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<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Newcomes, by William Makepeace Thackeray</div>
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<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Newcomes</div>
<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: William Makepeace Thackeray</div>
<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 5, 2003 [eBook #7467]<br />
[Most recently updated: September 23, 2021]</div>
<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Tapio Riikonen and David Widger</div>
<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEWCOMES ***</div>

<h1>THE NEWCOMES</h1>

<h3>MEMOIRS OF A MOST RESPECTABLE FAMILY</h3>

<h3>Edited by Arthur Pendennis, Esq.</h3>

<h2 class="no-break">By William Makepeace Thackeray</h2>

<hr />

<h2>Contents</h2>

<table summary="" style="">

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"><b>THE NEWCOMES</b></a></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0001">CHAPTER I.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Overture&mdash;After which the Curtain rises upon a Drinking Chorus</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0002">CHAPTER II.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s Wild Oats</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0003">CHAPTER III.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s Letter-box</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0004">CHAPTER IV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which the Author and the Hero resume their Acquaintance</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0005">CHAPTER V.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Clive&rsquo;s Uncles</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0006">CHAPTER VI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Newcome Brothers</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0007">CHAPTER VII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Mr. Clive&rsquo;s School-days are over</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0008">CHAPTER VIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Mrs. Newcome at Home (a Small Early Party)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0009">CHAPTER IX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0010">CHAPTER X.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Ethel and her Relations</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0011">CHAPTER XI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;At Mrs. Ridley&rsquo;s</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0012">CHAPTER XII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which everybody is asked to Dinner</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0013">CHAPTER XIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Thomas Newcome sings his Last Song</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0014">CHAPTER XIV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Park Lane</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0015">CHAPTER XV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Old Ladies</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0016">CHAPTER XVI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Mr. Sherrick lets his House in Fitzroy Square</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0017">CHAPTER XVII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A School of Art</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0018">CHAPTER XVIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;New Companions</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0019">CHAPTER XIX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Colonel at Home</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0020">CHAPTER XX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Contains more Particulars of the Colonel and his Brethren</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0021">CHAPTER XXI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Is Sentimental, but Short</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0022">CHAPTER XXII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Describes a Visit to Paris; with Accidents and Incidents in London</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0023">CHAPTER XXIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which we hear a Soprano and a Contralto</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0024">CHAPTER XXIV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which the Newcome Brothers once more meet together in Unity</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0025">CHAPTER XXV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Is passed in a Public-house</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0026">CHAPTER XXVI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s Horses are sold</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0027">CHAPTER XXVII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Youth and Sunshine</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0028">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Clive begins to see the World</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0029">CHAPTER XXIX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Barnes comes a-wooing</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0030">CHAPTER XXX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A Retreat</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0031">CHAPTER XXXI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Madame la Duchesse</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0032">CHAPTER XXXII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Barnes&rsquo;s Courtship</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0033">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Lady Kew at the Congress</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0034">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;The End of the Congress of Baden</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0035">CHAPTER XXXV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Across the Alps</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0036">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which M. de Florac is promoted</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0037">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Returns to Lord Kew</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0038">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Lady Kew leaves his Lordship quite convalescent</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0039">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Amongst the Painters</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0040">CHAPTER XL.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Returns from Rome to Pall Mall</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0041">CHAPTER XLI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;An Old Story</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0042">CHAPTER XLII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Injured Innocence</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0043">CHAPTER XLIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Returns to some Old Friends</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0044">CHAPTER XLIV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Mr. Charles Honeyman appears in an Amiable Light</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0045">CHAPTER XLV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A Stag of Ten</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0046">CHAPTER XLVI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Hotel de Florac</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0047">CHAPTER XLVII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Contains two or three Acts of a Little Comedy</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0048">CHAPTER XLVIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Benedick is a Married Man</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0049">CHAPTER XLIX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Contains at least six more Courses and two Desserts</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0050">CHAPTER L.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Clive in New Quarters</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0051">CHAPTER LI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;An Old Friend</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0052">CHAPTER LII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Family Secrets</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0053">CHAPTER LIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Kinsmen fall out</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0054">CHAPTER LIV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Has a Tragical Ending</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0055">CHAPTER LV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Barnes&rsquo;s Skeleton Closet</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0056">CHAPTER LVI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Rosa quo locorum sera moratur</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0057">CHAPTER LVII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Rosebury and Newcome</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0058">CHAPTER LVIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;One more Unfortunate&rdquo;</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0059">CHAPTER LIX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Achilles loses Briseis</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0060">CHAPTER LX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which we write to the Colonel</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0061">CHAPTER LXI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which we are introduced to a New Newcome</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0062">CHAPTER LXII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Mr. and Mrs. Clive Newcome</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0063">CHAPTER LXIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Mrs. Clive at Home</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0064">CHAPTER LXIV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Absit Omen</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0065">CHAPTER LXV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Mrs. Clive comes into her Fortune</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0066">CHAPTER LXVI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which the Colonel and the Newcome Athenæum are both lectured</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0067">CHAPTER LXVII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Newcome and Liberty</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0068">CHAPTER LXVIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A Letter and a Reconciliation</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0069">CHAPTER LXIX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Election</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0070">CHAPTER LXX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Chiltern Hundreds</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0071">CHAPTER LXXI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Mrs. Clive Newcome&rsquo;s Carriage is ordered</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0072">CHAPTER LXXII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Belisarius</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0073">CHAPTER LXXIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Belisarius returns from Exile</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0074">CHAPTER LXXIV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Clive begins the World</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0075">CHAPTER LXXV.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Founder&rsquo;s Day at the Grey Friars</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0076">CHAPTER LXXVI.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Christmas at Rosebury</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0077">CHAPTER LXXVII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Shortest and Happiest in the Whole History</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0078">CHAPTER LXXVIII.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which the Author goes on a Pleasant Errand</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0079">CHAPTER LXXIX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which Old Friends come together</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td> <a href="#link2HCH0080">CHAPTER LXXX.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;In which the Colonel says &ldquo;Adsum&rdquo; when his Name is called</td>
</tr>

</table>

<hr />

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"></a>
THE NEWCOMES</h2>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"></a>
CHAPTER I.<br/>
The Overture&mdash;After which the Curtain rises upon a Drinking Chorus</h2>

<p>
A crow, who had flown away with a cheese from a dairy-window, sate perched on a
tree looking down at a great big frog in a pool underneath him. The
frog&rsquo;s hideous large eyes were goggling out of his head in a manner which
appeared quite ridiculous to the old blackamoor, who watched the splay-footed
slimy wretch with that peculiar grim humour belonging to crows. Not far from
the frog a fat ox was browsing; whilst a few lambs frisked about the meadow, or
nibbled the grass and buttercups there.
</p>

<p>
Who should come in to the farther end of the field but a wolf? He was so
cunningly dressed up in sheep&rsquo;s clothing, that the very lambs did not
know Master Wolf; nay, one of them, whose dam the wolf had just eaten, after
which he had thrown her skin over his shoulders, ran up innocently towards the
devouring monster, mistaking him for her mamma.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He, he!&rdquo; says a fox, sneaking round the hedge-paling, over which
the tree grew, whereupon the crow was perched looking down on the frog, who was
staring with his goggle eyes fit to burst with envy, and croaking abuse at the
ox. &ldquo;How absurd those lambs are! Yonder silly little knock-kneed
baah-ling does not know the old wolf dressed in the sheep&rsquo;s fleece. He is
the same old rogue who gobbled up little Red Riding Hood&rsquo;s grandmother
for lunch, and swallowed little Red Riding Hood for supper. <i>Tirez la
bobinette et la chevillette cherra</i>. He, he!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
An owl that was hidden in the hollow of the tree woke up. &ldquo;Oho, Master
Fox,&rdquo; says she, &ldquo;I cannot see you, but I smell you! If some folks
like lambs, other folks like geese,&rdquo; says the owl.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And your ladyship is fond of mice,&rdquo; says the fox.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Chinese eat them,&rdquo; says the owl, &ldquo;and I have read that
they are very fond of dogs,&rdquo; continued the old lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish they would exterminate every cur of them off the face of the
earth,&rdquo; said the fox.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I have also read, in works of travel, that the French eat
frogs,&rdquo; continued the owl. &ldquo;Aha, my friend Crapaud! are you there?
That was a very pretty concert we sang together last night!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If the French devour my brethren, the English eat beef,&rdquo; croaked
out the frog,&mdash;&ldquo;great, big, brutal, bellowing oxen.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ho, whoo!&rdquo; says the owl, &ldquo;I have heard that the English are
toad-eaters too!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But who ever heard of them eating an owl or a fox, madam?&rdquo; says
Reynard, &ldquo;or their sitting down and taking a crow to pick?&rdquo; adds
the polite rogue, with a bow to the old crow who was perched above them with
the cheese in his mouth. &ldquo;We are privileged animals, all of us; at least,
we never furnish dishes for the odious orgies of man.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am the bird of wisdom,&rdquo; says the owl; &ldquo;I was the companion
of Pallas Minerva: I am frequently represented in the Egyptian
monuments.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have seen you over the British barn-doors,&rdquo; said the fox, with a
grin. &ldquo;You have a deal of scholarship, Mrs. Owl. I know a thing or two
myself; but am, I confess it, no scholar&mdash;a mere man of the world&mdash;a
fellow that lives by his wits&mdash;a mere country gentleman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You sneer at scholarship,&rdquo; continues the owl, with a sneer on her
venerable face. &ldquo;I read a good deal of a night.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When I am engaged deciphering the cocks and hens at roost,&rdquo; says
the fox.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pity for all that you can&rsquo;t read; that board nailed
over my head would give you some information.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What does it say?&rdquo; says the fox.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t spell in the daylight,&rdquo; answered the owl; and,
giving a yawn, went back to sleep till evening in the hollow of her tree.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A fig for her hieroglyphics!&rdquo; said the fox, looking up at the crow
in the tree. &ldquo;What airs our slow neighbour gives herself! She pretends to
all the wisdom; whereas, your reverences, the crows, are endowed with gifts far
superior to these benighted old big-wigs of owls, who blink in the darkness,
and call their hooting singing. How noble it is to hear a chorus of crows!
There are twenty-four brethren of the Order of St. Corvinus, who have builded
themselves a convent near a wood which I frequent; what a droning and a
chanting they keep up! I protest their reverences&rsquo; singing is nothing to
yours! You sing so deliciously in parts, do for the love of harmony favour me
with a solo!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
While this conversation was going on, the ox was thumping the grass; the frog
was eyeing him in such a rage at his superior proportions, that he would have
spurted venom at him if he could, and that he would have burst, only that is
impossible, from sheer envy; the little lambkin was lying unsuspiciously at the
side of the wolf in fleecy hosiery, who did not as yet molest her, being
replenished with the mutton her mamma. But now the wolf&rsquo;s eyes began to
glare, and his sharp white teeth to show, and he rose up with a growl, and
began to think he should like lamb for supper.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What large eyes you have got!&rdquo; bleated out the lamb, with rather a
timid look.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The better to see you with, my dear.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What large teeth you have got!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The better to&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
At this moment such a terrific yell filled the field, that all its inhabitants
started with terror. It was from a donkey, who had somehow got a lion&rsquo;s
skin, and now came in at the hedge, pursued by some men and boys with sticks
and guns.
</p>

<p>
When the wolf in sheep&rsquo;s clothing heard the bellow of the ass in the
lion&rsquo;s skin, fancying that the monarch of the forest was near, he ran
away as fast as his disguise would let him. When the ox heard the noise he
dashed round the meadow-ditch, and with one trample of his hoof squashed the
frog who had been abusing him. When the crow saw the people with guns coming,
he instantly dropped the cheese out of his mouth, and took to wing. When the
fox saw the cheese drop, he immediately made a jump at it (for he knew the
donkey&rsquo;s voice, and that his asinine bray was not a bit like his royal
master&rsquo;s roar), and making for the cheese, fell into a steel trap, which
snapped off his tail; without which he was obliged to go into the world,
pretending, forsooth, that it was the fashion not to wear tails any more; and
that the fox-party were better without &rsquo;em.
</p>

<p>
Meanwhile, a boy with a stick came up, and belaboured Master Donkey until he
roared louder than ever. The wolf, with the sheep&rsquo;s clothing draggling
about his legs, could not run fast, and was detected and shot by one of the
men. The blind old owl, whirring out of the hollow tree, quite amazed at the
disturbance, flounced into the face of a ploughboy, who knocked her down with a
pitchfork. The butcher came and quietly led off the ox and the lamb; and the
farmer, finding the fox&rsquo;s brush in the trap, hung it up over his
mantelpiece, and always bragged that he had been in at his death.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What a farrago of old fables is this! What a dressing up in old
clothes!&rdquo; says the critic. (I think I see such a one&mdash;a Solomon that
sits in judgment over us authors and chops up our children.) &ldquo;As sure as
I am just and wise, modest, learned, and religious, so surely I have read
something very like this stuff and nonsense about jackasses and foxes before.
That wolf in sheep&rsquo;s clothing?&mdash;do I not know him? That fox
discoursing with the crow?&mdash;have I not previously heard of him? Yes, in
Lafontaine&rsquo;s fables: let us get the Dictionary and the Fable and the
Biographie Universelle, article Lafontaine, and confound the impostor.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Then in what a contemptuous way,&rdquo; may Solomon go on to remark,
&ldquo;does this author speak of human nature! There is scarce one of these
characters he represents but is a villain. The fox is a flatterer; the frog is
an emblem of impotence and envy; the wolf in sheep&rsquo;s clothing a
bloodthirsty hypocrite, wearing the garb of innocence; the ass in the
lion&rsquo;s skin a quack trying to terrify, by assuming the appearance of a
forest monarch (does the writer, writhing under merited castigation, mean to
sneer at critics in this character? We laugh at the impertinent comparison);
the ox, a stupid commonplace; the only innocent being in the writer&rsquo;s
(stolen) apologue is a fool&mdash;the idiotic lamb, who does not know his own
mother!&rdquo; And then the critic, if in a virtuous mood, may indulge in some
fine writing regarding the holy beauteousness of maternal affection.
</p>

<p>
Why not? If authors sneer, it is the critic&rsquo;s business to sneer at them
for sneering. He must pretend to be their superior, or who would care about his
opinion? And his livelihood is to find fault. Besides, he is right sometimes;
and the stories he reads, and the characters drawn in them, are old, sure
enough. What stories are new? All types of all characters march through all
fables: tremblers and boasters; victims and bullies; dupes and knaves;
long-eared Neddies, giving themselves leonine airs; Tartuffes wearing virtuous
clothing; lovers and their trials, their blindness, their folly and constancy.
With the very first page of the human story do not love and lies too begin? So
the tales were told ages before Aesop; and asses under lions&rsquo; manes
roared in Hebrew; and sly foxes flattered in Etruscan; and wolves in
sheep&rsquo;s clothing gnashed their teeth in Sanskrit, no doubt. The sun
shines to-day as he did when he first began shining; and the birds in the tree
overhead, while I am writing, sing very much the same note they have sung ever
since there were finches. Nay, since last he besought good-natured friends to
listen once a month to his talking, a friend of the writer has seen the New
World, and found the (featherless) birds there exceedingly like their brethren
of Europe. There may be nothing new under and including the sun; but it looks
fresh every morning, and we rise with it to toil, hope, scheme, laugh,
struggle, love, suffer, until the night comes and quiet. And then will wake
Morrow and the eyes that look on it; and so <i>da capo</i>.
</p>

<p>
This, then, is to be a story, may it please you, in which jackdaws will wear
peacocks&rsquo; feathers, and awaken the just ridicule of the peacocks; in
which, while every justice is done to the peacocks themselves, the splendour of
their plumage, the gorgeousness of their dazzling necks, and the magnificence
of their tails, exception will yet be taken to the absurdity of their rickety
strut, and the foolish discord of their pert squeaking; in which lions in love
will have their claws pared by sly virgins; in which rogues will sometimes
triumph, and honest folks, let us hope, come by their own; in which there will
be black crape and white favours; in which there will be tears under
orange-flower wreaths, and jokes in mourning-coaches; in which there will be
dinners of herbs with contentment and without, and banquets of stalled oxen
where there is care and hatred&mdash;ay, and kindness and friendship too, along
with the feast. It does not follow that all men are honest because they are
poor; and I have known some who were friendly and generous, although they had
plenty of money. There are some great landlords who do not grind down their
tenants; there are actually bishops who are not hypocrites; there are liberal
men even among the Whigs, and the Radicals themselves are not all aristocrats
at heart. But who ever heard of giving the Moral before the Fable? Children are
only led to accept the one after their delectation over the other: let us take
care lest our readers skip both; and so let us bring them on quickly&mdash;our
wolves and lambs, our foxes and lions, our roaring donkeys, our billing
ringdoves, our motherly partlets, and crowing chanticleers.
</p>

<p class="p2">
There was once a time when the sun used to shine brighter than it appears to do
in this latter half of the nineteenth century; when the zest of life was
certainly keener; when tavern wines seemed to be delicious, and tavern dinners
the perfection of cookery; when the perusal of novels was productive of immense
delight, and the monthly advent of magazine-day was hailed as an exciting
holiday; when to know Thompson, who had written a magazine-article, was an
honour and a privilege; and to see Brown, the author of the last romance, in
the flesh, and actually walking in the Park with his umbrella and Mrs. Brown,
was an event remarkable, and to the end of life to be perfectly well
remembered; when the women of this world were a thousand times more beautiful
than those of the present time; and the houris of the theatres especially so
ravishing and angelic, that to see them was to set the heart in motion, and to
see them again was to struggle for half an hour previously at the door of the
pit; when tailors called at a man&rsquo;s lodgings to dazzle him with cards of
fancy waistcoats; when it seemed necessary to purchase a grand silver
dressing-case, so as to be ready for the beard which was not yet born (as
yearling brides provide lace caps, and work rich clothes, for the expected
darling); when to ride in the Park on a ten-shilling hack seemed to be the
height of fashionable enjoyment, and to splash your college tutor as you were
driving down Regent Street in a hired cab the triumph of satire; when the acme
of pleasure seemed to be to meet Jones of Trinity at the Bedford, and to make
an arrangement with him, and with King of Corpus (who was staying at the
Colonnade), and Martin of Trinity Hall (who was with his family in Bloomsbury
Square), to dine at the Piazza, go to the play and see Braham in Fra Diavolo,
and end the frolic evening by partaking of supper and a song at the &ldquo;Cave
of Harmony.&rdquo;&mdash;It was in the days of my own youth, then, that I met
one or two of the characters who are to figure in this history, and whom I must
ask leave to accompany for a short while, and until, familiarised with the
public, they can make their own way. As I recall them the roses bloom again,
and the nightingales sing by the calm Bendemeer.
</p>

<p>
Going to the play, then, and to the pit, as was the fashion in those honest
days, with some young fellows of my own age, having listened delighted to the
most cheerful and brilliant of operas, and laughed enthusiastically at the
farce, we became naturally hungry at twelve o&rsquo;clock at night, and a
desire for welsh-rabbits and good old glee-singing led us to the &ldquo;Cave of
Harmony,&rdquo; then kept by the celebrated Hoskins, among whose friends we
were proud to count.
</p>

<p>
We enjoyed such intimacy with Mr. Hoskins that he never failed to greet us with
a kind nod; and John the waiter made room for us near the President of the
convivial meeting. We knew the three admirable glee-singers, and many a time
they partook of brandy-and-water at our expense. One of us gave his call dinner
at Hoskins&rsquo;s, and a merry time we had of it. Where are you, O Hoskins,
bird of the night? Do you warble your songs by Acheron, or troll your choruses
by the banks of black Avernus?
</p>

<p>
The goes of stout, the &ldquo;Chough and Crow,&rdquo; the welsh-rabbit, the
&ldquo;Red-Cross Knight,&rdquo; the hot brandy-and-water (the brown, the
strong!), the &ldquo;Bloom is on the Rye&rdquo; (the bloom isn&rsquo;t on the
rye any more!)&mdash;the song and the cup, in a word, passed round merrily;
and, I daresay, the songs and bumpers were encored. It happened that there was
a very small attendance at the &ldquo;Cave&rdquo; that night, and we were all
more sociable and friendly because the company was select. The songs were
chiefly of the sentimental class; such ditties were much in vogue at the time
of which I speak.
</p>

<p>
There came into the &ldquo;Cave&rdquo; a gentleman with a lean brown face and
long black mustachios, dressed in very loose clothes, and evidently a stranger
to the place. At least he had not visited it for a long time. He was pointing
out changes to a lad who was in his company; and, calling for sherry-and-water,
he listened to the music, and twirled his mustachios with great enthusiasm.
</p>

<p>
At the very first glimpse of me the boy jumped up from the table, bounded
across the room, ran to me with his hands out, and, blushing, said,
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you know me?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
It was little Newcome, my school-fellow, whom I had not seen for six years,
grown a fine tall young stripling now, with the same bright blue eyes which I
remembered when he was quite a little boy.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What the deuce brings you here?&rdquo; said I.
</p>

<p>
He laughed and looked roguish. &ldquo;My father&mdash;that&rsquo;s my
father&mdash;would come. He&rsquo;s just come back from India. He says all the
wits used to come here,&mdash;Mr. Sheridan, Captain Morris, Colonel Hanger,
Professor Porson. I told him your name, and that you used to be very kind to me
when I first went to Smithfield. I&rsquo;ve left now; I&rsquo;m to have a
private tutor. I say, I&rsquo;ve got such a jolly pony. It&rsquo;s better fun
than old Smile.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Here the whiskered gentleman, Newcome&rsquo;s father, pointing to a waiter to
follow him with his glass of sherry-and-water, strode across the room twirling
his mustachios, and came up to the table where we sate, making a salutation
with his hat in a very stately and polite manner, so that Hoskins himself was,
as it were, obliged to bow; the glee-singers murmured among themselves (their
eyes rolling over their glasses towards one another as they sucked brandy-and
water), and that mischievous little wag, little Nadab the Improvisatore (who
had just come in), began to mimic him, feeling his imaginary whiskers, after
the manner of the stranger, and flapping about his pocket-handkerchief in the
most ludicrous manner. Hoskins checked this ribaldry by sternly looking towards
Nadab, and at the same time called upon the gents to give their orders, the
waiter being in the room, and Mr. Bellew about to sing a song.
</p>

<p>
Newcome&rsquo;s father came up and held out his hand to me. I dare say I
blushed, for I had been comparing him to the admirable Harley in the Critic,
and had christened him Don Ferolo Whiskerandos.
</p>

<p>
He spoke in a voice exceedingly soft and pleasant, and with a cordiality so
simple and sincere, that my laughter shrank away ashamed, and gave place to a
feeling much more respectful and friendly. In youth, you see, one is touched by
kindness. A man of the world may, of course, be grateful or not as he chooses.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have heard of your kindness, sir,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;to my boy.
And whoever is kind to him is kind to me. Will you allow me to sit down by you?
and may I beg you to try my cheroots?&rdquo; We were friends in a
minute&mdash;young Newcome snuggling by my side, his father opposite, to whom,
after a minute or two of conversation, I presented my three college friends.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have come here, gentlemen, to see the wits,&rdquo; says the Colonel.
&ldquo;Are there any celebrated persons in the room? I have been
five-and-thirty years from home, and want to see all that is to be seen.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
King of Corpus (who was an incorrigible wag) was on the point of pulling some
dreadful long-bow, and pointing out a halfdozen of people in the room, as R.
and H. and L., etc., the most celebrated wits of that day; but I cut
King&rsquo;s shins under the table, and got the fellow to hold his tongue.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Maxima debetur pueris</i>,&rdquo; says Jones (a fellow of very kind
feeling, who has gone into the Church since), and, writing on his card to
Hoskins, hinted to him that a boy was in the room, and a gentleman, who was
quite a greenhorn: hence that the songs had better be carefully selected.
</p>

<p>
And so they were. A ladies&rsquo; school might have come in, and, but for the
smell of the cigars and brandy-and-water, have taken no harm by what happened.
Why should it not always be so? If there are any &ldquo;Caves of Harmony&rdquo;
now, I warrant Messieurs the landlords, their interests would be better
consulted by keeping their singers within bounds. The very greatest scamps like
pretty songs, and are melted by them; so are honest people. It was worth a
guinea to see the simple Colonel, and his delight at the music. He forgot all
about the distinguished wits whom he had expected to see in his ravishment over
the glees.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I say, Clive, this is delightful. This is better than your aunt&rsquo;s
concert with all the Squallinis, hey? I shall come here often. Landlord, may I
venture to ask those gentlemen if they will take any refreshment? What are
their names?&rdquo; (to one of his neighbours). &ldquo;I was scarcely allowed
to hear any singing before I went out, except an oratorio, where I fell asleep;
but this, by George, is as fine as Incledon!&rdquo; He became quite excited
over his sherry-and-water-(&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry to see you, gentlemen,
drinking brandy-pawnee,&rdquo; says he; &ldquo;it plays the deuce with our
young men in India.&rdquo;) He joined in all the choruses with an exceedingly
sweet voice. He laughed at &ldquo;The Derby Ram&rdquo; so that it did you good
to hear him; and when Hoskins sang (as he did admirably) &ldquo;The Old English
Gentleman,&rdquo; and described, in measured cadence, the death of that
venerable aristocrat, tears trickled down the honest warrior&rsquo;s cheek,
while he held out his hand to Hoskins and said, &ldquo;Thank you, sir, for that
song; it is an honour to human nature.&rdquo; On which Hoskins began to cry
too.
</p>

<p>
And now young Nadab, having been cautioned, commenced one of those surprising
feats of improvisation with which he used to charm audiences. He took us all
off, and had rhymes pat about all the principal persons in the room:
King&rsquo;s pins (which he wore very splendid), Martin&rsquo;s red waistcoat,
etc. The Colonel was charmed with each feat, and joined delighted with the
chorus&mdash;&ldquo;Ritolderol ritolderol ritolderolderay&rdquo; (<i>bis</i>).
And when, coming to the Colonel himself, he burst out&mdash;
</p>

<p class="poem">
&ldquo;A military gent I see&mdash;And while his face I scan,<br/>
I think you&rsquo;ll all agree with me&mdash;He came from Hindostan.<br/>
And by his side sits laughing free&mdash;A youth with curly head,<br/>
I think you&rsquo;ll all agree with me&mdash;That he was best in bed.<br/>
Ritolderol,&rdquo; etc.
</p>

<p>
&mdash;the Colonel laughed immensely at this sally, and clapped his son, young
Clive, on the shoulder. &ldquo;Hear what he says of you, sir? Clive, best be
off to bed, my boy&mdash;ho, ho! No, no. We know a trick worth two of that.
&lsquo;We won&rsquo;t go home till morning, till daylight does appear.&rsquo;
Why should we? Why shouldn&rsquo;t my boy have innocent pleasure? I was allowed
none when I was a young chap, and the severity was nearly the ruin of me. I
must go and speak with that young man&mdash;the most astonishing thing I ever
heard in my life. What&rsquo;s his name? Mr. Nadab? Mr. Nadab, sir, you have
delighted me. May I make so free as to ask you to come and dine with me
to-morrow at six? Colonel Newcome, if you please, Nerot&rsquo;s Hotel, Clifford
Street. I am always proud to make the acquaintance of men of genius, and you
are one, or my name is not Newcome!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Sir, you do me hhonour,&rdquo; says Mr. Nadab, pulling up his
shirt-collar, &ldquo;and perhaps the day will come when the world will do me
justice,&mdash;may I put down your hhonoured name for my book of poems?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course, my dear sir,&rdquo; says the enthusiastic Colonel;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll send them all over India. Put me down for six copies, and do
me the favour to bring them to-morrow when you come to dinner.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And now Mr. Hoskins asking if any gentleman would volunteer a song, what was
our amazement when the simple Colonel offered to sing himself, at which the
room applauded vociferously; whilst methought poor Clive Newcome hung down his
head, and blushed as red as a peony. I felt for the young lad, and thought what
my own sensations would have been if, in that place, my own uncle, Major
Pendennis, had suddenly proposed to exert his lyrical powers.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel selected the ditty of &ldquo;Wapping Old Stairs&rdquo; (a ballad so
sweet and touching that surely any English poet might be proud to be the father
of it), and he sang this quaint and charming old song in an exceedingly
pleasant voice, with flourishes and roulades in the old Incledon manner, which
has pretty nearly passed away. The singer gave his heart and soul to the simple
ballad, and delivered Molly&rsquo;s gentle appeal so pathetically that even the
professional gentlemen hummed and buzzed&mdash;a sincere applause; and some
wags who were inclined to jeer at the beginning of the performance, clinked
their glasses and rapped their sticks with quite a respectful enthusiasm. When
the song was over, Clive held up his head too; after the shock of the first
verse, looked round with surprise and pleasure in his eyes; and we, I need not
say, backed our friend, delighted to see him come out of his queer scrape so
triumphantly. The Colonel bowed and smiled with very pleasant good-nature at
our plaudits. It was like Dr. Primrose preaching his sermon in the prison.
There was something touching in the naivete and kindness of the placid and
simple gentleman.
</p>

<p>
Great Hoskins, placed on high, amidst the tuneful choir, was pleased to signify
his approbation, and gave his guest&rsquo;s health in his usual dignified
manner. &ldquo;I am much obliged to you, sir,&rdquo; says Mr. Hoskins;
&ldquo;the room ought to be much obliged to you: I drink your &rsquo;ealth and
song, sir;&rdquo; and he bowed to the Colonel politely over his glass of
brandy-and-water, of which he absorbed a little in his customer&rsquo;s honour.
&ldquo;I have not heard that song,&rdquo; he was kind enough to say,
&ldquo;better performed since Mr. Incledon sung it. He was a great singer, sir,
and I may say, in the words of our immortal Shakspeare, that, take him for all
in all, we shall not look upon his like again.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Colonel blushed in his turn, and turning round to his boy with an arch
smile, said, &ldquo;I learnt it from Incledon. I used to slip out from Grey
Friars to hear him, Heaven bless me, forty years ago; and I used to be flogged
afterwards, and serve me right too. Lord! Lord! how the time passes!&rdquo; He
drank off his sherry-and-water, and fell back in his chair; we could see he was
thinking about his youth&mdash;the golden time&mdash;the happy, the bright, the
unforgotten. I was myself nearly two-and-twenty years of age at that period,
and felt as old as, ay, older than the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
Whilst he was singing his ballad, there had walked, or rather reeled, into the
room, a gentleman in a military frock-coat and duck trousers of dubious hue,
with whose name and person some of my readers are perhaps already acquainted.
In fact it was my friend Captain Costigan, in his usual condition at this hour
of the night.
</p>

<p>
Holding on by various tables, the Captain had sidled up, without accident to
himself or any of the jugs and glasses round about him, to the table where we
sat, and had taken his place near the writer, his old acquaintance. He warbled
the refrain of the Colonel&rsquo;s song, not inharmoniously; and saluted its
pathetic conclusion with a subdued hiccup and a plentiful effusion of tears.
&ldquo;Bedad, it is a beautiful song,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;and many a time I
heard poor Harry Incledon sing it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great character,&rdquo; whispered that unlucky King of
Corpus to his neighbour the Colonel; &ldquo;was a Captain in the army. We call
him the General. Captain Costigan, will you take something to drink?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Bedad, I will,&rdquo; says the Captain, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;ll sing ye a
song tu.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And, having procured a glass of whisky-and-water from the passing waiter, the
poor old man, settling his face into a horrid grin, and leering, as he was wont
when he gave what he called one of his prime songs, began his music.
</p>

<p>
The unlucky wretch, who scarcely knew what he was doing or saying, selected one
of the most outrageous performances of his <i>répertoire</i>, fired off a tipsy
howl by way of overture, and away he went. At the end of the second verse the
Colonel started up, clapping on his hat, seizing his stick, and looking as
ferocious as though he had been going to do battle with a Pindaree.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Silence!&rdquo; he roared out.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hear, hear!&rdquo; cried certain wags at a farther table. &ldquo;Go on,
Costigan!&rdquo; said others.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Go on!&rdquo; cries the Colonel, in his high voice trembling with anger.
&ldquo;Does any gentleman say &lsquo;Go On?&rsquo; Does any man who has a wife
and sisters, or children at home, say &lsquo;Go on&rsquo; to such disgusting
ribaldry as this? Do you dare, sir, to call yourself a gentleman, and to say
that you hold the King&rsquo;s commission, and to sit down amongst Christians
and men of honour, and defile the ears of young boys with this wicked
balderdash?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why do you bring young boys here, old boy?&rdquo; cries a voice of the
malcontents.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why? Because I thought I was coming to a society of gentlemen,&rdquo;
cried out the indignant Colonel. &ldquo;Because I never could have believed
that Englishmen could meet together and allow a man, and an old man, so to
disgrace himself. For shame, you old wretch! Go home to your bed, you hoary old
sinner! And for my part, I&rsquo;m not sorry that my son should see, for once
in his life, to what shame and degradation and dishonour, drunkenness and
whisky may bring a man. Never mind the change, sir!&mdash;Curse the
change!&rdquo; says the Colonel, facing the amazed waiter. &ldquo;Keep it till
you see me in this place again; which will be never&mdash;by George,
never!&rdquo; And shouldering his stick, and scowling round at the company of
scared bacchanalians, the indignant gentleman stalked away, his boy after him.
</p>

<p>
Clive seemed rather shamefaced; but I fear the rest of the company looked still
more foolish.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Aussi que diable venait&mdash;il faire dans cette galere?&rdquo; says
King of Corpus to Jones of Trinity; and Jones gave a shrug of his shoulders,
which were smarting, perhaps; for that uplifted cane of the Colonel&rsquo;s had
somehow fallen on the back of every man in the room.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"></a>
CHAPTER II.<br/>
Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s Wild Oats</h2>

<p>
As the young gentleman who has just gone to bed is to be the hero of the
following pages, we had best begin our account of him with his family history,
which luckily is not very long.
</p>

<p>
When pigtails still grew on the backs of the British gentry, and their wives
wore cushions on their heads, over which they tied their own hair, and
disguised it with powder and pomatum: when Ministers went in their stars and
orders to the House of Commons, and the orators of the Opposition attacked
nightly the noble lord in the blue ribbon: when Mr. Washington was heading the
American rebels with a courage, it must be confessed, worthy of a better cause:
there came up to London, out of a northern county, Mr. Thomas Newcome,
afterwards Thomas Newcome, Esq., and sheriff of London, afterwards Mr. Alderman
Newcome, the founder of the family whose name has given the title to this
history. It was but in the reign of George III. that Mr. Newcome first made his
appearance in Cheapside; having made his entry into London on a waggon, which
landed him and some bales of cloth, all his fortune, in Bishopsgate Street;
though if it could be proved that the Normans wore pigtails under William the
Conqueror, and Mr. Washington fought against the English under King Richard in
Palestine, I am sure some of the present Newcomes would pay the Heralds&rsquo;
Office handsomely, living, as they do, amongst the noblest of the land, and
giving entertainments to none but the very highest nobility and <i>élite</i> of
the fashionable and diplomatic world, as you may read any day in the
newspapers. For though these Newcomes have got a pedigree from the College,
which is printed in Budge&rsquo;s Landed Aristocracy of Great Britain, and
which proves that the Newcome of Cromwell&rsquo;s army, the Newcome who was
among the last six who were hanged by Queen Mary for Protestantism, were
ancestors of this house; of which a member distinguished himself at Bosworth
Field; and the founder, slain by King Harold&rsquo;s side at Hastings, had been
surgeon-barber to King Edward the Confessor; yet, between ourselves, I think
that Sir Brian Newcome, of Newcome, does not believe a word of the story, any
more than the rest of the world does, although a number of his children bear
names out of the Saxon Calendar.
</p>

<p>
Was Thomas Newcome a foundling&mdash;a workhouse child out of that village
which has now become a great manufacturing town, and which bears his name? Such
was the report set about at the last election, when Sir Brian, in the
Conservative interest contested the borough; and Mr. Yapp, the out-and-out
Liberal candidate, had a picture of the old workhouse placarded over the town
as the birthplace of the Newcomes; with placards ironically exciting freemen to
vote for Newcome and <i>union</i>&mdash;Newcome and the <i>parish</i>
interests, etc. Who cares for these local scandals? It matters very little to
those who have the good fortune to be invited to Lady Ann Newcome&rsquo;s
parties whether her beautiful daughters can trace their pedigrees no higher
than to the alderman their grandfather; or whether, through the mythic
ancestral barber-surgeon, they hang on to the chin of Edward, Confessor and
King.
</p>

<p>
Thomas Newcome, who had been a weaver in his native village, brought the very
best character for honesty, thrift, and ingenuity with him to London, where he
was taken into the house of Hobson Brothers, cloth-factors; afterwards Hobson
and Newcome. This fact may suffice to indicate Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s story.
Like Whittington and many other London apprentices, he began poor and ended by
marrying his master&rsquo;s daughter, and becoming sheriff and alderman of the
City of London.
</p>

<p>
But it was only <i>en secondes noces</i> that he espoused the wealthy, and
religious, and eminent (such was the word applied to certain professing
Christians in those days) Sophia Alethea Hobson&mdash;a woman who, considerably
older than Mr. Newcome, had the advantage of surviving him many years. Her
mansion at Clapham was long the resort of the most favoured amongst the
religious world. The most eloquent expounders; the most gifted missionaries,
the most interesting converts from foreign islands, were to be found at her
sumptuous table, spread with the produce of her magnificent gardens. Heaven
indeed blessed those gardens with plenty, as many reverend gentlemen remarked;
there were no finer grapes, peaches, or pineapples in all England. Mr.
Whitfield himself christened her; and it was said generally in the City, and by
her friends, that Miss Hobson&rsquo;s two Christian names, Sophia and Alethea,
were two Greek words, which, being interpreted, meant wisdom and truth. She,
her villa and gardens, are now no more; but Sophia Terrace, Upper and Lower
Alethea Road, and Hobson&rsquo;s Buildings, Square, etc., show every
quarter-day that the ground sacred to her (and freehold) still bears plenteous
fruit for the descendants of this eminent woman.
</p>

<p>
We are, however, advancing matters. When Thomas Newcome had been some time in
London, he quitted the house of Hobson, finding an opening, though in a much
smaller way, for himself. And no sooner did his business prosper, than he went
down into the north, like a man, to a pretty girl whom he had left there, and
whom he had promised to marry. What seemed an imprudent match (for his wife had
nothing but a pale face, that had grown older and paler with long waiting)
turned out a very lucky one for Newcome. The whole countryside was pleased to
think of the prosperous London tradesman returning to keep his promise to the
penniless girl whom he had loved in the days of his own poverty; the great
country clothiers, who knew his prudence and honesty, gave him much of their
business when he went back to London. Susan Newcome would have lived to be a
rich woman had not fate ended her career within a year after her marriage, when
she died giving birth to a son.
</p>

<p>
Newcome had a nurse for the child, and a cottage at Clapham, hard by Mr.
Hobson&rsquo;s house, where he had often walked in the garden of a Sunday, and
been invited to sit down to take a glass of wine. Since he had left their
service, the house had added a banking business, which was greatly helped by
the Quakers and their religious connection; and Newcome, keeping his account
there, and gradually increasing his business, was held in very good esteem by
his former employers, and invited sometimes to tea at the Hermitage; for which
entertainments he did not, in truth, much care at first, being a City man, a
good deal tired with his business during the day, and apt to go to sleep over
the sermons, expoundings, and hymns, with which the gifted preachers,
missionaries, etc., who were always at the Hermitage, used to wind up the
evening, before supper. Nor was he a supping man (in which case he would have
found the parties pleasanter, for in Egypt itself there were not more savoury
fleshpots than at Clapham); he was very moderate in his meals, of a bilious
temperament, and, besides, obliged to be in town early in the morning, always
setting off to walk an hour before the first coach.
</p>

