would naturally appear there in the guise +of a bridesmaid. She would also, now, act as a bridesmaid to +Gertrude,--her future position as Mrs. Colonel Stubbs giving her, as +was supposed, sufficient dignity for that honourable employment. But +Captain Batsby, not so very long ago, had appeared among the suitors +for Ayala's hand; and therefore, as he said to Gertrude, he felt a +little shamefaced about it. "What does that signify?" said Gertrude. +"If you say nothing to her about it, I'll be bound she'll say nothing +to you." And so it was on the day of the wedding. Ayala did not say +a word to Captain Batsby, nor did Captain Batsby say very much to +Ayala. + +On the day before his marriage Captain Batsby paid a fourth visit to +Lombard Street in obedience to directions from Sir Thomas. "There, +my boy," said he, "though you and Gertrude did take a little journey +on the sly to a place which we will not mention, you shan't take her +altogether empty-handed." Then he explained certain arrangements +which he had made for endowing Gertrude with an allowance, which +under the circumstance the bridegroom could not but feel to be +liberal. It must be added, that, considering the shortness of time +allowed for getting them together, the amount of wedding presents +bestowed was considered by Gertrude to be satisfactory. As Lucy's +were exhibited at the same time the show was not altogether mean. +"No doubt I had twice as much as the two put together," said Mrs. +Traffick to Ayala up in her bedroom, "but then of course Lord +Boardotrade's rank would make people give." + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. + +AYALA AGAIN IN LONDON. + + +After that last walk in Gobblegoose Wood, after Lady Tringle's +unnecessary journey to Stalham on the Friday, and the last +day's hunting with Sir Harry's hounds,--which took place on the +Saturday,--Ayala again became anxious to go home. Her anxiety was in +its nature very different from that which had prompted her to leave +Stalham on an appointed day lest she should seem to be waiting for +the coming of Colonel Stubbs. "No; I don't want to run away from him +any more," she said to Lady Albury. "I want to be with him always, +and I hope he won't run away from me. But I've got to be somewhere +where I can think about it all for a little time." + +"Can't you think about it here?" + +"No;--one can never think about a thing where it has all taken place. +I must be up in my own little room in Kingsbury Crescent, and must +have Aunt Margaret's work around me,--so that I may realise what +is going to come. Not but what I mean to do a great deal of work +always." + +"Mend his stockings?" + +"Yes,--if he wears stockings. I know he doesn't. He always wears +socks. He told me so. Whatever he has, I'll mend,--or make if he +wants me. + + 'I can bake and I can brew, + And I can make an Irish stew;-- + Wash a shirt, and iron it too.'" + +Then, as she sang her little song, she clapped her hands together. + +"Where did you get all your poetry?" + +"He taught me that. We are not going to be fine people,--except +sometimes when we may be invited to Stalham. But I must go on +Thursday, Lady Albury. I came for a week, and I have been here ever +since the middle of February. It seems years since the old woman told +me I was perverse, and he said that she was right." + +"Think how much you have done since that time." + +"Yes, indeed. I very nearly destroyed myself;--didn't I?" + +"Not very nearly." + +"I thought I had. It was only when you showed me his letter on that +Sunday morning that I began to have any hopes. I wonder what Mr. +Greene preached about that morning. I didn't hear a word. I kept on +repeating what he said in the postscript." + +"Was there a postscript?" + +"Of course there was. Don't you remember?" + +"No, indeed; not I." + +"The letter would have been nothing without the postscript. He said +that Croppy was to come back for me. I knew he wouldn't say that +unless he meant to be good to me. And yet I wasn't quite sure of +it. I know it now; don't I? But I must go, Lady Albury. I ought to +let Aunt Margaret know all about it." Then it was settled that she +should go on the Thursday,--and on the Thursday she went. As it was +now considered quite wrong that she should travel by the railway +alone,--in dread, probably, lest the old lady should tell her again +how perverse she had been,--Colonel Stubbs accompanied her. It had +then been decided that the wedding must take place at Stalham, and +many messages were sent to Mr. and Mrs. Dosett assuring them that +they would be made very welcome on