<p>
But when his poor Susan died, Miss Hobson, by her father&rsquo;s demise, having
now become a partner in the house, as well as heiress to the pious and
childless Zachariah Hobson, her uncle Mr. Newcome, with his little boy in his
hand, met Miss Hobson as she was coming out of meeting one Sunday; and the
child looked so pretty (Mr. N. was a very personable, fresh-coloured man
himself; he wore powder to the end, and top-boots and brass buttons, in his
later days, after he had been sheriff indeed, one of the finest specimens of
the old London merchant); Miss Hobson, I say, invited him and little Tommy into
the grounds of the Hermitage; did not quarrel with the innocent child for
frisking about in the hay on the lawn, which lay basking in the Sabbath
sunshine, and at the end of the visit gave him a large piece of pound-cake, a
quantity of the finest hothouse grapes, and a tract in one syllable. Tommy was
ill the next day; but on the next Sunday his father was at meeting.
</p>

<p>
He became very soon after this an awakened man; and the tittling and tattling,
and the sneering and gossiping, all over Clapham, and the talk on
&rsquo;Change, and the pokes in the waistcoat administered by the wags to
Newcome,&mdash;&ldquo;Newcome, give you joy, my boy;&rdquo; &ldquo;Newcome, new
partner in Hobson&rsquo;s;&rdquo; &ldquo;Newcome, just take in this paper to
Hobson&rsquo;s, they&rsquo;ll do it, I warrant,&rdquo; etc. etc.; and the
groans of the Rev. Gideon Bawls, of the Rev. Athanasius O&rsquo;Grady, that
eminent convert from Popery, who, quarrelling with each other, yea, striving
one against another, had yet two sentiments in common, their love for Miss
Hobson, their dread, their hatred of the worldly Newcome; all these squabbles
and jokes, and pribbles and prabbles, look you, may be omitted. As gallantly as
he had married a woman without a penny, as gallantly as he had conquered his
poverty and achieved his own independence, so bravely he went in and won the
great City prize with a fortune of a quarter of a million. And every one of his
old friends, and every honest-hearted fellow who likes to see shrewdness, and
honesty, and courage succeed, was glad of his good fortune, and said,
&ldquo;Newcome, my boy&rdquo; (or &ldquo;Newcome, my buck,&rdquo; if they were
old City cronies, and very familiar), &ldquo;I give you joy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Of course Mr. Newcome might have gone into Parliament: of course before the
close of his life he might have been made a baronet: but he eschewed honours
senatorial or blood-red hands. &ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t do,&rdquo; with his
good sense he said; &ldquo;the Quaker connection wouldn&rsquo;t like it.&rdquo;
His wife never cared about being called Lady Newcome. To manage the great house
of Hobson Brothers and Newcome; to attend to the interests of the enslaved
negro; to awaken the benighted Hottentot to a sense of the truth; to convert
Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Papists; to arouse the indifferent and often
blasphemous mariner; to guide the washerwoman in the right way; to head all the
public charities of her sect, and do a thousand secret kindnesses that none
knew of; to answer myriads of letters, pension endless ministers, and supply
their teeming wives with continuous baby-linen; to hear preachers daily bawling
for hours, and listen untired on her knees after a long day&rsquo;s labour,
while florid rhapsodists belaboured cushions above her with wearisome
benedictions; all these things had this woman to do, and for near fourscore
years she fought her fight womanfully: imperious but deserving to rule, hard
but doing her duty, severe but charitable, and untiring in generosity as in
labour; unforgiving in one instance&mdash;in that of her husband&rsquo;s eldest
son, Thomas Newcome; the little boy who had played on the hay, and whom at
first she had loved very sternly and fondly.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Thomas Newcome, the father of his wife&rsquo;s twin boys, the junior
partner of the house of Hobson Brothers and Co., lived several years after
winning the great prize about which all his friends so congratulated him. But
he was, after all, only the junior partner of the house. His wife was manager
in Threadneedle Street and at home&mdash;when the clerical gentlemen prayed
they importuned Heaven for that sainted woman a long time before they thought
of asking any favour for her husband. The gardeners touched their hats, the
clerks at the bank brought him the books, but they took their orders from her,
not from him. I think he grew weary of the prayer-meetings, he yawned over the
sufferings of the negroes, and wished the converted Jews at Jericho. About the
time the French Emperor was meeting with his Russian reverses Mr. Newcome died:
his mausoleum is in Clapham Churchyard, near the modest grave where his first
wife reposes.
</p>

<p>
When his father married, Mr. Thomas Newcome, jun., and Sarah his nurse were
transported from the cottage where they had lived in great comfort to the
palace hard by, surrounded by lawns and gardens, pineries, graperies, aviaries,
luxuries of all kinds. This paradise, five miles from the Standard at Cornhill,
was separated from the outer world by a thick hedge of tall trees, and an
ivy-covered porter&rsquo;s-gate, through which they who travelled to London on
the top of the Clapham coach could only get a glimpse of the bliss within. It
was a serious paradise. As you entered at the gate, gravity fell on you; and
decorum wrapped you in a garment of starch. The butcher-boy who galloped his
horse and cart madly about the adjoining lanes and common, whistled wild
melodies (caught up in abominable playhouse galleries), and joked with a
hundred cook-maids, on passing that lodge fell into an undertaker&rsquo;s pace,
and delivered his joints and sweetbreads silently at the servants&rsquo;
entrance. The rooks in the elms cawed sermons at morning and evening; the
peacocks walked demurely on the terraces; the guinea-fowls looked more
Quaker-like than those savoury birds usually do. The lodge-keeper was serious,
and a clerk at a neighbouring chapel. The pastors who entered at the gate, and
greeted his comely wife and children, fed the little lambkins with tracts. The
head-gardener was a Scotch Calvinist, after the strictest order, only occupying
himself with the melons and pines provisionally, and until the end of the
world, which event, he could prove by infallible calculations, was to come off
in two or three years at farthest. Wherefore, he asked, should the butler brew
strong ale to be drunken three years hence; or the housekeeper (a follower of
Joanna Southcote) make provisions of fine linen and lay up stores of jams? On a
Sunday (which good old Saxon word was scarcely known at the Hermitage) the
household marched away in separate couples or groups to at least half a dozen
of religious edifices, each to sit under his or her favourite minister, the
only man who went to church being Thomas Newcome, accompanied by Tommy his
little son, and Sarah his nurse, who was, I believe, also his aunt, or at least
his mother&rsquo;s first cousin. Tommy was taught hymns, very soon after he
could speak, appropriate to his tender age, pointing out to him the inevitable
fate of wicked children, and giving him the earliest possible warning and
description of the punishment of little sinners. He repeated these poems to his
stepmother after dinner, before a great shining mahogany table, covered with
grapes, pineapples, plum-cake, port wine, and Madeira, and surrounded by stout
men in black, with baggy white neckcloths, who took the little man between
their knees, and questioned him as to his right understanding of the place
whither naughty boys were bound. They patted his head with their fat hands if
he said well, or rebuked him if he was bold, as he often was.
</p>

<p>
Nurse Sarah or Aunt Sarah would have died had she remained many years in that
stifling garden of Eden. She could not bear to part from the child whom her
mistress and kinswoman had confided to her (the women had worked in the same
room at Newcome&rsquo;s, and loved each other always, when Susan became a
merchant&rsquo;s lady, and Sarah her servant). She was nobody in the pompous
new household but Master Tommy&rsquo;s nurse. The honest soul never mentioned
her relationship to the boy&rsquo;s mother, nor indeed did Mr. Newcome acquaint
his new family with that circumstance. The housekeeper called her an Erastian:
Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s own serious maid informed against her for telling Tommy
stories of Lancashire witches, and believing in the same. The black footman
(madam&rsquo;s maid and the butler were of course privately united) persecuted
her with his addresses, and was even encouraged by his mistress, who thought of
sending him as a missionary to the Niger. No little love, and fidelity, and
constancy did honest Sarah show and use during the years she passed at the
Hermitage, and until Tommy went to school. Her master, with many private
prayers and entreaties, in which he passionately recalled his former
wife&rsquo;s memory and affection, implored his friend to stay with him; and
Tommy&rsquo;s fondness for her and artless caresses, and the scrapes he got
into, and the howls he uttered over the hymns and catechisms which he was
bidden to learn (by Rev. T. Clack,, of Highbury College, his daily tutor, who
was commissioned to spare not the rod, neither to spoil the child), all these
causes induced Sarah to remain with her young master until such time as he was
sent to school.
</p>

<p>
Meanwhile an event of prodigious importance, a wonderment, a blessing and a
delight, had happened at the Hermitage. About two years after Mrs.
Newcome&rsquo;s marriage, the lady being then forty-three years of age, no less
than two little cherubs appeared in the Clapham Paradise&mdash;the twins,
Hobson Newcome and Brian Newcome, called after their uncle and late
grandfather, whose name and rank they were destined to perpetuate. And now
there was no reason why young Newcome should not go to school. Old Mr. Hobson
and his brother had been educated at that school of Grey Friars, of which
mention has been made in former works and to Grey Friars Thomas Newcome was
accordingly sent, exchanging&mdash;O ye Gods! with what delight!&mdash;the
splendour of Clapham for the rough, plentiful fare of the place, blacking his
master&rsquo;s shoes with perfect readiness, till he rose in the school, and
the time came when he should have a fag of his own: tibbing out and receiving
the penalty therefore: bartering a black eye, per bearer, against a bloody nose
drawn at sight, with a schoolfellow, and shaking hands the next day; playing at
cricket, hockey, prisoners&rsquo; base, and football, according to the season;
and gorging himself and friends with tarts when he had money (and of this he
had plenty) to spend. I have seen his name carved upon the Gown Boys&rsquo;
arch: but he was at school long before my time; his son showed me the name when
we were boys together, in some year when George the Fourth was king.
</p>

<p>
The pleasures of this school-life were such to Tommy Newcome, that he did not
care to go home for a holiday: and indeed, by insubordination and
boisterousness; by playing tricks and breaking windows; by marauding upon the
gardener&rsquo;s peaches and the housekeeper&rsquo;s jam; by upsetting his two
little brothers in a go-cart (of which wanton and careless injury the present
Baronet&rsquo;s nose bears marks to this very day); by going to sleep during
the sermons, and treating reverend gentlemen with levity, he drew down on
himself the merited wrath of his stepmother; and many punishments in this
present life, besides those of a future and much more durable kind, which the
good lady did not fail to point out that he must undoubtedly inherit. His
father, at Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s instigation, certainly whipped Tommy for
upsetting his little brothers in the go-cart; but upon being pressed to repeat
the whipping for some other peccadillo performed soon after, Mr. Newcome
refused at once, using a wicked, worldly expression, which well might shock any
serious lady; saying, in fact, that he would be deed if he beat the boy any
more, and that he got flogging enough at school, in which opinion Master Tommy
fully coincided.
</p>

<p>
The undaunted woman, his stepmother, was not to be made to forgo her plans for
the boy&rsquo;s reform by any such vulgar ribaldries; and Mr. Newcome being
absent in the City on his business, and Tommy refractory as usual, she summoned
the serious butler and the black footman (for the lashings of whose brethren
she felt an unaffected pity) to operate together in the chastisement of this
young criminal. But he dashed so furiously against the butler&rsquo;s shins as
to draw blood from his comely limbs, and to cause that serious and overfed
menial to limp and suffer for many days after; and, seizing the decanter, he
swore he would demolish blacky&rsquo;s ugly face with it: nay, he threatened to
discharge it at Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s own head before he would submit to the
coercion which she desired her agents to administer.
</p>

<p>
High words took place between Mr. and Mrs. Newcome that night on the
gentleman&rsquo;s return home from the City, and on his learning the events of
the morning. It is to be feared he made use of further oaths, which hasty
ejaculations need not be set down in this place; at any rate, he behaved with
spirit and manliness as master of the house, vowed that if any servant laid a
hand on the child, he would thrash him first and then discharge him; and I dare
say expressed himself with bitterness and regret that he had married a wife who
would not be obedient to her husband, and had entered a house of which he was
not suffered to be the master. Friends were called in&mdash;the interference,
the supplications, of the Clapham clergy, some of whom dined constantly at the
Hermitage, prevailed to allay this domestic quarrel; and no doubt the good
sense of Mrs. Newcome&mdash;who, though imperious, was yet not unkind; and who,
excellent as she was, yet could be brought to own that she was sometimes in
fault&mdash;induced her to make at least a temporary submission to the man whom
she had placed at the head of her house, and whom it must be confessed she had
vowed to love and honour. When Tommy fell ill of the scarlet fever, which
afflicting event occurred presently after the above dispute, his own nurse,
Sarah, could not have been more tender, watchful, and affectionate than his
stepmother showed herself to be. She nursed him through his illness; allowed
his food and medicine to be administered by no other hand; sat up with the boy
through a night of his fever, and uttered not one single reproach to her
husband (who watched with her) when the twins took the disease (from which we
need not say they happily recovered); and though young Tommy, in his temporary
delirium, mistaking her for Nurse Sarah, addressed her as his dear Fat
Sally&mdash;whereas no whipping-post to which she ever would have tied him
could have been leaner than Mrs. Newcome&mdash;and, under this feverish
delusion, actually abused her to her face; calling her an old cat, an old
Methodist, and, jumping up in his little bed, forgetful of his previous fancy,
vowing that he would put on his clothes and run away to Sally. Sally was at her
northern home by this time, with a liberal pension which Mr. Newcome gave her,
and which his son and his son&rsquo;s son after him, through all their
difficulties and distresses, always found means to pay.
</p>

<p>
What the boy threatened in his delirium he had thought of, no doubt, more than
once in his solitary and unhappy holidays. A year after he actually ran away,
not from school, but from home; and appeared one morning, gaunt and hungry, at
Sarah&rsquo;s cottage two hundred miles away from Clapham, who housed the poor
prodigal, and killed her calf for him&mdash;washed him, with many tears and
kisses, and put him to bed and to sleep; from which slumber he was aroused by
the appearance of his father, whose sure instinct, backed by Mrs.
Newcome&rsquo;s own quick intelligence, had made him at once aware whither the
young runaway had fled. The poor father came horsewhip in hand&mdash;he knew of
no other law or means to maintain his authority; many and many a time had his
own father, the old weaver, whose memory he loved and honoured, strapped and
beaten him. Seeing this instrument in the parent&rsquo;s hand, as Mr. Newcome
thrust out the weeping trembling Sarah and closed the door upon her, Tommy,
scared out of a sweet sleep and a delightful dream of cricket, knew his fate;
and, getting up out of bed, received his punishment without a word. Very likely
the father suffered more than the child; for when the punishment was over, the
little man, yet trembling and quivering with the pain, held out his little
bleeding hand and said, &ldquo;I can&mdash;I can take it from you, sir;&rdquo;
saying which his face flushed, and his eyes filled, for the first time;
whereupon the father burst into a passion of tears, and embraced the boy and
kissed him, besought and prayed him to be rebellious no more&mdash;flung the
whip away from him and swore, come what would, he would never strike him again.
The quarrel was the means of a great and happy reconciliation. The three dined
together in Sarah&rsquo;s cottage. Perhaps the father would have liked to walk
that evening in the lanes and fields where he had wandered as a young fellow:
where he had first courted and first kissed the young girl he loved&mdash;poor
child&mdash;who had waited for him so faithfully and fondly, who had passed so
many a day of patient want and meek expectance, to be repaid by such a scant
holiday and brief fruition.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Newcome never made the slightest allusion to Tom&rsquo;s absence after his
return, but was quite gentle and affectionate with him, and that night read the
parable of the Prodigal in a very low and quiet voice.
</p>

<p>
This, however, was only a temporary truce. War very soon broke out again
between the impetuous lad and his rigid domineering mother-in-law. It was not
that he was very bad, or she perhaps more stern than other ladies, but the two
could not agree. The boy sulked and was miserable at home. He fell to drinking
with the grooms in the stables. I think he went to Epsom races, and was
discovered after that act of rebellion. Driving from a most interesting
breakfast at Roehampton (where a delightful Hebrew convert had spoken, oh! so
graciously!), Mrs. Newcome&mdash;in her state-carriage, with her bay
horses&mdash;met Tom, her son-in-law, in a tax-cart, excited by drink, and
accompanied by all sorts of friends, male and female. John the black man was
bidden to descend from the carriage and bring him to Mrs. Newcome. He came; his
voice was thick with drink. He laughed wildly: he described a fight at which he
had been present. It was not possible that such a castaway as this should
continue in a house where her two little cherubs were growing up in innocence
and grace.
</p>

<p>
The boy had a great fancy for India; and Orme&rsquo;s History, containing the
exploits of Clive and Lawrence, was his favourite book of all in his
father&rsquo;s library. Being offered a writership, he scouted the idea of a
civil appointment, and would be contented with nothing but a uniform. A cavalry
cadetship was procured for Thomas Newcome; and the young man&rsquo;s future
career being thus determined, and his stepmother&rsquo;s unwilling consent
procured, Mr. Newcome thought fit to send his son to a tutor for military
instruction, and removed him from the London school, where in truth he had made
but very little progress in the humaner letters. The lad was placed with a
professor who prepared young men for the army, and received rather a better
professional education than fell to the lot of most young soldiers of his day.
He cultivated the mathematics and fortification with more assiduity than he had
ever bestowed on Greek and Latin, and especially made such a progress in the
French tongue as was very uncommon among the British youth his contemporaries.
</p>

<p>
In the study of this agreeable language, over which young Newcome spent a great
deal of his time, he unluckily had some instructors who were destined to bring
the poor lad into yet further trouble at home. His tutor, an easy gentleman,
lived at Blackheath, and, not far from thence, on the road to Woolwich, dwelt
the little Chevalier de Blois, at whose house the young man much preferred to
take his French lessons rather than to receive them under his tutor&rsquo;s own
roof.
</p>

<p>
For the fact was that the little Chevalier de Blois had two pretty young
daughters, with whom he had fled from his country along with thousands of
French gentlemen at the period of revolution and emigration. He was a cadet of
a very ancient family, and his brother, the Marquis de Blois, was a fugitive
like himself, but with the army of the princes on the Rhine, or with his exiled
sovereign at Mittau. The Chevalier had seen the wars of the great Frederick:
what man could be found better to teach young Newcome the French language and
the art military? It was surprising with what assiduity he pursued his studies.
Mademoiselle Léonore, the Chevalier&rsquo;s daughter, would carry on her little
industry very undisturbedly in the same parlour with her father and his pupil.
She painted card-racks: laboured at embroidery; was ready to employ her quick
little brain or fingers in any way by which she could find means to add a few
shillings to the scanty store on which this exiled family supported themselves
in their day of misfortune. I suppose the Chevalier was not in the least
unquiet about her, because she was promised in marriage to the Comte de Florac,
also of the emigration&mdash;a distinguished officer like the Chevalier, than
whom he was a year older&mdash;and, at the time of which we speak, engaged in
London in giving private lessons on the fiddle. Sometimes on a Sunday he would
walk to Blackheath with that instrument in his hand, and pay his court to his
young <i>fiancée</i>, and talk over happier days with his old
companion-in-arms. Tom Newcome took no French lessons on a Sunday. He passed
that day at Clapham generally, where, strange to say, he never said a word
about Mademoiselle de Blois.
</p>

<p>
What happens when two young folks of eighteen, handsome and ardent, generous
and impetuous, alone in the world, or without strong affections to bind them
elsewhere,&mdash;what happens when they meet daily over French dictionaries,
embroidery frames, or indeed upon any business whatever? No doubt Mademoiselle
Léonore was a young lady perfectly <i>bien élevée</i>, and ready, as every
well-elevated young Frenchwoman should be, to accept a husband of her
parents&rsquo; choosing; but while the elderly M. de Florac was fiddling in
London, there was that handsome young Tom Newcome ever present at Blackheath.
To make a long matter short, Tom declared his passion, and was for marrying
Léonore off hand, if she would but come with him to the little Catholic chapel
at Woolwich. Why should they not go out to India together and be happy ever
after?
</p>

<p>
The innocent little amour may have been several months in transaction, and was
discovered by Mrs. Newcome, whose keen spectacles nothing could escape. It
chanced that she drove to Blackheath to Tom&rsquo;s tutor&rsquo;s. Tom was
absent taking his French and drawing lesson of M. de Blois. Thither Tom&rsquo;s
stepmother followed him, and found the young man sure enough with his
instructor over his books and plans of fortification. Mademoiselle and her
card-screens were in the room, but behind those screens she could not hide her
blushes and confusion from Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s sharp glances. In one moment
the banker&rsquo;s wife saw the whole affair&mdash;the whole mystery which had
been passing for months under poor M. de Blois&rsquo; nose, without his having
the least notion of the truth.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Newcome said she wanted her son to return home with her upon private
affairs; and before they had reached the Hermitage a fine battle had ensued
between them. His mother had charged him with being a wretch and a monster, and
he had replied fiercely, denying the accusation with scorn, and announcing his
wish instantly to marry the most virtuous, the most beautiful of her sex. To
marry a Papist! This was all that was wanted to make poor Tom&rsquo;s cup of
bitterness run over. Mr. Newcome was called in, and the two elders passed a
great part of the night in an assault upon the lad. He was grown too tall for
the cane; but Mrs. Newcome thonged him with the lash of her indignation for
many an hour that evening.
</p>

<p>
He was forbidden to enter, M. de Blois&rsquo; house, a prohibition at which the
spirited young fellow snapped his fingers, and laughed in scorn. Nothing, he
swore, but death should part him from the young lady. On the next day his
father came to him alone and plied him with entreaties, but he was as obdurate
as before. He would have her; nothing should prevent him. He cocked his hat and
walked out of the lodge-gate, as his father, quite beaten by the young
man&rsquo;s obstinacy, with haggard face and tearful eyes, went his own way
into town. He was not very angry himself: in the course of their talk overnight
the boy had spoken bravely and honestly, and Newcome could remember how, in his
own early life, he too had courted and loved a young lass. It was Mrs. Newcome
the father was afraid of. Who shall depict her wrath at the idea that a child
of her house was about to marry a Popish girl?
</p>

<p>
So young Newcome went his way to Blackheath, bent upon falling straightway down
upon his knees before Léonore, and having the Chevalier&rsquo;s blessing. That
old fiddler in London scarcely seemed to him to be an obstacle: it seemed
monstrous that a young creature should be given away to a man older than her
own father. He did not know the law of honour, as it obtained amongst French
gentlemen of those days, or how religiously their daughters were bound by it.
</p>

<p>
But Mrs. Newcome had been beforehand with him, and had visited the Chevalier de
Blois almost at cockcrow. She charged him insolently with being privy to the
attachment between the young people; pursued him with vulgar rebukes about
beggary, Popery, and French adventurers. Her husband had to make a very
contrite apology afterwards for the language which his wife had thought fit to
employ. &ldquo;You forbid me,&rdquo; said the Chevalier, &ldquo;you forbid
Mademoiselle de Blois to marry your son, Mr. Thomas! No, madam, she comes of a
race which is not accustomed to ally itself with persons of your class; and is
promised to a gentleman whose ancestors were dukes and peers when Mr.
Newcome&rsquo;s were blacking shoes!&rdquo; Instead of finding his pretty
blushing girl on arriving at Woolwich, poor Tom only found his French master,
livid with rage and quivering under his <i>ailes de pigeon</i>. We pass over
the scenes that followed; the young man&rsquo;s passionate entreaties, and fury
and despair. In his own defence, and to prove his honour to the world, M. de
Blois determined that his daughter should instantly marry the Count. The poor
girl yielded without a word, as became her; and it was with this marriage
effected almost before his eyes, and frantic with wrath and despair, that young
Newcome embarked for India, and quitted the parents whom he was never more to
see.
</p>

<p>
Tom&rsquo;s name was no more mentioned at Clapham. His letters to his father
were written to the City; very pleasant they were, and comforting to the
father&rsquo;s heart. He sent Tom liberal private remittances to India, until
the boy wrote to say that he wanted no more. Mr. Newcome would have liked to
leave Tom all his private fortune, for the twins were only too well cared for;
but he dared not on account of his terror of Sophia Alethea, his wife; and he
died, and poor Tom was only secretly forgiven.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"></a>
CHAPTER III.<br/>
Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s Letter-box</h2>

<h3>I.</h3>

<p>
&ldquo;With the most heartfelt joy, my dear Major, I take up my pen to announce
to you the happy arrival of the Ramchunder, and the <i>dearest and
handsomest</i> little boy who, I am sure, ever came from India. Little Clive is
in <i>perfect health</i>. He speaks English <i>wonderfully</i> well. He cried
when he parted from Mr. Sneid, the supercargo, who most kindly brought him from
Southampton in a postchaise, but these tears in childhood are <i>of very brief
duration!</i> The voyage, Mr. Sneid states, was most favourable, occupying only
four months and eleven days. How different from that more lengthened and
dangerous passage of eight months, and almost perpetual sea-sickness, in which
my poor dear sister Emma went to Bengal, to become the wife of the best of
husbands and the mother of the dearest of little boys, and to enjoy these
inestimable blessings for so brief an interval! She has quitted this wicked and
wretched world for one where all is peace. The misery and ill-treatment which
she endured from Captain Case her first odious husband, were, I am sure, amply
repaid, my dear Colonel, by your subsequent affection. If the most sumptuous
dresses which London, even Paris, could supply, jewellery the most costly, and
elegant lace, and <i>everything lovely and fashionable</i>, could content a
woman, these, I am sure, during the last four years of her life, the poor girl
had. Of what avail are they when this scene of vanity is closed?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mr. Sneid announces that the passage was most favourable. They stayed a
week at the Cape, and three days at St. Helena, where they visited
Bonaparte&rsquo;s tomb (another instance of the vanity of all things!), and
their voyage was enlivened off Ascension by the taking of some delicious
turtle!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You may be sure that <i>the most liberal sum</i> which you have placed
to my credit with the Messrs. Hobson and Co. shall be faithfully expended on my
dear little charge. Mrs. Newcome can scarcely be called his grandmamma, I
suppose; and I daresay her Methodistical ladyship will not care to see the
daughter and grandson of a clergyman of the Church of England! My brother
Charles took leave to wait upon her when he presented your last <i>most
generous</i> bill at the bank. She received him <i>most rudely</i>, and said a
fool and his money are soon parted; and when Charles said, &lsquo;Madam, I am
the brother of the late Mrs. Major Newcome,&rsquo; &lsquo;Sir,&rsquo; says she,
&lsquo;I judge nobody; but from all accounts, you are the brother of a very
vain, idle, thoughtless, extravagant woman; and Thomas Newcome was as foolish
about his wife as about his money.&rsquo; Of course, unless Mrs. N. writes to
invite dear Clive, I shall not think of sending him to Clapham.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is such hot weather that I cannot wear the <i>beautiful shawl</i> you
have sent me, and shall keep it <i>in lavender</i> till next winter! My
brother, who thanks you for your continuous bounty, will write next month, and
report progress as to his dear pupil. Clive will add a postscript of his own,
and I am, my dear Major, with a thousand thanks for your kindness to
me,&mdash;Your grateful and affectionate Martha Honeyman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
In a round hand and on lines ruled with pencil:&mdash;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Dearest Papa i am very well i hope you are Very Well. M Sneed brought me
in a postchaise i like Mr. Sneed very much. i like Aunt Martha i like Hannah.
There are no ships here i am your affectionate son Clive Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<h3>II.</h3>

<p>
Rue St. Dominique, St. Germain, Paris,
</p>

<p>
Nov. 15, 1820,
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Long separated from the country which was the home of my youth, I
carried from her tender recollections, and bear her always a lively gratitude.
The Heaven has placed me in a position very different from that in which I knew
you. I have been the mother of many children. My husband has recovered a
portion of the property which the Revolution tore from us; and France, in
returning to its legitimate sovereign, received once more the nobility which
accompanied his august house into exile. We, however, preceded His Majesty,
more happy than many of our companions. Believing further resistance to be
useless; dazzled, perhaps, by the brilliancy of that genius which restored
order, submitted Europe, and governed France; M. de Florac, in the first days,
was reconciled to the Conqueror of Marengo and Austerlitz, and held a position
in his Imperial Court. This submission, at first attributed to infidelity, has
subsequently been pardoned to my husband. His sufferings during the Hundred
Days made to pardon his adhesion to him who was Emperor. My husband is now an
old man. He was of the disastrous campaign of Moscow, as one of the
chamberlains of Napoleon. Withdrawn from the world, he gives his time to his
feeble health&mdash;to his family&mdash;to Heaven.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have not forgotten a time before those days, when, according to
promises given by my father, I became the wife of M. de Florac. Sometimes I
have heard of your career. One of my parents, M. de F., who took service in the
English India, has entertained me of you; he informed me how yet a young man
you won laurels at Argom and Bhartpour; how you escaped to death at Laswari. I
have followed them, sir, on the map. I have taken part in your victories and
your glory. Ah! I am not so cold, but my heart has trembled for your dangers;
not so aged, but I remember the young man who learned from the pupil of
Frederick the first rudiments of war. Your great heart, your love of truth,
your courage were your own. None had to teach you those qualities, of which a
good God had endowed you, My good father is dead since many years. He, too, was
permitted to see France before to die.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have read in the English journals not only that you are married, but
that you have a son. Permit me to send to your wife, to your child, these
accompanying tokens of an old friendship. I have seen that Mistress Newcome was
widow, and am not sorry of it. My friend, I hope there was not that difference
of age between your wife and you that I have known in other unions. I pray the
good God to bless yours. I hold you always in my memory. As I write, the past
comes back to me. I see a noble young man, who has a soft voice, and brown
eyes. I see the Thames, and the smiling plains of Blackheath. I listen and pray
at my chamber-door as my father talks to you in our little cabinet of studies.
I look from my window, and see you depart.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My son&rsquo;s are men: one follows the profession of arms, one has
embraced the ecclesiastical state; my daughter is herself a mother. I remember
this was your birthday; I have made myself a little <i>fête</i> in celebrating
it, after how many years of absence, of silence! Comtesse De Florac. (<i>Née L.
de Blois.</i>)&rdquo;
</p>

<h3>III.</h3>

<p>
&ldquo;My Dear Thomas,&mdash;Mr. Sneid, supercargo of the Ramchunder, East
Indiaman, handed over to us yesterday your letter, and, to-day, I have
purchased three thousand three hundred and twenty-three pounds 6 and 8d. three
per cent Consols, in our joint names (H. and B. Newcome), held for your little
boy. Mr. S. gives a very favourable account of the little man, and left him in
perfect health two days since, at the house of his aunt, Miss Honeyman. We have
placed 200 pounds to that lady&rsquo;s credit, at your desire.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Lady Anne is charmed with the present which she received yesterday, and
says the white shawl is a great deal too handsome. My mother is also greatly
pleased with hers, and has forwarded, by the coach to Brighton, to-day, a
packet of books, tracts, etc., suited for his tender age, for your little boy.
She heard of you lately from the Rev. T. Sweatenham on his return from India.
He spoke of your kindness,&mdash;and of the hospitable manner in which you had
received him at your house, and alluded to you in a very handsome way in the
course of the thanksgiving that evening. I dare say my mother will ask your
little boy to the Hermitage; and when we have a house of our own, I am sure
Anne and I will be very happy to see him. Yours affectionately, B. Newcome.
<i>Major Newcome</i>.&rdquo;
</p>

<h3>IV.</h3>

<p>
&ldquo;My Dear Colonel,&mdash;Did I not know the generosity of your heart, and
the bountiful means which Heaven has put at your disposal in order to gratify
that noble disposition; were I not certain that the small sum I required will
permanently place me beyond the reach of the difficulties of life, and will
infallibly be repaid before six months are over, believe me I never would have
ventured upon that bold step which our friendship (carried on epistolarily as
it has been), our relationship, and your admirable disposition, have induced me
to venture to take.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That elegant and commodious chapel, known as Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s,
Denmark Street, Mayfair, being for sale, I have determined on venturing my all
in its acquisition, and in laying, as I hope, the foundation of a competence
for myself and excellent sister. What is a lodging-house at Brighton but an
uncertain maintenance? The mariner on the sea before those cliffs is no more
sure of wind and wave, or of fish to his laborious net, than the Brighton
house-owner (bred in affluence she may have been, and used to unremitting
plenty) to the support of the casual travellers who visit the city. On one day
they come in shoals, it is true, but where are they on the next? For many
months my poor sister&rsquo;s first floor was a desert, until occupied by your
noble little boy, my nephew and pupil. Clive is everything that a
father&rsquo;s, an uncle&rsquo;s (who loves him as a father), a pastor&rsquo;s,
a teacher&rsquo;s affections could desire. He is not one of those premature
geniuses whose much-vaunted infantine talents disappear along with adolescence;
he is not, I frankly own, more advanced in his classical and mathematical
studies than some children even younger than himself; but he has acquired the
rudiments of health; he has laid in a store of honesty and good-humour, which
are not less likely to advance him in life than mere science and language, than
the <i>as in præsenti</i>, or the <i>pons asinorum</i>.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But I forget, in thinking of my dear little friend and pupil, the
subject of this letter&mdash;namely, the acquisition of the proprietary chapel
to which I have alluded, and the hopes, nay, certainty of a fortune, if aught
below is certain, which that acquisition holds out. What is a curacy, but a
synonym for starvation? If we accuse the Eremites of old of wasting their lives
in unprofitable wildernesses, what shall we say to many a hermit of Protestant,
and so-called civilised times, who hides his head in a solitude in Yorkshire,
and buries his probably fine talents in a Lincolnshire fen? Have I genius? Am I
blessed with gifts of eloquence to thrill and soothe, to arouse the sluggish,
to terrify the sinful, to cheer and convince the timid, to lead the blind
groping in darkness, and to trample the audacious sceptic in the dust? My own
conscience, besides a hundred testimonials from places of popular, most popular
worship, from reverend prelates, from distinguished clergy, tells me I have
these gifts. A voice within me cries, &lsquo;Go forth, Charles Honeyman, fight
the good fight; wipe the tears of the repentant sinner; sing of hope to the
agonised criminal; whisper courage, brother, courage, at the ghastly deathbed,
and strike down the infidel with the lance of evidence and the shield of
reason!&rsquo; In a pecuniary point of view I am confident, nay, the
calculations may be established as irresistibly as an algebraic equation, that
I can realise, as incumbent of Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s chapel, the sum of
<i>not less</i> than one thousand pounds per annum. Such a sum, with economy
(and without it what sum were sufficient?), will enable me to provide amply for
my wants, to discharge my obligations to you, to my sister, and some other
creditors, very, very unlike you, and to place Miss Honeyman in a home more
worthy of her than that which she now occupies, only to vacate it at the beck
of every passing stranger!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My sister does not disapprove of my plan, into which enter some
modifications which I have not, as yet, submitted to her, being anxious at
first that they should be sanctioned by you. From the income of the Whittlesea
chapel I propose to allow Miss Honeyman the sum of two hundred pounds per
annum, <i>paid quarterly</i>. This, with her private property, which she has
kept more thriftily than her unfortunate and confiding brother guarded his (for
whenever I had a guinea a tale of distress would melt it into half a
sovereign), will enable Miss Honeyman to live in a way becoming my
father&rsquo;s daughter.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Comforted with this provision as my sister will be, I would suggest that
our dearest young Clive should be transferred from her petticoat government,
and given up to the care of his affectionate uncle and tutor. His present
allowance will most liberally suffice for his expenses, board, lodging, and
education while under my roof, and I shall be able to exert a paternal, a
pastoral influence over his studies, his conduct, and his <i>highest
welfare</i>, which I cannot so conveniently exercise at Brighton, where I am
but Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s stipendiary, and where I often have to submit in
cases where I know, for dearest Clive&rsquo;s own welfare, it is I, and not my
sister, should be paramount.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have given then to a friend, the Rev. Marcus Flather a draft for two
hundred and fifty pounds sterling, drawn upon you at your agent&rsquo;s in
Calcutta, which sum will go in liquidation of dear Clive&rsquo;s first
year&rsquo;s board with me, or, upon my word of honour as a gentleman and
clergyman, shall be paid back at three months after sight, if you will draw
upon me. As I never&mdash;no, were it my last penny in the world&mdash;would
dishonour your draft, I implore you, my dear Colonel, not to refuse mine. My
credit in this city, where credit is <i>everything</i>, and the awful future so
little thought of, my engagements to Mr. Flather, my own prospects in life, and
the comfort of my dear sister&rsquo;s declining years, all&mdash;all depend
upon this bold, this <i>eventful</i> measure. My ruin or my earthly happiness
lies entirely in your hands. Can I doubt which way your kind heart will lead
you, and that you will come to the aid of your affectionate brother-in-law?
Charles Honeyman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>P.S.</i>&mdash;Our little Clive has been to London on a visit to his
uncles and to the Hermitage, Clapham, to pay his duty to his step-grandmother,
the wealthy Mrs. Newcome. I pass over words disparaging of myself which the
child in his artless prattles subsequently narrated. She was very gracious to
<i>him</i>, and presented him with a five-pound note, a copy of Kirk
White&rsquo;s Poems, and a work called &lsquo;Little Henry and his
Bearer,&rsquo; relating to India, and the excellent Catechism of our Church.
Clive is full of humour, and I enclose you a rude scrap representing the
bishopess of Clapham, as she is called,&mdash;the other figure is a rude though
entertaining sketch of some other droll personage.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Lieutenant-Colonel Newcome, &amp;c.</i>&rdquo;
</p>

<h3>V.</h3>

<p>
&ldquo;My Dear Colonel;&mdash;The Rev. Marcus Flather has just written me a
letter at which I am greatly shocked and perplexed, informing me that my
brother Charles has given him a draft upon you for two hundred and fifty
pounds, when goodness knows it is not you but we who are many, many hundred
pounds debtors to you. Charles has explained that he drew the bill at your
desire, that you wrote to say you would be glad to serve him in any way, and
that the money is wanted to make his fortune. Yet I don&rsquo;t know&mdash;poor
Charles is always going to make his fortune and has never done it. That school
which he bought, and for which you and me between us paid the purchase-money,
turned out no good, and the only pupils left at the end of the first half-year
were two woolly-headed poor little mulattos, whose father was in gaol at St.
Kitt&rsquo;s, and whom I kept actually in my own second-floor back room whilst
the lawyers were settling things, and Charles was away in France, and until my
dearest little Clive came to live with me.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Then, as he was too small for a great school, I thought Clive could not
do better than stay with his old aunt and have his Uncle Charles for a tutor,
who is one of the finest scholars in the world. I wish you could hear him in
the pulpit. His delivery is grander and more impressive than any divine now in
England. His sermons you have subscribed for, and likewise his book of elegant
poems, which are pronounced to be <i>very fine</i>.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When he returned from Calais, and those horrid lawyers had left off
worriting him, I thought as his frame was much shattered and he was too weak to
take a curacy, that he could not do better than become Clive&rsquo;s tutor, and
agreed to pay him out of your handsome donation of £250 for Clive, a sum of one
hundred pounds per year, so that, when the board of the two and Clive&rsquo;s
clothing are taken into consideration, I think you will see that no great
profit is left to Miss Martha Honeyman.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Charles talks to me of his new church in London, and of making me some
grand allowance. The poor boy is very affectionate, and always building castles
in the air, and of having Clive to live with him in London. <i>Now this
mustn&rsquo;t be, and I won&rsquo;t hear of it.</i> Charles is too kind to be a
schoolmaster, and Master Clive laughs at him. It was only the other day, after
his return from his grandmamma&rsquo;s, regarding which I wrote you, per
Burrampooter, the 23rd ult., that I found a picture of Mrs. Newcome and Charles
too, and of both their spectacles, quite like. I put it away, but some rogue, I
suppose, has stolen it. He has done me and Hannah too. Mr. Speck, the artist,
laughed and took it home, and says he is a wonder at drawing.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Instead, then, of allowing Clive to go with Charles to London next
month, where my brother is bent on going, I shall send Clivey to Dr.
Timpany&rsquo;s school, Marine Parade, of which I hear the best account, but I
hope you will think of soon sending him to a great school. My father always
said it was the best place for boys, and I have a brother to whom my poor
mother spared the rod, and who, I fear, has turned out but a spoilt child.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am, dear Colonel, your most faithful servant, Martha Honeyman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Lieutenant-Colonel Newcome, C. B.</i>&rdquo;
</p>

<h3>VI.</h3>

<p>
&ldquo;My Dear Brother,&mdash;I hasten to inform you of a calamity which,
though it might be looked for in the course of nature, has occasioned deep
grief not only in our family but in this city. This morning, at half-past four
o&rsquo;clock, our beloved and respected mother, Sophia Alethea Newcome,
expired, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. On the night of
Tuesday-Wednesday, the 12-13th, having been engaged reading and writing in her
library until a late hour, and having dismissed the servants, whom she never
would allow to sit up for her, as well as my brother and his wife, who always
are in the habit of retiring early, Mrs. Newcome extinguished the lamps, took a
bedchamber candle to return to her room, and must have fallen on the landing,
where she was discovered by the maids, sitting with her head reclining against
the balustrades, and endeavouring to staunch a wound in her forehead, which was
bleeding profusely, having struck in a fall against the stone step of the
stair.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When Mrs. Newcome was found she was speechless, but still sensible, and
medical aid being sent for, she was carried to bed. Mr. Newcome and Lady Anne
both hurried to her apartment, and she knew them, and took the hands of each,
but paralysis had probably ensued in consequence of the shock of the fall; nor
was her voice ever heard, except in inarticulate moanings, since the hour on
the previous evening when she gave them her blessing and bade them good-night.
Thus perished this good and excellent woman, the truest Christian, the most
charitable friend to the poor and needful, the head of this great house of
business, the best and most affectionate of mothers.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The contents of her will have long been known to us, and that document
was dated one month after our lamented father&rsquo;s death. Mr. Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s property being divided equally amongst his three sons, the
property of his second wife naturally devolves upon her own issue, my brother
Brian and myself. There are very heavy legacies to servants and to charitable
and religious institutions, of which, in life, she was the munificent
patroness; and I regret, my dear brother, that no memorial to you should have
been left by my mother, because she often spoke of you latterly in terms of
affection, and on the very day on which she died, commenced a letter to your
little boy, which was left unfinished on the library table. My brother said
that on that same day, at breakfast, she pointed to a volume of Orme&rsquo;s
Hindostan, the book, she said, which set poor dear Tom wild to go to India, I
know you will be pleased to hear of these proofs of returning goodwill and
affection in one who often spoke latterly of her early regard for you. I have
no more time, under the weight of business which this present affliction
entails, than to say that I am yours, dear brother, very sincerely, H.
Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Lieutenant-Colonel Newcome, etc.</i>&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"></a>
CHAPTER IV.<br/>
In which the Author and the Hero resume their Acquaintance</h2>

<p>
If we are to narrate the youthful history not only of the hero of this tale,
but of the hero&rsquo;s father, we shall never have done with nursery
biography. A gentleman&rsquo;s grandmother may delight in fond recapitulation
of her darling&rsquo;s boyish frolics and early genius; but shall we weary our
kind readers by this infantile prattle, and set down the revered British public
for an old woman? Only to two or three persons in all the world are the
reminiscences of a man&rsquo;s early youth interesting: to the parent who
nursed him; to the fond wife or child mayhap afterwards who loves him; to
himself always and supremely&mdash;whatever may be his actual prosperity or
ill-fortune, his present age, illness, difficulties, renown, or
disappointments, the dawn of his life still shines brightly for him, the early
griefs and delights and attachments remain with him ever faithful and dear. I
shall ask leave to say, regarding the juvenile biography of Mr. Clive Newcome,
of whose history I am the chronicler, only so much as is sufficient to account
for some peculiarities of his character, and for his subsequent career in the
world.
</p>

<p>
Although we were schoolfellows, my acquaintance with young Newcome at the seat
of learning where we first met was very brief and casual. He had the advantage
of being six years the junior of his present biographer, and such a difference
of age between lads at a public school puts intimacy out of the
question&mdash;a junior ensign being no more familiar with the
Commander-in-Chief at the Horse Guards, or a barrister on his first circuit
with my Lord Chief Justice on the bench, than the newly breeched infant in the
Petties with a senior boy in a tailed coat. As we &ldquo;knew each other at
home,&rdquo; as our school phrase was, and our families being somewhat
acquainted, Newcome&rsquo;s maternal uncle, the Rev. Charles Honeyman (the
highly gifted preacher, and incumbent of Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel,
Denmark Street, Mayfair), when he brought the child, after the Christmas
vacation of 182-, to the Grey Friars&rsquo; school, recommended him in a neat
complimentary speech to my superintendence and protection. My uncle, Major
Pendennis, had for a while a seat in the chapel of this sweet and popular
preacher, and professed, as a great number of persons of fashion did, a great
admiration for him&mdash;an admiration which I shared in my early youth, but
which has been modified by maturer judgment.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Honeyman told me, with an air of deep respect, that his young
nephew&rsquo;s father, Colonel Thomas Newcome, C.B., was a most gallant and
distinguished officer in the Bengal establishment of the Honourable East India
Company;&mdash;and that his uncles, the Colonel&rsquo;s half-brothers, were the
eminent bankers, heads of the firm of Hobson Brothers and Newcome, Hobson
Newcome, Esquire, Bryanstone Square, and Marblehead, Sussex, and Sir Brian
Newcome, of Newcome and Park Lane, &ldquo;whom to name,&rdquo; says Mr.
Honeyman, with the fluent eloquence with which he decorated the commonest
circumstances of life, &ldquo;is to designate two of the merchant princes of
the wealthiest city the world has ever known; and one, if not two, of the
leaders of that aristocracy which rallies round the throne of the most elegant
and refined of European sovereigns.&rdquo; I promised Mr. Honeyman to do what I
could for the boy; and he proceeded to take leave of his little nephew in my
presence in terms equally eloquent, pulling out a long and very slender green
purse, from which he extracted the sum of two-and-sixpence, which he presented
to the child, who received the money with rather a queer twinkle in his blue
eyes.
</p>

<p>
After that day&rsquo;s school, I met my little <i>protégé</i> in the
neighbourhood of the pastrycook&rsquo;s, regaling himself with raspberry-tarts.
&ldquo;You must not spend all that money, sir, which your uncle gave
you,&rdquo; said I (having perhaps even at that early age a slightly satirical
turn), &ldquo;in tarts and ginger-beer.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The urchin rubbed the raspberry-jam off his mouth, and said, &ldquo;It
don&rsquo;t matter, sir, for I&rsquo;ve got lots more.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How much?&rdquo; says the Grand Inquisitor: for the formula of
interrogation used to be, when a new boy came to the school,
&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your name? Who&rsquo;s your father? and how much money have
you got?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The little fellow pulled such a handful of sovereigns out of his pocket as
might have made the tallest scholar feel a pang of envy. &ldquo;Uncle
Hobson,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;gave me two; Aunt Hobson gave me one&mdash;no,
Aunt Hobson gave me thirty shillings; Uncle Newcome gave me three pound; and
Aunt Anne gave me one pound five; and Aunt Honeyman sent me ten shillings in a
letter. And Ethel wanted to give me a pound, only I wouldn&rsquo;t have it, you
know; because Ethel&rsquo;s younger than me, and I have plenty.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And who is Ethel?&rdquo; asks the senior boy, smiling at the artless
youth&rsquo;s confessions.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ethel is my cousin,&rdquo; replies little Newcome; &ldquo;Aunt
Anne&rsquo;s daughter. There&rsquo;s Ethel and Alice, and Aunt Anne wanted the
baby to be called Boadicea, only uncle wouldn&rsquo;t; and there&rsquo;s Barnes
and Egbert and little Alfred; only he don&rsquo;t count, he&rsquo;s quite a
baby you know. Egbert and me was at school at Timpany&rsquo;s; he&rsquo;s going
to Eton next half. He&rsquo;s older than me, but I can lick him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And how old is Egbert?&rdquo; asks the smiling senior.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Egbert&rsquo;s ten, and I&rsquo;m nine, and Ethel&rsquo;s seven,&rdquo;
replies the little chubby-faced hero, digging his hands deep into his
trousers&rsquo; pockets, and jingling all the sovereigns there. I advised him
to let me be his banker; and, keeping one out of his many gold pieces, he
handed over the others, on which he drew with great liberality till his whole
stock was expended. The school hours of the upper and under boys were different
at that time; the little fellows coming out of their hall half an hour before
the Fifth and Sixth Forms; and many a time I used to find my little blue jacket
in waiting, with his honest square face, and white hair, and bright blue eyes,
and I knew that he was come to draw on his bank. Ere long one of the pretty
blue eyes was shut up, and a fine black one substituted in its place. He had
been engaged, it appeared, in a pugilistic encounter with a giant of his own
Form, whom he had worsted in the combat. &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t I pitch into him,
that&rsquo;s all?&rdquo; says he in the elation of victory; and when I asked
whence the quarrel arose, he stoutly informed me that &ldquo;Wolf minor, his
opponent, had been bullying a little boy, and that he (the gigantic Newcome)
wouldn&rsquo;t stand it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So, being called away from the school, I said farewell and God bless you to the
brave little man, who remained a while at the Grey Friars, where his career and
troubles had only just begun.
</p>

<p>
Nor did we meet again until I was myself a young man occupying chambers in the
Temple, when our rencontre took place in the manner already described.
</p>

<p>
Poor Costigan&rsquo;s outrageous behaviour had caused my meeting with my
schoolfellow of early days to terminate so abruptly and unpleasantly, that I
scarce expected to see Clive again, or at any rate to renew my acquaintance
with the indignant East Indian warrior who had quitted our company in such a
huff. Breakfast, however, was scarcely over in my chambers the next morning,
when there came a knock at the outer door, and my clerk introduced
&ldquo;Colonel Newcome and Mr. Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Perhaps the (joint) occupant of the chambers in Lamb Court, Temple, felt a
little pang of shame at hearing the name of the visitors; for, if the truth
must be told, I was engaged pretty much as I had been occupied on the night
previous, and was smoking a cigar over the <i>Times</i> newspaper. How many
young men in the Temple smoke a cigar after breakfast as they read the
<i>Times?</i> My friend and companion of those days, and all days, Mr. George
Warrington, was employed with his short pipe, and was not in the least
disconcerted at the appearance of the visitors, as he would not have been had
the Archbishop of Canterbury stepped in.
</p>

<p>
Little Clive looked curiously about our queer premises, while the Colonel shook
me cordially by the hand. No traces of yesterday&rsquo;s wrath were visible on
his face, but a friendly smile lighted his bronzed countenance, as he too
looked round the old room with its dingy curtains and prints and bookcases, its
litter of proof-sheets, blotted manuscripts, and books for review, empty
soda-water bottles, cigar-boxes, and what not.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I went off in a flame of fire last night,&rdquo; says the Colonel,
&ldquo;and being cooled this morning, thought it but my duty to call on Mr.
Pendennis and apologise for my abrupt behaviour. The conduct of that tipsy old
Captain&mdash;what is his name?&mdash;was so abominable, that I could not bear
that Clive should be any longer in the same room with him, and I went off
without saying a word of thanks or good-night to my son&rsquo;s old friend. I
owe you a shake of the hand for last night, Mr. Pendennis.&rdquo; And, so
saying, he was kind enough to give me his hand a second time.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And this is the abode of the Muses, is it, sir?&rdquo; our guest went
on. &ldquo;I know your writings very well. Clive here used to send me the
<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> every month.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We took it at Smiffle, regular,&rdquo; says Clive. &ldquo;Always
patronise Grey Friars men.&rdquo; &ldquo;Smiffle,&rdquo; it must be explained,
is a fond abbreviation for Smithfield, near to which great mart of mutton and
oxen our school is situated, and old Cistercians often playfully designate
their place of education by the name of the neighbouring market.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive sent me the <i>Gazette</i> every month; and I read your romance of
&lsquo;Walter Lorraine&rsquo; in my boat as I was coming down the river to
Calcutta.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Have Pen&rsquo;s immortal productions made their appearance on board
Bengalee budgerows; and are their leaves floating on the yellow banks of
Jumna?&rdquo; asks Warrington, that sceptic, who respects no work of modern
genius.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I gave your book to Mrs. Timmins, at Calcutta,&rdquo; says the Colonel
simply. &ldquo;I daresay you have heard of <i>her</i>. She is one of the most
dashing women in all India. She was delighted with your work; and I can tell
you it is not with every man&rsquo;s writing that Mrs. Timmins is
pleased,&rdquo; he added, with a knowing air.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s capital,&rdquo; broke in Clive. &ldquo;I say, that part, you
know, where Walter runs away with Neæra, and the General can&rsquo;t pursue
them, though he has got the postchaise at the door, because Tim O&rsquo;Toole
has hidden his wooden leg! By Jove, it&rsquo;s capital!&mdash;All the funny
part&mdash;I don&rsquo;t like the sentimental stuff, and suicide, and that; and
as for poetry, I hate poetry.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pen&rsquo;s is not first chop,&rdquo; says Warrington. &ldquo;I am
obliged to take the young man down from time to time, Colonel Newcome.
Otherwise he would grow so conceited there would be no bearing him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I say,&rdquo; says Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What were you about to remark?&rdquo; asks Mr. Warrington, with an air
of great interest.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I say, Pendennis,&rdquo; continued the artless youth, &ldquo;I thought
you were a great swell. When we used to read about the grand parties in the
<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, the fellows used to say you were at every one of
them, and you see, I thought you must have chambers in the Albany, and lots of
horses to ride, and a valet and a groom, and a cab at the very least.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; says the Colonel, &ldquo;I hope it is not your practice to
measure and estimate gentlemen by such paltry standards as those. A man of
letters follows the noblest calling which any man can pursue. I would rather be
the author of a work of genius, than be Governor-General of India. I admire
genius. I salute it wherever I meet it. I like my own profession better than
any in the world, but then it is because I am suited to it. I couldn&rsquo;t
write four lines in verse, no, not to save me from being shot. A man cannot
have all the advantages of life. Who would not be poor if he could be sure of
possessing genius, and winning fame and immortality, sir? Think of Dr. Johnson,
what a genius he had, and where did he live? In apartments that, I daresay,
were no better than these, which, I am sure, gentlemen, are most cheerful and
pleasant,&rdquo; says the Colonel, thinking he had offended us. &ldquo;One of
the great pleasures and delights which I had proposed to myself on coming home
was to be allowed to have the honour of meeting with men of learning and
genius, with wits, poets, and historians, if I may be so fortunate; and of
benefiting by their conversation. I left England too young to have that
privilege. In my father&rsquo;s house money was thought of, I fear, rather than
intellect; neither he nor I had the opportunities which I wish you to have; and
I am surprised you should think of reflecting upon Mr. Pendennis&rsquo;s
poverty, or of feeling any sentiment but respect and admiration when you enter
the apartments of the poet and the literary man. I have never been in the rooms
of a literary man before,&rdquo; the Colonel said, turning away from his son to
us: &ldquo;excuse me, is that&mdash;that paper really a proof-sheet?&rdquo; We
handed over to him that curiosity, smiling at the enthusiasm of the honest
gentleman who could admire what to us was as unpalatable as a tart to a
pastrycook.
</p>

<p>
Being with men of letters, he thought proper to make his conversation entirely
literary; and in the course of my subsequent more intimate acquaintance with
him, though I knew he had distinguished himself in twenty actions, he never
could be brought to talk of his military feats or experience, but passed them
by, as if they were subjects utterly unworthy of notice.
</p>

<p>
I found he believed Dr. Johnson to be the greatest of men: the Doctor&rsquo;s
words were constantly in his mouth; and he never travelled without
Boswell&rsquo;s Life. Besides these, he read Cæsar and Tacitus, &ldquo;with
translations, sir, with translations&mdash;I&rsquo;m thankful that I kept some
of my Latin from Grey Friars;&rdquo; and he quoted sentences from the Latin
Grammar, <i>à propos</i> of a hundred events of common life, and with perfect
simplicity and satisfaction to himself. Besides the above-named books, the
Spectator, Don Quixote, and Sir Charles Grandison formed a part of his
travelling library. &ldquo;I read these, sir,&rdquo; he used to say,
&ldquo;because I like to be in the company of gentlemen; and Sir Roger de
Coverley, and Sir Charles Grandison, and Don Quixote are the finest gentlemen
in the world.&rdquo; And when we asked him his opinion of Fielding,&mdash;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Tom Jones, sir; Joseph Andrews, sir!&rdquo; he cried, twirling his
mustachios. &ldquo;I read them when I was a boy, when I kept other bad company,
and did other low and disgraceful things, of which I&rsquo;m ashamed now. Sir,
in my father&rsquo;s library I happened to fall in with those books; and I read
them in secret, just as I used to go in private and drink beer, and fight
cocks, and smoke pipes with Jack and Tom, the grooms in the stables. Mrs.
Newcome found me, I recollect, with one of those books; and thinking it might
be by Mrs. Hannah More, or some of that sort, for it was a grave-looking
volume: and though I wouldn&rsquo;t lie about that or anything else&mdash;never
did, sir; never, before heaven, have I told more than three lies in my
life&mdash;I kept my own counsel; I say, she took it herself to read one
evening; and read on gravely&mdash;for she had no more idea of a joke than I
have of Hebrew&mdash;until she came to the part about Lady B&mdash;&mdash; and
Joseph Andrews; and then she shut the book, sir; and you should have seen the
look she gave me! I own I burst out a-laughing, for I was a wild young rebel,
sir. But she was in the right, sir, and I was in the wrong. A book, sir, that
tells the story of a parcel of servants, of a pack of footmen and
ladies&rsquo;-maids fuddling in alehouses! Do you suppose I want to know what
my kitmutgars and cousomahs are doing? I am as little proud as any man in the
world: but there must be distinction, sir; and as it is my lot and
Clive&rsquo;s lot to be a gentleman, I won&rsquo;t sit in the kitchen and boose
in the servants&rsquo;-hall. As for that Tom Jones&mdash;that fellow that sells
himself, sir&mdash;by heavens, my blood boils when I think of him! I
wouldn&rsquo;t sit down in the same room with such a fellow, sir. If he came in
at that door, I would say, &lsquo;How dare you, you hireling ruffian, to sully
with your presence an apartment where my young friend and I are conversing
together? where two gentlemen, I say, are taking their wine after dinner? How
dare you, you degraded villain?&rsquo; I don&rsquo;t mean you, sir.
I&mdash;I&mdash;I beg your pardon.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Colonel was striding about the room in his loose garments, puffing his
cigar fiercely anon, and then waving his yellow bandana; and it was by the
arrival of Larkins, my clerk, that his apostrophe to Tom Jones was interrupted;
he, Larkins, taking care not to show his amazement, having been schooled not to
show or feel surprise at anything he might see or hear in our chambers.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What is it, Larkins?&rdquo; said I. Larkins&rsquo; other master had
taken his leave some time before, having business which called him away, and
leaving me with the honest Colonel, quite happy with his talk and cigar.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Brett&rsquo;s man,&rdquo; says Larkins.
</p>

<p>
I confounded Brett&rsquo;s man, and told the boy to bid him call again. Young
Larkins came grinning back in a moment, and said:
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Please, sir, he says his orders is not to go away without the
money.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Confound him again,&rdquo; I cried. &ldquo;Tell him I have no money in
the house. He must come to-morrow.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
As I spoke, Clive was looking in wonder, and the Colonel&rsquo;s countenance
assumed an appearance of the most dolorous sympathy. Nevertheless, as with a
great effort, he fell to talking about Tom Jones again, and continued:
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, sir, I have no words to express my indignation against such a fellow
as Tom Jones. But I forgot that I need not speak. The great and good Dr.
Johnson has settled that question. You remember what he said to Mr. Boswell
about Fielding?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And yet Gibbon praises him, Colonel,&rdquo; said the Colonel&rsquo;s
interlocutor, &ldquo;and that is no small praise. He says that Mr. Fielding was
of the family that drew its origin from the Counts of Hapsburg;
but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Gibbon! Gibbon was an infidel, and I would not give the end of this
cigar for such a man&rsquo;s opinion. If Mr. Fielding was a gentleman by birth,
he ought to have known better; and so much the worse for him that he did not.
But what am I talking of, wasting your valuable time? No more smoke, thank you.
I must away into the City, but would not pass the Temple without calling on
you, and thanking my boy&rsquo;s old protector. You will have the kindness to
come and dine with us&mdash;to-morrow, the next day, your own day? Your friend
is going out of town? I hope, on his return, to have the pleasure of making his
further acquaintance. Come, Clive.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive, who had been deep in a volume of Hogarth&rsquo;s engravings during the
above discussion, or rather oration of his father&rsquo;s, started up and took
leave, beseeching me, at the same time, to come soon and see his pony; and so,
with renewed greetings, we parted.
</p>

<p>
I was scarcely returned to my newspaper again, when the knocker of our door was
again agitated, and the Colonel ran back, looking very much agitated and
confused.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I beg pardon,&rdquo; says he; &ldquo;I think I left
my&mdash;my&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; Larkins had quitted the room by this time, and
then he began more unreservedly. &ldquo;My dear young friend,&rdquo; says he,
&ldquo;a thousand pardons for what I am going to say, but, as Clive&rsquo;s
friend, I know I may take that liberty. I have left the boy in the court. I
know the fate of men of letters and genius: when we were here just now, there
came a single knock&mdash;a demand&mdash;that, that you did not seem to be
momentarily able to meet. Now do, do pardon the liberty, and let me be your
banker. You said you were engaged in a new work: it will be a masterpiece, I am
sure, if it&rsquo;s like the last. Put me down for twenty copies, and allow me
to settle with you in advance. I may be off, you know. I&rsquo;m a bird of
passage&mdash;a restless old soldier.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear Colonel,&rdquo; said I, quite touched and pleased by this
extreme kindness, &ldquo;my dun was but the washerwoman&rsquo;s boy, and Mrs.
Brett is in my debt, if I am not mistaken. Besides, I already have a banker in
your family.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;In my family, my dear Sir?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Messrs. Newcome, in Threadneedle Street, are good enough to keep my
money for me when I have any, and I am happy to say they have some of mine in
hand now. I am almost sorry that I am not in want, in order that I might have
the pleasure of receiving a kindness from you.&rdquo; And we shook hands for
the fourth time that morning, and the kind gentleman left me to rejoin his son.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"></a>
CHAPTER V.<br/>
Clive&rsquo;s Uncles</h2>

<p>
The dinner so hospitably offered by the Colonel was gladly accepted, and
followed by many more entertainments at the cost of that good-natured friend.
He and an Indian chum of his lived at this time at Nerot&rsquo;s Hotel, in
Clifford Street, where Mr. Clive, too, found the good cheer a great deal more
to his taste than the homely, though plentiful, fare at Grey Friars, at which,
of course, when boys, we all turned up our noses, though many a poor fellow, in
the struggles of after-life, has looked back with regret very likely to that
well-spread youthful table. Thus my intimacy with the father and the son grew
to be considerable, and a great deal more to my liking than my relations with
Clive&rsquo;s City uncles, which have been mentioned in the last chapter, and
which were, in truth, exceedingly distant and awful.
</p>

<p>
If all the private accounts kept by those worthy bankers were like mine, where
would have been Newcome Hall and Park Lane, Marblehead and Bryanstone Square? I
used, by strong efforts of self-denial, to maintain a balance of two or three
guineas untouched at the bank, so that my account might still remain open; and
fancied the clerks and cashiers grinned when I went to draw for money. Rather
than face that awful counter, I would send Larkins, the clerk, or Mrs.
Flanagan, the laundress. As for entering the private parlour at the back,
wherein behind the glazed partition I could see the bald heads of Newcome
Brothers engaged with other capitalists or peering over the newspaper, I would
as soon have thought of walking into the Doctor&rsquo;s own library at Grey
Friars, or of volunteering to take an armchair in a dentist&rsquo;s studio, and
have a tooth out, as of entering into that awful precinct. My good uncle, on
the other hand, the late Major Pendennis, who kept naturally but a very small
account with Hobsons&rsquo;, would walk into the parlour and salute the two
magnates who governed there with the ease and gravity of a Rothschild.
&ldquo;My good fellow,&rdquo; the kind old gentleman would say to his nephew
and pupil, &ldquo;<i>il faut se faire valoir</i>. I tell you, sir, your bankers
like to keep every gentleman&rsquo;s account. And it&rsquo;s a mistake to
suppose they are only civil to their great moneyed clients. Look at me. I go in
to them and talk to them whenever I am in the City. I hear the news of
&rsquo;Change, and carry it to our end of the town. It looks well, sir, to be
well with your banker; and at our end of London, perhaps, I can do a good turn
for the Newcomes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
It is certain that in his own kingdom of Mayfair and St. James&rsquo;s my
revered uncle was at least the bankers&rsquo; equal. On my coming to London, he
was kind enough to procure me invitations to some of Lady Anne Newcome&rsquo;s
evening parties in Park Lane, as likewise to Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s
entertainments in Bryanstone Square; though, I confess, of these latter, after
a while, I was a lax and negligent attendant. &ldquo;Between ourselves, my good
fellow,&rdquo; the shrewd old Mentor of those days would say, &ldquo;Mrs.
Newcome&rsquo;s parties are not altogether select; nor is she a lady of the
very highest breeding; but it gives a man a good air to be seen at his
banker&rsquo;s house. I recommend you to go for a few minutes whenever you are
asked.&rdquo; And go I accordingly did sometimes, though I always fancied,
rightly or wrongly, from Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s manner to me, that she knew I had
but thirty shillings left at the bank. Once and again, in two or three years,
Mr. Hobson Newcome would meet me, and ask me to fill a vacant place that day or
the next evening at his table; which invitation I might accept or otherwise.
But one does not eat a man&rsquo;s salt, as it were, at these dinners. There is
nothing sacred in this kind of London hospitality. Your white waistcoat fills a
gap in a man&rsquo;s table, and retires filled for its service of the evening.
&ldquo;Gad,&rdquo; the dear old Major used to say, &ldquo;if we were not to
talk freely of those we dine with, how mum London would be! Some of the
pleasantest evenings I have ever spent have been when we have sate after a
great dinner, <i>en petit comité</i>, and abused the people who are gone. You
have your turn, <i>mon cher;</i> but why not? Do you suppose I fancy my friends
haven&rsquo;t found out <i>my</i> little faults and peculiarities? And as I
can&rsquo;t help it, I let myself be executed, and offer up my oddities <i>de
bonne grâce. Entre nous</i>, Brother Hobson Newcome is a good fellow, but a
vulgar fellow; and his wife&mdash;his wife exactly suits him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Once a year Lady Anne Newcome (about whom my Mentor was much more circumspect;
for I somehow used to remark that as the rank of persons grew higher, Major
Pendennis spoke of them with more caution and respect)&mdash;once or twice in a
year Lady Anne Newcome opened her saloons for a concert and a ball, at both of
which the whole street was crowded with carriages, and all the great world, and
some of the small, were present. Mrs. Newcome had her ball too, and her concert
of English music, in opposition to the Italian singers of her sister-in-law.
The music of her country, Mrs. N. said, was good enough for <i>her</i>.
</p>

<p>
The truth must be told, that there was no love lost between the two ladies.
Bryanstone Square could not forget the superiority of Park Lane&rsquo;s rank;
and the catalogue of grandees at dear Anne&rsquo;s parties filled dear
Maria&rsquo;s heart with envy. There are people upon whom rank and worldly
goods make such an impression, that they naturally fall down on their knees and
worship the owners; there are others to whom the sight of Prosperity is
offensive, and who never see Dives&rsquo; chariot but to growl and hoot at it.
Mrs. Newcome, as far as my humble experience would lead me to suppose, is not
only envious, but proud of her envy. She mistakes it for honesty and public
spirit. <i>She</i> will not bow down to kiss the hand of a haughty aristocracy.
She is a merchant&rsquo;s wife and an attorney&rsquo;s daughter. There is no
pride about her. Her brother-in-law, poor dear Brian&mdash;considering
everybody knows everything in London, was there ever such a delusion as
his?&mdash;was welcome, after banking-hours, to forsake his own friends for his
wife&rsquo;s fine relations, and to dangle after lords and ladies in Mayfair.
She had no such absurd vanity&mdash;not she. She imparted these opinions pretty
liberally to all her acquaintances in almost all her conversations. It was
clear that the two ladies were best apart. There are some folks who will see
insolence in persons of rank, as there are others who will insist; that all
clergymen are hypocrites, all reformers villains, all placemen plunderers, and
so forth; and Mrs. Newcome never, I am sure, imagined that she had a prejudice,
or that she was other than an honest, independent, high-spirited woman. Both of
the ladies had command over their husbands, who were of soft natures easily led
by woman, as, in truth, are all the males of this family. Accordingly, when Sir
Brian Newcome voted for the Tory candidate in the City, Mr. Hobson Newcome
plumped for the Reformer. While Brian, in the House of Commons, sat among the
mild Conservatives, Hobson unmasked traitors and thundered at aristocratic
corruption, so as to make the Marylebone Vestry thrill with enthusiasm. When
Lady Anne, her husband, and her flock of children fasted in Lent, and declared
for the High Church doctrines, Mrs. Hobson had paroxysms of alarm regarding the
progress of Popery, and shuddered out of the chapel where she had a pew,
because the clergyman there, for a very brief season, appeared to preach in a
surplice.
</p>

<p>
Poor bewildered Honeyman! it was a sad day for you, when you appeared in your
neat pulpit with your fragrant pocket-handkerchief (and your sermon likewise
all millefleurs), in a trim, prim, freshly mangled surplice, which you thought
became you! How did you look aghast, and pass your jewelled hand through your
curls, as you saw Mrs. Newcome, who had been as good as five-and-twenty pounds
a year to you, look up from her pew, seize hold of Mr. Newcome, fling open the
pew-door, drive out with her parasol her little flock of children, bewildered
but not ill-pleased to get away from the sermon, and summon John from the back
seats to bring away the bag of prayer-books! Many a good dinner did Charles
Honeyman lose by assuming that unlucky ephod. Why did the high-priest of his
diocese order him to put it on? It was delightful to view him afterwards, and
the airs of martyrdom which he assumed. Had they been going to tear him to
pieces with wild beasts next day, he could scarcely have looked more meek, or
resigned himself more pathetically to the persecutors. But I am advancing
matters. At this early time of which I write, a period not twenty years since,
surplices were not even thought of in conjunction with sermons: clerical
gentlemen have appeared in them, and under the heavy hand of persecution have
sunk down in their pulpits again, as Jack pops back into his box. Charles
Honeyman&rsquo;s elegant discourses were at this time preached in a rich silk
Master of Arts&rsquo; gown, presented to him, along with a teapot full of
sovereigns, by his affectionate congregation at Leatherhead.
</p>

<p>
But that I may not be accused of prejudice in describing Mrs. Newcome and her
family, and lest the reader should suppose that some slight offered to the
writer by this wealthy and virtuous banker&rsquo;s lady was the secret reason
for this unfavourable sketch of her character, let me be allowed to report, as
accurately as I can remember them, the words of a kinsman of her own,
&mdash;&mdash; Giles, Esquire, whom I had the honour of meeting at her table,
and who, as we walked away from Bryanstone Square, was kind enough to discourse
very freely about the relatives whom he had just left.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That was a good dinner, sir,&rdquo; said Mr. Giles, puffing the cigar
which I offered to him, and disposed to be very social and communicative.
&ldquo;Hobson Newcome&rsquo;s table is about as good a one as any I ever put my
legs under. You didn&rsquo;t have twice of turtle, sir, I remarked that&mdash;I
always do, at that house especially, for I know where Newcome gets it. We
belong to the same livery in the City, Hobson and I, the Oystermongers&rsquo;
Company, sir, and we like our turtle good, I can tell you&mdash;good, and a
great deal of it, you say. Hay, hay, not so bad!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I suppose you&rsquo;re a young barrister, sucking lawyer, or that sort
of thing. Because you was put at the end of the table and nobody took notice of
you. That&rsquo;s my place too; I&rsquo;m a relative and Newcome asks me if he
has got a place to spare. He met me in the City to-day, and says,
&lsquo;Tom,&rsquo; says he, &lsquo;there&rsquo;s some dinner in the Square at
half-past seven: I wish you would go and fetch Louisa, whom we haven&rsquo;t
seen this ever so long.&rsquo; Louisa is my wife, sir&mdash;Maria&rsquo;s
sister&mdash;Newcome married that gal from my house. &lsquo;No, no,&rsquo; says
I, &lsquo;Hobson; Louisa&rsquo;s engaged nursing number
eight&rsquo;&mdash;that&rsquo;s our number, sir. The truth is, between you and
me, sir, my missis won&rsquo;t come any more at no price. She can&rsquo;t stand
it; Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s dam patronising airs is enough to choke off anybody.
&lsquo;Well, Hobson, my boy,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;a good dinner&rsquo;s a good
dinner; and I&rsquo;ll come though Louisa won&rsquo;t, that is,
can&rsquo;t.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
While Mr. Giles, who was considerably enlivened by claret, was discoursing thus
candidly, his companion was thinking how he, Mr. Arthur Pendennis, had been met
that very afternoon on the steps of the Megatherium Club by Mr. Newcome, and
had accepted that dinner which Mrs. Giles, with more spirit, had declined.
Giles continued talking&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m an old stager, I am. I
don&rsquo;t mind the rows between the women. I believe Mrs. Newcome and Lady
Newcome&rsquo;s just as bad too; I know Maria is always driving at her one way
or the other, and calling her proud and aristocratic, and that; and yet my wife
says Maria, who pretends to be such a Radical, never asks us to meet the
Baronet and his lady. &lsquo;And why should she, Loo, my dear?&rsquo; says I.
&lsquo;I don&rsquo;t want to meet Lady Newcome, nor Lord Kew, nor any of
&rsquo;em.&rsquo; Lord Kew, ain&rsquo;t it an odd name? Tearing young swell,
that Lord Kew: tremendous wild fellow.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I was a clerk in that house, sir, as a young man; I was there in the old
woman&rsquo;s time, and Mr. Newcome&rsquo;s&mdash;the father of these young
men&mdash;as good a man as ever stood on &rsquo;Change.&rdquo; And then Mr.
Giles, warming with his subject, enters at large into the history of the house.
&ldquo;You see, sir,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;the banking-house of Hobson
Brothers, or Newcome Brothers, as the partners of the firm really are, is not
one of the leading banking firms of the City of London, but a most respectable
house of many years&rsquo; standing, and doing a most respectable business,
especially in the Dissenting connection.&rdquo; After the business came into
the hands of the Newcome Brothers, Hobson Newcome, Esq., and Sir Brian Newcome,
Bart., M.P., Mr. Giles shows how a considerable West End connection was
likewise established, chiefly through the aristocratic friends and connections
of the above-named Bart.
</p>

<p>
But the best man of business, according to Mr. Giles, whom the firm of Hobson
Brothers ever knew, better than her father and uncle, better than her husband
Sir T. Newcome, better than her sons and successors above mentioned, was the
famous Sophia Alethea Hobson, afterwards Newcome&mdash;of whom might be said
what Frederick the Great said of his sister, that she was <i>sexu fœmina, vir
ingenio</i>&mdash;in sex a woman, and in mind a man. Nor was she, my informant
told me, without even manly personal characteristics: she had a very deep and
gruff voice, and in her old age a beard which many a young man might envy; and
as she came into the bank out of her carriage from Clapham, in her dark green
pelisse with fur trimmings, in her grey beaver hat, beaver gloves, and great
gold spectacles, not a clerk in that house did not tremble before her, and it
was said she only wanted a pipe in her mouth considerably to resemble the late
Field-Marshal Prince Blucher.
</p>

<p>
Her funeral was one of the most imposing sights ever witnessed in Clapham.
There was such a crowd you might have thought it was a Derby-day. The carriages
of some of the greatest City firms, and the wealthiest Dissenting houses;
several coaches full of ministers of all denominations, including the
Established Church; the carriage of the Right Honourable the Earl of Kew, and
that of his daughter, Lady Anne Newcome, attended that revered lady&rsquo;s
remains to their final resting-place. No less than nine sermons were preached
at various places of public worship regarding her end. She fell upstairs at a
very advanced age, going from the library to the bedroom, after all the
household was gone to rest, and was found by the maids in the morning,
inarticulate, but still alive, her head being cut frightfully with the bedroom
candle with which she was retiring to her apartment. &ldquo;And,&rdquo; said
Mr. Giles with great energy, &ldquo;besides the empty carriages at that
funeral, and the parson in black, and the mutes and feathers and that, there
were hundreds and hundreds of people who wore no black, and who weren&rsquo;t
present; and who wept for their benefactress, I can tell you. She had her
faults, and many of &rsquo;em; but the amount of that woman&rsquo;s charities
are unheard of, sir&mdash;unheard of,&mdash;and they are put to the credit side
of her account up yonder.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The old lady had a will of her own,&rdquo; my companion continued.
&ldquo;She would try and know about everybody&rsquo;s business out of business
hours: got to know from the young clerks what chapels they went to, and from
the clergymen whether they attended regular; kept her sons, years after they
were grown men, as if they were boys at school&mdash;and what was the
consequence? They had a quarrel with Sir Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s own son, a
harum-scarum lad, who ran away, and then was sent to India; and, between
ourselves, Mr. Hobson and Mr. Brian both, the present Baronet, though at home
they were as mum as Quakers at a meeting, used to go out on the sly, sir, and
be off to the play, sir, and sowed their wild oats like any other young men,
sir, like any other young men. Law bless me, once, as I was going away from the
Haymarket, if I didn&rsquo;t see Mr. Hobson coming out of the Opera, in tights
and an opera-hat, sir, like &lsquo;Froggy would wooing go,&rsquo; of a
Saturday-night, too, when his ma thought him safe in bed in the City! I warrant
he hadn&rsquo;t <i>his opera-hat</i> on when he went to chapel with her
ladyship the next morning&mdash;that very morning, as sure as my name&rsquo;s
John Giles.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When the old lady was gone, Mr. Hobson had no need of any more
humbugging, but took his pleasure freely. Fighting, tandems, four-in-hand,
anything. He and his brother&mdash;his elder brother by a quarter of an
hour&mdash;were always very good friends; but after Mr. Brian married, and
there was only court-cards at his table, Mr. Hobson couldn&rsquo;t stand it.
They weren&rsquo;t of his suit, he said; and for some time he said he
wasn&rsquo;t a marrying man&mdash;quite the contrary; but we all come to our
fate, you know, and his time came as mine did. You know we married sisters? It
was thought a fine match for Polly Smith, when she married the great Mr.
Newcome; but I doubt whether my old woman at home hasn&rsquo;t had the best of
it, after all; and if ever you come Bernard Street way on a Sunday, about six
o&rsquo;clock, and would like a slice of beef and a glass of port, I hope
you&rsquo;ll come and see us.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Do not let us be too angry with Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s two most respectable
brothers, if for some years they neglected their Indian relative, or held him
in slight esteem. Their mother never pardoned him, or at least by any actual
words admitted his restoration to favour. For many years, as far as they knew,
poor Tom was an unrepentant prodigal, wallowing in bad company, and cut off
from all respectable sympathy. Their father had never had the courage to
acquaint them with his more true, and kind, and charitable version of
Tom&rsquo;s story. So he passed at home for no better than a black sheep; his
marriage with a penniless young lady did not tend to raise him in the esteem of
his relatives at Clapham; it was not until he was a widower, until he had been
mentioned several times in the <i>Gazette</i> for distinguished military
service, until they began to speak very well of him in Leadenhall Street, where
the representatives of Hobson Brothers were of course East India proprietors,
and until he remitted considerable sums of money to England, that the bankers
his brethren began to be reconciled to him.
</p>