the occasion. "My own darling Lucy +will be away at that time with her own young man," said Ayala, in +answer to further invitations from Lady Albury. + +"And so you've taken Colonel Stubbs at last," said her Aunt Margaret. + +"He has taken me, aunt. I didn't take him." + +"But you refused him ever so often." + +"Well;--yes. I don't think I quite refused him." + +"I thought you did." + +"It was a dreadful muddle, Aunt Margaret;--but it has come right at +last, and we had better not talk about that part of it." + +"I was so sure you didn't like him." + +"Not like him? I always liked him better than anybody else in the +world that I ever saw." + +"Dear me!" + +"Of course I shouldn't say so if it hadn't come right at last. I may +say whatever I please about it now, and I declare that I always loved +him. A girl can be such a fool! I was, I know. I hope you are glad, +aunt." + +"Of course I am. I am glad of anything that makes you happy. It +seemed such a pity that, when so many gentlemen were falling in love +with you all round, you couldn't like anybody." + +"But I did like somebody, Aunt Margaret. And I did like the +best,--didn't I?" In answer to this Mrs. Dosett made no reply, having +always had an aunt's partiality for poor Tom, in spite of all his +chains. + +Her uncle's congratulations were warmer even than her aunt's. + +"My dear girl," he said, "I am rejoiced indeed that you should have +before you such a prospect of happiness. I always felt how sad for +you was your residence here, with two such homely persons as your +aunt and myself." + +"I have always been happy with you," said Ayala,--perhaps straining +the truth a little in her anxiety to be courteous. "And I know," she +added, "how much Lucy and I have always owed you since poor papa's +death." + +"Nevertheless, it has been dull for a young girl like you. Now you +will have your own duties, and if you endeavour to do them properly +the world will never be dull to you." And then there were some few +words about the wedding. "We have no feeling, my dear," said her +uncle, "except to do the best we can for you. We should have been +glad to see you married from here if that had suited. But, as this +lover of yours has grand friends of his own, I dare say their place +may be the better." Ayala could hardly explain to her uncle that she +had acceded to Lady Albury's proposal because, by doing so, she would +spare him the necessary expense of the wedding. + +But Ayala's great delight was in meeting her sister. The two girls +had not seen each other since the engagement of either of them had +been ratified by their friends. The winter and spring, as passed by +Lucy at Merle Park, had been very unhappy for her. Things at Merle +Park had not been pleasant to any of the residents there, and Lucy +had certainly had her share of the unpleasantness. Her letters to +Ayala had not been triumphant when Aunt Emmeline had more than once +expressed her wish to be rid of her, and when the news reached her +that Uncle Tom and Hamel had failed to be gracious to each other. +Nor had Ayala written in a spirit of joy before she had been able to +recognise the Angel of Light in Jonathan Stubbs. But now they were to +meet after all their miseries, and each could be triumphant. + +It was hard for them to know exactly how to begin. To Lucy, Isadore +Hamel was, at the present moment, the one hero walking the face of +this sublunary globe; and to Ayala, as we all know, Jonathan Stubbs +was an Angel of Light, and, therefore, more even than a hero. As each +spoke, the "He's" intended took a different personification; so that +to any one less interested than the young ladies themselves there +might be some confusion as to which "He" might at that moment be +under discussion. "It was bad," said Lucy, "when Uncle Tom told him +to sell those magnificent conceptions of his brain by auction!" + +"I did feel for him certainly," said Ayala. + +"And then when he was constrained to say that he would take me at +once without any preparation because Aunt Emmeline wanted me to go, +I don't suppose any man ever behaved more beautifully than he did." + +"Yes indeed," said Ayala. And then she felt herself constrained to +change the subject by the introduction of an exaggerated superlative +in her sister's narrative. Hamel, no doubt, had acted beautifully, +but she was not disposed to agree that nothing could be more +beautiful. "Oh, Lucy," she said, "I was so miserable when he went +away after that walk in the wood. I thought he never would come back +again when I had behaved so badly. But he did. Was not that grand