<p>
I say, do not let us be hard upon them. No people are so ready to give a man a
bad name as his own kinsfolk; and having made him that present, they are ever
most unwilling to take it back again. If they give him nothing else in the days
of his difficulty, he may be sure of their pity, and that he is held up as an
example to his young cousins to avoid. If he loses his money they call him poor
fellow, and point morals out of him. If he falls among thieves, the respectable
Pharisees of his race turn their heads aside and leave him penniless and
bleeding. They clap him on the back kindly enough when he returns, after
shipwreck, with money in his pocket. How naturally Joseph&rsquo;s brothers made
salaams to him, and admired him, and did him honour, when they found the poor
outcast a prime minister, and worth ever so much money! Surely human nature is
not much altered since the days of those primeval Jews. We would not thrust
brother Joseph down a well and sell him bodily, but&mdash;but if he has
scrambled out of a well of his own digging, and got out of his early bondage
into renown and credit, at least we applaud him and respect him, and are proud
of Joseph as a member of the family.
</p>

<p>
Little Clive was the innocent and lucky object upon whom the increasing
affection of the Newcomes for their Indian brother was exhibited. When he was
first brought home a sickly child, consigned to his maternal aunt, the kind old
maiden lady at Brighton, Hobson Brothers scarce took any notice of the little
man, but left him to the entire superintendence of his own family. Then there
came a large remittance from his father, and the child was asked by Uncle
Newcome at Christmas. Then his father&rsquo;s name was mentioned in general
orders, and Uncle Hobson asked little Clive at Midsummer. Then Lord H., a late
Governor-General, coming home, and meeting the brothers at a grand dinner at
the Albion, given by the Court of Directors to his late Excellency, spoke to
the bankers about that most distinguished officer their relative; and Mrs.
Hobson drove over to see his aunt, where the boy was; gave him a sovereign out
of her purse, and advised strongly that he should be sent to Timpany&rsquo;s
along wit her own boy. Then Clive went from one uncle&rsquo;s house to another;
and was liked at both; and much preferred ponies to ride, going out after
rabbits with the keeper, money in his pocket (charge to the debit of
Lieut.-Col. T. Newcome), and clothes from the London tailor, to the homely
quarters and conversation of poor kind old Aunt Honeyman at Brighton.
Clive&rsquo;s uncles were not unkind; they liked each other; their wives, who
hated each other, united in liking Clive when they knew him, and petting the
wayward handsome boy: they were only pursuing the way of the world, which
huzzas all prosperity, and turns away from misfortune as from some contagious
disease. Indeed, how can we see a man&rsquo;s brilliant qualities if he is what
we call in the shade?
</p>

<p>
The gentlemen, Clive&rsquo;s uncles, who had their affairs to mind during the
day, society and the family to occupy them of evenings and holidays, treated
their young kinsman, the Indian Colonel&rsquo;s son, as other wealthy British
uncles treat other young kinsmen. They received him in his vacations kindly
enough. They tipped him when he went to school; when he had the hooping-cough,
a confidential young clerk went round by way of Grey Friars Square to ask after
him; the sea being recommended to him, Mrs. Newcome gave him change of air in
Sussex, and transferred him to his maternal aunt at Brighton. Then it was
<i>bon jour</i>. As the lodge-gates closed upon him, Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s heart
shut up too and confined itself within the firs, laurels, and palings which
bound the home precincts. Had not she her own children and affairs? her brood
of fowls, her Sunday-school, her melon-beds, her rose-garden, her quarrel with
the parson, etc., to attend to? Mr. Newcome, arriving on a Saturday night;
hears he is gone, says &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; and begins to ask about the new
gravel-walk along the cliff, and whether it is completed, and if the China pig
fattens kindly upon the new feed.
</p>

<p>
Clive, in the avuncular gig, is driven over the downs to Brighton to his
maternal aunt there; and there he is a king. He has the best bedroom, Uncle
Honeyman turning out for him sweetbreads for dinner; no end of jam for
breakfast; excuses from church on the plea of delicate health; his aunt&rsquo;s
maid to see him to bed; his aunt to come smiling in when he rings his bell of a
morning. He is made much of, and coaxed, and dandled and fondled, as if he were
a young duke. So he is to Miss Honeyman. He is the son of Colonel Newcome,
C.B., who sends her shawls, ivory chessmen, scented sandalwood workboxes and
kincob scarfs; who, as she tells Martha the maid, has fifty servants in India;
at which Martha constantly exclaims, &ldquo;Lor&rsquo;, mum, what can he do
with &rsquo;em, mum?&rdquo; who, when in consequence of her misfortunes she
resolved on taking a house at Brighton, and letting part of the same furnished,
sent her an order for a hundred pounds towards the expenses thereof; who gave
Mr. Honeyman, her brother, a much larger sum of money at the period of his
calamity. Is it gratitude for past favours? is it desire for more? is it vanity
of relationship? is it love for the dead sister&mdash;or tender regard for her
offspring which makes Mrs. Martha Honeyman so fond of her nephew? I never could
count how many causes went to produce any given effect or action in a
person&rsquo;s life, and have been for my own part many a time quite misled in
my own case, fancying some grand, some magnanimous, some virtuous reason, for
an act of which I was proud, when lo! some pert little satirical monitor
springs up inwardly, upsetting the fond humbug which I was cherishing&mdash;the
peacock&rsquo;s tail wherein my absurd vanity had clad itself&mdash;and says,
&ldquo;Away with this boasting! <i>I</i> am the cause of your virtue, my lad.
You are pleased that yesterday at dinner you refrained from the dry champagne?
My name is Worldly Prudence, not Self-denial, and <i>I</i> caused you to
refrain. You are pleased because you gave a guinea to Diddler? I am Laziness,
not Generosity, which inspired you. You hug yourself because you resisted other
temptation? Coward! it was because you dared not run the risk of the wrong. Out
with your peacock&rsquo;s plumage! walk off in the feathers which Nature gave
you, and thank Heaven they are not altogether black.&rdquo; In a word, Aunt
Honeyman was a kind soul, and such was the splendour of Clive&rsquo;s father,
of his gifts, his generosity, his military services, and companionship of the
battles, that the lad did really appear a young duke to her. And Mrs. Newcome
was not unkind: and if Clive had been really a young duke, I am sure he would
have had the best bedroom at Marble Hill, and not one of the far-off little
rooms in the boys&rsquo; wing; I am sure he would have had jellies and
Charlottes Russes, instead of mere broth, chicken, and batter-pudding, as fell
to his lot; and when he was gone (in the carriage, mind you, not in the gig
driven by a groom), I am sure Mrs. Newcome would have written a letter that
night to Her Grace the Duchess Dowager his mamma, full of praise of the dear
child, his graciousness, his beauty, and his wit, and declaring that she must
love him henceforth and for ever after as <i>a son of her own</i>. You toss
down the page with scorn, and say, &ldquo;It is not true. Human nature is not
so bad as this cynic would have it to be. You would make no difference between
the rich and the poor.&rdquo; Be it so. You would not. But own that your
next-door neighbour would. Nor is this, dear madam, addressed to you; no, no,
we are not so rude as to talk about you to your face; but if we may not speak
of the lady who has just left the room, what is to become of conversation and
society?
</p>

<p class="p2">
We forbear to describe the meeting between the Colonel and his son&mdash;the
pretty boy from whom he had parted more than seven years before with such pangs
of heart; and of whom he had thought ever since with such a constant longing
affection. Half an hour after the father left the boy, and in his grief and
loneliness was rowing back to shore, Clive was at play with a dozen of other
children on the sunny deck of the ship. When two bells rang for their dinner,
they were all hurrying to the cuddy table, and busy over their meal. What a sad
repast their parents had that day! How their hearts followed the careless young
ones home across the great ocean! Mothers&rsquo; prayers go with them. Strong
men, alone on their knees, with streaming eyes and broken accents, implore
Heaven for those little ones, who were prattling at their sides but a few hours
since. Long after they are gone, careless and happy, recollections of the sweet
past rise up and smite those who remain: the flowers they had planted in their
little gardens, the toys they played with, the little vacant cribs they slept
in as fathers&rsquo; eyes looked blessings down on them. Most of us who have
passed a couple of score of years in the world, have had such sights as these
to move us. And those who have will think none the worse of my worthy Colonel
for his tender and faithful heart.
</p>

<p>
With that fidelity which was an instinct of his nature, this brave man thought
ever of his absent child, and longed after him. He never forsook the native
servants and nurses who had had charge of the child, but endowed them with
money sufficient (and indeed little was wanted by people of that frugal race)
to make all their future lives comfortable. No friends went to Europe, nor ship
departed, but Newcome sent presents and remembrances to the boy, and costly
tokens of his love and thanks to all who were kind to his son. What a strange
pathos seems to me to accompany all our Indian story! Besides that official
history which fills <i>Gazettes</i>, and embroiders banners with names of
victory; which gives moralists and enemies cause to cry out at English rapine;
and enables patriots to boast of invincible British valour&mdash;besides the
splendour and conquest, the wealth and glory, the crowned ambition, the
conquered danger, the vast prize, and the blood freely shed in winning
it&mdash;should not one remember the tears, too? Besides the lives of myriads
of British men, conquering on a hundred fields, from Plassey to Meanee, and
bathing them cruore nostro: think of the women, and the tribute which they
perforce must pay to those victorious achievements. Scarce a soldier goes to
yonder shores but leaves a home and grief in it behind him. The lords of the
subject province find wives there; but their children cannot live on the soil.
The parents bring their children to the shore, and part from them. The family
must be broken up&mdash;keep the flowers of your home beyond a certain time,
and the sickening buds wither and die. In America it is from the breast of a
poor slave that a child is taken. In India it is from the wife, and from under
the palace, of a splendid proconsul.
</p>

<p>
The experience of this grief made Newcome&rsquo;s naturally kind heart only the
more tender, and hence he had a weakness for children which made him the
laughing-stock of old maids, old bachelors, and sensible persons; but the
darling of all nurseries, to whose little inhabitants he was uniformly kind:
were they the collectors&rsquo; progeny in their palanquins, or the
sergeants&rsquo; children tumbling about the cantonment, or the dusky little
heathens in the huts of his servants round his gate.
</p>

<p>
It is known that there is no part of the world where ladies are more
fascinating than in British India. Perhaps the warmth of the sun kindles flames
in the hearts of both sexes, which would probably beat quite coolly in their
native air: else why should Miss Brown be engaged ten days after her landing at
Calcutta? or why should Miss Smith have half a dozen proposals before she has
been a week at the station? And it is not only bachelors on whom the young
ladies confer their affections; they will take widowers without any difficulty;
and a man so generally liked as Major Newcome, with such a good character, with
a private fortune of his own, so chivalrous, generous, good-looking, eligible
in a word, you may be sure would have found a wife easily enough, had he any
mind for replacing the late Mrs. Casey.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel, as has been stated, had an Indian chum or companion, with whom he
shared his lodgings; and from many jocular remarks of this latter gentleman
(who loved good jokes, and uttered not a few) I could gather that the honest
widower Colonel Newcome had been often tempted to alter his condition, and that
the Indian ladies had tried numberless attacks upon his bereaved heart, and
devised endless schemes of carrying it by assault, treason, or other mode of
capture. Mrs. Casey (his defunct wife) had overcome it by sheer pity and
helplessness. He had found her so friendless, that he took her into the vacant
place, and installed her there as he would have received a traveller into his
bungalow. He divided his meal with her, and made her welcome to his best.
&ldquo;I believe Tom Newcome married her,&rdquo; sly Mr. Binnie used to say,
&ldquo;in order that he might have permission to pay her milliner&rsquo;s
bills;&rdquo; and in this way he was amply gratified until the day of her
death. A feeble miniature of the lady, with yellow ringlets and a guitar, hung
over the mantelpiece of the Colonel&rsquo;s bedchamber, where I have often seen
that work of art; and subsequently, when he and Mr. Binnie took a house, there
was hung up in the spare bedroom a companion portrait to the
miniature&mdash;that of the Colonel&rsquo;s predecessor, Jack Casey, who in
life used to fling plates at his Emma&rsquo;s head, and who perished from a
fatal attachment to the bottle. I am inclined to think that Colonel Newcome was
not much cast down by the loss of his wife, and that they lived but
indifferently together. Clive used to say in his artless way that his father
scarcely ever mentioned his mother&rsquo;s name; and no doubt the union was not
happy, although Newcome continued piously to acknowledge it, long after death
had brought it to a termination, by constant benefactions and remembrances to
the departed lady&rsquo;s kindred.
</p>

<p>
Those widows or virgins who endeavoured to fill Emma&rsquo;s place found the
door of Newcombe&rsquo;s heart fast and barred, and assailed it in vain. Miss
Billing sat down before it with her piano, and, as the Colonel was a
practitioner on the flute, hoped to make all life one harmonious duet with him;
but she played her most brilliant sonatas and variations in vain; and, as
everybody knows, subsequently carried her grand piano to Lieutenant and
Adjutant Hodgkin&rsquo;s house, whose name she now bears. The lovely widow
Wilkins, with two darling little children, stopped at Newcome&rsquo;s
hospitable house, on her way to Calcutta; and it was thought she might never
leave it; but her kind host, as was his wont, crammed her children with
presents and good things, consoled and entertained the fair widow, and one
morning, after she had remained three months at the station, the
Colonel&rsquo;s palanquins and bearers made their appearance, and Elvira
Wilkins went away weeping as a widow should. Why did she abuse Newcome ever
after at Calcutta, Bath, Cheltenham, and wherever she went, calling him
selfish, pompous, Quixotic, and a Bahawder? I could mention half a dozen other
names of ladies of most respectable families connected with Leadenhall Street,
who, according to Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s chum&mdash;that wicked Mr.
Binnie&mdash;had all conspired more or less to give Clive Newcome a stepmother.
</p>

<p>
But he had had an unlucky experience in his own case; and thought within
himself, &ldquo;No, I won&rsquo;t give Clive a stepmother. As Heaven has taken
his own mother from him, why, I must try to be father and mother too to the
lad.&rdquo; He kept the child as long as ever the climate would allow of his
remaining, and then sent him home. Then his aim was to save money for the
youngster. He was of a nature so uncontrollably generous, that to be sure he
spent five rupees where another would save them, and make a fine show besides;
but it is not a man&rsquo;s gifts or hospitalities that generally injure his
fortune. It is on themselves that prodigals spend most. And as Newcome had no
personal extravagances, and the smallest selfish wants; could live almost as
frugally as a Hindoo; kept his horses not to race but to ride; wore his old
clothes and uniforms until they were the laughter of his regiment; did not care
for show, and had no longer an extravagant wife; he managed to lay by
considerably out of his liberal allowances, and to find himself and Clive
growing richer every year.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When Clive has had five or six years at school&rdquo;&mdash;that was his
scheme&mdash;&ldquo;he will be a fine scholar, and have at least as much
classical learning as a gentleman in the world need possess. Then I will go to
England, and we will pass three or four years together, in which he will learn
to be intimate with me, and, I hope, to like me. I shall be his pupil for Latin
and Greek, and try and make up for lost time. I know there is nothing like a
knowledge of the classics to give a man good breeding&mdash;<i>Ingenuas
didicisse fideliter artes emollunt mores, nec sinuisse feros</i>. I shall be
able to help him with my knowledge of the world, and to keep him out of the way
of sharpers and a pack of rogues who commonly infest young men. I will make
myself his companion, and pretend to no superiority; for, indeed, isn&rsquo;t
he my superior? Of course he is, with his advantages. <i>He</i> hasn&rsquo;t
been an idle young scamp as I was. And we will travel together, first through
England, Scotland, and Ireland, for every man should know his own country, and
then we will make the grand tour. Then, by the time he is eighteen, he will be
able to choose his profession. He can go into the army, and emulate the
glorious man after whom I named him; or if he prefers the church, or the law,
they are open to him; and when he goes to the university, by which time I shall
be in all probability a major-general, I can come back to India for a few
years, and return by the time he has a wife and a home for his old father; or
if I die I shall have done the best for him, and my boy will be left with the
best education, a tolerable small fortune, and the blessing of his old
father.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Such were the plans of our kind schemer. How fondly he dwelt on them, how
affectionately he wrote of them to his boy! How he read books of travels and
looked over the maps of Europe! and said, &ldquo;Rome, sir, glorious Rome; it
won&rsquo;t be very long, Major, before my boy and I see the Colosseum, and
kiss the Pope&rsquo;s toe. We shall go up the Rhine to Switzerland, and over
the Simplon, the work of the great Napoleon. By Jove, sir, think of the Turks
before Vienna, and Sobieski clearing eighty thousand of &rsquo;em off the face
of the earth! How my boy will rejoice in the picture-galleries there, and in
Prince Eugene&rsquo;s prints! You know, I suppose, that Prince Eugene, one of
the greatest generals in the world, was also one of the greatest lovers of the
fine arts. <i>Ingenuas didicisse</i>, hey, Doctor! you know the
rest,&mdash;<i>emollunt mores nec</i>&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Emollunt mores!</i> Colonel,&rdquo; says Doctor McTaggart, who
perhaps was too canny to correct the commanding officer&rsquo;s Latin.
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t ye noo that Prence Eugene was about as savage a Turrk as
iver was? Have ye niver rad the mimores of the Prants de Leen?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, he was a great cavalry officer,&rdquo; answers the Colonel,
&ldquo;and he left a great collection of prints&mdash;<i>that</i> you know. How
Clive will delight in them! The boy&rsquo;s talent for drawing is wonderful,
sir, wonderful. He sent me a picture of our old school&mdash;the very actual
thing, sir; the cloisters, the school, the head gown-boy going in with the
rods, and the Doctor himself. It would make you die of laughing!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
He regaled the ladies of the regiment with Clive&rsquo;s letters, and those of
Miss Honeyman, which contained an account of the boy. He even bored some of his
bearers with this prattle; and sporting young men would give or take odds that
the Colonel would mention Clive&rsquo;s name, once before five minutes, three
times in ten minutes, twenty-five times in the course of dinner, and so on. But
they who laughed at the Colonel laughed very kindly; and everybody who knew
him, loved him; everybody, that is, who loved modesty, and generosity, and
honour.
</p>

<p>
At last the happy time came for which the kind father had been longing more
passionately than any prisoner for liberty, or schoolboy for holiday. Colonel
Newcome has taken leave of his regiment, leaving Major Tomkinson, nothing loth,
in command. He has travelled to Calcutta; and the Commander-in-Chief, in
general orders, has announced that in giving to Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas
Newcome, C.B., of the Bengal Cavalry, leave for the first time, after no less
than thirty-four years&rsquo; absence from home, &ldquo;he (Sir George Hustler)
cannot refrain from expressing his sense of the great and meritorious services
of this most distinguished officer, who has left his regiment in a state of the
highest discipline and efficiency.&rdquo; And now the ship has sailed, the
voyage is over, and once more, after so many long years, the honest
soldier&rsquo;s foot is on his native shore.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"></a>
CHAPTER VI.<br/>
Newcome Brothers</h2>

<p>
Besides his own boy, whom he worshipped, this kind Colonel had a score, at
least, of adopted children, to whom he chose to stand in the light of a father.
He was for ever whirling away in postchaises to this school and that, to see
Jack Brown&rsquo;s boys, of the Cavalry; or Mrs. Smith&rsquo;s girls, of the
Civil Service; or poor Tom Hicks&rsquo;s orphan, who had nobody to look after
him now that the cholera had carried off Tom, and his wife too. On board the
ship in which he returned from Calcutta were a dozen of little children, of
both sexes, some of whom he actually escorted to their friends before he
visited his own; and though his heart was longing for his boy at Grey Friars.
The children at the schools seen, and largely rewarded out of his bounty (his
loose white trousers had great pockets, always heavy with gold and silver,
which he jingled when he was not pulling his mustachios&mdash;to see the way in
which he tipped children made one almost long to be a boy again); and when he
had visited Miss Pinkerton&rsquo;s establishment, or Doctor Ramshorn&rsquo;s
adjoining academy at Chiswick, and seen little Tom Davis or little Fanny Holmes
the honest fellow would come home and write off straightway a long letter to
Tom&rsquo;s or Fanny&rsquo;s parents, far away in the Indian country, whose
hearts he made happy by his accounts of their children, as he had delighted the
children themselves by his affection and bounty. All the apple- and
orange-women (especially such as had babies as well as lollipops at their
stalls), all the street-sweepers on the road between Nerot&rsquo;s and the
Oriental, knew him, and were his pensioners. His brothers in Threadneedle
Street cast up their eyes at the cheques which he drew.
</p>

<p>
One of the little people of whom the kind Newcome had taken charge luckily
dwelt near Portsmouth; and when the faithful Colonel consigned Miss Fipps to
her grandmother, Mrs. Admiral Fipps, at Southampton, Miss Fipps clung to her
guardian, and with tears and howls was torn away from him. Not until her maiden
aunts had consoled her with strawberries, which she never before had tasted,
was the little Indian comforted for the departure of her dear Colonel. Master
Cox, Tom Cox&rsquo;s boy, of the Native Infantry, had to be carried asleep from
the &ldquo;George&rdquo; to the mail that night. Master Cox woke up at the dawn
wondering, as the coach passed through the pleasant green roads of Bromley. The
good gentleman consigned the little chap to his uncle, Dr. Cox, Bloomsbury
Square, before he went to his own quarters, and then on the errand on which his
fond heart was bent.
</p>

<p>
He had written to his brothers from Portsmouth, announcing his arrival, and
three words to Clive, conveying the same intelligence. The letter was served to
the boy along with one bowl of tea and one buttered roll, of eighty such which
were distributed to fourscore other boys, boarders of the same house with our
young friend. How the lad&rsquo;s face must have flushed, and his eyes
brightened, when he read the news! When the master of the house, the Rev. Mr.
Popkinson, came into the long-room, with a good-natured face, and said,
&ldquo;Newcome, you&rsquo;re wanted,&rdquo; he knows who is come. He does not
heed that notorious bruiser, Old Hodge, who roars out, &ldquo;Confound you,
Newcome: I&rsquo;ll give it you for upsetting your tea over my new
trousers.&rdquo; He runs to the room where the stranger is waiting for him. We
will shut the door, if you please, upon that scene.
</p>

<p>
If Clive had not been as fine and handsome a young lad as any in that school or
country, no doubt his fond father would have been just as well pleased, and
endowed him with a hundred fanciful graces; but in truth, in looks and manners
he was every thing which his parent could desire; and I hope the artist who
illustrates this work will take care to do justice to his portrait. Mr. Clive
himself, let that painter be assured, will not be too well pleased if his
countenance and figure do not receive proper attention. He is not yet endowed
with those splendid mustachios and whiskers which he has himself subsequently
depicted, but he is the picture of health, strength, activity, and good-humour.
He has a good forehead, shaded with a quantity of waving light hair; a
complexion which ladies might envy; a mouth which seems accustomed to laughing;
and a pair of blue eyes that sparkle with intelligence and frank kindness. No
wonder the pleased father cannot refrain from looking at him. He is, in a word,
just such a youth as has a right to be the hero of a novel.
</p>

<p>
The bell rings for second school, and Mr. Popkinson, arrayed in cap and gown,
comes in to shake Colonel Newcome by the hand, and to say he supposes
it&rsquo;s to be a holiday for Newcome that day. He does not say a word about
Clive&rsquo;s scrape of the day before, and that awful row in the bedrooms,
where the lad and three others were discovered making a supper off a pork-pie
and two bottles of prime old port from the Red Cow public-house in Grey Friars
Lane. When the bell has done ringing, and all these busy little bees have
swarmed into their hive, there is a solitude in the place. The Colonel and his
son walked the playground together, that gravelly flat, as destitute of herbage
as the Arabian desert, but, nevertheless, in the language of the place called
the green. They walk the green, and they pace the cloisters, and Clive shows
his father his own name of Thomas Newcome carved upon one of the arches forty
years ago. As they talk, the boy gives sidelong glances at his new friend, and
wonders at the Colonel&rsquo;s loose trousers, long mustachios, and yellow
face. He looks very odd, Clive thinks, very odd and very kind, and he looks
like a gentleman, every inch of him:&mdash;not like Martin&rsquo;s father, who
came to see his son lately in high-lows, and a shocking bad hat, and actually
flung coppers amongst the boys for a scramble. He bursts out a-laughing at the
exquisitely ludicrous idea of a gentleman of his fashion scrambling for
coppers.
</p>

<p>
And now, enjoining the boy to be ready against his return (and you may be sure
Mr. Clive was on the look-out long before his sire appeared), the Colonel
whirled away in his cab to the City to shake hands with his brothers, whom he
had not seen since they were demure little men in blue jackets, under charge of
a serious tutor.
</p>

<p>
He rushed through the clerks and the banking-house, he broke into the parlour
where the lords of the establishment were seated. He astonished those trim
quiet gentlemen by the warmth of his greeting, by the vigour of his hand-shake,
and the loud high tones of his voice, which penetrated the glass walls of the
parlour, and might actually be heard by the busy clerks in the hall without. He
knew Brian from Hobson at once&mdash;that unlucky little accident in the
go-cart having left its mark for ever on the nose of Sir Brian Newcome, the
elder of the twins. Sir Brian had a bald head and light hair, a short whisker
cut to his cheek, a buff waistcoat, very neat boots and hands. He looked like
the &ldquo;Portrait of a Gentleman&rdquo; at the Exhibition, as the worthy is
represented: dignified in attitude, bland, smiling, and statesmanlike, sitting
at a table unsealing letters, with a despatch-box and a silver inkstand before
him, a column and a scarlet curtain behind, and a park in the distance, with a
great thunderstorm lowering in the sky. Such a portrait, in fact, hangs over
the great sideboard at Newcome to this day, and above the three great silver
waiters, which the gratitude of as many Companies has presented to their
respected director and chairman.
</p>

<p>
In face, Hobson Newcome, Esq., was like his elder brother, but was more portly
in person. He allowed his red whiskers to grow wherever nature had planted
them, on his cheeks and under his chin. He wore thick shoes with nails in them,
or natty round-toed boots, with tight trousers and a single strap. He affected
the country gentleman in his appearance. His hat had a broad brim, and the
ample pockets of his cut-away coat were never destitute of agricultural
produce, samples of beans or corn, which he used to bite and chew even on
&rsquo;Change, or a whip-lash, or balls for horses: in fine, he was a good old
country gentleman. If it was fine in Threadneedle Street, he would say it was
good weather for the hay; if it rained, the country wanted rain; if it was
frosty, &ldquo;No hunting to-day, Tomkins, my boy,&rdquo; and so forth. As he
rode from Bryanstone Square to the City you would take him&mdash;and he was
pleased to be so taken&mdash;for a jolly country squire. He was a better man of
business than his more solemn and stately brother, at whom he laughed in his
jocular way; and he said rightly, that a gentleman must get up very early in
the morning who wanted to take him in.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel breaks into the sanctum of these worthy gentlemen; and each
receives him in a manner consonant with his peculiar nature. Sir Brian
regretted that Lady Anne was away from London, being at Brighton with the
children, who were all ill of the measles. Hobson said, &ldquo;Maria
can&rsquo;t treat you to such good company as my lady could give you, but when
will you take a day and come and dine with us? Let&rsquo;s see, to-day&rsquo;s
Wednesday; to-morrow we&rsquo;ve a party. No, we&rsquo;re engaged.&rdquo; He
meant that his table was full, and that he did not care to crowd it; but there
was no use in imparting this circumstance to the Colonel. &ldquo;Friday, we
dine at Judge Budge&rsquo;s&mdash;queer name, Judge Budge, ain&rsquo;t it?
Saturday, I&rsquo;m going down to Marblehead, to look after the hay. Come on
Monday, Tom, and I&rsquo;ll introduce you to the missus and the young
&rsquo;uns.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I will bring Clive,&rdquo; says Colonel Newcome, rather disturbed at
this reception. &ldquo;After his illness my sister-in-law was very kind to
him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, hang it, don&rsquo;t bring boys; there&rsquo;s no good in boys; they
stop the talk downstairs, and the ladies don&rsquo;t want &rsquo;em in the
drawing-room. Send him to dine with the children on Sunday, if you like, and
come along down with me to Marblehead, and I&rsquo;ll show you such a crop of
hay as will make your eyes open. Are you fond of farming?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have not seen my boy for years,&rdquo; says the Colonel; &ldquo;I had
rather pass Saturday and Sunday with him, if you please, and some day we will
go to Marblehead together.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, an offer&rsquo;s an offer. I don&rsquo;t know any pleasanter thing
than getting out of this confounded City and smelling the hedges, and looking
at the crops coming up, and passing the Sunday in quiet.&rdquo; And his own
tastes being thus agricultural, the honest gentleman thought that everybody
else must delight in the same recreation.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;In the winter, I hope we shall see you at Newcome,&rdquo; says the elder
brother, blandly smiling. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t give you any tiger-shooting, but
I&rsquo;ll promise you that you shall find plenty of pheasants in our
jungle,&rdquo; and he laughed very gently at this mild sally.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel gave him a queer look. &ldquo;I shall be at Newcome before the
winter. I shall be there, please God, before many days are over.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed!&rdquo; says the Baronet, with an air of great surprise.
&ldquo;You are going down to look at the cradle of our race. I believe the
Newcomes were there before the Conqueror. It was but a village in our
grandfather&rsquo;s time, and it is an immense flourishing town now, for which
I hope to get&mdash;I expect to get&mdash;a charter.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you?&rdquo; says the Colonel. &ldquo;I am going down there to see a
relation.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A relation! What relatives have we there?&rdquo; cries the Baronet.
&ldquo;My children, with the exception of Barnes. Barnes, this is your uncle
Colonel Thomas Newcome. I have great pleasure, brother, in introducing you to
my eldest son.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
A fair-haired young gentleman, languid and pale, and arrayed in the very height
of fashion, made his appearance at this juncture in the parlour, and returned
Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s greeting with a smiling acknowledgment of his own.
&ldquo;Very happy to see you, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; said the young man.
&ldquo;You find London very much changed since you were here? Very good time to
come&mdash;the very full of the season.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Poor Thomas Newcome was quite abashed by this strange reception. Here was a
man, hungry for affection, and one relation asked him to dinner next Monday,
and another invited him to shoot pheasants at Christmas. Here was a beardless
young sprig, who patronised him, and vouchsafed to ask him whether he found
London was changed.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether it&rsquo;s changed,&rdquo; says the Colonel,
biting his nails; &ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s not what I expected to find
it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;To-day it&rsquo;s really as hot as I should thing it must be in
India,&rdquo; says young Mr. Barnes Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hot!&rdquo; says the Colonel, with a grin. &ldquo;It seems to me you are
all cool enough here.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Just what Sir Thomas de Boots said, sir,&rdquo; says Barnes, turning
round to his father. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you remember when he came home from
Bombay? I recollect his saying, at Lady Featherstone&rsquo;s, one dooced hot
night, as it seemed to us; I recklect his saying that he felt quite cold. Did
you know him in India, Colonel Newcome? He&rsquo;s liked at the Horse Guards,
but he&rsquo;s hated in his regiment.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Colonel Newcome here growled a wish regarding the ultimate fate of Sir Thomas
de Boots, which we trust may never be realised by that distinguished cavalry
officer.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My brother says he&rsquo;s going to Newcome, Barnes, next week,&rdquo;
said the Baronet, wishing to make the conversation more interesting to the
newly arrived Colonel. &ldquo;He was saying so just when you came in, and I was
asking him what took him there?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Did you ever hear of Sarah Mason?&rdquo; says the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Really, I never did,&rdquo; the Baronet answered.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Sarah Mason? No, upon my word, I don&rsquo;t think I ever did, said the
young man.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, that&rsquo;s a pity too,&rdquo; the Colonel said, with a sneer.
&ldquo;Mrs. Mason is a relation of yours&mdash;at least by marriage. She is my
aunt or cousin&mdash;I used to call her aunt, and she and my father and mother
all worked in the same mill at Newcome together.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I remember&mdash;God bless my soul&mdash;I remember now!&rdquo; cried
the Baronet. &ldquo;We pay her forty pound a year on your
account&mdash;don&rsquo;t you know, brother? Look to Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s
account&mdash;I recollect the name quite well. But I thought she had been your
nurse, and&mdash;and an old servant of my father&rsquo;s.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;So she was my nurse, and an old servant of my father&rsquo;s,&rdquo;
answered the Colonel. &ldquo;But she was my mother&rsquo;s cousin too and very
lucky was my mother to have such a servant, or to have a servant at all. There
is not in the whole world a more faithful creature or a better woman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Hobson rather enjoyed his brother&rsquo;s perplexity, and to see when the
Baronet rode the high horse, how he came down sometimes, &ldquo;I am sure it
does you very great credit,&rdquo; gasped the courtly head of the firm,
&ldquo;to remember a&mdash;a humble friend and connexion of our father&rsquo;s
so well.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think, brother, you might have recollected her too,&rdquo; the Colonel
growled out. His face was blushing; he was quite angry and hurt at what seemed
to him Sir Brian&rsquo;s hardness of heart.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pardon me if I don&rsquo;t see the necessity,&rdquo; said Sir Brian.
&ldquo;<i>I</i> have no relationship with Mrs. Mason, and do not remember ever
having seen her. Can I do anything for you, brother? Can I be useful to you in
any way? Pray command me and Barnes here, who after City hours will be
delighted if he can be serviceable to you&mdash;<i>I</i> am nailed to this
counter all the morning, and to the House of Commons all night;&mdash;I will be
with you in one moment, Mr. Quilter. Good-bye, my dear Colonel. How well India
has agreed with you! how young you look! the hot winds are nothing to what we
endure in Parliament.&mdash;Hobson,&rdquo; in a low voice, &ldquo;you saw about
that h&rsquo;m, that power of attorney&mdash;and h&rsquo;m and h&rsquo;m will
call here at twelve about that h&rsquo;m.&mdash;I am sorry I must say
good-bye&mdash;it seems so hard after not meeting for so many years.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Very,&rdquo; says the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mind and send for me whenever you want me, now.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, of course,&rdquo; said the elder brother, and thought when will that
ever be!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Lady Anne will be too delighted at hearing of your arrival. Give my love
to Clive&mdash;a remarkable fine boy, Clive&mdash;good morning:&rdquo; and the
Baronet was gone, and his bald head might presently be seen alongside of Mr.
Quilter&rsquo;s confidential grey poll, both of their faces turned into an
immense ledger.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Hobson accompanied the Colonel to the door, and shook him cordially by the
hand as he got into his cab. The man asked whither he should drive? and poor
Newcome hardly knew where he was or whither he should go. &ldquo;Drive!
a&mdash;oh&mdash;ah&mdash;damme, drive me anywhere away from this place!&rdquo;
was all he could say; and very likely the cabman thought he was a disappointed
debtor who had asked in vain to renew a bill. In fact, Thomas Newcome had
overdrawn his little account. There was no such balance of affection in that
bank of his brothers, as the simple creature had expected to find there.
</p>

<p>
When he was gone, Sir Brian went back to his parlour, where sate young Barnes
perusing the paper. &ldquo;My revered uncle seems to have brought back a
quantity of cayenne pepper from India, sir,&rdquo; he said to his father.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He seems a very kind-hearted simple man,&rdquo; the Baronet said
&ldquo;eccentric, but he has been more than thirty years away from home. Of
course you will call upon him to-morrow morning. Do everything you can to make
him comfortable. Whom would he like to meet at dinner? I will ask some of the
Direction. Ask him, Barnes, for next Wednesday or Saturday&mdash;no; Saturday I
dine with the Speaker. But see that every attention is paid him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Does he intend to have our relation up to town, sir? I should like to
meet Mrs. Mason of all things. A venerable washerwoman, I daresay, or perhaps
keeps a public-house,&rdquo; simpered out young Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Silence, Barnes; you jest at everything, you young men do&mdash;you do.
Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s affection for his old nurse does him the greatest
honour,&rdquo; said the Baronet, who really meant what he said.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I hope my mother will have her to stay a good deal at Newcome.
I&rsquo;m sure she must have been a washerwoman, and mangled my uncle in early
life. His costume struck me with respectful astonishment. He disdains the use
of straps to his trousers, and is seemingly unacquainted with gloves. If he had
died in India, would my late aunt have had to perish on a funeral pile?&rdquo;
Here Mr. Quilter, entering with a heap of bills, put an end to these sarcastic
remarks, and young Newcome, applying himself to his business (of which he was a
perfect master), forgot about his uncle till after City hours, when he
entertained some young gentlemen of Bays&rsquo;s Club with an account of his
newly arrived relative.
</p>

<p>
Towards the City, whither he wended his way whatever had been the ball or the
dissipation of the night before, young Barnes Newcome might be seen walking
every morning, resolutely and swiftly, with his neat umbrella. As he passed
Charing Cross on his way westwards, his little boots trailed slowly over the
pavement, his head hung languid (bending lower still, and smiling with faded
sweetness as he doffed his hat and saluted a passing carriage), his umbrella
trailed after him. Not a dandy on all the Pall Mall pavement seemed to have
less to do than he.
</p>

<p>
Heavyside, a large young officer of the household troops&mdash;old Sir Thomas
de Boots&mdash;and Horace Fogey, whom every one knows&mdash;are in the window
of Bays&rsquo;s, yawning as widely as that window itself. Horses under the
charge of men in red jackets are pacing up and down St. James&rsquo;s Street.
Cabmen on the stand are regaling with beer. Gentlemen with grooms behind them
pass towards the Park. Great dowager barouches roll along emblazoned with
coronets, and driven by coachmen in silvery wigs. Wistful provincials gaze in
at the clubs. Foreigners chatter and show their teeth, and look at the ladies
in the carriages, and smoke and spit refreshingly round about. Policeman X
slouches along the pavement. It is five o&rsquo;clock, the noon in Pall Mall.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s little Newcome coming,&rdquo; says Mr. Horace Fogey.
&ldquo;He and the muffin-man generally make their appearance in public
together.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Dashed little prig,&rdquo; says Sir Thomas de Boots, &ldquo;why the dash
did they ever let him in here? If I hadn&rsquo;t been in India, by
dash&mdash;he should have been blackballed twenty times over, by dash.&rdquo;
Only Sir Thomas used words far more terrific than dash, for this distinguished
cavalry officer swore very freely.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He amuses me; he&rsquo;s such a mischievous little devil,&rdquo; says
good-natured Charley Heavyside.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It takes very little to amuse you,&rdquo; remarks Fogey.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>You</i> don&rsquo;t, Fogey,&rdquo; answers Charley. &ldquo;I know
every one of your demd old stories, that are as old as my grandmother.
How-dy-do, Barney?&rdquo; (Enter Barnes Newcome.) &ldquo;How are the Three per
Cents, you little beggar? I wish you&rsquo;d do me a bit of stiff; and just
tell your father, if I may overdraw my account I&rsquo;ll vote with
him&mdash;hanged if I don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Barnes orders absinthe-and-water, and drinks: Heavyside resuming his elegant
raillery. &ldquo;I say, Barney, your name&rsquo;s Barney, and you&rsquo;re a
banker. You must be a little Jew, hey? Vell, how mosh vill you to my little
pill for?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do hee-haw in the House of Commons, Heavyside,&rdquo; says the young man
with a languid air. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s your place: you&rsquo;re returned for
it.&rdquo; (Captain the Honourable Charles Heavyside is a member of the
legislature, and eminent in the House for asinine imitations which delight his
own, and confuse the other party.) &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t bray here. I hate the
shop out of shop hours.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Dash the little puppy,&rdquo; growls Sir de Boots, swelling in his
waistband.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What do they say about the Russians in the City?&rdquo; says Horace
Fogey, who has been in the diplomatic service. &ldquo;Has the fleet left
Cronstadt, or has it not?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How should I know?&rdquo; asks Barney. &ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t it all in the
evening paper?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That is very uncomfortable news from India, General,&rdquo; resumes
Fogey&mdash;&ldquo;there&rsquo;s Lady Doddington&rsquo;s carriage, how well she
looks&mdash;that movement of Runjeet-Singh on Peshawur: that fleet on the
Irrawaddy. It looks doocid queer, let me tell you, and Penguin is not the man
to be Governor-General of India in a time of difficulty.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And Hustler&rsquo;s not the man to be Commander-in-Chief: dashder old
fool never lived: a dashed old psalm-singing, blundering old woman,&rdquo; says
Sir Thomas, who wanted the command himself.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>You</i> ain&rsquo;t in the psalm-singing line, Sir Thomas,&rdquo;
says Mr. Barnes; &ldquo;quite the contrary.&rdquo; In fact, Sir de Boots in his
youth used to sing with the Duke of York, and even against Captain Costigan,
but was beaten by that superior bacchanalian artist.
</p>

<p>
Sir Thomas looks as if to ask what the dash is that to you? but wanting still
to go to India again, and knowing how strong the Newcomes are in Leadenhall
Street, he thinks it necessary to be civil to the young cub, and swallows his
wrath once more into his waistband.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got an uncle come home from India&mdash;upon my word I
have,&rdquo; says Barnes Newcome. &ldquo;That is why I am so exhausted. I am
going to buy him a pair of gloves, number fourteen&mdash;and I want a tailor
for him&mdash;not a young man&rsquo;s tailor. Fogey&rsquo;s tailor rather.
I&rsquo;d take my father&rsquo;s; but he has all his things made in the
country&mdash;all&mdash;in the borough, you know&mdash;he&rsquo;s a public
man.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is Colonel Newcome, of the Bengal Cavalry, your uncle?&rdquo; asks Sir
Thomas de Boots.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes; will you come and meet him at dinner next Wednesday week, Sir
Thomas? and, Fogey, you come; you know you like a good dinner. You don&rsquo;t
know anything against my uncle, do you, Sir Thomas? Have I any Brahminical
cousins? Need we be ashamed of him?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I tell you what, young man, if you were more like him it wouldn&rsquo;t
hurt you. He&rsquo;s an odd man; they call him Don Quixote in India; I suppose
you&rsquo;ve read Don Quixote?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Never heard of it, upon my word; and why do you wish I should be more
like him? I don&rsquo;t wish to be like him at all, thank you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why, because he is one of the bravest officers that ever lived,&rdquo;
roared out the old soldier. &ldquo;Because he&rsquo;s one of the kindest
fellows; because he gives himself no dashed airs, although he has reason to be
proud if he chose. That&rsquo;s why, Mr. Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A topper for you, Barney, my boy,&rdquo; remarks Charles Heavyside, as
the indignant General walks away gobbling and red. Barney calmly drinks the
remains of his absinthe.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what that old muff means,&rdquo; he says innocently,
when he has finished his bitter draught. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always flying out at
me, the old turkey-cock. He quarrels with my play at whist, the old idiot, and
can no more play than an old baby. He pretends to teach me billiards, and
I&rsquo;ll give him fifteen in twenty and beat his old head off. Why do they
let such fellows into clubs? Let&rsquo;s have a game at piquet till dinner,
Heavyside. Hallo! That&rsquo;s my uncle, that tall man with the mustachios and
the short trousers, walking with that boy of his. I dare say they are going to
dine in Covent Garden, and going to the play. How-dy-do,
Nunky?&rdquo;&mdash;and so the worthy pair went up to the card-room, where they
sate at piquet until the hour of sunset and dinner arrived.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"></a>
CHAPTER VII.<br/>
In which Mr. Clive&rsquo;s School-days are over</h2>

<p>
Our good Colonel had luckily to look forward to a more pleasant meeting with
his son, than that unfortunate interview with his other near relatives. He
dismissed his cab at Ludgate Hill, and walked thence by the dismal precincts of
Newgate, and across the muddy pavement of Smithfield, on his way back to the
old school where his son was, a way which he had trodden many a time in his own
early days. There was Cistercian Street, and the Red Cow of his youth: there
was the quaint old Grey Friars Square, with its blackened trees and garden,
surrounded by ancient houses of the build of the last century, now slumbering
like pensioners in the sunshine.
</p>

<p>
Under the great archway of the hospital he could look at the old Gothic
building: and a black-gowned pensioner or two crawling over the quiet square,
or passing from one dark arch to another. The boarding-houses of the school
were situated in the square, hard by the more ancient buildings of the
hospital. A great noise of shouting, crying, clapping forms and cupboards,
treble voices, bass voices, poured out of the schoolboys&rsquo; windows: their
life, bustle, and gaiety contrasted strangely with the quiet of those old men
creeping along in their black gowns under the ancient arches yonder, whose
struggle of life was over, whose hope and noise and bustle had sunk into that
grey calm. There was Thomas Newcome arrived at the middle of life, standing
between the shouting boys and the tottering seniors, and in a situation to
moralise upon both, had not his son Clive, who has espied him from within Mr.
Hopkinson&rsquo;s, or let us say at once Hopkey&rsquo;s house, come jumping
down the steps to greet his sire. Clive was dressed in his very best; not one
of those four hundred young gentlemen had a better figure, a better tailor, or
a neater boot. Schoolfellows, grinning through the bars, envied him as he
walked away; senior boys made remarks on Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s loose clothes
and long mustachios, his brown hands and unbrushed hat. The Colonel was smoking
a cheroot as he walked; and the gigantic Smith, the cock of the school, who
happened to be looking majestically out of window, was pleased to say that he
thought Newcome&rsquo;s governor was a fine manly-looking fellow.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Tell me about your uncles, Clive,&rdquo; said the Colonel, as they
walked on arm in arm.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What about them, sir?&rdquo; asks the boy. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I
know much.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have been to stay with them. You wrote about them. Were they kind to
you?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, yes, I suppose they are very kind. They always tipped me: only you
know when I go there I scarcely ever see them. Mr. Newcome asks me the
oftenest&mdash;two or three times a quarter when he&rsquo;s in town, and gives
me a sovereign regular.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, he must see you to give you the sovereign,&rdquo; says
Clive&rsquo;s father, laughing.
</p>

<p>
The boy blushed rather.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes. When it&rsquo;s time to go back to Smithfield on a Sunday night, I
go into the dining-room to shake hands, and he gives it me; but he don&rsquo;t
speak to me much, you know, and I don&rsquo;t care about going to Bryanstone
Square, except for the tip, of course that&rsquo;s important, because I am made
to dine with the children, and they are quite little ones; and a great cross
French governess, who is always crying and shrieking after them, and finding
fault with them. My uncle generally has his dinner-parties on Saturday, or goes
out; and aunt gives me ten shillings and sends me to the play; that&rsquo;s
better fun than a dinner-party.&rdquo; Here the lad blushed again. &ldquo;I
used,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;when I was younger, to stand on the stairs and
prig things out of the dishes when they came out from dinner, but I&rsquo;m
past that now. Maria (that&rsquo;s my cousin) used to take the sweet things and
give &rsquo;em to the governess. Fancy! she used to put lumps of sugar into her
pocket and eat them in the schoolroom! Uncle Hobson don&rsquo;t live in such
good society as Uncle Newcome. You see, Aunt Hobson, she&rsquo;s very kind, you
know, and all that, but I don&rsquo;t think she&rsquo;s what you call <i>comme
il faut</i>.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why, how are you to judge?&rdquo; asks the father, amused at the
lad&rsquo;s candid prattle, &ldquo;and where does the difference lie?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you what it is, or how it is,&rdquo; the boy
answered, &ldquo;only one can&rsquo;t help seeing the difference. It
isn&rsquo;t rank and that; only somehow there are some men gentlemen and some
not, and some women ladies and some not. There&rsquo;s Jones now, the fifth
form master, every man sees <i>he&rsquo;s</i> a gentleman, though he wears ever
so old clothes; and there&rsquo;s Mr. Brown, who oils his hair, and wears
rings, and white chokers&mdash;my eyes! such white chokers!&mdash;and yet we
call him the handsome snob! And so about Aunt Maria, she&rsquo;s very handsome
and she&rsquo;s very finely dressed, only somehow she&rsquo;s
not&mdash;she&rsquo;s not the ticket, you see.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, she&rsquo;s not the ticket,&rdquo; says the Colonel, much amused.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, what I mean is&mdash;but never mind,&rdquo; says the boy. &ldquo;I
can&rsquo;t tell you what I mean. I don&rsquo;t like to make fun of her, you
know, for after all, she is very kind to me; but Aunt Anne is different, and it
seems as if what she says is more natural; and though she has funny ways of her
own too, yet somehow she looks grander,&rdquo;&mdash;and here the lad laughed
again. &ldquo;And do you know, I often think that as good a lady as Aunt Anne
herself, is old Aunt Honeyman at Brighton&mdash;that is, in all essentials, you
know. For she is not proud, and she is not vain, and she never says an unkind
word behind anybody&rsquo;s back, and she does a deal of kindness to the poor
without appearing to crow over them, you know; and she is not a bit ashamed of
letting lodgings, or being poor herself, as sometimes I think some of our
family&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I thought we were going to speak no ill of them?&rdquo; says the
Colonel, smiling.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, it only slipped out unawares,&rdquo; says Clive, laughing;
&ldquo;but at Newcome when they go on about the Newcomes, and that great ass,
Barnes Newcome, gives himself his airs, it makes me die of laughing. That time
I went down to Newcome, I went to see old Aunt Sarah, and she told me
everything, and showed me the room where my grandfather&mdash;you know; and do
you know I was a little hurt at first, for I thought we were swells till then.
And when I came back to school, where perhaps I had been giving myself airs,
and bragging about Newcome, why, you know, I thought it was right to tell the
fellows.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a man,&rdquo; said the Colonel, with delight; though had he
said, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a boy,&rdquo; he had spoken more correctly. Indeed,
how many men do we know in the world without caring to know who their fathers
were? and how many more who wisely do not care to tell us? &ldquo;That&rsquo;s
a man,&rdquo; cries the Colonel; &ldquo;never be ashamed of your father,
Clive.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ashamed of my father!&rdquo; says Clive, looking up to him, and walking
on as proud as a peacock. &ldquo;I say,&rdquo; the lad resumed, after a
pause&mdash;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Say what you say,&rdquo; said the father.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is that all true what&rsquo;s in the Peerage&mdash;in the Baronetage,
about Uncle Newcome and Newcome; about the Newcome who was burned at
Smithfield; about the one that was at the battle of Bosworth; and the old old
Newcome who was bar&mdash;that is, who was surgeon to Edward the Confessor, and
was killed at Hastings? I am afraid it isn&rsquo;t; and yet I should like it to
be true.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think every man would like to come of an ancient and honourable
race,&rdquo; said the Colonel, in his honest way. &ldquo;As you like your
father to be an honourable man, why not your grandfather, and his ancestors
before him? But if we can&rsquo;t inherit a good name, at least we can do our
best to leave one, my boy; and that is an ambition which, please God, you and I
will both hold by.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
With this simple talk the old and young gentleman beguiled their way, until
they came into the western quarter of the town, where the junior member of the
firm of Newcome Brothers had his house&mdash;a handsome and roomy mansion in
Bryanstone Square. Colonel Newcome was bent on paying a visit to his
sister-in-law, and as he knocked at the door, where the pair were kept waiting
some little time, he could remark through the opened windows of the
dining-room, that a great table was laid and every preparation made for a
feast.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My brother said he was engaged to dinner to-day,&rdquo; said the
Colonel. &ldquo;Does Mrs. Newcome give parties when he is away?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She invites all the company,&rdquo; answered Clive. &ldquo;My uncle
never asks any one without aunt&rsquo;s leave.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Colonel&rsquo;s countenance fell. He has a great dinner, and does not ask
his own brother! Newcome thought. Why, if he had come to me in India with all
his family, he might have stayed for a year, and I should have been offended if
he had gone elsewhere.
</p>

<p>
A hot menial, in a red waistcoat, came and opened the door; and without waiting
for preparatory queries, said, &ldquo;Not at home.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my father, John,&rdquo; said Clive; &ldquo;my aunt will see
Colonel Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Missis not at home,&rdquo; said the man. &ldquo;Missis is gone in
carriage&mdash;Not at this door!-Take them things down the area steps, young
man!&rdquo; bawls out the domestic. This latter speech was addressed to a
pastrycook&rsquo;s boy, with a large sugar temple and many conical papers
containing delicacies for dessert. &ldquo;Mind the hice is here in time; or
there&rsquo;ll be a blow-up with your governor,&rdquo;&mdash;and John struggled
back, closing the door on the astonished Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Upon my life, they actually shut the door in our faces,&rdquo; said the
poor gentleman.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The man is very busy, sir. There&rsquo;s a great dinner. I&rsquo;m sure
my aunt would not refuse you,&rdquo; Clive interposed. &ldquo;She is very kind.
I suppose it&rsquo;s different here to what it is in India, here are the
children in the square,&mdash;those are the girls in blue,&mdash;that&rsquo;s
the French governess, the one with the mustachios and the yellow parasol. How
d&rsquo;ye do, Mary? How d&rsquo;ye do, Fanny? This is my father,&mdash;this is
your uncle.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mesdemoiselles! Je vous défends de parler à qui que ce soit hors du
Squar!&rdquo; screams out the lady of the mustachios; and she strode forward to
call back her young charges.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel addressed her in very good French. &ldquo;I hope you will permit me
to make acquaintance with my nieces,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and with their
instructress, of whom my son has given me such a favourable account.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hem!&rdquo; said Mademoiselle Lebrun, remembering the last fight she and
Clive had had together, and a portrait of herself (with enormous whiskers)
which the young scapegrace had drawn. &ldquo;Monsieur is very good. But one
cannot too early inculcate <i>retenue</i> and decorum to young ladies in a
country where demoiselles seem for ever to forget that they are young ladies of
condition. I am forced to keep the eyes of lynx upon these young persons,
otherwise heaven knows what would come to them. Only yesterday, my back is
turned for a moment, I cast my eyes on a book, having but little time for
literature, monsieur&mdash;for literature, which I adore&mdash;when a cry makes
itself to hear. I turn myself, and what do I see? Mesdemoiselles, your nieces,
playing at criquette, with the Messieurs Smees&mdash;sons of Doctor
Smees&mdash;young galopins, monsieur!&rdquo; All this was shrieked with immense
volubility and many actions of the hand and parasol across the square-railings
to the amused Colonel, at whom the little girls peered through the bars.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, my dears, I should like to have a game at cricket with you,
too,&rdquo; says the kind gentleman, reaching them each a brown hand.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You, monsieur, c&rsquo;est different&mdash;a man of your age! Salute
monsieur, your uncle, mesdemoiselles. You conceive, monsieur, that I also must
be cautious when I speak to a man so distinguished in a public squar.&rdquo;
And she cast down her great eyes and hid those radiant orbs from the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
Meanwhile, Colonel Newcome, indifferent to the direction which Miss
Lebrun&rsquo;s eyes took, whether towards his hat or his boots, was surveying
his little nieces with that kind expression which his face always wore when it
was turned towards children. &ldquo;Have you heard of your uncle in
India?&rdquo; he asked them.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No,&rdquo; says Maria.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; says Fanny. &ldquo;You know mademoiselle said&rdquo;
(mademoiselle at this moment was twittering her fingers, and, as it were,
kissing them in the direction of a grand barouche that was advancing along the
Square)&mdash;&ldquo;you know mademoiselle said that if we were
<i>méchantes</i> we should be sent to our uncle in India. I think I should like
to go with you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;O you silly child!&rdquo; cries Maria.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes I should, if Clive went too,&rdquo; says little Fanny.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Behold madam, who arrives from her promenade!&rdquo; Miss Lebrun
exclaimed; and, turning round, Colonel Newcome had the satisfaction of
beholding, for the first time, his sister-in-law.
</p>

<p>
A stout lady, with fair hair and a fine bonnet and pelisse (who knows what were
the fine bonnets and pelisses of the year 183-?), was reclining in the
barouche, the scarlet-plush integuments of her domestics blazing before and
behind her. A pretty little foot was on the cushion opposite to her; feathers
waved in her bonnet; a book was in her lap; an oval portrait of a gentleman
reposed on her voluminous bosom. She wore another picture of two darling heads,
with pink cheeks and golden hair, on one of her wrists, with many more chains,
bracelets, bangles, and knick-knacks. A pair of dirty gloves marred the
splendour of this appearance; a heap of books from the library strewed the back
seat of the carriage, and showed that her habits were literary. Springing down
from his station behind his mistress, the youth clad in the nether garments of
red sammit discharged thunderclaps on the door of Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s house,
announcing to the whole Square that his mistress had returned to her abode.
Since the fort saluted the Governor-General at &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;, Colonel
Newcome had never heard such a cannonading.
</p>

<p>
Clive, with a queer twinkle of his eyes, ran towards his aunt.
</p>

<p>
She bent over the carriage languidly towards him. She liked him. &ldquo;What,
you, Clive?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;How come you away from school of a
Thursday, sir?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is a holiday,&rdquo; says he. &ldquo;My father is come; and he is
come to see you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
She bowed her head with an expression of affable surprise and majestic
satisfaction. &ldquo;Indeed, Clive!&rdquo; she was good enough to exclaim and
with an air which seemed to say, &ldquo;Let him come up and be presented to
me.&rdquo; The honest gentleman stepped forward and took off his hat and bowed,
and stood bareheaded. She surveyed him blandly, and with infinite grace put
forward one of the pudgy little hands in one of the dirty gloves. Can you fancy
a twopenny-halfpenny baroness of King Francis&rsquo;s time patronising Bayard?
Can you imagine Queen Guinever&rsquo;s lady&rsquo;s-maid&rsquo;s lady&rsquo;s
maid being affable to Sir Lancelot? I protest there is nothing like the virtue
of English women.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have only arrived to-day, and you came to see me? That was very
kind. N&rsquo;est-ce pas que c&rsquo;était bong de Mouseer le Collonel,
mademoiselle? Madamaselle Lebrun, le Collonel Newcome, mong frère.&rdquo; (In a
whisper, &ldquo;My children&rsquo;s governess and my friend, a most superior
woman.&rdquo;) &ldquo;Was it not kind of Colonel Newcome to come to see me?
Have you had a pleasant voyage? Did you come by St. Helena? Oh, how I envy you
seeing the tomb of that great man! Nous parlong de Napolleong, mademoiselle,
dong voter père a été le Général favvory.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;O Dieu! que n&rsquo;ai je pu le voir,&rdquo; interjaculates
mademoiselle. &ldquo;Lui dont parle l&rsquo;univers, dont mon père m&rsquo;a si
souvent parlé!&rdquo; but this remark passes quite unnoticed by
mademoiselle&rsquo;s friend, who continues:
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive, donnez-moi voter bras. These are two of my girls. My boys are at
school. I shall be so glad to introduce them to their uncle. <i>This</i>
naughty boy might never have seen you, but that we took him home to Marblehead,
after the scarlet fever, and made him well, didn&rsquo;t we, Clive? And we are
all very fond of him, and you must not be jealous of his love for his aunt. We
feel that we quite know you through him, and we know that you know us, and we
hope you will <i>like</i> us. Do you think your pa will like us, Clive? Or
perhaps you will like Lady Anne best? Yes; you have been to her first, of
course? Not been? Oh! because she is not in town.&rdquo; Leaning fondly on the
arm of Clive, mademoiselle standing grouped with the children hard by while
John, with his hat off, stood at the opened door, Mr Newcome slowly uttered the
above remarkable remarks to the Colonel, on the threshold of her house, which
she never asked him to pass.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If you will come in to us at about ten this evening,&rdquo; she then
said, &ldquo;you will find some men, not undistinguished, who honour me of an
evening. Perhaps they will be interesting to you, Colonel Newcome, as you are
newly arrived in Europe. Not men of worldly rank, necessarily, although some of
them are amongst the noblest of Europe. But my maxim is, that genius is an
illustration, and merit is better than any pedigree. You have heard of
Professor Bodgers? Count Poski? Doctor McGuffog, who is called in his native
country the Ezekiel of Clackmannan? Mr. Shaloony, the great Irish patriot? our
papers have told you of <i>him</i>. These and some more I have been good enough
to promise me a visit to-night. A stranger coming to London could scarcely have
a better opportunity of seeing some of our great illustrations of science and
literature. And you will meet our own family&mdash;not Sir Brian&rsquo;s,
who&mdash;who have other society and amusements&mdash;but mine. I hope Mr.
Newcome and myself will never forget <i>them</i>. We have a few friends at
dinner, and now I must go in and consult with Mrs. Hubbard, my housekeeper.
Good-bye for the present. Mind, not later than ten, as Mr. Newcome must be up
betimes in the morning, and our parties break up early. When Clive is a little
older, I dare say we shall see him, too. <i>Good</i>-bye!&rdquo; And again the
Colonel was favoured with a shake of the glove, and the lady and her suite
sailed up the stair, and passed in at the door.
</p>

<p>
She had not the faintest idea but that the hospitality which she was offering
to her kinsman was of the most cordial and pleasant kind. She fancied
everything she did was perfectly right and graceful. She invited her
husband&rsquo;s clerks to come through the rain at ten o&rsquo;clock from
Kentish Town; she asked artists to bring their sketch-books from Kensington, or
luckless pianists to trudge with their music from Brompton. She rewarded them
with a smile and a cup of tea, and thought they were made happy by her
condescension. If, after two or three of these delightful evenings, they ceased
to attend her receptions, she shook her little flaxen head, and sadly intimated
that Mr. A. was getting into bad courses, or feared that Mr. B. found merely
<i>intellectual</i> parties too quiet for him. Else, what young man in his
senses could refuse such entertainment and instruction?
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"></a>
CHAPTER VIII.<br/>
Mrs. Newcome at Home (a Small Early Party)</h2>

<p>
To push on in the crowd, every male or female struggler must use his shoulders.
If a better place than yours presents itself just beyond your neighbour, elbow
him and take it. Look how a steadily purposed man or woman at court, at a ball,
or exhibition, wherever there is a competition and a squeeze, gets the best
place; the nearest the sovereign, if bent on kissing the royal hand; the
closest to the grand stand, if minded to go to Ascot; the best view and hearing
of the Rev. Mr. Thumpington, when all the town is rushing to hear that exciting
divine; the largest quantity of ice, champagne, and seltzer, cold pâté, or
other his or her favourite flesh-pot, if gluttonously minded, at a supper
whence hundreds of people come empty away. A woman of the world will marry her
daughter and have done with her; get her carriage and be at home and asleep in
bed; whilst a timid mamma has still her girl in the nursery, or is beseeching
the servants in the cloakroom to look for her shawls, with which some one else
has whisked away an hour ago. What a man has to do in society is to assert
himself. Is there a good place at table? Take it. At the Treasury or the Home
Office? Ask for it. Do you want to go to a party to which you are not invited?
Ask to be asked. Ask A., ask B., ask Mrs. C., ask everybody you know: you will
be thought a bore; but you will have your way. What matters if you are
considered obtrusive, provided that you obtrude? By pushing steadily, nine
hundred and ninety-nine people in a thousand will yield to you. Only command
persons, and you may be pretty sure that a good number will obey. How well your
money will have been laid out, O gentle reader, who purchase this; and, taking
the maxim to heart, follow it through life! You may be sure of success. If your
neighbour&rsquo;s foot obstructs you, stamp on it; and do you suppose he
won&rsquo;t take it away?
</p>

<p>
The proofs of the correctness of the above remarks I show in various members of
the Newcome family. Here was a vulgar little woman, not clever nor pretty,
especially; meeting Mr. Newcome casually, she ordered him to marry her, and he
obeyed; as he obeyed her in everything else which she chose to order through
life. Meeting Colonel Newcome on the steps of her house, she orders him to come
to her evening party; and though he has not been to an evening party for
five-and-thirty years&mdash;though he has not been to bed the night
before&mdash;though he has no mufti-coat except one sent him out by Messrs.
Stultz to India in the year 1821&mdash;he never once thinks of disobeying Mrs.
Newcome&rsquo;s order, but is actually at her door at five minutes past ten,
having arrayed himself to the wonderment of Clive, and left the boy to talk
with his friend and fellow-passenger, Mr. Binnie, who has just arrived from
Portsmouth, who has dined with him, and who, by previous arrangement, has taken
up his quarters at the same hotel.
</p>

<p>
This Stultz coat, a blue swallow-tail, with yellow buttons, now wearing a tinge
of their native copper, a very high velvet collar on a level with the tips of
the Captain&rsquo;s ears, with a high waist, indicated by two lapelles, and a
pair of buttons high up in the wearer&rsquo;s back, a white waistcoat and
scarlet under-waistcoat, and a pair of the never-failing duck trousers,
complete Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s costume, along with the white hat in which we
have seen him in the morning, and which was one of two dozen purchased by him
some years since at public outcry, Burrumtollah. We have called him Captain
purposely, while speaking of his coat, for he held that rank when the garment
came out to him; and having been in the habit of considering it a splendid coat
for twelve years past, he has not the least idea of changing his opinion.
</p>

<p>
The Doctor McGuffog, Professor Bodgers, Count Poski, and all the lions present
at Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s <i>réunion</i> that evening, were completely eclipsed
by Colonel Newcome. The worthy soul, who cared not the least about adorning
himself, had a handsome diamond brooch of the year 1801&mdash;given him by poor
Jack Cutler, who was knocked over by his side at Argaum&mdash;and wore this
ornament in his desk for a thousand days and nights at a time; in his
shirt-frill, on such parade evenings as he considered Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s to
be. The splendour of this jewel, and of his flashing buttons, caused all eyes
to turn to him. There were many pairs of mustachios present, those of Professor
Schnurr, a very corpulent martyr, just escaped from Spandau, and of Maximilien
Tranchard, French exile and apostle of liberty, were the only whiskers in the
room capable of vying in interest with Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s. Polish
chieftains were at this time so common in London, that nobody (except one noble
Member for Marylebone, once a year, the Lord Mayor) took any interest in them.
The general opinion was, that the stranger was the Wallachian Boyar, whose
arrival at Mivart&rsquo;s the <i>Morning Post</i> had just announced. Mrs.
Miles, whose delicious every other Wednesdays in Montague Square are supposed
by some to be rival entertainments to Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s alternate Thursdays
in Bryanstone Square, pinched her daughter Mira, engaged in a polyglot
conversation with Herr Schnurr, nor Carabossi, the guitarist, and Monsieur
Pivier, the celebrated French chess-player, to point out the Boyar. Mira Miles
wished she knew a little Moldavian, not so much that she might speak it, but
that she might be heard to speak it. Mrs. Miles, who had not had the
educational advantages of her daughter, simpered up with &ldquo;Madame Newcome
pas ici&mdash;votre excellence nouvellement arrivé&mdash;avez vous fait ung
bong voyage? Je reçois chez moi Mercredi prochaing; lonnure de vous
voir&mdash;Madamasel Miles ma fille;&rdquo; and, Mira, now reinforcing her
mamma, poured in a glib little oration in French, somewhat to the astonishment
of the Colonel, who began to think, however, that perhaps French was the
language of the polite world, into which he was now making his very first
<i>entrée</i>.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Newcome had left her place at the door of her drawing-room, to walk
through her rooms with Rummun Loll, the celebrated Indian merchant, otherwise
His Excellency Rummun Loll, otherwise his Highness Rummun Loll, the chief
proprietor of the diamond-mines in Golconda, with a claim of three millions and
a-half upon the East India Company&mdash;who smoked his hookah after dinner
when the ladies were gone, and in whose honour (for his servants always brought
a couple or more of hookahs with them) many English gentlemen made themselves
sick, while trying to emulate the same practice. Mr. Newcome had been obliged
to go to bed himself in consequence of the uncontrollable nausea produced by
the chillum; and Doctor McGuffog, in hopes of converting His Highness, had
puffed his till he was as black in the face as the interesting Indian&mdash;and
now, having hung on his arm&mdash;always in the dirty gloves&mdash;flirting a
fan whilst His Excellency consumed betel out of a silver box; and having
promenaded him and his turban, and his shawls, and his kincab pelisse, and his
lacquered moustache, and keen brown face; and opal eyeballs, through her rooms,
the hostess came back to her station at the drawing-room door.
</p>

<p>
As soon as His Excellency saw the Colonel, whom he perfectly well knew, His
Highness&rsquo;s princely air was exchanged for one of the deepest humility. He
bowed his head and put his two hands before his eyes, and came creeping towards
him submissively, to the wonderment of Mrs. Miles; who was yet more astonished
when the Moldavian magnate exclaimed in perfectly good English, &ldquo;What,
Rummun, you here?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Rummun, still bending and holding his hands before him, uttered a number of
rapid sentences in the Hindustani language, which Colonel Newcome received
twirling his mustachios with much hauteur. He turned on his heel rather
abruptly and began to speak to Mrs. Newcome, who smiled and thanked him for
coming on his first night after his return.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel said, &ldquo;To whose house should he first come but to his
brother&rsquo;s?&rdquo; How Mrs. Newcome wished she could have had room for him
at dinner! And there was room after all, for Mr. Shaloony was detained at the
House. The most interesting conversation. The Indian Prince was so intelligent!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Indian what?&rdquo; asks Colonel Newcome. The heathen gentleman had
gone off, and was seated by one of the handsomest young women in the room,
whose fair face was turned towards him, whose blond ringlets touched his
shoulder, and who was listening to him as eagerly as Desdemona listened to
Othello.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel&rsquo;s rage was excited as he saw the Indian&rsquo;s behaviour. He
curled his mustachios up to his eyes in his wrath. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean
that that man calls himself a Prince? That a fellow who wouldn&rsquo;t sit down
in an officer&rsquo;s presence is&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How do you do, Mr. Honeyman?&mdash;Eh, bong soir, Monsieur&mdash;You are
very late, Mr. Pressly.&mdash;What, Barnes! is it possible that you do me the
honour to come all the way from Mayfair to Marylebone? I thought you young men
of fashion never crossed Oxford Street. Colonel Newcome, this is your
nephew.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How do you do, sir?&rdquo; says Barnes, surveying the Colonel&rsquo;s
costume with inward wonder, but without the least outward manifestation of
surprise. &ldquo;I suppose you dined here to meet the black Prince. I came to
ask him and my uncle to meet you at dinner on Wednesday. Where&rsquo;s my
uncle, ma&rsquo;am?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Your uncle is gone to bed ill. He smoked one of those hookahs which the
Prince brings, and it has made him very unwell indeed, Barnes. How is Lady
Anne? Is Lord Kew in London? Is your sister better for Brighton air? I see your
cousin is appointed Secretary of Legation. Have you good accounts of your aunt
Lady Fanny?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Lady Fanny is as well as can be expected, and the baby is going on
perfectly well, thank you,&rdquo; Barnes said drily; and his aunt, obstinately
gracious with him, turned away to some other new comet.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s interesting, isn&rsquo;t it, sir,&rdquo; says Barnes, turning
to the Colonel, &ldquo;to see such union in families? Whenever I come here, my
aunt trots out all my relations; and I send a man round in the mornin to ask
how they all are. So Uncle Hobson is gone to bed sick with a hookah? I know
there was a deuce of a row made when I smoked at Marblehead. You are promised
to us for Wednesday, please. Is there anybody you would like to meet? Not our
friend the Rummun? How the girls crowd round him! By Gad, a fellow who&rsquo;s
rich in London may have the pick of any gal&mdash;not here&mdash;not in this
sort of thing; I mean in society, you know,&rdquo; says Barnes confidentially,
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the old dowagers crowdin round that fellow, and the
girls snugglin up to his india-rubber face. He&rsquo;s known to have two wives
already in India; but, by Gad, for a settlement, I believe some of &rsquo;em
here would marry&mdash;I mean of the girls in society.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But isn&rsquo;t this society?&rdquo; asked the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, of course. It&rsquo;s very good society and that sort of
thing&mdash;but it&rsquo;s not, you know&mdash;you understand. I give you my
honour there are not three people in the room one meets anywhere, except the
Rummun. What is he at home, sir? I know he ain&rsquo;t a Prince, you know, any
more than I am.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I believe he is a rich man now,&rdquo; said the Colonel. &ldquo;He began
from very low beginnings, and odd stories are told about the origin of his
fortune.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That may be,&rdquo; says the young man; &ldquo;of course, as
businessmen, that&rsquo;s not our affair. But has he got the fortune? He keeps
a large account with us; and, I think, wants to have larger dealings with us
still. As one of the family we may ask you to stand by us, and tell us anything
you know. My father has asked him down to Newcome, and we&rsquo;ve taken him
up; wisely or not I can&rsquo;t say. I think otherwise; but I&rsquo;m quite
young in the house, and of course the elders have the chief
superintendence.&rdquo; The young man of business had dropped his drawl or his
languor, and was speaking quite unaffectedly; good-naturedly, and selfishly.
Had you talked to him for a week, you could not have made him understand the
scorn and loathing with which the Colonel regarded him. Here was a young fellow
as keen as the oldest curmudgeon; a lad with scarce a beard to his chin, that
would pursue his bond as rigidly as Shylock. &ldquo;If he is like this at
twenty, what will he be at fifty?&rdquo; groaned the Colonel. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d
rather Clive were dead than have him such a heartless woriding as this.&rdquo;
And yet the young man was not ungenerous, not untruth-telling, not
unserviceable. He thought his life was good enough. It was as good as that of
other folks he lived with. You don&rsquo;t suppose he had any misgivings,
provided he was in the City early enough in the morning; or slept badly, unless
he indulged too freely over-night; or twinges of conscience that his life was
misspent? He thought his life a most lucky and reputable one. He had a share in
a good business, and felt that he could increase it. Some day he would marry a
good match, with a good fortune; meanwhile he could take his pleasure
decorously, and sow his wild oats as some of the young Londoners sow them, not
broadcast after the fashion of careless scatter-brained youth, but trimly and
neatly, in quiet places, where the crop can come up unobserved, and be taken in
without bustle or scandal. Barnes Newcome never missed going to church, or
dressing for dinner. He never kept a tradesman waiting for his money. He never
drank too much, except when other fellows did, and in good company. He never
was late for business, or huddled over his toilet, however brief had been his
sleep, or severe his headache. In a word, he was as scrupulously whited as any
sepulchre in the whole bills of mortality.
</p>

<p>
Whilst young Barnes and his uncle were thus holding parley, a slim gentleman of
bland aspect, with a roomy forehead, or what his female admirers called
&ldquo;a noble brow,&rdquo; and a neat white neckcloth tied with clerical
skill, was surveying Colonel Newcome through his shining spectacles, and
waiting for an opportunity to address him. The Colonel remarked the eagerness
with which the gentleman in black regarded him, and asked Mr. Barnes who was
the padre? Mr. Barnes turned his eyeglass towards the spectacles, and said
&ldquo;he didn&rsquo;t know any more than the dead; he didn&rsquo;t know two
people in the room.&rdquo; The spectacles nevertheless made the eyeglass a bow,
of which the latter took no sort of cognisance. The spectacles advanced; Mr.
Newcome fell back with a peevish exclamation of &ldquo;Confound the fellow,
what is he coming to speak to me for?&rdquo; He did not choose to be addressed
by all sorts of persons in all houses.
</p>

<p>
But he of the spectacles, with an expression of delight in his pale blue eyes,
and smiles dimpling his countenance, pressed onwards with outstretched hands,
and it was towards the Colonel he turned these smiles and friendly salutations.
&ldquo;Did I hear aright, sir, from Mrs. Miles,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and have
I the honour of speaking to Colonel Newcome?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The same, sir,&rdquo; says the Colonel; at which the other, tearing off
a glove of lavender-coloured kid, uttered the words, &ldquo;Charles
Honeyman,&rdquo; and seized the hand of his brother-in-law. &ldquo;My poor
sister&rsquo;s husband,&rdquo; he continued; &ldquo;my own benefactor;
Clive&rsquo;s father. How strange are these meetings in the mighty world! How I
rejoice to see you, and know you!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You are Charles, are you?&rdquo; cries the other. &ldquo;I am very glad,
indeed, to shake you by the hand, Honeyman. Clive and I should have beat up
your quarters to-day, but we were busy until dinnertime. You put me in mind of
poor Emma, Charles,&rdquo; he added, sadly. Emma had not been a good wife to
him; a flighty silly little woman, who had caused him when alive many a night
of pain and day of anxiety.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Poor, poor Emma!&rdquo; exclaimed the ecclesiastic, casting his eyes
towards the chandelier, and passing a white cambric pocket-handkerchief
gracefully before them. No man in London understood the ring business or the
pocket-handkerchief business better, or smothered his emotion more beautifully.
&ldquo;In the gayest moments, in the giddiest throng of fashion, the thoughts
of the past will rise; the departed will be among us still. But this is not the
strain wherewith to greet the friend newly arrived on our shores. How it
rejoices me to behold you in old England! How you must have joyed to see
Clive!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;D&mdash;&mdash; the humbug,&rdquo; muttered Barnes, who knew him
perfectly well. &ldquo;The fellow is always in the pulpit.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The incumbent of Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s chapel smiled and bowed to him.
&ldquo;You do not recognise me, sir; I have had the honour of seeing you in
your public capacity in the City, when I have called at the bank, the bearer of
my brother-in-law&rsquo;s generous&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Never mind that, Honeyman!&rdquo; cried the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But I <i>do</i> mind, my dear Colonel,&rdquo; answers Mr. Honeyman.
&ldquo;I should be a very bad man, and a very ungrateful brother, if I
<i>ever</i> forgot your kindness.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake leave my kindness alone.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll never leave it alone as long as he can use it,&rdquo;
muttered Mr. Barnes in his teeth; and turning to his uncle, &ldquo;May I take
you home, sir? my cab is at the door, and I shall be glad to drive you.&rdquo;
But the Colonel said he must talk to his brother-in-law for a while, and Mr.
Barnes, bowing very respectfully to him, slipped under a dowager&rsquo;s arm in
the doorway, and retreated silently downstairs.
</p>