in +him?" + +"I suppose he was very fond of you." + +"I hope he was. I hope he is. But what should I have done if he had +not come back? No other man would have come back after that. You +never behaved unkindly to Isadore?" + +"I think he would have come back a thousand times," said Lucy; "only +I cannot imagine that I should ever have given him the necessity of +coming back even a second. But then I had known him so much longer." + +"It wasn't that I hadn't known him long enough," said Ayala. "I +seemed to know all about him almost all at once. I knew how good he +was, and how grand he was, long before I had left the Marchesa up in +London. But I think it astounded me that such a one as he should care +for me." And so it went on through an entire morning, each of the +sisters feeling that she was bound to listen with rapt attention to +the praises of the other's "him" if she wished to have an opportunity +of singing those of her own. + +But Lucy's marriage was to come first by more than two months, and +therefore in that matter she was allowed precedence. And at her +marriage Ayala would be present, whereas with Ayala's Lucy would +have no personal concern. Though she did think that Uncle Tom had +been worse than any Vandal in that matter of selling her lover's +magnificent works, still she was ready to tell of his generosity. In +a manner of his own he had sent the money which Hamel had so greatly +needed, and had now come forward to provide, with a generous hand, +for the immediate necessities, and more than the necessities, of the +wedding. It was not only that she was to share the honours of the +two wedding-cakes with Gertrude, and that she was to be taken as a +bride from the gorgeous mansion in Queen's Gate, but that he had +provided for her bridal needs almost as fully as for those of his own +daughter. "Never mind what she'll be able to do afterwards," he said +to his wife, who ventured on some slight remonstrance with him as +to the unnecessary luxuries he was preparing for the wife of a poor +man. "She won't be the worse for having a dozen new petticoats in +her trunk, and, if she don't want to blow her nose with as many +handkerchiefs this year as Gertrude does, she'll be able to keep them +for next year." Then Aunt Emmeline obeyed without further hesitation +the orders which were given her. + +Nor was his generosity confined to the niece who for the last twelve +months had been his property. Lucy was still living in Queen's Gate, +though at this time she spent much of each day in Kingsbury Crescent, +and on one occasion she brought with her a little note from Uncle +Tom. "Dear Ayala," said the little note, + + + As you are going to be married too, you, I suppose, will + want some new finery. I therefore send a cheque. Write + your name on the back of it, and give it to your uncle. He + will let you have the money as you want it. + + Yours affectionately, + + T. TRINGLE. + + I hope your Colonel Stubbs will come and see me some day. + + +"You must go and see him," she said to her Colonel Stubbs, when he +called one day in Kingsbury Crescent. "Only for him I shouldn't have +any clothes to speak of at all, and I should have to be married in my +old brown morning frock." + +"It would be just as good as any other for my purpose," said the +Colonel. + +"But it wouldn't for mine, Sir. Fine feathers make fine birds, and +I mean to be as fine as Lady Albury's big peacock. So if you please +you'll go to Queen's Gate, and Lombard Street too, and show yourself. +Oh, Jonathan, I shall be so proud that everybody who knows me should +see what sort of a man has chosen to love me." + +Then there was a joint visit paid by the two sisters to Mr. Hamel's +studio,--an expedition which was made somewhat on the sly. Aunt +Margaret in Kingsbury Crescent knew all about it, but Aunt +Emmeline was kept in the dark. Even now, though the marriage was +sanctioned and was so nearly at hand, Aunt Emmeline would not +have approved of such a visit. She still regarded the sculptor as +improper,--at any rate not sufficiently proper to be treated with +full familiarity,--partly on account of his father's manifest +improprieties, and partly because of his own relative poverty and +unauthorised position in the world. But Aunt Margaret was more +tolerant, and thought that the sister-in-law was entitled to visit +the workshop in which her sister's future bread was to be earned. +And then, starting from Kingsbury Crescent, they could go in a cab; +whereas any such proceeding emanating from Queen's Gate would have +required the carriage. There was a wickedness in this starting off in +a Hansom cab to call on an unmarried young man, doing it in a manner +successfully concealed from Aunt Emmeline, on which Ayala expatiated +with delight when she next saw Colonel Stubbs. + +"You don't come and call on me," said the Colonel. + +"What!