<p>
Newcome was now thrown entirely upon the clergyman, and the latter described
the personages present to the stranger, who was curious to know how the party
was composed. Mrs. Newcome herself would have been pleased had she heard
Honeyman&rsquo;s discourse regarding her guests and herself. Charles Honeyman
so spoke of most persons that you might fancy they were listening over his
shoulder. Such an assemblage of learning, genius, and virtue, might well
delight and astonish a stranger. &ldquo;That lady in the red turban, with the
handsome daughters, is Lady Budge, wife of the eminent judge of that
name&mdash;everybody was astonished that he was not made Chief Justice, and
elevated to the Peerage&mdash;the only objection (as I have heard
confidentially) was on the part of a late sovereign, who said he never could
consent to have a peer of the name of Budge. Her ladyship was of humble, I have
heard even menial, station originally, but becomes her present rank, dispenses
the most elegant hospitality at her mansion in Connaught Terrace, and is a
pattern as a wife and a mother. The young man talking to her daughter is a
young barrister, already becoming celebrated as a contributor to some of our
principal reviews.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Who is that cavalry officer in a white waistcoat talking to the Jew with
the beard?&rdquo; asks the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He, he! That cavalry officer is another literary man of celebrity, and
by profession an attorney. But he has quitted the law for the Muses, and it
would appear that the Nine are never wooed except by gentlemen with
mustachios.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Never wrote a verse in my life,&rdquo; says the Colonel, laughing, and
stroking his own.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;For I remark so many literary gentlemen with that decoration. The Jew
with the beard, as you call him, is Herr von Lungen, the eminent
hautboy-player. The three next gentlemen are Mr. Smee, of the Royal Academy
(who is shaved as you perceive), and Mr. Moyes and Mr. Cropper, who are both
very hairy about the chin. At the piano, singing, accompanied by Mademoiselle
Lebrun, is Signor Mezzocaldo, the great barytone from Rome. Professor Quartz
and Baron Hammerstein, celebrated geologists from Germany, are talking with
their illustrious <i>confrère</i>, Sir Robert Craxton, in the door. Do you see
yonder that stout gentleman with stuff on his shirt? the eloquent Dr. McGuffog,
of Edinburgh, talking to Dr. Ettore, who lately escaped from the Inquisition at
Rome in the disguise of a washerwoman, after undergoing the question several
times, the rack and the thumbscrew. They say that he was to have been burned in
the Grand Square the next morning; but between ourselves, my dear Colonel, I
mistrust these stories of converts and martyrs. Did you ever see a more
jolly-looking man than Professor Schnurr, who was locked up in Spielberg, and
got out up a chimney, and through a window? Had he waited a few months there
are very few windows he could have passed through. That splendid man in the red
fez is Kurbash Pasha&mdash;another renegade, I deeply lament to say&mdash;a
hairdresser from Marseilles, by name Monsieur Ferehaud, who passed into Egypt,
and laid aside the <i>tongs</i> for a turban. He is talking with Mr. Palmer,
one of our most delightful young poets, and with Desmond O&rsquo;Tara, son of
the late revered Bishop of Ballinafad, who has lately quitted ours for the
errors of the Church of Rome. Let me whisper to you that your kinswoman is
rather a searcher after what we call here <i>notabilities</i>. I heard talk of
one I knew in better days&mdash;of one who was the comrade of my youth, and the
delight of Oxford&mdash;poor Pidge of Brasenose, who got the Newdigate in my
third year, and who, under his present name of Father Bartolo, was to have been
here in his capuchin dress, with a beard and bare feet; but I presume he could
not get permission from his Superior. That is Mr. Huff, the political
economist, talking with Mr. Macduff, the Member for Glenlivat. That is the
coroner for Middlesex conversing with the great surgeon Sir Cutler Sharp, and
that pretty laughing girl talking with them is no other than the celebrated
Miss Pinnnifer, whose novel of Ralph the Resurrectionist created such a
sensation after it was abused in the <i>Trimestrial Review</i>. It was a little
bold certainly&mdash;I just looked at it at my club&mdash;after hours devoted
to parish duty a clergyman is sometimes allowed, you know, <i>desipere in
loco</i>&mdash;there are descriptions in it certainly startling&mdash;ideas
about marriage not exactly orthodox; but the poor child wrote the book actually
in the nursery, and all England was ringing with it before Dr. Pinnifer, her
father, knew who was the author. That is the Doctor asleep in the corner by
Miss Rudge, the American authoress, who I dare say is explaining to him the
difference between the two Governments. My dear Mrs. Newcome, I am giving my
brother-in-law a little sketch of some of the celebrities who are crowding your
salon to-night. What a delightful evening you have given us!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I try to do my best, Colonel Newcome,&rdquo; said the lady of the house.
&ldquo;I hope many a night we may see you here; and, as I said this morning,
Clive, when he is of an age to appreciate this kind of entertainment. Fashion I
do not worship. You may meet that amongst other branches of our family; but
genius and talent I do reverence. And if I can be the means&mdash;the
<i>humble</i> means&mdash;to bring men of genius together&mdash;mind to
associate with mind&mdash;men of all nations to mingle in <i>friendly
unison</i>&mdash;I shall not have lived <i>altogether</i> in vain. They call us
women of the world frivolous, Colonel Newcome. So some may be; I do not say
there are not in our own family persons who worship mere worldly rank, and
think but of fashion and gaiety; but such, I trust, will never be the objects
in life of me and my children. We are but merchants; we seek to be <i>no
more</i>. If I can look around me and see as I do&rdquo;&mdash;(she waves her
fan round, and points to the illustrations scintillating round the
room)&mdash;&ldquo;and see as I do now&mdash;a Poski, whose name is ever
connected with Polish history&mdash;an Ettore, who has exchanged a tonsure and
a rack for our own free country&mdash;a Hammerstein, and a Quartz, a Miss
Rudge, our Transatlantic sister (who I trust will not mention <i>this</i>
modest salon in her forthcoming work on Europe), and Miss Pinnifer, whose
genius I acknowledge, though I deplore her opinions; if I can gather together
travellers, poets, and painters, princes and distinguished soldiers from the
East, and clergymen remarkable for their eloquence, my humble aim is attained,
and Maria Newcome is not altogether useless in her generation. Will you take a
little refreshment? Allow <i>your sister</i> to go down to the dining-room
supported by your <i>gallant</i> arm.&rdquo; She looked round to the admiring
congregation, whereof Honeyman, as it were acted as clerk, and flirting her
fan, and flinging up her little head. Consummate Virtue walked down on the arm
of the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
The refreshment was rather meagre. The foreign artists generally dashed
downstairs, and absorbed all the ices, creams, etc. To those coming late there
were chicken-bones, table-cloths puddled with melted ice, glasses hazy with
sherry, and broken bits of bread. The Colonel said he never supped; and he and
Honeyman walked away together, the former to bed, the latter, I am sorry to
say, to his club; for he was a dainty feeder, and loved lobster, and talk late
at night, and a comfortable little glass of something wherewith to conclude the
day.
</p>

<p>
He agreed to come to breakfast with the Colonel, who named eight or nine for
the meal. Nine Mr. Honeyman agreed to with a sigh. The incumbent of Lady
Whittlesea&rsquo;s chapel seldom rose before eleven. For, to tell the truth, no
French abbot of Louis XV. was more lazy and luxurious, and effeminate, than our
polite bachelor preacher.
</p>

<p class="p2">
One of Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s fellow-passengers from India was Mr. James
Binnie of the Civil Service, a jolly young bachelor of two- or three-and-forty,
who, having spent half of his past life in Bengal, was bent upon enjoying the
remainder in Britain or in Europe, if a residence at home should prove
agreeable to him. The Nabob of books and tradition is a personage no longer to
be found among us. He is neither as wealthy nor as wicked as the jaundiced
monster of romances and comedies, who purchases the estates of broken-down
English gentlemen, with rupees tortured out of bleeding rajahs, who smokes a
hookah in public, and in private carries about a guilty conscience, diamonds of
untold value, and a diseased liver; who has a vulgar wife, with a retinue of
black servants whom she maltreats, and a gentle son and daughter with good
impulses and an imperfect education, desirous to amend their own and their
parents&rsquo; lives, and thoroughly ashamed of the follies of the old people.
If you go to the house of an Indian gentleman now, he does not say,
&ldquo;Bring more curricles,&rdquo; like the famous Nabob of Stanstead Park. He
goes to Leadenhall Street in an omnibus, and walks back from the City for
exercise. I have known some who have had maid-servants to wait on them at
dinner. I have met scores who look as florid and rosy as any British squire who
has never left his paternal beef and acres. They do not wear nankeen jackets in
summer. Their livers are not out of order any more; and as for hookahs, I dare
swear there are not two now kept alight within the bills of mortality; and that
retired Indians would as soon think of smoking them, as their wives would of
burning themselves on their husbands&rsquo; bodies at the cemetery, Kensal
Green, near to the Tyburnian quarter of the city which the Indian world at
present inhabits. It used to be Baker Street and Harley Street; it used to be
Portland Place, and in more early days Bedford Square, where the Indian
magnates flourished; districts which have fallen from their pristine state of
splendour now, even as Agra, and Benares, and Lucknow, and Tippoo
Sultan&rsquo;s city are fallen.
</p>

<p>
After two-and-twenty years&rsquo; absence from London, Mr. Binnie returned to
it on the top of the Gosport coach with a hatbox and a little portmanteau, a
pink fresh-shaven face, a perfect appetite, a suit of clothes like everybody
else&rsquo;s, and not the shadow of a black servant. He called a cab at the
White Horse Cellar, and drove to Nerot&rsquo;s Hotel, Clifford Street; and he
gave the cabman eightpence, making the fellow, who grumbled, understand that
Clifford Street was not two hundred yards from Bond Street, and that he was
paid at the rate of five shillings and fourpence per mile&mdash;calculating the
mile at only sixteen hundred yards. He asked the waiter at what time Colonel
Newcome had ordered dinner, and finding there was an hour on his hands before
the meal, walked out to examine the neighbourhood for a lodging where he could
live more quietly than in a hotel. He called it a hotel. Mr. Binnie was a North
Briton, his father having been a Writer to the Signet, in Edinburgh, who had
procured his son a writership in return for electioneering services done to an
East Indian Director. Binnie had his retiring pension, and, besides, had saved
half his allowances ever since he had been in India. He was a man of great
reading, no small ability, considerable accomplishment, excellent good sense
and good humour. The ostentatious said he was a screw; but he gave away more
money than far more extravagant people: he was a disciple of David Hume (whom
he admired more than any other mortal), and the serious denounced him as a man
of dangerous principles, though there were, among the serious, men much more
dangerous than James Binnie.
</p>

<p>
On returning to his hotel, Colonel Newcome found this worthy gentleman
installed in his room in the best arm-chair sleeping cosily; the evening paper
laid decently over his plump waistcoat, and his little legs placed on an
opposite chair. Mr. Binnie woke up briskly when the Colonel entered. &ldquo;It
is you, you gad-about, is it?&rdquo; cried the civilian. &ldquo;How has the
beau monde of London treated the Indian Adonis? Have you made a sensation,
Newcome? Gad, Tom, I remember you a buck of bucks when that coat first came out
to Calcutta&mdash;just a Barrackpore Brummell&mdash;in Lord Minto&rsquo;s
reign, was it, or when Lord Hastings was satrap over us?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A man must have one good coat,&rdquo; says the Colonel; &ldquo;I
don&rsquo;t profess to be a dandy; but get a coat from a good tailor, and then
have done with it.&rdquo; He still thought his garment was as handsome as need
be.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Done with it&mdash;ye&rsquo;re never done with it!&rdquo; cries the
civilian.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;An old coat is an old friend, old Binnie. I don&rsquo;t want to be rid
of one or the other. How long did you and my boy sit up
together&mdash;isn&rsquo;t he a fine lad, Binnie? I expect you are going to put
him down for something handsome in your will.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;See what it is to have a real friend now, Colonel! I sate up for ye, or
let us say more correctly, I waited for you&mdash;because I knew you would want
to talk about that scapegrace of yours. And if I had gone to bed, I should have
had you walking up to No. 28, and waking me out of my first rosy slumber. Well,
now confess; avoid not. Haven&rsquo;t ye fallen in love with some young beauty
on the very first night of your arrival in your sister&rsquo;s salong, and
selected a mother-in-law for young Scapegrace?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t he a fine fellow, James?&rdquo; says the Colonel, lighting a
cheroot as he sits on the table. Was it joy, or the bedroom candle with which
he lighted his cigar, which illuminated his honest features so, and made them
so to shine?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have been occupied, sir, in taking the lad&rsquo;s moral measurement:
and have pumped him as successfully as ever I cross-examined a rogue in my
court. I place his qualities thus:&mdash;Love of approbation sixteen.
Benevolence fourteen. Combativeness fourteen. Adhesiveness two. Amativeness is
not yet of course fully developed, but I expect will be prodeegiously strong.
The imaginative and reflective organs are very large&mdash;those, of
calculation weak. He may make a poet or a painter, or you may make a sojer of
him, though worse men than him&rsquo;s good enough for that&mdash;but a bad
merchant, a lazy lawyer, and a miserable mathematician. He has wit and
conscientiousness, so ye mustn&rsquo;t think of making a clergyman of
him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Binnie!&rdquo; says the Colonel gravely, &ldquo;you are always sneering
at the cloth.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When I think that, but for my appointment to India, I should have been a
luminary of the faith and a pillar of the church! grappling with the ghostly
enemy in the pulpit, and giving out the psawm. Eh, sir, what a loss Scottish
Divinity has had in James Binnie!&rdquo; cries the little civilian with his
most comical face. &ldquo;But that is not the question. My opinion, Colonel,
is, that young Scapegrace will give you a deal of trouble; or would, only you
are so absurdly proud of him that you think everything he does is perfaction.
He&rsquo;ll spend your money for you: he&rsquo;ll do as little work as need be.
He&rsquo;ll get into scrapes with the sax. He&rsquo;s almost as simple as his
father, and that is to say that any rogue will cheat him; and he seems to me to
have got your obstinate habit of telling the truth, Colonel, which may prevet
his getting on in the world, but on the other hand will keep him from going
very wrong. So that, though there is every fear for him, there&rsquo;s some
hope and some consolation.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What do you think of his Latin and Greek?&rdquo; asks the Colonel.
Before going out to his party, Newcome had laid a deep scheme with Binnie, and
it had been agreed that the latter should examine the young fellow in his
humanities.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Wall,&rdquo; cries the Scot, &ldquo;I find that the lad knows as much
about Greek and Latin as I knew myself when I was eighteen years of age.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear Binnie, is it possible? You, the best scholar in all
India!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And which amounted to exactly nothing. He has acquired in five years,
and by the admirable seestem purshood at your public schools, just about as
much knowledge of the ancient languages as he could get by three months&rsquo;
application at home. Mind ye, I don&rsquo;t say he would apply; it is most
probable he would do no such thing. But at the cost of&mdash;how much? two
hundred pounds annually&mdash;for five years&mdash;he has acquired about
five-and-twenty guineas&rsquo; worth of classical leeterature&mdash;enough, I
dare say, to enable him to quote Horace respectably through life, and what more
do ye want from a young man of his expectations? I think I should send him into
the army, that&rsquo;s the best place for him&mdash;there&rsquo;s the least to
do, and the handsomest clothes to wear. <i>Acce segnum!</i>&rdquo; says the
little wag, daintily taking up the tail of his friend&rsquo;s coat.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s never any knowing whether you are in jest or in earnest,
Binnie,&rdquo; the puzzled Colonel said.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How should you know, when I don&rsquo;t know myself?&rdquo; answered the
Scotchman. &ldquo;In earnest now, Tom Newcome, I think your boy is as fine a
lad as I ever set eyes on. He seems to have intelligence and good temper. He
carries his letter of recommendation in his countenance; and with the
honesty&mdash;and the rupees, mind ye&mdash;which he inherits from his father,
the deuce is in it if he can&rsquo;t make his way. What time&rsquo;s the
breakfast? Eh, but it was a comfort this morning not to hear the holystoning on
the deck. We ought to go into lodgings, and not fling our money out of the
window of this hotel. We must make the young chap take us about and show us the
town in the morning, Tom. I had but three days of it five-and-twenty years ago,
and I propose to reshoome my observations to-morrow after breakfast.
We&rsquo;ll just go on deck and see how&rsquo;s her head before we turn in, eh,
Colonel?&rdquo; and with this the jolly gentleman nodded over his candle to his
friend, and trotted off to bed.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel and his friend were light sleepers and early risers, like most men
that come from the country where they had both been so long sojourning, and
were awake and dressed long before the London waiters had thought of quitting
their beds. The housemaid was the only being stirring in the morning when
little Mr. Binnie blundered over her pail as she was washing the deck. Early as
he was, his fellow-traveller had preceded him. Binnie found the Colonel in his
sitting-room arrayed in what are called in Scotland his stocking-feet, already
puffing the cigar, which in truth was seldom out of his mouth at any hour of
the day.
</p>

<p>
He had a couple of bedrooms adjacent to this sitting-room, and when Binnie, as
brisk and rosy about the gills as chanticleer, broke out in a morning
salutation, &ldquo;Hush,&rdquo; says the Colonel, putting a long finger up to
his mouth, and advancing towards him as noiselessly as a ghost.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What&rsquo;s in the wind now?&rdquo; asks the little Scot; &ldquo;and
what for have ye not got your shoes on?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive&rsquo;s asleep,&rdquo; says the Colonel, with a countenance full
of extreme anxiety.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The darling boy slumbers, does he?&rdquo; said the wag;
&ldquo;mayn&rsquo;t I just step in and look at his beautiful countenance whilst
he&rsquo;s asleep, Colonel?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You may if you take off those confounded creaking shoes,&rdquo; the
other answered, quite gravely; and Binnie turned away to hide his jolly round
face, which was screwed up with laughter.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Have ye been breathing a prayer over your rosy infant&rsquo;s slumbers,
Tom?&rdquo; asks Mr. Binnie.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And if I have, James Binnie,&rdquo; the Colonel said gravely, and his
sallow face blushing somewhat, &ldquo;if I have, I hope I&rsquo;ve done no
harm. The last time I saw him asleep was nine years ago, a sickly little
pale-faced boy in his little cot, and now, sir, that I see him again, strong
and handsome, and all that a fond father can wish to see a boy, I should be an
ungrateful villain, James, if I didn&rsquo;t&mdash;if I didn&rsquo;t do what
you said just now, and thank God Almighty for restoring him to me.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Binnie did not laugh any more. &ldquo;By George, Tom Newcome,&rdquo; said he,
&ldquo;you&rsquo;re just one of the saints of the earth. If all men were like
you there&rsquo;d be an end of both our trades; there would be no fighting and
no soldiering, no rogues and no magistrates to catch them.&rdquo; The Colonel
wondered at his friend&rsquo;s enthusiasm, who was not used to be
complimentary; indeed what so usual with him as that simple act of gratitude
and devotion about which his comrade spoke to him? To ask a blessing for his
boy was as natural to him as to wake with the sunrise, or to go to rest when
the day was over. His first and his last thought was always the child.
</p>

<p>
The two gentlemen were home in time enough to find Clive dressed, and his uncle
arrived for breakfast. The Colonel said a grace over that meal: the life was
begun which he had longed and prayed for, and the son smiling before his eyes
who had been in his thoughts for so many fond years.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"></a>
CHAPTER IX.<br/>
Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s</h2>

<p>
In Steyne Gardens, Brighton, the lodging-houses are among the most frequented
in that city of lodging-houses. These mansions have bow-windows in front,
bulging out with gentle prominences, and ornamented with neat verandahs, from
which you can behold the tide of humankind as it flows up and down the Steyne,
and that blue ocean over which Britannia is said to rule, stretching brightly
away eastward and westward. The chain-pier, as every body knows, runs
intrepidly into the sea, which sometimes, in fine weather, bathes its feet with
laughing wavelets, and anon, on stormy days, dashes over its sides with roaring
foam. Here, for the sum of twopence, you can go out to sea and pace this vast
deck without need of a steward with a basin. You can watch the sun setting in
splendour over Worthing, or illuminating with its rising glories the ups and
downs of Rottingdean. You see the citizen with his family inveigled into the
shallops of the mercenary native mariner, and fancy that the motion cannot be
pleasant; and how the hirer of the boat, <i>otium et oppidi laudat rura
sui</i>, haply sighs for ease, and prefers Richmond or Hampstead. You behold a
hundred bathing-machines put to sea; and your naughty fancy depicts the
beauties splashing under their white awnings. Along the rippled sands (stay,
are they rippled sands or shingly beach?) the prawn-boy seeks the delicious
material of your breakfast. Breakfast-meal in London almost unknown, greedily
devoured in Brighton! In yon vessels now nearing the shore the sleepless
mariner has ventured forth to seize the delicate whiting, the greedy and
foolish mackerel, and the homely sole. Hark to the twanging horn! it is the
early coach going out to London. Your eye follows it, and rests on the
pinnacles built by the beloved G<small>EORGE</small>. See the worn-out London
roué pacing the pier, inhaling the sea air, and casting furtive glances under
the bonnets of the pretty girls who trot here before lessons! Mark the bilious
lawyer, escaped for a day from Pump Court, and sniffing the fresh breezes
before he goes back to breakfast and a bag full of briefs at the Albion! See
that pretty string of prattling schoolgirls, from the chubby-cheeked,
flaxen-headed little maiden just toddling by the side of the second teacher, to
the arch damsel of fifteen, giggling and conscious of her beauty, whom Miss
Griffin, the stern head-governess, awfully reproves! See Tomkins with a
telescope and marine jacket; young Nathan and young Abrams, already bedizened
in jewellery, and rivalling the sun in oriental splendour; yonder poor invalid
crawling along in her chair; yonder jolly fat lady examining the Brighton
pebbles (I actually once saw a lady buy one), and her children wondering at the
sticking-plaister portraits with gold hair, and gold stocks, and prodigious
high-heeled boots, miracles of art, and cheap at seven-and-sixpence! It is the
fashion to run down George IV., but what myriads of Londoners ought to thank
him for inventing Brighton! One of the best of physicians our city has ever
known, is kind, cheerful, merry Doctor Brighton. Hail, thou purveyor of shrimps
and honest prescriber of Southdown mutton! There is no mutton so good as
Brighton mutton; no flys so pleasant as Brighton flys; nor any cliff so
pleasant to ride on; no shops so beautiful to look at as the Brighton gimcrack
shops, and the fruit shops, and the market. I fancy myself in Mrs.
Honeyman&rsquo;s lodgings in Steyne Gardens, and in enjoyment of all these
things.
</p>

<p>
If the gracious reader has had losses in life, losses not so bad as to cause
absolute want, or inflict upon him or her the bodily injury of starvation, let
him confess that the evils of this poverty are by no means so great as his
timorous fancy depicted. Say your money has been invested in West Diddlesex
bonds, or other luckless speculations&mdash;the news of the smash comes; you
pay your outlying bills with the balance at the banker&rsquo;s; you assemble
your family and make them a fine speech; the wife of your bosom goes round and
embraces the sons and daughters <i>seriatim;</i> nestling in your own waistcoat
finally, in possession of which, she says (with tender tears and fond
quotations from Holy Writ, God bless her!), and of the darlings round about,
lies all <i>her</i> worldly treasure: the weeping servants are dismissed, their
wages paid in full, and with a present of prayer- and hymn-books from their
mistress; your elegant house in Harley Street is to let, and you subside into
lodgings in Pentonville, or Kensington, or Brompton. How unlike the mansion
where you paid taxes and distributed elegant hospitality for so many years!
</p>

<p>
You subside into lodgings, I say, and you find yourself very tolerably
comfortable. I am not sure that in her heart your wife is not happier than in
what she calls her happy days. She will be somebody hereafter: she was nobody
in Harley Street: that is, everybody else in her visiting-book, take the names
all round, was as good as she. They had the very same entrees, plated ware, men
to wait, etc., at all the houses where you visited in the street. Your
candlesticks might be handsomer (and indeed they had a very fine effect upon
the dinner-table), but then Mr. Jones&rsquo;s silver (or electro-plated) dishes
were much finer. You had more carriages at your door on the evening of your
delightful soirées than Mrs. Brown (there is no phrase more elegant, and to my
taste, than that in which people are described as &ldquo;seeing a great deal of
carriage company&rdquo;); but yet Mrs. Brown, from the circumstance of her
being a baronet&rsquo;s niece, took precedence of your dear wife at most
tables. Hence the latter charming woman&rsquo;s scorn at the British baronetcy,
and her many jokes at the order. In a word, and in the height of your social
prosperity, there was always a lurking dissatisfaction, and a something bitter,
in the midst of the fountain of delights at which you were permitted to drink.
</p>

<p>
There is no good (unless your taste is that way) in living in a society where
you are merely the equal of everybody else. Many people give themselves extreme
pains to frequent company where all around them are their superiors, and where,
do what you will, you must be subject to continual mortification&mdash;(as, for
instance, when Marchioness X. forgets you, and you can&rsquo;t help thinking
that she cuts you on purpose; when Duchess Z. passes by in her diamonds, etc.).
The true pleasure of life is to live with your inferiors. Be the cock of your
village; the queen of your coterie; and, besides very great persons, the people
whom Fate has specially endowed with this kindly consolation are those who have
seen what are called better days&mdash;those who have had losses. I am like
Cæsar, and of a noble mind: if I cannot be first in Piccadilly, let me try
Hatton Garden, and see whether I cannot lead the ton there. If I cannot take
the lead at White&rsquo;s or the Travellers&rsquo;, let me be president of the
Jolly Bandboys at the Bag of Nails, and blackball everybody who does not pay me
honour. If my darling Bessy cannot go out of a drawing-room until a
baronet&rsquo;s niece (ha! ha! a baronet&rsquo;s niece, forsooth!) has walked
before her, let us frequent company where we shall be the first; and how can we
be the first unless we select our inferiors for our associates? This kind of
pleasure is to be had by almost everybody, and at scarce any cost. With a
shilling&rsquo;s-worth of tea and muffins you can get as much adulation and
respect as many people cannot purchase with a thousand pounds&rsquo; worth of
plate and profusion, hired footmen, turning their houses topsy-turvy, and
suppers from Gunter&rsquo;s. Adulation!&mdash;why, the people who come to you
give as good parties as you do. Respect!&mdash;the very menials, who wait
behind your supper-table, waited at a duke&rsquo;s yesterday, and actually
patronise you! O you silly spendthrift! you can buy flattery for twopence, and
you spend ever so much money in entertaining your equals and betters, and
nobody admires you!
</p>

<p>
Now Aunt Honeyman was a woman of a thousand virtues; cheerful, frugal, honest,
laborious, charitable, good-humoured, truth-telling, devoted to her family,
capable of any sacrifice for those she loved; and when she came to have losses
of money, Fortune straightway compensated her by many kindnesses which no
income can supply. The good old lady admired the word gentlewoman of all others
in the English vocabulary, and made all around her feel that such was her rank.
Her mother&rsquo;s father was a naval captain; her father had taken pupils, got
a living, sent his son to college, dined with the squire, published his volume
of sermons, was liked in his parish, where Miss Honeyman kept house for him,
was respected for his kindness and famous for his port wine; and so died,
leaving about two hundred pounds a year to his two children, nothing to Clive
Newcome&rsquo;s mother who had displeased him by her first marriage (an
elopement with Ensign Casey) and subsequent light courses. Charles Honeyman
spent his money elegantly in wine-parties at Oxford, and afterwards in foreign
travel;&mdash;spent his money and as much of Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s as that
worthy soul would give him. She was a woman of spirit and resolution. She
brought her furniture to Brighton (believing that the whole place still fondly
remembered her grandfather, Captain Nokes, who had resided there and his
gallantry in Lord Rodney&rsquo;s action with the Count de Grasse), took a
house, and let the upper floors to lodgers.
</p>

<p>
The little brisk old lady brought a maid-servant out of the country with her,
who was daughter to her father&rsquo;s clerk, and had learned her letters and
worked her first sampler under Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s own eye, whom she adored
all through her life. No Indian begum rolling in wealth, no countess mistress
of castles and townhouses, ever had such a faithful toady as Hannah Hicks was
to her mistress. Under Hannah was a young lady from the workhouse, who called
Hannah &ldquo;Mrs. Hicks, mum,&rdquo; and who bowed in awe as much before that
domestic as Hannah did before Miss Honeyman. At five o&rsquo;clock in summer,
at seven in winter (for Miss Honeyman, a good economist, was chary of
candlelight), Hannah woke up little Sally, and these three women rose. I leave
you to imagine what a row there was in the establishment if Sally appeared with
flowers under her bonnet, gave signs of levity or insubordination, prolonged
her absence when sent forth for the beer, or was discovered in flirtation with
the baker&rsquo;s boy or the grocer&rsquo;s young man. Sally was frequently
renewed. Miss Honeyman called all her young persons Sally; and a great number
of Sallies were consumed in her house. The qualities of the Sally for the
time-being formed a constant and delightful subject of conversation between
Hannah and her mistress. The few friends who visited Miss Honeyman in her
back-parlour had <i>their</i> Sallies, in discussing whose peculiarities of
disposition these good ladies passed the hours agreeably over their tea.
</p>

<p>
Many persons who let lodgings in Brighton have been servants
themselves&mdash;are retired housekeepers, tradesfolk, and the like. With these
surrounding individuals Hannah treated on a footing of equality, bringing to
her mistress accounts of their various goings on; &ldquo;how No. 6 was let; how
No. 9 had not paid his rent again; how the first floor at 27 had game almost
every day, and made-dishes from Mutton&rsquo;s; how the family who had taken
Mrs. Bugsby&rsquo;s had left as usual after the very first night, the poor
little infant blistered all over with bites on its little dear face; how the
Miss Learys was going on shameful with the two young men, actially in their
setting-room, mum, where one of them offered Miss Laura Leary a cigar; how Mrs.
Cribb <i>still</i> went cuttin&rsquo; pounds and pounds of meat off the
lodgers&rsquo; jints, emptying their tea-caddies, actially reading their
letters. Sally had been told so by Polly the Cribb&rsquo;s maid, who was kep,
how that poor child was kep, hearing language perfectly hawful!&rdquo; These
tales and anecdotes, not altogether redounding to their neighbours&rsquo;
credit, Hannah copiously collected and brought to her mistress&rsquo;s
tea-table, or served at her frugal little supper when Miss Honeyman, the
labours of the day over, partook of that cheerful meal. I need not say that
such horrors as occurred at Mrs. Bugsby&rsquo;s never befell in Mrs.
Honeyman&rsquo;s establishment. Every room was fiercely swept and sprinkled,
and watched by cunning eyes which nothing could escape; curtains were taken
down, mattresses explored, every bone in bed dislocated and washed as soon as a
lodger took his departure. And as for cribbing meat or sugar, Sally might
occasionally abstract a lump or two, or pop a veal-cutlet into her mouth while
bringing the dishes downstairs:&mdash;Sallies would&mdash;giddy creatures bred
in workhouses; but Hannah might be entrusted with untold gold and uncorked
brandy; and Miss Honeyman would as soon think of cutting a slice off
Hannah&rsquo;s nose and devouring it, as of poaching on her lodgers&rsquo;
mutton. The best mutton-broth, the best veal-cutlets, the best necks of mutton
and French beans, the best fried fish and plumpest partridges, in all Brighton,
were to be had at Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s&mdash;and for her favourites the best
Indian curry and rice, coming from a distinguished relative, at present an
officer in Bengal. But very few were admitted to this mark of Miss
Honeyman&rsquo;s confidence. If a family did not go to church they were not in
favour: if they went to a Dissenting meeting she had no opinion of them at all.
Once there came to her house a quiet Staffordshire family who ate no meat on
Fridays, and whom Miss Honeyman pitied as belonging to the Romish superstition;
but when they were visited by two corpulent gentlemen in black, one of whom
wore a purple underwaistcoat, before whom the Staffordshire lady absolutely
sank down on her knees as he went into the drawing-room,&mdash;Miss Honeyman
sternly gave warning to these idolaters. She would have no Jesuits in her
premises. She showed Hannah the picture in Howell&rsquo;s Medulla of the
martyrs burning at Smithfield: who said, &ldquo;Lord bless you, mum,&rdquo; and
hoped it was a long time ago. She called on the curate: and many and many a
time, for years after, pointed out to her friends, and sometimes to her
lodgers, the spot on the carpet where the poor benighted creature had knelt
down. So she went on, respected by all her friends, by all her tradesmen, by
herself not a little, talking of her previous &ldquo;misfortunes&rdquo; with
amusing equanimity; as if her father&rsquo;s parsonage-house had been a palace
of splendour, and the one-horse chaise (with the lamps for evenings) from which
she had descended, a noble equipage. &ldquo;But I know it is for the best,
Clive,&rdquo; she would say to her nephew in describing those grandeurs,
&ldquo;and, thank heaven, can be resigned in that station in life to which it
has pleased God to call me.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The good lady was called the Duchess by her fellow-tradesfolk in the square in
which she lived. (I don&rsquo;t know what would have come to her had she been
told she was a tradeswoman!) Her butchers, bakers, and market-people paid her
as much respect as though she had been a grandee&rsquo;s housekeeper out of
Kemp Town. Knowing her station, she yet was kind to those inferior beings. She
held affable conversations with them, she patronised Mr. Rogers, who was said
to be worth a hundred thousand&mdash;two-hundred-thousand pounds (or lbs. was
it?), and who said, &ldquo;Law bless the old Duchess, she do make as much of a
pound of veal cutlet as some would of a score of bullocks, but you see
she&rsquo;s a lady born and a lady bred: she&rsquo;d die before she&rsquo;d owe
a farden, and she&rsquo;s seen better days, you know.&rdquo; She went to see
the grocer&rsquo;s wife on an interesting occasion, and won the heart of the
family by tasting their candle. Her fishmonger (it was fine to hear her talk of
&ldquo;my fishmonger&rdquo;) would sell her a whiting as respectfully as if she
had called for a dozen turbots and lobsters. It was believed by those good
folks that her father had been a Bishop at the very least; and the better days
which she had known were supposed to signify some almost unearthly prosperity.
&ldquo;I have always found, Hannah,&rdquo; the simple soul would say,
&ldquo;that people know their place, or can be very very easily made to find it
if they lose it; and if a gentlewoman does not forget herself, her inferiors
will not forget that she is a gentlewoman.&rdquo; &ldquo;No indeed, mum, and
I&rsquo;m sure they would do no such thing, mum,&rdquo; says Hannah, who
carries away the teapot for her own breakfast (to be transmitted to Sally for
her subsequent refection), whilst her mistress washes her cup and saucer, as
her mother had washed her own china many scores of years ago.
</p>

<p>
If some of the surrounding lodging-house keepers, as I have no doubt they did,
disliked the little Duchess for the airs which she gave herself, as they
averred; they must have envied her too her superior prosperity, for there was
scarcely ever a card in her window, whilst those ensigns in her
neighbours&rsquo; houses would remain exposed to the flies and the weather, and
disregarded by passers-by for months together. She had many regular customers,
or what should be rather called constant friends. Deaf old Mr. Cricklade came
every winter for fourteen years, and stopped until the hunting was over; an
invaluable man, giving little trouble, passing all day on horseback, and all
night over his rubber at the club. The Misses Barkham, Barkhambury, Tunbridge
Wells, whose father had been at college with Mr. Honeyman, came regularly in
June for sea air, letting Barkhambury for the summer season. Then, for many
years, she had her nephew, as we have seen; and kind recommendations from the
clergymen of Brighton, and a constant friend in the celebrated Dr. Goodenough
of London, who had been her father&rsquo;s private pupil, and of his college
afterwards, who sent his patients from time to time down to her, and his
fellow-physician, Dr. H&mdash;&mdash;, who on his part would never take any fee
from Miss Honeyman, except a packet of India curry-powder, a ham cured as she
only knew how to cure them, and once a year, or so, a dish of her tea.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Was there ever such luck as that confounded old Duchess&rsquo;s?&rdquo;
says Mr. Gawler, coal-merchant and lodging-house keeper, next door but two,
whose apartments were more odious in some respects than Mrs. Bugsby&rsquo;s
own. &ldquo;Was there ever such devil&rsquo;s own luck, Mrs. G.? It&rsquo;s
only a fortnight ago as I read in the <i>Sussex Advertiser</i> the death of
Miss Barkham, of Barkhambury, Tunbridge Wells, and thinks I, there&rsquo;s a
spoke in your wheel, you stuck-up little old Duchess, with your cussed airs and
impudence. And she ain&rsquo;t put her card up three days; and look yere,
yere&rsquo;s two carriages, two maids, three children, one of them wrapped up
in a Hinjar shawl&mdash;man hout a livery,&mdash;looks like a foring cove I
think&mdash;lady in satin pelisse, and of course they go to the Duchess, be
hanged to her! Of course it&rsquo;s our luck, nothing ever was like our luck.
I&rsquo;m blowed if I don&rsquo;t put a pistol to my &rsquo;ead, and end it,
Mrs. G. There they go in&mdash;three, four, six, seven on &rsquo;em, and the
man. That&rsquo;s the precious child&rsquo;s physic I suppose he&rsquo;s
a-carryin&rsquo; in the basket. Just look at the luggage. I say! There&rsquo;s
a bloody hand on the first carriage. It&rsquo;s a baronet, is it? I &rsquo;ope
your ladyship&rsquo;s very well; and I &rsquo;ope Sir John will soon be down
yere to join his family.&rdquo; Mr. Gawler makes sarcastic bows over the card
in his bow-window whilst making this speech. The little Gawlers rush on to the
drawing-room verandah themselves to examine the new arrivals.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This is Mrs. Honeyman&rsquo;s?&rdquo; asks the gentleman designated by
Mr. Gawler as &ldquo;the foring cove,&rdquo; and hands in a card on which the
words, &ldquo;Miss Honeyman, 110, Steyne Gardens. J. Goodenough,&rdquo; are
written in that celebrated physician&rsquo;s handwriting. &ldquo;We want five
bet-rooms, six bets, two or dree sitting-rooms. Have you got dese?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Will you speak to my mistress?&rdquo; says Hannah. And if it is a fact
that Miss Honeyman does happen to be in the front parlour looking at the
carriages, what harm is there in the circumstance, pray? Is not Gawler looking,
and the people next door? Are not half a dozen little boys already gathered in
the street (as if they started up out of the trap-doors for the coals), and the
nursery maids in the stunted little garden, are not they looking through the
bars of the square? &ldquo;Please to speak to mistress,&rdquo; says Hannah,
opening the parlour-door, and with a curtsey, &ldquo;A gentleman about the
apartments, mum.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Five bet-rooms,&rdquo; says the man, entering. &ldquo;Six bets, two or
dree sitting-rooms? We gome from Dr. Goodenough.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Are the apartments for you, sir?&rdquo; says the little Duchess, looking
up at the large gentleman.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;For my lady,&rdquo; answers the man.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Had you not better take off your hat?&rdquo; asks the Duchess, pointing
out of one of her little mittens to &ldquo;the foring cove&rsquo;s&rdquo;
beaver, which he has neglected to remove.
</p>