--all the way down to Aldershot? I should like, but I don't +quite dare to do that." + +The visit was very successful. Though it was expected, Hamel was +found in his artist's costume, with a blouse or loose linen tunic +fitted close round his throat, and fastened with a belt round his +waist. Lucy thought that in this apparel he was certainly as handsome +as could ever have been any Apollo,--and, so thinking, had contrived +her little plans in such a way that he should certainly be seen at +his best. To her thinking Colonel Stubbs was not a handsome man. +Hamel's hair was nearly black, and she preferred dark hair. Hamel's +features were regular, whereas the Colonel's hair was red, and he was +known for a large mouth and broad nose, which were not obliterated +though they were enlightened by the brightness of his eyes. "Yes," +said Ayala to herself, as she looked at Hamel; "he is very good +looking, but nobody would take him for an Angel of Light." + +"Ayala has come to see you at your work," said Lucy, as they entered +the studio. + +"I am delighted to see her. Do you remember where we last met, Miss +Dormer?" + +"Miss Dormer, indeed," said Ayala. "I am not going to call you Mr. +Hamel. Yes; it was high up among the seats of the Coliseum. There has +a great deal happened to us all since then." + +"And I remember you at the bijou." + +"I should think so. I knew then so well what was going to happen," +said Ayala. + +"What did you know?" + +"That you and Lucy were to fall in love with each other." + +"I had done my part of it already," said he. + +"Hardly that, Isadore," said Lucy, "or you would not have passed me +in Kensington Gardens without speaking to me." + +"But I did speak to you. It was then I learned where to find you." + +"That was the second time. If I had remained away, as I ought to have +done, I suppose you never would have found me." + +Ayala was then taken round to see all those magnificent groups and +figures which Sir Thomas would have disposed of at so many shillings +apiece under the auctioneer's hammer. "It was cruel,--was it not?" +said Lucy. + +"He never saw them, you know," said Ayala, putting in a goodnatured +word for her uncle. + +"If he had," said the sculptor, "he would have doubted the +auctioneer's getting anything. I have turned it all in my mind very +often since, and I think that Sir Thomas was right." + +"I am sure he was wrong," said Lucy. "He is very goodnatured, and +nobody can be more grateful to another person than I am to him;--but +I won't agree that he was right about that." + +"He never would have said it if he had seen them," again pleaded +Ayala. + +"They will never fetch anything as they are," continued the sculptor, +"and I don't suppose that when I made them I thought they would. They +have served their purpose, and I sometimes feel inclined to break +them up and have them carted away." + +"Isadore!" exclaimed Lucy. + +"For what purpose?" asked Ayala. + +"They were the lessons which I had to teach myself, and the play +which I gave to my imagination. Who wants a great figure of Beelzebub +like that in his house?" + +"I call it magnificent," said Ayala. + +"His name is Lucifer,--not Beelzebub," said Lucy. "You call him +Beelzebub merely to make little of him." + +"It is difficult to do that, because he is nearly ten feet high. And +who wants a figure of Bacchus? The thing is, whether, having done +a figure of Bacchus, I may not be better able to do a likeness of +Mr. Jones, when he comes to sit for his bust at the request of his +admiring friends. For any further purpose that it will answer, +Bacchus might just as well be broken up and carted away in the +dust-cart." To this, however, the two girls expressed their vehement +opposition, and were of opinion that the time would come when +Beelzebub and Bacchus, transferred to marble, would occupy places +of honour in some well-proportioned hall built for the purpose of +receiving them. "I shall be quite content," said Hamel, "if the whole +family of the Jones's will have their busts done about the size +of life, and stand them up over their bookshelves. My period for +Beelzebubs has gone by." The visit, on the whole, was delightful. +Lucy was contented with the almost more than divine beauty of her +lover, and the two sisters, as they made their return journey to +Kingsbury Crescent in another Hansom, discussed questions of art in +a spirit that would have been delightful to any aspiring artist who +might have heard them. + +Then came the wedding, of which some details were given at the close +of the last chapter, at which two brides who were very unlike to each +other were joined in matrimony to two bridegrooms as dissimilar. But +the Captain made himself gracious to the sculptor who was now to be +connected with him, and declared that he would always look upon Lucy +as a second sister to his dear Gertrude. And Gertrude was equally +gracious, protesting, when she was marshalled to walk up to the altar +first, that she did not like to go before her darling Lucy. But the +dimensions of the church admitted but of one couple at a time, and +Gertrude was compelled to go in advance. Colonel Stubbs was there +acting as best man to Hamel, while Lord John Battledore performed the +same service for Captain Batsby. Lord John was nearly broken-hearted +by the apostacy of a second chum, having heard that the girl whom +Frank Houston had not succeeded in marrying was now being taken by +Batsby without a shilling. "Somebody had to bottle-hold for him," +said Lord John, defending himself at the club afterwards, "and I +didn't like to throw the fellow over, though he is such a fool! +And there was Stubbs, too," continued his Lordship, "going to take +the other girl without a shilling! There's Stubbs, and Houston, +and Batsby, all gone and drowned themselves. It's just the same as +though they'd drowned themselves!" Lord John was horrified,--nay, +disgusted,--by the folly of the world. Nevertheless, before the end +of the year, he was engaged to marry a very pretty girl as devoid of +fortune as our Ayala. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV. + +AYALA'S MARRIAGE. + + +Now we have come to our last chapter, and it may be doubted whether +any reader,--unless he be some one specially gifted with a genius +for statistics,--will have perceived how very many people have been +made happy by matrimony. If marriage be the proper ending for a +novel,--the only ending, as this writer takes it to be, which is not +discordant,--surely no tale was ever so properly ended, or with so +full a concord, as this one. Infinite trouble has been taken not only +in arranging these marriages but in joining like to like,--so that, +if not happiness, at any rate sympathetic unhappiness, might be +produced. Our two sisters will, it is trusted, be happy. They have +chosen men from their hearts, and have been chosen after the same +fashion. Those two other sisters have been so wedded that the one +will follow the idiosyncrasies of her husband, and the other bring +her husband to follow her idiosyncrasies, without much danger of +mutiny or revolt. As to Miss Docimer there must be room for fear. It +may be questioned whether she was not worthy of a better lot than +has been achieved for her by joining her fortunes to those of Frank +Houston. But I, speaking for myself, have my hopes of Frank Houston. +It is hard to rescue a man from the slough of luxury and idleness +combined. If anything can do it, it is a cradle filled annually. It +may be that he will yet learn that a broad back with a heavy weight +upon it gives the best chance of happiness here below. Of Lord John's +married prospects I could not say much as he came so very lately on +the scene; but even he may perhaps do something in the world when +he finds that his nursery is filling, For our special friend Tom +Tringle, no wife has been found. In making his effort,--which he +did manfully,--he certainly had not chosen the consort who would be +fit for him. He had not seen clearly, as had done his sisters and +cousins. He had fallen in love too young,--it being the nature of +young men to be much younger than young ladies, and, not knowing +himself, had been as might be a barn-door cock who had set his heart +upon some azure-plumaged, high-soaring lady of the woods. The lady +with the azure plumes had, too, her high-soaring tendencies, but she +was enabled by true insight to find the male who would be fit for +her. The barn-door cock, when we left him on board the steamer going +to New York, had not yet learned the nature of his own requirements. +The knowledge will come to him. There may be doubts as to Frank +Houston, but we think that there need be none as to Tom Tringle. The +proper wife will be forthcoming; and in future years, when he will +probably have a Glenbogie and a Merle Park of his own, he will own +that Fortune did well for him in making his