<p>
The man grins, and takes off the hat. &ldquo;I beck your bardon,
ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; says he. &ldquo;Have you fife bet-rooms?&rdquo; etc. The
doctor has cured the German of an illness, as well as his employers, and
especially recommended Miss Honeyman to Mr. Kuhn.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have such a number of apartments. My servant will show them to
you.&rdquo; And she walks back with great state to her chair by the window, and
resumes her station and work there.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Kuhn reports to his mistress, who descends to inspect the apartments,
accompanied through them by Hannah. The rooms are pronounced to be exceedingly
neat and pleasant, and exactly what are wanted for the family. The baggage is
forthwith ordered to be brought from the carriages. The little invalid wrapped
in his shawl is brought upstairs by the affectionate Mr. Kuhn, who carries him
as gently as if he had been bred all his life to nurse babies. The smiling
Sally (the Sally for the time-being happens to be a very fresh pink-cheeked
pretty little Sally) emerges from the kitchen and introduces the young ladies,
the governess, the maids, to their apartments. The eldest, a slim black-haired
young lass of thirteen, frisks about the rooms, looks at all the pictures, runs
in and out of the verandah, tries the piano, and bursts out laughing at its
wheezy jingle (it had been poor Emma&rsquo;s piano, bought for her on her
seventeenth birthday, three weeks before she ran away with the ensign; her
music is still in the stand by it: the Rev. Charles Honeyman has warbled sacred
melodies over it, and Miss Honeyman considers it a delightful instrument),
kisses her languid little brother laid on the sofa, and performs a hundred gay
and agile motions suited to her age.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, what a piano! Why, it is as cracked as Miss Quigley&rsquo;s
voice!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear!&rdquo; says mamma. The little languid boy bursts out into a
jolly laugh.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What funny pictures, mamma! Action with Count de Grasse; the death of
General Wolfe; a portrait of an officer, an old officer in blue, like
grandpapa; Brazen Nose College, Oxford: what a funny name!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
At the idea of Brazen Nose College, another laugh comes from the invalid.
&ldquo;I suppose they&rsquo;ve all got <i>brass noses</i> there,&rdquo; he
says; and explodes at this joke. The poor little laugh ends in a cough, and
mamma&rsquo;s travelling-basket, which contains everything, produces a bottle
of syrup, labelled &ldquo;Master A. Newcome. A teaspoonful to be taken when the
cough is troublesome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Oh, the delightful sea! the blue, the fresh, the ever
free,&rsquo;&rdquo; sings the young lady, with a shake. (I suppose the maritime
song from which she quoted was just written at this time.) &ldquo;How much
better this is than going home and seeing those horrid factories and chimneys!
I love Doctor Goodenough for sending us here. What a sweet house it is!
Everybody is happy in it, even Miss Quigley is happy, mamma. What nice rooms!
What pretty chintz! What a&mdash;oh, what a&mdash;comfortable sofa!&rdquo; and
she falls down on the sofa, which, truth to say, was the Rev. Charles
Honeyman&rsquo;s luxurious sofa from Oxford, presented to him by young Cibber
Wright of Christchurch, when that gentleman-commoner was eliminated from the
University.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The person of the house,&rdquo; mamma says, &ldquo;hardly comes up to
Dr. Goodenough&rsquo;s description of her. He says he remembers her a pretty
little woman when her father was his private tutor.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She has grown very much since,&rdquo; says the girl. And an explosion
takes place from the sofa, where the little man is always ready to laugh at any
joke, or anything like a joke, uttered by himself or by any of his family or
friends. As for Doctor Goodenough, he says laughing has saved that boy&rsquo;s
life.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She looks quite like a maid,&rdquo; continues the lady. &ldquo;She has
hard hands, and she called me mum always. I was quite disappointed in
her.&rdquo; And she subsides into a novel, with many of which kind of works,
and with other volumes, and with workboxes, and with wonderful inkstands,
portfolios, portable days of the month, scent-bottles, scissor-cases, gilt
miniature easels displaying portraits, and countless gimcracks of travel, the
rapid Kuhn has covered the tables in the twinkling of an eye.
</p>

<p>
The person supposed to be the landlady enters the room at this juncture, and
the lady rises to receive her. The little wag on the sofa puts his arm round
his sister&rsquo;s neck, and whispers, &ldquo;I say, Eth, isn&rsquo;t she a
pretty girl? I shall write to Doctor Goodenough and tell him how much
she&rsquo;s grown.&rdquo; Convulsions follow this sally, to the surprise of
Hannah, who says, &ldquo;Pooty little dear!&mdash;what time will he have his
dinner, mum?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Thank you, Mrs. Honeyman, at two o&rsquo;clock,&rdquo; says the lady
with a bow of her head. &ldquo;There is a clergyman of your name in London; is
he a relation?&rdquo; The lady in her turn is astonished, for the tall person
breaks out into a grin, and says, &ldquo;Law, mum, you&rsquo;re speakin&rsquo;
of Master Charles. He&rsquo;s in London.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed!&mdash;of Master Charles?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And you take me for missis, mum. I beg your pardon, mum,&rdquo; cries
Hannah. The invalid hits his sister in the side with a weak little fist. If
laughter can cure, <i>Salva est res</i>. Doctor Goodenough&rsquo;s patient is
safe. &ldquo;Master Charles is missis&rsquo;s brother, mum. I&rsquo;ve got no
brother, mum&mdash;never had no brother. Only one son, who&rsquo;s in the
police, mum, thank you. And law bless me, I was going to forget! If you please,
mum, missis says, if you are quite rested, she will pay her duty to you,
mum.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, indeed,&rdquo; says the lady, rather stiffly; and, taking this for
an acceptance of her mistress&rsquo;s visit, Hannah retires.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This Miss Honeyman seems to be a great personage,&rdquo; says the lady.
&ldquo;If people let lodgings, why do they give themselves such airs?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We never saw Monsieur de Boigne at Boulogne, mamma,&rdquo; interposes
the girl.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Monsieur de Boigne, my dear Ethel! Monsieur de Boigne is very well.
But&mdash;&rdquo; here the door opens, and in a large cap bristling with
ribbons, with her best chestnut front, and her best black silk gown, on which
her gold watch shines very splendidly, little Miss Honeyman makes her
appearance, and a dignified curtsey to her lodger.
</p>

<p>
That lady vouchsafes a very slight inclination of the head indeed, which she
repeats when Miss Honeyman says, &ldquo;I am glad to hear your ladyship is
pleased with the apartments.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, they will do very well, thank you,&rdquo; answers the latter
person, gravely.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And they have such a beautiful view of the sea!&rdquo; cries Ethel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;As if all the houses hadn&rsquo;t a view of the sea, Ethel! The price
has been arranged, I think? My servants will require a comfortable room to dine
in&mdash;by themselves, ma&rsquo;am, if you please. My governess and the
younger children will dine together. My daughter dines with me&mdash;and my
little boy&rsquo;s dinner will be ready at two o&rsquo;clock precisely, if you
please. It is now near one.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Am I to understand&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; interposed Miss Honeyman.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh! I have no doubt we shall understand each other, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo;
cried Lady Anne Newcome (whose noble presence the acute reader has no doubt ere
this divined and saluted). &ldquo;Doctor Goodenough has given me a most
satisfactory account of you&mdash;more satisfactory perhaps than&mdash;than you
are aware of.&rdquo; Perhaps Lady Anne&rsquo;s sentence was not going to end in
a very satisfactory way for Miss Honeyman; but, awed by a peculiar look of
resolution in the little lady, her lodger of an hour paused in whatever
offensive remark she might have been about to make. &ldquo;It is as well that I
at last have the pleasure of seeing you, that I may state what I want, and that
we may, as you say, understand each other. Breakfast and tea, if you please,
will be served in the same manner as dinner. And you will have the kindness to
order fresh milk every morning for my little boy&mdash;ass&rsquo;s
milk&mdash;Doctor Goodenough has ordered ass&rsquo;s milk. Anything further I
want I will communicate through the person who spoke to you&mdash;Kuhn, Mr.
Kuhn; and that will do.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
A heavy shower of rain was descending at this moment, and little Mrs. Honeyman
looking at her lodger, who had sate down and taken up her book, said,
&ldquo;Have your ladyship&rsquo;s servants unpacked your trunks?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What on earth, madam, have you&mdash;has that to do with the
question?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;They will be put to the trouble of packing again, I fear. I cannot
provide&mdash;three times five are fifteen&mdash;fifteen separate meals for
seven persons&mdash;besides those of my own family. If your servants cannot eat
with mine, or in my kitchen, they and their mistress must go elsewhere. And the
sooner the better, madam, the sooner the better!&rdquo; says Mrs. Honeyman,
trembling with indignation, and sitting down in a chair spreading her silks.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you know who I am?&rdquo; asks Lady Anne, rising.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Perfectly well, madam,&rdquo; says the other. &ldquo;And had I known,
you should never have come into my house, that&rsquo;s more.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Madam!&rdquo; cries the lady, on which the poor little invalid, scared
and nervous, and hungry for his dinner, began to cry from his sofa.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It will be a pity that the dear little boy should be disturbed. Dear
little child, I have often heard of him, and of you, miss,&rdquo; says the
little householder, rising. &ldquo;I will get you some dinner, my dear, for
Clive&rsquo;s sake. And meanwhile your ladyship will have the kindness to seek
for some other apartments&mdash;for not a bit shall my fire cook for any one
else of your company.&rdquo; And with this the indignant little landlady sailed
out of the room.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Gracious goodness! Who is the woman?&rdquo; cries Lady Anne. &ldquo;I
never was so insulted in my life.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, mamma, it was you began!&rdquo; says downright Ethel. &ldquo;That
is&mdash;Hush, Alfred dear!&mdash;Hush, my darling!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, it was mamma began! I&rsquo;m so hungry! I&rsquo;m so hungry!&rdquo;
howled the little man on the sofa&mdash;or off it rather&mdash;for he was now
down on the ground, kicking away the shawls which enveloped him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What is it, my boy? What is it, my blessed darling? You <i>shall</i>
have your dinner! Give her all, Ethel. There are the keys of my
desk&mdash;there&rsquo;s my watch&mdash;there are my rings. Let her take my
all. The monster! the child must live! It can&rsquo;t go away in such a storm
as this. Give me a cloak, a parasol, anything&mdash;I&rsquo;ll go forth and get
a lodging. I&rsquo;ll beg my bread from house to house&mdash;if this fiend
refuses me. Eat the biscuits, dear! A little of the syrup, Alfred darling;
it&rsquo;s very nice, love! and come to your old mother&mdash;your poor old
mother.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Alfred roared out, &ldquo;No&mdash;it&rsquo;s not n-ice: it&rsquo;s n-a-a-asty!
I won&rsquo;t have syrup. I <i>will</i> have dinner.&rdquo; The mother, whose
embraces the child repelled with infantine kicks, plunged madly at the bells,
rang them all four vehemently, and ran downstairs towards the parlour, whence
Miss Honeyman was issuing.
</p>

<p>
The good lady had not at first known the names of her lodgers, but had taken
them in willingly enough on Dr. Goodenough&rsquo;s recommendation. And it was
not until one of the nurses entrusted with the care of Master Alfred&rsquo;s
dinner informed Miss Honeyman of the name of her guest, that she knew she was
entertaining Lady Anne Newcome; and that the pretty girl was the fair Miss
Ethel; the little sick boy, the little Alfred of whom his cousin spoke, and of
whom Clive had made a hundred little drawings in his rude way, as he drew
everybody. Then bidding Sally run off to St. James&rsquo;s Street for a
chicken&mdash;she saw it put on the spit, and prepared a bread sauce, and
composed a batter-pudding as she only knew how to make batter-puddings. Then
she went to array herself in her best clothes, as we have seen,&mdash;as we
have heard rather (Goodness forbid that we should see Miss Honeyman arraying
herself, or penetrate that chaste mystery, her toilette!)&mdash;then she came
to wait upon Lady Anne, not a little flurried as to the result of that queer
interview; then she whisked out of the drawing-room as before has been shown;
and, finding the chicken roasted to a turn, the napkin and tray ready spread by
Hannah the neat-handed, she was bearing them up to the little patient when the
frantic parent met her on the stair.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is it&mdash;is it for my child?&rdquo; cried Lady Anne, reeling against
the bannister.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s for the child,&rdquo; says Miss Honeyman, tossing up her
head. &ldquo;But nobody else has anything in the house.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;God bless you&mdash;God bless you! A mother&rsquo;s bl-l-essings go with
you,&rdquo; gurgled the lady, who was not, it must be confessed, a woman of
strong moral character.
</p>

<p>
It was good to see the little man eating the fowl. Ethel, who had never cut
anything in her young existence, except her fingers now and then with her
brother&rsquo;s and her governess&rsquo;s penknives, bethought her of asking
Miss Honeyman to carve the chicken. Lady Anne, with clasped hands and streaming
eyes, sate looking on at the ravishing scene.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why did you not let us know you were Clive&rsquo;s aunt?&rdquo; Ethel
asked, putting out her hand. The old lady took hers very kindly, and said,
&ldquo;Because you didn&rsquo;t give me time. And do you love Clive, my
dear?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The reconciliation between Miss Honeyman and her lodger was perfect. Lady Anne
wrote a quire of notepaper off to Sir Brian for that day&rsquo;s
post&mdash;only she was too late, as she always was. Mr. Kuhn perfectly
delighted Miss Honeyman that evening by his droll sayings, jokes, and
pronunciation, and by his praises of Master Glife, as he called him. He lived
out of the house, did everything for everybody, was never out of the way when
wanted, and never in the way when not wanted. Ere long Miss Honeyman got out a
bottle of the famous Madeira which her Colonel sent her, and treated him to a
glass in her own room. Kuhn smacked his lips and held out the glass again. The
honest rogue knew good wine.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"></a>
CHAPTER X.<br/>
Ethel and her Relations</h2>

<p>
For four-and-twenty successive hours Lady Anne Newcome was perfectly in
raptures with her new lodgings, and every person and thing which they
contained. The drawing-rooms were fitted with the greatest taste; the dinner
was exquisite. Were there ever such delicious veal-cutlets, such verdant French
beans? &ldquo;Why do we have those odious French cooks, my dear, with their
shocking principles&mdash;the principles of all Frenchmen are
shocking&mdash;and the dreadful bills they bring us in; and their consequential
airs and graces? I am determined to part with Brignol. I have written to your
father this evening to give Brignol warning. When did he ever give us
veal-cutlets? What can be nicer?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed they were very good,&rdquo; said Miss Ethel, who had mutton five
times a week at one o&rsquo;clock. &ldquo;I am so glad you like the house, and
Clive, and Mrs. Honeyman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Like her! the dear little old woman. I feel as if she had been my friend
all my life! I feel quite drawn towards her. What a wonderful coincidence that
Dr. Goodenough should direct us to this very house! I have written to your
father about it. And to think that I should have written to Clive at this very
house, and quite forgotten Mrs. Honeyman&rsquo;s name&mdash;and such an odd
name too. I forget everything, everything! You know I forgot your Aunt
Louisa&rsquo;s husband&rsquo;s name; and when I was godmother to her baby, and
the clergyman said, &lsquo;What is the infant&rsquo;s name?&rsquo; I said,
&lsquo;Really I forget.&rsquo; And so I did. He was a London clergyman, but I
forget at what church. Suppose it should be this very Mr. Honeyman! It may have
been, you know, and then the coincidence would be still more droll. That tall,
old, nice-looking, respectable person, with a mark on her nose, the
housekeeper&mdash;what is her name?&mdash;seems a most invaluable person. I
think I shall ask her to come to us. I am sure she would save me I don&rsquo;t
know how much money every week; and I am certain Mrs. Trotter is making a
fortune by us. I shall write to your papa, and ask him permission to ask this
person.&rdquo; Ethel&rsquo;s mother was constantly falling in love with her new
acquaintances; their man-servants and their maid-servants, their horses and
ponies, and the visitor within their gates. She would ask strangers to Newcome,
hug and embrace them on Sunday; not speak to them on Monday; and on Tuesday
behave so rudely to them, that they were gone before Wednesday. Her daughter
had had so many governesses&mdash;all darlings during the first week, and
monsters afterwards&mdash;that the poor child possessed none of the
accomplishments of her age. She could not play on the piano; she could not
speak French well; she could not tell you when gunpowder was invented: she had
not the faintest idea of the date of the Norman Conquest, or whether the earth
went round the sun, or vice versa. She did not know the number of counties in
England, Scotland, and Wales, let alone Ireland; she did not know the
difference between latitude and longitude. She had had so many governesses:
their accounts differed: poor Ethel was bewildered by a multiplicity of
teachers, and thought herself a monster of ignorance. They gave her a book at a
Sunday School, and little girls of eight years old answered questions of which
she knew nothing. The place swam before her. She could not see the sun shining
on their fair flaxen heads and pretty faces. The rosy little children holding
up their eager hands, and crying the answer to this question and that, seemed
mocking her. She seemed to read in the book, &ldquo;O Ethel, you dunce, dunce,
dunce!&rdquo; She went home silent in the carriage, and burst into bitter tears
on her bed. Naturally a haughty girl of the highest spirit, resolute and
imperious, this little visit to the parish school taught Ethel lessons more
valuable than ever so much arithmetic and geography. Clive has told me a story
of her in her youth, which, perhaps, may apply to some others of the youthful
female aristocracy. She used to walk, with other select young ladies and
gentlemen, their nurses and governesses, in a certain reserved plot of ground
railed off from Hyde Park, whereof some of the lucky dwellers in the
neighbourhood of Apsley House have a key. In this garden, at the age of nine or
thereabout, she had contracted an intimate friendship with the Lord Hercules
O&rsquo;Ryan.&mdash;as every one of my gentle readers knows, one of the sons of
the Marquis of Ballyshannon. The Lord Hercules was a year younger than Miss
Ethel Newcome, which may account for the passion which grew up between these
young persons; it being a provision in nature that a boy always falls in love
with a girl older than himself, or rather, perhaps, that a girl bestows her
affections on a little boy, who submits to receive them.
</p>

<p>
One day Sir Brian Newcome announced his intention to go to Newcome that very
morning, taking his family, and of course Ethel, with him. She was
inconsolable. &ldquo;What will Lord Hercules do when he finds I am gone?&rdquo;
she asked of her nurse.
</p>

<p>
The nurse endeavouring to soothe her, said, &ldquo;Perhaps his lordship would
know nothing about the circumstance.&rdquo; &ldquo;He will,&rdquo; said Miss
Ethel&mdash;&ldquo;<i>he&rsquo;ll read it in the newspaper</i>.&rdquo; My Lord
Hercules, it is to be hoped, strangled this infant passion in the cradle;
having long since married Isabella, only daughter of &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
Grains, Esq., of Drayton Windsor, a partner in the great brewery of Foker and
Co.
</p>

<p>
When Ethel was thirteen years old, she had grown to be such a tall girl, that
she overtopped her companions by a head or more, and morally perhaps, also,
felt herself too tall for their society. &ldquo;Fancy myself,&rdquo; she
thought, &ldquo;dressing a doll like Lily Putland or wearing a pinafore like
Lucy Tucker!&rdquo; She did not care for their sports. She could not walk with
them: it seemed as if every one stared; nor dance with them at the academy, nor
attend the Cours de Littérature Universelle et de Science Compréhensive of the
professor then the mode&mdash;the smallest girls took her up in the class. She
was bewildered by the multitude of things they bade her learn. At the youthful
little assemblies of her sex, when, under the guide of their respected
governesses, the girls came to tea at six o&rsquo;clock, dancing, charades, and
so forth, Ethel herded not with the children of her own age, nor yet with the
teachers who sit apart at these assemblies, imparting to each other their
little wrongs; but Ethel romped with the little children&mdash;the rosy little
trots&mdash;and took them on her knees, and told them a thousand stories. By
these she was adored, and loved like a mother almost, for as such the hearty
kindly girl showed herself to them; but at home she was alone, <i>farouche</i>
and intractable, and did battle with the governesses, and overcame them one
after another. I break the promise of a former page, and am obliged to describe
the youthful days of more than one person who is to take a share in this story.
Not always doth the writer know whither the divine Muse leadeth him. But of
this be sure&mdash;she is as inexorable as Truth. We must tell our tale as she
imparts it to us, and go on or turn aside at her bidding.
</p>

<p>
Here she ordains that we should speak of other members of the family, whose
history we chronicle, and it behoves us to say a word regarding the Earl of
Kew, the head of the noble house into which Sir Brian Newcome had married.
</p>

<p>
When we read in the fairy stories that the King and Queen, who lived once upon
a time, build a castle of steel, defended by moats and sentinels innumerable,
in which they place their darling only child, the Prince or Princess, whose
birth has blessed them after so many years of marriage, and whose christening
feast has been interrupted by the cantankerous humour of that notorious old
fairy who always persists in coming, although she has not received any
invitation to the baptismal ceremony: when Prince Prettyman is locked up in the
steel tower, provided only with the most wholesome food, the most edifying
educational works, and the most venerable old tutor to instruct and to bore
him, we know, as a matter of course, that the steel bolts and brazen bars one
day will be of no avail, the old tutor will go off in a doze, and the moats and
drawbridges will either be passed by His Royal Highness&rsquo;s implacable
enemies, or crossed by the young scapegrace himself, who is determined to
outwit his guardians, and see the wicked world. The old King and Queen always
come in and find the chambers empty, the saucy heir-apparent flown, the porter
and sentinels drunk, the ancient tutor asleep; they tear their venerable wigs
in anguish, they kick the major-domo downstairs, they turn the duenna out of
doors&mdash;the toothless old dragon! There is no resisting fate. The Princess
will slip out of window by the rope-ladder; the Prince will be off to pursue
his pleasures, and sow his wild oats at the appointed season. How many of our
English princes have been coddled at home by their fond papas and mammas,
walled up in inaccessible castles, with a tutor and a library, guarded by
cordons of sentinels, sermoners, old aunts, old women from the world without,
and have nevertheless escaped from all these guardians, and astonished the
world by their extravagance and their frolics? What a wild rogue was that
Prince Harry, son of the austere sovereign who robbed Richard the Second of his
crown,&mdash;the youth who took purses on Gadshill, frequented Eastcheap
taverns with Colonel Falstaff and worse company, and boxed Chief Justice
Gascoigne&rsquo;s ears! What must have been the venerable Queen
Charlotte&rsquo;s state of mind when she heard of the courses of <i>her</i>
beautiful young Prince; of his punting at gambling-tables; of his dealings with
horse-jockeys; of his awful doings with Perdita? Besides instances taken from
our Royal Family, could we not draw examples from our respected nobility? There
was that young Lord Warwick, Mr. Addison&rsquo;s stepson. We know that his
mother was severe, and his stepfather a most eloquent moralist, yet the young
gentleman&rsquo;s career was shocking, positively shocking. He boxed the watch;
he fuddled himself at taverns; he was no better than a Mohock. The chronicles
of that day contain accounts of many a mad prank which he played, as we have
legends of a still earlier date of the lawless freaks of the wild Prince and
Poins. Our people has never looked very unkindly on these frolics. A young
nobleman, full of life and spirits, generous of his money, jovial in his
humour, ready with his sword, frank, handsome, prodigal, courageous, always
finds favour. Young Scapegrace rides a steeplechase or beats a bargeman, and
the crowd applauds him. Sages and seniors shake their heads, and look at him
not unkindly; even stern old female moralists are disarmed at the sight of
youth and gallantry, and beauty. I know very well that Charles Surface is a sad
dog, and Tom Jones no better than he should be; but, in spite of such critics
as Dr. Johnson and Colonel Newcome, most of us have a sneaking regard for
honest Tom, and hope Sophia will be happy, and Tom will end well at last.
</p>

<p>
Five-and-twenty years ago the young Earl of Kew came upon the town, which
speedily rang with the feats of his lordship. He began life time enough to
enjoy certain pleasures from which our young aristocracy of the present day
seem, alas! to be cut off. So much more peaceable and polished do we grow, so
much does the spirit of the age appear to equalise all ranks; so strongly has
the good sense of society, to which in the end gentlemen of the very highest
fashion must bow, put its veto upon practices and amusements with which our
fathers were familiar. At that time the Sunday newspapers contained many and
many exciting reports of boxing-matches. Bruising was considered a fine manly
old English custom. Boys at public schools fondly perused histories of the
noble science, from the redoubtable days of Broughton and Slack, to the heroic
times of Dutch Sam and the Game Chicken. Young gentlemen went eagerly to
Moulsey to see the Slasher punch the Pet&rsquo;s head, or the Negro beat the
Jew&rsquo;s nose to a jelly. The island rang as yet with the tooting horns and
rattling teams of mail-coaches; a gay sight was the road in merry England in
those days, before steam-engines arose and flung its hostelry and chivalry
over. To travel in coaches, to drive coaches, to know coachmen and guards, to
be familiar with inns along the road, to laugh with the jolly hostess in the
bar, to chuck the pretty chambermaid under the chin, were the delight of men
who were young not very long ago. Who ever thought of writing to the Times
then? &ldquo;Biffin,&rdquo; I warrant, did not grudge his money, and &ldquo;A
Thirsty Soul&rdquo; paid cheerfully for his drink. The road was an institution,
the ring was an institution. Men rallied round them; and, not without a kind
conservatism, expatiated upon the benefits with which they endowed the country,
and the evils which would occur when they should be no more:&mdash;decay of
English spirit, decay of manly pluck, ruin of the breed of horses, and so
forth, and so forth. To give and take a black eye was not unusual nor
derogatory in a gentleman; to drive a stage-coach the enjoyment, the emulation
of generous youth. Is there any young fellow of the present time who aspires to
take the place of a stoker? You see occasionally in Hyde Park one dismal old
drag with a lonely driver. Where are you, charioteers? Where are you, O
rattling Quicksilver, O swift Defiance? You are passed by racers stronger and
swifter than you. Your lamps are out, and the music of your horns has died
away.
</p>

<p>
Just at the ending of that old time, Lord Kew&rsquo;s life began. That kindly
middle-aged gentleman whom his county knows that good landlord, and friend of
all his tenantry round about; that builder of churches, and indefatigable
visitor of schools; that writer of letters to the farmers of his shire, so full
of sense and benevolence; who wins prizes at agricultural shows, and even
lectures at county town institutes in his modest, pleasant way, was the wild
young Lord Kew of a quarter of a century back; who kept racehorses, patronised
boxers, fought a duel, thrashed a Life Guardsman, gambled furiously at
Crockford&rsquo;s, and did who knows what besides?
</p>

<p>
His mother, a devout lady, nursed her son and his property carefully during the
young gentleman&rsquo;s minority: keeping him and his younger brother away from
all mischief, under the eyes of the most careful pastors and masters. She
learnt Latin with the boys, she taught them to play on the piano: she enraged
old Lady Kew, the children&rsquo;s grandmother, who prophesied that her
daughter-in-law would make milksops of her sons, to whom the old lady was never
reconciled until after my lord&rsquo;s entry at Christchurch, where he began to
distinguish himself very soon after his first term. He drove tandems, kept
hunters, gave dinners, scandalised the Dean, screwed up the tutor&rsquo;s door,
and agonised his mother at home by his lawless proceedings. He quitted the
University after a very brief sojourn at that seat of learning. It may be the
Oxford authorities requested his lordship to retire; let bygones be bygones.
His youthful son, the present Lord Walham, is now at Christchurch, reading with
the greatest assiduity. Let us not be too particular in narrating his
father&rsquo;s unedifying frolics of a quarter of a century ago.
</p>

<p>
Old Lady Kew, who, in conjunction with Mrs. Newcome, had made the marriage
between Mr. Brian Newcome and her daughter, always despised her son-in-law; and
being a frank, open person, uttering her mind always, took little pains to
conceal her opinion regarding him or any other individual. &ldquo;Sir Brian
Newcome,&rdquo; she would say, &ldquo;is one of the most stupid and respectable
of men; Anne is clever, but has not a grain of common sense. They make a very
well assorted couple. Her flightiness would have driven any man crazy who had
an opinion of his own. She would have ruined any poor man of her own rank; as
it is, I have given her a husband exactly suited for her. He pays the bills,
does not see how absurd she is, keeps order in the establishment, and checks
her follies. She wanted to marry her cousin, Tom Poyntz, when they were both
very young, and proposed to die of a broken heart when I arranged her match
with Mr. Newcome. A broken fiddlestick! she would have ruined Tom Poyntz in a
year; and has no more idea of the cost of a leg of mutton, than I have of
algebra.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Countess of Kew loved Brighton, and preferred living there even at the
season when Londoners find such especial charms in their own city.
&ldquo;London after Easter,&rdquo; the old lady said, &ldquo;was intolerable.
Pleasure becomes a business, then so oppressive, that all good company is
destroyed by it. Half the men are sick with the feasts which they eat day after
day. The women are thinking of the half-dozen parties they have to go to in the
course of the night. The young girls are thinking of their partners and their
toilettes. Intimacy becomes impossible, and quiet enjoyment of life. On the
other hand, the crowd of <i>bourgeois</i> has not invaded Brighton. The drive
is not blocked up by flys full of stockbrokers&rsquo; wives and children; and
you can take the air in your chair upon the chain-pier, without being stifled
by the cigars of the odious shop-boys from London.&rdquo; So Lady Kew&rsquo;s
name was usually amongst the earliest which the Brighton newspapers recorded
amongst the arrivals.
</p>

<p>
Her only unmarried daughter, Lady Julia, lived with her ladyship. Poor Lady
Julia had suffered early from a spine disease, which had kept her for many
years to her couch. Being always at home, and under her mother&rsquo;s eyes,
she was the old lady&rsquo;s victim, her pincushion, into which Lady Kew
plunged a hundred little points of sarcasm daily. As children are sometimes
brought before magistrates, and their poor little backs and shoulders laid
bare, covered with bruises and lashes which brutal parents have inflicted, so,
I dare say, if there had been any tribunal or judge, before whom this poor
patient lady&rsquo;s heart could have been exposed, it would have been found
scarred all over with numberless ancient wounds, and bleeding from
yesterday&rsquo;s castigation. Old Lady Kew&rsquo;s tongue was a dreadful thong
which made numbers of people wince. She was not altogether cruel, but she knew
the dexterity with which she wielded her lash, and liked to exercise it. Poor
Lady Julia was always at hand, when her mother was minded to try her powers.
</p>

<p>
Lady Kew had just made herself comfortable at Brighton, when her little
grandson&rsquo;s illness brought Lady Anne Newcome and her family down to the
sea. Lady Kew was almost scared back to London again, or blown over the water
to Dieppe. She had never had the measles. &ldquo;Why did not Anne carry the
child to some other place? Julia, you will on no account go and see that little
pestiferous swarm of Newcomes, unless you want to send me out of the
world&mdash;which I dare say you do, for I am a dreadful plague to you, I know,
and my death would be a release to you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You see Doctor H., who visits the child every day,&rdquo; cries poor
Pincushion; &ldquo;you are not afraid when he comes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Doctor H.? Doctor H. comes to cure me, or to tell me the news, or to
flatter me, or to feel my pulse and to pretend to prescribe, or to take his
guinea; of course Dr. H. must go to see all sorts of people in all sorts of
diseases. You would not have me be such a brute as to order him not to attend
my own grandson? I forbid you to go to Anne&rsquo;s house. You will send one of
the men every day to inquire. Let the groom go&mdash;yes, Charles&mdash;he will
not go into the house. He will ring the bell and wait outside. He had better
ring the bell at the area&mdash;I suppose there is an area&mdash;and speak to
the servants through the bars, and bring us word how Alfred is.&rdquo; Poor
Pincushion felt fresh compunctions; she had met the children, and kissed the
baby, and held kind Ethel&rsquo;s hand in hers, that day, as she was out in her
chair. There was no use, however, to make this confession. Is she the only good
woman or man of whom domestic tyranny has made a hypocrite?
</p>

<p>
Charles, the groom, brings back perfectly favourable reports of Master
Alfred&rsquo;s health that day, which Doctor H., in the course of his visit,
confirms. The child is getting well rapidly; eating like a little ogre. His
cousin Lord Kew has been to see him. He is the kindest of men, Lord Kew; he
brought the little man Tom and Jerry with the pictures. The boy is delighted
with the pictures.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why has not Kew come to see me? When did he come? Write him a note, and
send for him instantly, Julia. Did you know he was here?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Julia says, that she had but that moment read in the Brighton papers the
arrival of the Earl of Kew and the Honourable J. Belsize at the Albion.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am sure they are here for some mischief,&rdquo; cries the old lady,
delighted. &ldquo;Whenever George and John Belsize are together, I know there
is some wickedness planning. What do you know, Doctor? I see by your face you
know something. Do tell it me, that I may write it to his odious psalm-singing
mother.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Doctor H.&rsquo;s face does indeed wear a knowing look. He simpers and says,
&ldquo;I did see Lord Kew driving this morning, first with the Honourable Mr.
Belsize, and afterwards&rdquo;&mdash;here he glances towards Lady Julia, as if
to say, &ldquo;Before an unmarried lady, I do not like to tell your ladyship
with whom I saw Lord Kew driving, after he had left the Honourable Mr. Belsize,
who went to play a match with Captain Huxtable at tennis.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Are you afraid to speak before Julia?&rdquo; cries the elder lady.
&ldquo;Why, bless my soul, she is forty years old, and has heard everything
that can be heard. Tell me about Kew this instant, Doctor H.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Doctor blandly acknowledges that Lord Kew had been driving Madame
Pozzoprofondo, the famous contralto of the Italian Opera, in his phaeton, for
two hours, in the face of all Brighton.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, Doctor,&rdquo; interposes Lady Julia, blushing; &ldquo;but Signor
Pozzoprofondo was in the carriage too&mdash;a-a-sitting behind with the groom.
He was indeed, mamma.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Julia, <i>vous n&rsquo;êtes qu&rsquo;une bête</i>,&rdquo; says Lady Kew,
shrugging her shoulders, and looking at her daughter from under her bushy black
eyebrows. Her ladyship, a sister of the late lamented Marquis of Steyne,
possessed no small share of the wit and intelligence, and a considerable
resemblance to the features, of that distinguished nobleman.
</p>

<p>
Lady Kew bids her daughter take a pen and write:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;<i>Monsieur le Mauvais Sujet</i>,&mdash;Gentlemen who wish to take the
sea air in private, or to avoid their relations, had best go to other places
than Brighton, where their names are printed in the newspapers. If you are not
drowned in a pozzo&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mamma!&rdquo; interposes the secretary.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&mdash;in a pozzo-profondo, you will please come to dine with two old
women, at half-past seven. You may bring Mr. Belsize, and must tell us a
hundred stories.&mdash;Yours, etc., L. Kew.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
Julia wrote all the letter as her mother dictated it, save only one sentence,
and the note was sealed and despatched to my Lord Kew, who came to dinner with
Jack Belsize. Jack Belsize liked to dine with Lady Kew. He said, &ldquo;she was
an old dear, and the wickedest old woman in all England;&rdquo; and he liked to
dine with Lady Julia, who was &ldquo;a poor suffering dear, and the best woman
in all England.&rdquo; Jack Belsize liked every one, and every one liked him.
</p>

<p>
Two evenings afterwards the young men repeated their visit to Lady Kew, and
this time Lord Kew was loud in praises of his cousins of the house of Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not of the eldest, Barnes, surely, my dear?&rdquo; cries Lady Kew.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, confound him! not Barnes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, d&mdash;&mdash; it, not Barnes. I beg your pardon, Lady
Julia,&rdquo; broke in Jack Belsize. &ldquo;I can get on with most men; but
that little Barney is too odious a little snob.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A little what&mdash;Mr. Belsize?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A little snob, ma&rsquo;am. I have no other word, though he is your
grandson. I never heard him say a good word of any mortal soul, or do a kind
action.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Thank you, Mr. Belsize,&rdquo; says the lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But the others are capital. There is that little chap who has just had
the measles&mdash;he&rsquo;s a clear little brick. And as for Miss
Ethel&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ethel is a trump, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; says Lord Kew, slapping his hand
on his knee.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ethel is a brick, and Alfred is a trump, I think you say,&rdquo; remarks
Lady Kew, nodding approval; &ldquo;and Barnes is a snob. This is very
satisfactory to know.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We met the children out to-day,&rdquo; cries the enthusiastic Kew,
&ldquo;as I was driving Jack in the drag, and I got out and talked to
&rsquo;em.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Governess an uncommonly nice woman&mdash;oldish, but&mdash;I beg your
pardon, Lady Julia,&rdquo; cries the inopportune Jack
Belsize&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m always putting my foot in it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Putting your foot into what? Go on, Kew.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, we met the whole posse of children; and the little fellow wanted a
drive, and I said I would drive him and Ethel too, if she would come. Upon my
word she is as pretty a girl as you can see on a summer&rsquo;s day. And the
governess said &lsquo;No,&rsquo; of course. Governesses always do. But I said I
was her uncle, and Jack paid her such a fine compliment, that the young woman
was mollified, and the children took their seats beside me, and Jack went
behind.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Where Monsieur Pozzoprofondo sits, <i>bon</i>.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We drove on to the Downs, and we were nearly coming to grief. My horses
are young, and when they get on the grass they are as if they were mad. It was
very wrong; I know it was.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;D&mdash;&mdash;d rash,&rdquo; interposes Jack. &ldquo;He had nearly
broken all our necks.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And my brother Frank would have been Lord Kew,&rdquo; continued the
young Earl, with a quiet smile. &ldquo;What an escape for him! The horses ran
away&mdash;ever so far&mdash;and I thought the carriage must upset. The poor
little boy, who has lost his pluck in the fever, began to cry; but that young
girl, though she was as white as a sheet, never gave up for a moment, and sate
in her place like a man. We met nothing, luckily; and I pulled the horses in
after a mile or two, and I drove &rsquo;em into Brighton as quiet as if I had
been driving a hearse. And that little trump of an Ethel, what do you think she
said? She said, &lsquo;I was not frightened, but you must not tell
mamma.&rsquo; My aunt, it appears, was in a dreadful commotion&mdash;I ought to
have thought of that.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Lady Anne is a ridiculous old dear. I beg your pardon, Lady Kew,&rdquo;
here breaks in Jack the apologiser.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There is a brother of Sir Brian Newcome&rsquo;s staying with
them,&rdquo; Lord Kew proceeds; &ldquo;an East India Colonel&mdash;a very
fine-looking old boy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Smokes awfully, row about it in the hotel. Go on, Kew; beg
your&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This gentleman was on the look-out for us, it appears, for when we came
in sight he despatched a boy who was with him, running like a lamplighter back
to my aunt, to say all was well. And he took little Alfred out of the carriage,
and then helped out Ethel, and said, &lsquo;My dear, you are too pretty to
scold; but you have given us all a <i>belle peur</i>.&rsquo; And then he made
me and Jack a low bow, and stalked into the lodgings.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think you do deserve to be whipped, both of you,&rdquo; cries Lady
Kew.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We went up and made our peace with my aunt, and were presented in form
to the Colonel and his youthful cub.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;As fine a fellow as ever I saw: and as fine a boy as ever I saw,&rdquo;
cries Jack Belsize. &ldquo;The young chap is a great hand at drawing&mdash;upon
my life the best drawings I ever saw. And he was making a picture for little
What-d&rsquo;you-call-&rsquo;em. And Miss Newcome was looking over them. And
Lady Anne pointed out the group to me, and said how pretty it was. She is
uncommonly sentimental, you know, Lady Anne.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My daughter Anne is the greatest fool in the three kingdoms,&rdquo;
cried Lady Kew, looking fiercely over her spectacles. And Julia was instructed
to write that night to her sister, and desire that Ethel should be sent to see
her grandmother:&mdash;Ethel, who rebelled against her grandmother, and always
fought on her Aunt Julia&rsquo;s side, when the weaker was oppressed by the
older and stronger lady.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"></a>
CHAPTER XI.<br/>
At Mrs. Ridley&rsquo;s</h2>

<p>
Saint Peter of Alcantara, as I have read in a life of St. Theresa, informed
that devout lady that he had passed forty years of his life sleeping only an
hour and a half each day; his cell was but four feet and a half long, so that
he never lay down: his pillow was a wooden log in the stone wall: he ate but
once in three days: he was for three years in a convent of his order without
knowing any one of his brethren except by the sound of their voices, for he
never during this period took his eyes off the ground: he always walked
barefoot, and was but skin and bone when he died. The eating only once in three
days, so he told his sister Saint, was by no means impossible, if you began the
regimen in your youth. To conquer sleep was the hardest of all austerities
which he practised:&mdash;I fancy the pious individual so employed, day after
day, night after night, on his knees, or standing up in devout meditation in
the cupboard&mdash;his dwelling-place; bareheaded and barefooted, walking over
rocks, briars, mud, sharp stones (picking out the very worst places, let us
trust, with his downcast eyes), under the bitter snow, or the drifting rain, or
the scorching sunshine&mdash;I fancy Saint Peter of Alcantara, and contrast him
with such a personage as the Incumbent of Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel,
Mayfair.
</p>