cousin Ayala so stern to +his prayers. + +But Ayala herself,--Ayala our pet heroine,--had not been yet married +when the last chapter was written, and now there remains a page or +two in which the reader must bid adieu to her as she stands at the +altar with her Angel of Light. She was at Stalham for a fortnight +before her marriage, in order, as Lady Albury said, that the buxom +ladysmaid might see that everything had been done rightly in +reference to the trousseau. "My dear," said Lady Albury, "it is +important, you know. I dare say you can bake and brew, because you +say so; but you don't know anything about clothes." Ayala, who by +this time was very intimate with her friend, pouted her lips, and +said that if "Jonathan did not like her things as she chose to have +them he might do the other thing." But Lady Albury had her way, +inducing Sir Harry to add something even to Uncle Tom's liberality, +and the buxom woman went about her task in such a fashion that +if Colonel Stubbs were not satisfied he must have been a very +unconscionable Colonel. He probably would know nothing about +it,--except that his bride in her bridal array had not looked so +well as in any other garments, which, I take it, is invariably the +case,--till at the end of the first year a glimmer of the truth as to +a lady's wardrobe would come upon him. "I told you there would be a +many new dresses before two years were over, Miss," said the buxom +female, as she spread all the frocks and all the worked petticoats +and all the collars and all the silk stockings and all the lace +handkerchiefs about the bedroom to be inspected by Lady Albury, Mrs. +Gosling, and one or two other friends, before they were finally +packed up. + +Then came the day on which the Colonel was to reach Stalham, that day +being a Monday, whereas the wedding was to take place on Wednesday. +It was considered to be within the bounds of propriety that the +Colonel should sleep at Stalham on the Monday, under the same roof +with his bride; but on the Tuesday it was arranged that he should +satisfy the decorous feeling of the neighbourhood by removing himself +to the parsonage, which was distant about half-a-mile across the +park, and was contiguous to the church. Here lived Mr. Greene, the +bachelor curate, the rector of the parish being an invalid and absent +in Italy. + +"I don't see why he is to be sent away after dinner to walk across +the park in the dark," said Ayala, when the matter was discussed +before the Colonel's coming. + +"It is a law, my dear," said Lady Albury, "and has to be obeyed +whether you understand it or not, like other laws. Mr. Greene will be +with him, so that no one shall run away with him in the dark. Then he +will be able to go into church without dirtying his dress boots." + +"But I thought there would be half-a-dozen carriages at least." + +"But there won't be room in one of them for him. He is to be nobody +until he comes forth from the church as your husband. Then he is to +be everybody. That is the very theory of marriage." + + + * * * * * * + + +"I think we managed it all very well between us," said Lady Albury +afterwards, "but you really cannot guess the trouble we took." + +"Why should there have been trouble?" + +"Because you were such a perverse creature, as the old lady said. +I am not sure that you were not right, because a girl does so often +raise herself in her lover's estimation by refusing him half-a-dozen +times. But you were not up to that." + +"Indeed I was not. I am sure I did not intend to give any trouble to +anybody." + +"But you did. Only think of my going up to London to meet him, and of +him coming from Aldershot to meet me, simply that we might put our +heads together how to overcome the perversity of such a young woman +as you!" There then came a look almost of pain on Ayala's brow. "But +I do believe it was for the best. In this way he came to understand +how absolutely necessary you were to him." + +"Am I necessary to him?" + +"He thinks so." + +"Oh, if I can only be necessary to him always! But there should have +been no going up to London. I should have rushed into his arms at +once." + +"That would have been unusual." + +"But so is he unusual," said Ayala. + +It is probable that the Colonel did not enjoy his days at Stalham +before his marriage, except during the hour or two in which he was +allowed to take Ayala out for a last walk. Such days can hardly be +agreeable to the man of whom it is known by all around him that he +is on the eve of committing matrimony. There is always, on such +occasions, a feeling of weakness, as though the man had been subdued, +brought at length into a cage and tamed, so as to be made fit for +domestic purposes, and deprived of his ancient freedom amongst +the woods;--whereas the girl feels herself to be the triumphant +conqueror, who has successfully performed this great act of taming. +Such being the case, the man had perhaps better keep away till he is +forced to appear at the church-door. + +Nevertheless our Colonel did enjoy his last walk. "Oh, yes," she +said, "of course we will go to the old wood. Where else? I am so glad +that poor fox went through Gobblegoose;--otherwise we should never +have gone there, and then who knows whether you and I would ever have +been friends again any more?" + +"If one wood hadn't been there, I think another would have been +found." + +"Ah, that's just it. You can know that you had a purpose, and perhaps +were determined to carry it out." + +"Well, rather." + +"But I couldn't be sure of that. I couldn't carry out my purpose, +even if I had one. I had to doubt, and to be unhappy, and to hate +myself, because I had been perverse. I declare, I do think you men +have so much the best of it. How glorious would it have been to be +able to walk straight up and say, Jonathan Stubbs, I love you better +than all the world. Will you be my husband?" + +"But suppose the Jonathan Stubbs of the occasion were to decline the +honour. Where would you be then?" + +"That would be disagreeable," said Ayala. + +"It is disagreeable,--as you made me feel twice over." + +"Oh, Jonathan, I am so sorry." + +"Therefore it is possible that you may have the best of it." + + + * * * * * * + + +"And so you never will take another walk with Ayala Dormer?" she +said, as they were returning home. + +"Never another," he replied. + +"You cannot think how I regret it. Of course I am glad to become +your wife. I do not at all want to have it postponed. But there is +something so sweet in having a lover;--and you know that though I +shall have a husband I shall never have a lover again,--and I never +had one before, Jonathan. There has been very little of it. When a +thing has been so sweet it is sad to think that it must be gone for +ever!" Then she leaned upon him with both her hands, and looked up +at him and smiled, with her lips a little open,--as she knew that he +liked her to lean upon him and to look,--for she had caught by her +instinct the very nature of the man, and knew how to witch him with +her little charms. "Ah me! I wonder whether you'll like me to lean +upon you when a dozen years have gone by." + +"That depends on how heavy you may be." + +"I shall be a fat old woman, perhaps. But I shall lean upon +you,--always, always. What else shall I ever have to lean upon now?" + +"What else should you want?" + +"Nothing,--nothing,--nothing! I want nothing else. I wonder whether +there is anybody in all the world who has got so completely +everything that she ever dreamed of wanting as I have. But if you +could have been only my lover for a little longer--!" Then he assured +her that he would be her lover just the same, even though they were +husband and wife. Alas, no! There he had promised more than it is +given to a man to perform. Faith, honesty, steadiness of purpose, +joined to the warmest love and the truest heart, will not enable a +husband to maintain the sweetness of that aroma which has filled with +delight the senses of the girl who has leaned upon his arm as her +permitted lover. + +"What a happy fellow you are!" said Mr. Greene, as, in the intimacy +of the moment, they walked across the park together. + +"Why don't you get a wife for yourself?" + +"Yes; with £120 a-year!" + +"With a little money you might." + +"I don't want to have to look for the money; and if I did I shouldn't +get it. I often think how very unfairly things are divided in this +world." + +"That will all be made up in the next." + +"Not if one covets one's neighbour's wife,--or even his ass," said +Mr. Greene. + +On the return of the two lovers to the house from their walk there +were Mr. and Mrs. Dosett, who would much rather have stayed away had +they not been unwilling not to show their mark of affection to their +niece. I doubt whether they were very happy, but they were at any +rate received with every distinction. Sir Thomas and Aunt Emmeline +were asked, but they made some excuse. Sir Thomas knew very well that +he had nothing in common with Sir Harry Albury; and, as for Aunt +Emmeline, her one journey to Stalham had been enough for her. But Sir +Thomas was again very liberal, and sent down as his contribution to +the wedding presents the very necklace which Ayala had refused from +her cousin Tom. "Upon my word, your uncle is magnificent," said Lady +Albury, upon which the whole story was told to her. Lucy and her +husband were away on their tour, as were Gertrude and hers on theirs. +This was rather a comfort, as Captain Batsby's presence at the house +would have been a nuisance. But there was quite enough of guests to +make the wedding, as being a country wedding, very brilliant. Among +others, old Tony Tappett was there, mindful of the manner in which +Cranbury Brook had been ridden, and of Croppy's presence when the +hounds ran their fox into Dillsborough Wood. "I hope she be to ride +with us, off and on, Colonel," said Tony, when the ceremony had been +completed. + +"Now and then, Tony, when we can get hold of Croppy." + +"Because, when they come out like that, Colonel, it's a pity to lose +'em, just because they's got their husbands to attend to." + +And Lord Rufford was there, with his wife, who on this occasion was +very pressing with her invitations. She had heard that Colonel Stubbs +was likely to rise high in his profession, and there were symptoms, +of which she was an excellent judge, that Mrs. Colonel Stubbs would +become known as a professional beauty. And Larry Twentyman was there, +who, being in the neighbourhood, was, to his great delight, invited +to the breakfast. + +Thus, to her own intense satisfaction, Ayala was handed over to her + + ANGEL OF LIGHT. + + + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Volume II, Chapter XXVII, paragraph 12. Lady Albury's first + name appears eight times in the text. It appears three times as + "Rosaline" (including here) and five times as "Rosalind." Trollope + was not a stickler for consistency, and the two spellings have + been left as they appear in the original text. + + Volume II, Chapter XXXI, paragraph 1. Trollope seems to use + "necklace" and "bracelet" interchangeably in describing Tom's + gift for Ayala. + + Volume II, Chapter XXXVII, paragraph 1. The astute reader will + recall that, in Chapter XXIX, Sir Thomas, after reading Gertrude's + letter, "calmly tore the letter in little bits, and threw them + into the waste-paper basket." Here we discover the letter was + preserved. + + Volume II, Chapter XLII, paragraph 13. Here the mare with the + broken knees is sent at once into Hastings for the doctor. + The reader perhaps recalls that in Chapter XXX, when the mare + fell and cut her knees to the bone while being driven by Mr. + Traffick, Sir Thomas ordered his groom to shoot her. We do + not know whether this is one of Trollope's inconsistencies or + whether the groom merely ignored Sir Thomas' instructions. + + Volume III, Chapter LII, paragraph 17. The astute reader will + remember that the pony ridden by Ayala in the hunt at the start of + Volume II was named "Sprite." Here the pony reappears but with a + different name: "Croppy." + + Specific changes in wording of the text are listed below. + + Volume I, Chapter III, paragraph 43. The word "at" was added to + the sentence: "I don't see it AT all," said Ayala, flashing + round. + + Volume I, Chapter VII, paragraph 57. The word "nothing" was + changed to "anything" in the sentence: If he could only be made + to understand that it could never mean ANYTHING! + + Volume I, Chapter IX, paragraph 12. The word "to" was deleted + from the sentence which in the original was as follows: She has + spoken a word or two to me TO which had been better unsaid, but + I am well convinced that it has come from hot temper and not + from a bad heart. + + Volume I, Chapter XIV, paragraph 2. A comma was added after + the word "carriage" in the sentence: There would be quite + enough for a CARRIAGE, for three months upon a mountain in + Switzerland, and three more among the art treasures of Italy. + + Volume I, Chapter XV, paragraph 42. The word "I" was changed to + "to" in the sentence: I don't know what TO say, but I can't. + + Volume II, Chapter XXIII, paragraph 47. The word "were" was + changed to "where" in the sentence: Captain Batsby and three + other gentlemen were put inside, WHERE they consoled themselves + with unlimited tobacco. + + Volume II, Chapter XXVII, paragraph 4. "Albury" was changed to + "Stalham" in the heading of the letter: STALHAM, Monday, 18th + November, 18--. + + Volume III, Chapter LII, paragraph 1. A question mark was + changed to a full stop at the end of the sentence: If he ever + did come again it should not be because she had asked for his + coming. + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 33500 *** |