<p>
His hermitage is situated in Walpole Street, let us say, on the second floor of
a quiet mansion, let out to hermits by a nobleman&rsquo;s butler, whose wife
takes care of the lodgings. His cells consist of a refectory, a dormitory, and
an adjacent oratory where he keeps his shower-bath and boots&mdash;the pretty
boots trimly stretched on boot-trees and blacked to a nicety (not varnished) by
the boy who waits on him. The barefooted business may suit superstitious ages
and gentlemen of Alcantara, but does not become Mayfair and the nineteenth
century. If St. Pedro walked the earth now with his eyes to the ground he would
know fashionable divines by the way in which they were shod. Charles
Honeyman&rsquo;s is a sweet foot. I have no doubt as delicate and plump and
rosy as the white hand with its two rings, which he passes in impassioned
moments through his slender flaxen hair.
</p>

<p>
A sweet odour pervades his sleeping apartment&mdash;not that peculiar and
delicious fragrance with which the Saints of the Roman Church are said to
gratify the neighbourhood where they repose&mdash;but oils, redolent of the
richest perfumes of Macassar, essences (from Truefitt&rsquo;s or
Delcroix&rsquo;s) into which a thousand flowers have expressed their sweetest
breath, await his meek head on rising; and infuse the pocket-handkerchief with
which he dries and draws so many tears. For he cries a good deal in his
sermons, to which the ladies about him contribute showers of sympathy.
</p>

<p>
By his bedside are slippers lined with blue silk and worked of an
ecclesiastical pattern, by some of the faithful who sit at his feet. They come
to him in anonymous parcels: they come to him in silver paper: boys in buttons
(pages who minister to female grace!) leave them at the door for the Rev. C.
Honeyman, and slip away without a word. Purses are sent to
him&mdash;penwipers&mdash;a portfolio with the Honeyman arms; yea, braces have
been known to reach him by the post (in his days of popularity); and flowers,
and grapes, and jelly when he was ill, and throat comforters, and lozenges for
his dear bronchitis. In one of his drawers is the rich silk cassock presented
to him by his congregation at Leatherhead (when the young curate quitted that
parish for London duty), and on his breakfast-table the silver teapot, once
filled with sovereigns and presented by the same devotees. The devo-teapot he
has, but the sovereigns, where are they?
</p>

<p>
What a different life this is from our honest friend of Alcantara, who eats
once in three days! At one time if Honeyman could have drunk tea three times in
an evening, he might have had it. The glass on his chimneypiece is crowded with
invitations, not merely cards of ceremony (of which there are plenty), but dear
little confidential notes from sweet friends of his congregation. &ldquo;Ob,
dear Mr. Honeyman,&rdquo; writes Blanche, &ldquo;what a sermon that was! I
cannot go to bed to-night without thanking you for it.&rdquo; &ldquo;Do,
<i>do</i>, dear Mr. Honeyman,&rdquo; writes Beatrice, &ldquo;lend me that
delightful sermon. And can you come and drink tea with me and Selina, and my
aunt? Papa and mamma dine out, but you know I am always your faithful
Chesterfield Street.&rdquo; And so on. He has all the domestic accomplishments;
he plays on the violoncello: he sings a delicious second, not only in sacred
but in secular music. He has a thousand anecdotes, laughable riddles, droll
stories (of the utmost correctness, you understand) with which he entertains
females of all ages; suiting his conversation to stately matrons, deaf old
dowagers (who can hear his clear voice better than the loudest roar of their
stupid sons-in-law), mature spinsters, young beauties dancing through the
season, even rosy little slips out of the nursery, who cluster round his
beloved feet. Societies fight for him to preach their charity sermon. You read
in the papers, &ldquo;The Wapping Hospital for Wooden-legged Seamen.&mdash;On
Sunday the 23rd, Sermons will be preached in behalf of this charity, by the
Lord Bishop of Tobago in the morning, in the afternoon by the Rev. C. Honeyman,
A.M., Incumbent of,&rdquo; etc. &ldquo;Clergymen&rsquo;s Grandmothers&rsquo;
Fund.&mdash;Sermons in aid of this admirable institution will be preached on
Sunday, 4th May, by the Very Rev. the Dean of Pimlico, and the Rev. C.
Honeyman, A.M.&rdquo; When the Dean of Pimlico has his illness, many people
think Honeyman will have the Deanery; that he ought to have it, a hundred
female voices vow and declare: though it is said that a right reverend head at
headquarters shakes dubiously when his name is mentioned for preferment. His
name is spread wide, and not only women but men come to hear him. Members of
Parliament, even Cabinet Ministers, sit under him. Lord Dozeley of course is
seen in a front pew: where was a public meeting without Lord Dozeley? The men
come away from his sermons and say, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very pleasant, but I
don&rsquo;t know what the deuce makes all you women crowd so to hear the
man.&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh, Charles! if you would but go oftener!&rdquo; sighs Lady
Anna Maria. &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you speak to the Home Secretary? Can&rsquo;t you
do something for him?&rdquo; &ldquo;We can ask him to dinner next Wednesday if
you like,&rdquo; Says Charles. &ldquo;They say he&rsquo;s a pleasant fellow out
of the wood. Besides there is no use in doing anything for him,&rdquo; Charles
goes on. &ldquo;He can&rsquo;t make less than a thousand a year out of his
chapel, and that is better than anything any one can give him. A thousand a
year, besides the rent of the wine-vaults below the chapel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t, Charles!&rdquo; says his wife, with a solemn look.
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t ridicule things in that way.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Confound it! there are wine-vaults under the chapel!&rdquo; answers
downright Charles. &ldquo;I saw the name, Sherrick and Co.; offices, a green
door, and a brass plate. It&rsquo;s better to sit over vaults with wine in them
than coffins. I wonder whether it&rsquo;s the Sherrick with whom Kew and Jack
Belsize had that ugly row?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What ugly row?&mdash;don&rsquo;t say ugly row. It is not a nice word to
hear the children use. Go on, my darlings. What was the dispute of Lord Kew and
Mr. Belsize, and this Mr. Sherrick?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It was all about pictures, and about horses, and about money, and about
one other subject which enters into every row that I ever heard of.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And what is that, dear?&rdquo; asks the innocent lady, hanging on her
husband&rsquo;s arm, and quite pleased to have led him to church and brought
him thence. &ldquo;And what is it, that enters into every row, as you call it,
Charles?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A woman, my love,&rdquo; answers the gentleman, behind whom we have been
in imagination walking out from Charles Honeyman&rsquo;s church on a Sunday in
June: as the whole pavement blooms with artificial flowers and fresh bonnets;
as there is a buzz and cackle all around regarding the sermon; as carriages
drive off; as lady-dowagers walk home; as prayer-books and footmen&rsquo;s
sticks gleam in the sun; as little boys with baked mutton and potatoes pass
from the courts; as children issue from the public-houses with pots of beer; as
the Reverend Charles Honeyman, who has been drawing tears in the sermon, and
has seen, not without complacent throbs, a Secretary of State in the pew
beneath him, divests himself of his rich silk cassock in the vestry, before he
walks away to his neighbouring hermitage&mdash;where have we placed
it?&mdash;in Walpole Street. I wish St. Pedro of Alcantara could have some of
that shoulder of mutton with the baked potatoes, and a drink of that frothing
beer. See, yonder trots little Lord Dozeley, who has been asleep for an hour
with his head against the wood, like St. Pedro of Alcantara.
</p>

<p>
An East Indian gentleman and his son wait until the whole chapel is clear, and
survey Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s monument at their leisure, and other hideous
slabs erected in memory of defunct frequenters of the chapel. Whose was that
face which Colonel Newcome thought he recognised&mdash;that of a stout man who
came down from the organ-gallery? Could it be Broff the bass singer, who
delivered the &ldquo;Red Cross Knight&rdquo; with such applause at the Cave of
Melody, and who has been singing in this place? There are some chapels in
London, where, the function over, one almost expects to see the sextons put
brown hollands over the pews and galleries, as they do at the Theatre Royal,
Covent Garden.
</p>

<p>
The writer of these veracious pages was once walking through a splendid English
palace, standing amidst parks and gardens, than which none more magnificent has
been seen since the days of Aladdin, in company with a melancholy friend, who
viewed all things darkly through his gloomy eyes. The housekeeper, pattering on
before us from chamber to chamber, was expatiating upon the magnificence of
this picture; the beauty of that statue; the marvellous richness of these
hangings and carpets; the admirable likeness of the late Marquis by Sir Thomas;
of his father, the fifth Earl, by Sir Joshua, and so on; when, in the very
richest room of the whole castle, Hicks&mdash;such was my melancholy
companion&rsquo;s name&mdash;stopped the cicerone in her prattle, saying in a
hollow voice, &ldquo;And now, madam, will you show us the closet <i>where the
skeleton is?</i>&rdquo; The seared functionary paused in the midst of her
harangue; that article was not inserted in the catalogue which she daily utters
to visitors for their half-crown. Hicks&rsquo;s question brought a darkness
down upon the hall where we were standing. We did not see the room: and yet I
have no doubt there is such an one; and ever after, when I have thought of the
splendid castle towering in the midst of shady trees, under which the dappled
deer are browsing; of the terraces gleaming with statues, and bright with a
hundred thousand flowers; of the bridges and shining fountains and rivers
wherein the castle windows reflect their festive gleams, when the halls are
filled with happy feasters, and over the darkling woods comes the sound of
music;&mdash;always, I say, when I think of Castle Bluebeard:&mdash;it is to
think of that dark little closet, which I know is there, and which the lordly
owner opens shuddering&mdash;after midnight&mdash;when he is sleepless and
<i>must</i> go unlock it, when the palace is hushed, when beauties are sleeping
around him unconscious, and revellers are at rest. O Mrs. Housekeeper: all the
other keys hast thou: but that key thou hast not!
</p>

<p>
Have we not all such closets, my jolly friend, as well as the noble Marquis of
Carabas? At night, when all the house is asleep but you, don&rsquo;t you get up
and peep into yours? When you in your turn are slumbering, up gets Mrs. Brown
from your side, steals downstairs like Amina to her ghoul, clicks open the
secret door, and looks into her dark depository. Did she tell you of that
little affair with Smith long before she knew you? Psha! who knows any one save
himself alone? Who, in showing his house to the closest and dearest,
doesn&rsquo;t keep back the key of a closet or two? I think of a lovely reader
laying down the page and looking over at her unconscious husband, asleep,
perhaps, after dinner. Yes, madam, a closet he hath: and you, who pry into
everything, shall never have the key of it. I think of some honest Othello
pausing over this very sentence in a railroad carriage, and stealthily gazing
at Desdemona opposite to him, innocently administering sandwiches to their
little boy&mdash;I am trying to turn off the sentence with a joke, you
see&mdash;I feel it is growing too dreadful, too serious.
</p>

<p>
And to what, pray, do these serious, these disagreeable, these almost personal
observations tend? To this simply, that Charles Honeyman, the beloved and
popular preacher, the elegant divine to whom Miss Blanche writes sonnets, and
whom Miss Beatrice invites to tea; who comes with smiles on his lip, gentle
sympathy in his tones, innocent gaiety in his accent; who melts, rouses,
terrifies in the pulpit; who charms over the tea-urn and the bland
bread-and-butter: Charles Honeyman has one or two skeleton closets in his
lodgings, Walpole Street, Mayfair; and many a wakeful night, whilst Mrs.
Ridley, his landlady, and her tired husband, the nobleman&rsquo;s major-domo,
whilst the lodger on the first floor, whilst the cook and housemaid and weary
little bootboy are at rest (mind you, they have all got <i>their</i> closets,
which they open with their skeleton-keys); he wakes up, and looks at the
ghastly occupant of that receptacle. One of the Reverend Charles
Honeyman&rsquo;s grisly night-haunters is&mdash;but stop; let us give a little
account of the lodgings, and of some of the people frequenting the same.
</p>

<p>
First floor, Mr. Bagshot, Member for a Norfolk borough. Stout jolly
gentleman;&mdash;dines at the Carlton Club; greatly addicted to Greenwich and
Richmond, in the season: bets in a moderate way: does not go into society,
except now and again to the chiefs of his party, when they give great
entertainments; and once or twice to the houses of great country dons who dwell
near him in the country. Is not of very good family; was, in fact, an
apothecary: married a woman with money, much older than himself, who does not
like London, and stops at home at Hummingham, not much to the displeasure of
Bagshot; gives every now and then nice little quiet dinners, which Mrs. Ridley
cooks admirably, to exceedingly stupid jolly old Parliamentary fogies, who
absorb, with much silence and cheerfulness, a vast quantity of wine. They have
just begun to drink &rsquo;24 claret now, that of &rsquo;15 being scarce, and
almost drunk up. Writes daily, and hears every morning from Mrs. Bagshot; does
not read her letters always: does not rise till long past eleven o&rsquo;clock
of a Sunday, and has <i>John Bull</i> and <i>Bell&rsquo;s Life</i>, in bed:
frequents the Blue Posts sometimes; rides a stout cob out of his county, and
pays like the Bank of England.
</p>

<p>
The house is a Norfolk house. Mrs. Ridley was housekeeper to the great Squire
Bayham, who had the estate before the Conqueror, and who came to such a
dreadful crash in the year 1825, the year of the panic. Bayhams still belongs
to the family, but in what a state, as those can say who recollect it in its
palmy days! Fifteen hundred acres of the best land in England were sold off:
all the timber cut down as level as a billiard-board. Mr. Bayham now lives up
in one corner of the house, which used to be filled with the finest company in
Europe. Law bless you! the Bayhams have seen almost all the nobility of England
come in and go out, and were gentlefolks when many a fine lord&rsquo;s father
of the present day was sweeping a counting-house.
</p>

<p>
The house will hold genteelly no more than these two inmates; but in the season
it manages to accommodate Miss Cann, who too was from Bayhams, having been a
governess there to the young lady who is dead, and who now makes such a
livelihood as she can best raise, by going out as a daily teacher. Miss Cann
dines with Mrs. Ridley in the adjoining little back-parlour. Ridley but seldom
can be spared to partake of the family dinner, his duties in the house and
about the person of my Lord Todmorden keeping him constantly near that
nobleman. How little Miss Cann can go on and keep alive on the crumb she eats
for breakfast, and the scrap she picks at dinner, du astonish Mrs. Ridley, that
it <i>du!</i> She declares that the two canary-birds encaged in her window
(whence is a cheerful prospect of the back of Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel)
eat more than Miss Cann. The two birds set up a tremendous singing and
chorussing when Miss Cann, spying the occasion of the first-floor
lodger&rsquo;s absence, begins practising her music-pieces. Such trills,
roulades, and flourishes go on from the birds and the lodger! it is a wonder
how any fingers can move over the jingling ivory so quickly as Miss
Cann&rsquo;s. Excellent a woman as she is, admirably virtuous, frugal, brisk,
honest, and cheerful, I would not like to live in lodgings where there was a
lady so addicted to playing variations. No more does Honeyman. On a Saturday,
when he is composing his valuable sermons (the rogue, you may be sure, leaves
his work to the last day, and there are, I am given to understand, among the
clergy many better men than Honeyman, who are as dilatory as he), he begs, he
entreats with tears in his eyes, that Miss Cann&rsquo;s music may cease. I
would back little Cann to write a sermon against him, for all his reputation as
a popular preacher.
</p>

<p>
Old and weazened as that piano is, feeble and cracked her voice, it is
wonderful what a pleasant concert she can give in that parlour of a Saturday
evening, to Mrs. Ridley, who generally dozes a good deal, and to a lad, who
listens with all his soul, with tears sometimes in his great eyes, with
crowding fancies filling his brain and throbbing at his heart, as the artist
plies her humble instrument. She plays old music of Handel and Haydn, and the
little chamber anon swells into a cathedral, and he who listens beholds altars
lighted, priests ministering, fair children swinging censers, great oriel
windows gleaming in sunset, and seen through arched columns and avenues of
twilight marble. The young fellow who hears her has been often and often to the
opera and the theatres. As she plays Don Juan, Zerlina comes tripping over the
meadows, and Masetto after her, with a crowd of peasants and maidens: and they
sing the sweetest of all music, and the heart beats with happiness, and
kindness, and pleasure. Piano, pianissimo! the city is hushed. The towers of
the great cathedral rise in the distance, its spires lighted by the broad moon.
The statues in the moonlit place cast long shadows athwart the pavement: but
the fountain in the midst is dressed out like Cinderella for the night, and
sings and wears a crest of diamonds. That great sombre street all in shade, can
it be the famous Toledo?&mdash;or is it the Corso?&mdash;or is it the great
street in Madrid, the one which leads to the Escurial where the Rubens and
Velasquez are? It is Fancy Street&mdash;Poetry Street&mdash;Imagination
Street&mdash;the street where lovely ladies look from balconies, where
cavaliers strike mandolins and draw swords and engage, where long processions
pass, and venerable hermits, with long beards, bless the kneeling people: where
the rude soldiery, swaggering through the place with flags and halberts, and
fife and dance, seize the slim waists of the daughters of the people, and bid
the pifferari play to their dancing. Blow, bagpipes, a storm of harmony! become
trumpets, trombones, ophicleides, fiddles, and bassoons! Fire, guns sound,
tocsins! Shout, people! Louder, shriller and sweeter than all, sing thou,
ravishing heroine! And see, on his cream-coloured charger Massaniello prances
in, and Fra Diavolo leaps down the balcony, carabine in hand; and Sir Huon of
Bordeaux sails up to the quay with the Sultan&rsquo;s daughter of Babylon. All
these delights and sights, and joys and glories, these thrills of sympathy,
movements of unknown longing, and visions of beauty, a young sickly lad of
eighteen enjoys in a little dark room where there is a bed disguised in the
shape of a wardrobe, and a little old woman is playing under a gas-lamp on the
jingling keys of an old piano.
</p>

<p>
For a long time Mr. Samuel Ridley, butler and confidential valet to the Right
Honourable John James Baron Todmorden, was in a state of the greatest despair
and gloom about his only son, the little John James,&mdash;a sickly and almost
deformed child &ldquo;of whom there was no making nothink,&rdquo; as Mr. Ridley
said. His figure precluded him from following his father&rsquo;s profession,
and waiting upon the British nobility, who naturally require large and handsome
men to skip up behind their rolling carriages, and hand their plates at dinner.
When John James was six years old his father remarked, with tears in his eyes,
he wasn&rsquo;t higher than a plate-basket. The boys jeered at him in the
streets&mdash;some whopped him, spite of his diminutive size. At school he made
but little progress. He was always sickly and dirty, and timid and crying,
whimpering in the kitchen away from his mother; who, though she loved him, took
Mr. Ridley&rsquo;s view of his character, and thought him little better than an
idiot until such time as little Miss Cann took him in hand, when at length
there was some hope of him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Half-witted, you great stupid big man,&rdquo; says Miss Cann, who had a
fine spirit of her own. &ldquo;That boy half-witted! He has got more wit in his
little finger than you have in all your great person! You are a very good man,
Ridley, very good-natured I&rsquo;m sure, and bear with the teasing of a
waspish old woman: but you are not the wisest of mankind. Tut, tut, don&rsquo;t
tell me. You know you spell out the words when you read the newspaper still,
and what would your bills look like if I did not write them in my nice little
hand? I tell you that boy is a genius. I tell you that one day the world will
hear of him. His heart is made of pure gold. You think that all the wit belongs
to the big people. Look at me, you great tall man! Am I not a hundred times
cleverer than you are? Yes, and John James is worth a thousand such
insignificant little chits as I am; and he is as tall as me too, sir. Do you
hear that! One day I am determined he shall dine at Lord Todmorden&rsquo;s
table, and he shall get the prize at the Royal Academy, and be famous,
sir&mdash;famous!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, Miss C., I wish he may get it; that&rsquo;s all I say,&rdquo;
answers Mr. Ridley. &ldquo;The poor fellow does no harm, that I acknowledge;
but <i>I</i> never see the good he was up to yet. I wish he&rsquo;d begin it; I
<i>du</i> wish he would now.&rdquo; And the honest gentleman relapses into the
study of his paper.
</p>

<p>
All those beautiful sounds and thoughts which Miss Cann conveys to him out of
her charmed piano, the young artist straightway translates into forms; and
knights in armour, with plume, and shield, and battle-axe; and splendid young
noblemen with flowing ringlets, and bounteous plumes of feathers, and rapiers,
and russet boots; and fierce banditti with crimson tights, doublets profusely
illustrated with large brass buttons, and the dumpy basket-hilted claymores
known to be the favourite weapon with which these whiskered ruffians do battle;
wasp-waisted peasant girls, and young countesses with oh, such large eyes and
the lips!&mdash;all these splendid forms of war and beauty crowd to the young
draughtsman&rsquo;s pencil, and cover letter-backs, copybooks, without end. If
his hand strikes off some face peculiarly lovely, and to his taste, some fair
vision that has shone on his imagination, some houri of a dancer, some bright
young lady of fashion in an opera-box, whom he has seen, or fancied he has seen
(for the youth is short-sighted, though he hardly as yet knows his
misfortune)&mdash;if he has made some effort extraordinarily successful, our
young Pygmalion hides away the masterpiece, and he paints the beauty with all
his skill; the lips a bright carmine, the eyes a deep, deep cobalt, the cheeks
a dazzling vermilion, the ringlets of a golden hue; and he worships this sweet
creature of his in secret, fancies a history for her; a castle to storm, a
tyrant usurper who keeps her imprisoned, and a prince in black ringlets and a
spangled cloak, who scales the tower, who slays the tyrant, and then kneels
gracefully at the princess&rsquo;s feet, and says, &ldquo;Lady, wilt thou be
mine?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
There is a kind lady in the neighbourhood, who takes in dressmaking for the
neighbouring maid-servants, and has a small establishment of lollipops,
theatrical characters, and ginger-beer for the boys in Little Craggs Buildings,
hard by the Running Footman public-house, where father and other
gentlemen&rsquo;s gentlemen have their club: this good soul also sells Sunday
newspapers to the footmen of the neighbouring gentry; and besides, has a stock
of novels for the ladies of the upper servants&rsquo; table. Next to Miss Cann,
Miss Flinders is John James&rsquo;s greatest friend and benefactor. She has
remarked him when he was quite a little man, and used to bring his
father&rsquo;s beer of a Sunday. Out of her novels he has taught himself to
read, dull boy at the day-school though he was, and always the last in his
class, there. Hours, happy hours, has he spent cowering behind her counter, or
hugging her books under his pinafore when he had leave to carry them home. The
whole library has passed through his hands, his long, lean, tremulous hands,
and under his eager eyes. He has made illustrations to every one of those
books, and been frightened at his own pictures of Manfroni or the One-handed
Monk, Abellino the Terrific Bravo of Venice, and Rinaldo Rinaldini Captain of
Robbers. How he has blistered Thaddeus of Warsaw with his tears, and drawn him
in his Polish cap, and tights, and Hessians! William Wallace, the Hero of
Scotland, how nobly he has depicted him! With what whiskers and bushy ostrich
plumes!&mdash;in a tight kilt, and with what magnificent calves to his legs,
laying about him with his battle-axe, and bestriding the bodies of King
Edward&rsquo;s prostrate cavaliers! At this time Mr. Honeyman comes to lodge in
Walpole Street, and brings a set of Scott&rsquo;s novels, for which he
subscribed when at Oxford; and young John James, who at first waits upon him
and does little odd jobs for the reverend gentleman, lights upon the volumes,
and reads them with such a delight and passion of pleasure as all the delights
of future days will scarce equal. A fool, is he?&mdash;an idle feller, out of
whom no good will ever come, as his father says. There was a time when, in
despair of any better chance for him, his parents thought of apprenticing him
to a tailor, and John James was waked up from a dream of Rebecca and informed
of the cruelty meditated against him. I forbear to describe the tears and
terror, and frantic desperation in which the poor boy was plunged. Little Miss
Cann rescued him from that awful board, and Honeyman likewise interceded for
him, and Mr. Bagshot promised that, as soon as his party came in, he would ask
the Minister for a tide-waitership for him; for everybody liked the solemn,
soft-hearted, willing little lad, and no one knew him less than his pompous and
stupid and respectable father.
</p>

<p>
Miss Cann painted flowers and card-screens elegantly, and
&ldquo;finished&rdquo; pencil-drawings most elaborately for her pupils. She
could copy prints, so that at a little distance you would scarcely know that
the copy in stumped chalk was not a bad mezzotinto engraving. She even had a
little old paint-box, and showed you one or two ivory miniatures out of the
drawer. She gave John James what little knowledge of drawing she had, and
handed him over her invaluable recipes for mixing
water-colours&mdash;&ldquo;for trees in foregrounds, burnt sienna and
indigo&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;for very dark foliage, ivory black and
gamboge&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;for flesh-colour,&rdquo; etc. etc. John James went
through her poor little course, but not so brilliantly as she expected. She was
forced to own that several of her pupils&rsquo; &ldquo;pieces&rdquo; were
executed much more dexterously than Johnny Ridley&rsquo;s. Honeyman looked at
the boy&rsquo;s drawings from time to time, and said, &ldquo;Hm, ha!&mdash;very
clever&mdash;a great deal of fancy, really.&rdquo; But Honeyman knew no more of
the subject than a deaf and dumb man knows of music. He could talk the art cant
very glibly, and had a set of Morghens and Madonnas as became a clergyman and a
man of taste; but he saw not with eyes such as those wherewith Heaven had
endowed the humble little butler&rsquo;s boy, to whom splendours of Nature were
revealed to vulgar sights invisible, and beauties manifest in forms, colours,
shadows of common objects, where most of the world saw only what was dull, and
gross, and familiar. One reads in the magic story-books of a charm or a flower
which the wizard gives, and which enables the bearer to see the fairies. O
enchanting boon of Nature, which reveals to the possessor the hidden spirits of
beauty round about him! spirits which the strongest and most gifted masters
compel into painting or song. To others it is granted but to have fleeting
glimpses of that fair Art-world; and tempted by ambition, or barred by
faint-heartedness, or driven by necessity, to turn away thence to the vulgar
life-track, and the light of common day.
</p>

<p>
The reader who has passed through Walpole Street scores of times, knows the
discomfortable architecture of all, save the great houses built in Queen
Anne&rsquo;s and George the First&rsquo;s time; and while some of the
neighbouring streets, to wit, Great Craggs Street, Bolingbroke Street, and
others, contain mansions fairly coped with stone, with little obelisks before
the doors, and great extinguishers wherein the torches of the nobility&rsquo;s
running footmen were put out a hundred and thirty or forty years
ago:&mdash;houses which still remain abodes of the quality, and where you shall
see a hundred carriages gather of a public night; Walpole Street has quite
faded away into lodgings, private hotels, doctors&rsquo; houses, and the like;
nor is No. 23 (Ridley&rsquo;s) by any means the best house in the street. The
parlour, furnished and tenanted by Miss Cann as has been described; the first
floor, Bagshot, Esq., M.P.; the second floor, Honeyman; what remains but the
garrets, and the ample staircase and the kitchens? and the family being all put
to bed, how can you imagine there is room for any more inhabitants?
</p>

<p>
And yet there is one lodger more, and one who, like almost all the other
personages mentioned up to the present time (and some of whom you have no idea
yet), will play a definite part in the ensuing history. At night, when Honeyman
comes in, he finds on the hall-table three wax bedroom candles&mdash;his own,
Bagshot&rsquo;s, and another. As for Miss Cann, she is locked into the parlour
in bed long ago, her stout little walking-shoes being on the mat at the door.
At 12 o&rsquo;clock at noon, sometimes at 1, nay at 2 and 3&mdash;long after
Bagshot is gone to his committees, and little Cann to her pupils&mdash;a voice
issues from the very topmost floor, from a room where there is no bell; a voice
of thunder calling out &ldquo;Slavey! Julia! Julia, my love! Mrs.
Ridley!&rdquo; And this summons not being obeyed, it will not unfrequently
happen that a pair of trousers enclosing a pair of boots with iron heels, and
known by the name of the celebrated Prussian General who came up to help the
other christener of boots at Waterloo, will be flung down from the topmost
story, even to the marble floor of the resounding hall. Then the boy Thomas,
otherwise called Slavey, may say, &ldquo;There he goes again;&rdquo; or Mrs.
Ridley&rsquo;s own back-parlour bell rings vehemently, and Julia the cook will
exclaim, &ldquo;Lor, it&rsquo;s Mr. Frederick.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
If the breeches and boots are not understood, the owner himself appears in
great wrath dancing on the upper story; dancing down to the lower floor; and
loosely enveloped in a ragged and flowing <i>robe de chambre</i>. In this
costume and condition he will dance into Honeyman&rsquo;s apartment, where that
meek divine may be sitting with a headache or over a novel or a newspaper;
dance up to the fire flapping his robe-tails, poke it, and warm himself there;
dance up to the cupboard where his reverence keeps his sherry, and help himself
to a glass.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Salve, spes fidei, lumen ecclesiæ</i>,&rdquo; he will say;
&ldquo;here&rsquo;s towards you, my buck. I knows the tap. Sherrick&rsquo;s
Marsala bottled three months after date, at two hundred and forty-six shillings
the dozen.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed, indeed it&rsquo;s not&rdquo; (and now we are coming to an idea
of the skeleton in poor Honeyman&rsquo;s closet&mdash;not that this huge
handsome jolly Fred Bayham is the skeleton, far from it. Mr. Frederick weighs
fourteen stone). &ldquo;Indeed, indeed it isn&rsquo;t, Fred, I&rsquo;m
sure,&rdquo; sighs the other. &ldquo;You exaggerate, indeed you do. The wine is
not dear, not by any means so expensive as you say.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How much a glass, think you?&rdquo; says Fred, filling another bumper.
&ldquo;A half-crown, think ye?&mdash;a half-crown, Honeyman? By cock and pye,
it is not worth a bender.&rdquo; He says this in the manner of the most
celebrated tragedian of the day. He can imitate any actor, tragic or comic; any
known Parliamentary orator or clergyman; any saw, cock, cloop of a cork
wrenched from a bottle and guggling of wine into the decanter afterwards, bee
buzzing, little boy up a chimney, etc. He imitates people being ill on board a
steam-packet so well that he makes you die of laughing: his uncle the Bishop
could not resist this comic exhibition, and gave Fred a cheque for a
comfortable sum of money; and Fred, getting cash for the cheque at the Cave of
Harmony, imitated his uncle the Bishop and his Chaplain, winding up with his
Lordship and Chaplain being unwell at sea&mdash;the Chaplain and Bishop quite
natural and distinct.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How much does a glass of this sack cost thee, Charley?&rdquo; resumes
Fred, after this parenthesis. &ldquo;You say it is not dear. Charles Honeyman,
you had, even from your youth up, a villainous habit. And I perfectly well
remember, sir, in boyhood&rsquo;s breezy hour, when I was the delight of his
school, that you used to tell lies to your venerable father. You did, Charles.
Excuse the frankness of an early friend, it&rsquo;s my belief you&rsquo;d
rather lie than not. Hm&rdquo;&mdash;he looks at the cards in the chimney-glass
&ldquo;Invitations to dinner, proffers of muffins. Do lend me your sermon. Oh,
you old impostor! you hoary old Ananias! I say, Charley, why haven&rsquo;t you
picked out some nice girl for yours truly? One with lauds and beeves, with
rents and consols, mark you? I have no money, &rsquo;tis true, but then I
don&rsquo;t owe as much as you. I am a handsomer man than you are. Look at this
chest&rdquo; (he slaps it), &ldquo;these limbs; they are manly, sir,
manly.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;For Heaven&rsquo;s sake, Bayham,&rdquo; cries Mr. Honeyman, white with
terror; &ldquo;if anybody were to come&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What did I say anon, sir? that I was manly, ay, manly. Let any ruffian,
save a bailiff, come and meet the doughty arm of Frederick Bayham.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, Lord, Lord, here&rsquo;s somebody coming into the room!&rdquo; cries
Charles, sinking back on the sofa, as the door opens.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ha! dost thou come with murderous intent?&rdquo; and he now advances in
an approved offensive attitude. &ldquo;Caitiff, come on, come on!&rdquo; and he
walks off with a tragic laugh, crying, &ldquo;Ha, ha, ha, &rsquo;tis but the
slavey!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The slavey has Mr. Frederick&rsquo;s hot water, and a bottle of sodawater on
the same tray. He has been instructed to bring soda whenever he hears the word
slavey pronounced from above. The bottle explodes, and Frederick drinks, and
hisses after his drink as though he had been all hot within.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What&rsquo;s o&rsquo;clock now, slavey&mdash;half-past three? Let me
see, I breakfasted exactly ten hours ago, in the rosy morning, off a modest cup
of coffee in Covent Garden Market. Coffee, a penny; bread, a simple halfpenny.
What has Mrs. Ridley for dinner?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Please, sir, roast pork.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Get me some. Bring it into my room, unless, Honeyman, you insist upon my
having it here, kind fellow!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
At the moment a smart knock comes to the door, and Fred says, &ldquo;Well,
Charles, it may be a friend or a lady come to confess, and I&rsquo;m off; I
knew you&rsquo;d be sorry I was going. Tom, bring up my things; brush &rsquo;em
gently, you scoundrel, and don&rsquo;t take the nap off. Bring up the roast
pork, and plenty of apple-sauce, tell Mrs. Ridley, with my love; and one of Mr.
Honeyman&rsquo;s shirts, and one of his razors. Adieu, Charles! Amend! Remember
me.&rdquo; And he vanishes into the upper chambers.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"></a>
CHAPTER XII.<br/>
In which everybody is asked to Dinner</h2>

<p>
John James had opened the door hastening to welcome a friend and patron, the
sight of whom always gladdened the youth&rsquo;s eyes; no other than Clive
Newcome&mdash;in young Ridley&rsquo;s opinion, the most splendid, fortunate,
beautiful, high-born, and gifted youth this island contained. What generous boy
in his time has not worshipped somebody? Before the female enslaver makes her
appearance, every lad has a friend of friends, a crony of cronies, to whom he
writes immense letters in vacation, whom he cherishes in his heart of hearts;
whose sister he proposes to marry in after life; whose purse he shares; for
whom he will take a thrashing if need be: who is his hero. Clive was John
James&rsquo;s youthful divinity: when he wanted to draw Thaddeus of Warsaw, a
Prince, Ivanhoe, or some one splendid and egregious, it was Clive he took for a
model. His heart leapt when he saw the young fellow. He would walk cheerfully
to Grey Friars, with a letter or message for Clive, on the chance of seeing
him, and getting a kind word from him, or a shake of the hand. An ex-butler of
Lord Todmorden was a pensioner in the Grey Friars Hospital (it has been said
that at that ancient establishment is a college for old men as well as for
boys), and this old man would come sometimes to his successor&rsquo;s Sunday
dinner, and grumble from the hour of that meal until nine o&rsquo;clock, when
he was forced to depart, so as to be within Grey Friars&rsquo; gates before
ten; grumble about his dinner&mdash;grumble about his beer&mdash;grumble about
the number of chapels he had to attend, about the gown he wore, about the
master&rsquo;s treatment of him, about the want of plums in the pudding, as old
men and schoolboys grumble. It was wonderful what a liking John James took to
this odious, querulous, graceless, stupid, and snuffy old man, and how he would
find pretexts for visiting him at his lodging in the old hospital. He actually
took that journey that he might have a chance of seeing Clive. He sent Clive
notes and packets of drawings; thanked him for books lent, asked advice about
future reading&mdash;anything, so that he might have a sight of his pride, his
patron, his paragon.
</p>

<p>
I am afraid Clive Newcome employed him to smuggle rum-shrub and cigars into the
premises; giving him appointments in the school precincts, where young Clive
would come and stealthily receive the forbidden goods. The poor lad was known
by the boys, and called Newcome&rsquo;s Punch. He was all but hunchbacked; long
and lean in the arm; sallow, with a great forehead, and waving black hair, and
large melancholy eyes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What, is it you, J. J.?&rdquo; cries Clive gaily, when his humble friend
appears at the door. &ldquo;Father, this is my friend Ridley. This is the
fellow what can draw.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know whom I will back against any young man of his size at
<i>that</i>,&rdquo; says the Colonel, looking at Clive fondly. He considered
there was not such a genius in the world; and had already thought of having
some of Clive&rsquo;s drawings published by M&rsquo;Lean of the Haymarket.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This is my father just come from India&mdash;and Mr. Pendennis, an old
Grey Friars&rsquo; man. Is my uncle at home?&rdquo; Both these gentlemen bestow
rather patronising nods of the head on the lad introduced to them as J. J. His
exterior is but mean-looking. Colonel Newcome, one of the humblest-minded men
alive, has yet his old-fashioned military notions; and speaks to a
butler&rsquo;s son as to a private soldier, kindly, but not familiarly.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mr Honeyman is at home, gentlemen,&rdquo; the young lad says, humbly.
&ldquo;Shall I show you up to his room?&rdquo; And we walk up the stairs after
our guide. We find Mr. Honeyman deep in study on his sofa, with Pearson on the
Creed before him. The novel has been whipped under the pillow. Clive found it
there some short time afterwards, during his uncle&rsquo;s temporary absence in
his dressing-room. He has agreed to suspend his theological studies, and go out
with his brother-in-law to dine.
</p>

<p>
As Clive and his friends were at Honeyman&rsquo;s door, and just as we were
entering to see the divine seated in state before his folio, Clive whispers,
&ldquo;J. J., come along, old fellow, and show us some drawings. What are you
doing?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I was doing some Arabian Nights,&rdquo; says J. J., &ldquo;up in my
room; and hearing a knock which I thought was yours, I came down.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Show us the pictures. Let&rsquo;s go up into your room,&rdquo; cries
Clive. &ldquo;What&mdash;will you?&rdquo; says the other. &ldquo;It is but a
very small place.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Never mind, come along,&rdquo; says Clive; and the two lads disappear
together, leaving the three grown gentlemen to discourse together, or rather
two of us to listen to Honeyman, who expatiates upon the beauty of the weather,
the difficulties of the clerical calling, the honour Colonel Newcome does him
by a visit, etc., with his usual eloquence.
</p>

<p>
After a while Clive comes down without J. J., from the upper regions. He is
greatly excited. &ldquo;Oh, sir,&rdquo; he says to his father, &ldquo;you talk
about my drawings&mdash;you should see J. J.&rsquo;s! By Jove, that fellow is a
genius. They are beautiful, sir. You seem actually to read the Arabian Nights,
you know, only in pictures. There is Scheherazade telling the stories,
and&mdash;what do you call her?&mdash;Dinarzade and the Sultan sitting in bed
and listening. Such a grim old cove! You see he has cut off ever so many of his
wives&rsquo; heads. I can&rsquo;t think where that chap gets his ideas from. I
can beat him in drawing horses, I know, and dogs; but I can only draw what I
see. Somehow he seems to see things we don&rsquo;t, don&rsquo;t you know? Oh,
father, I&rsquo;m determined I&rsquo;d rather be a painter than
anything.&rdquo; And he falls to drawing horses and dogs at his uncle&rsquo;s
table, round which the elders are seated.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve settled it upstairs with J. J.,&rdquo; says Clive, working
away with his pen. &ldquo;We shall take a studio together; perhaps we will go
abroad together. Won&rsquo;t that be fun, father?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear Clive,&rdquo; remarks Mr. Honeyman, with bland dignity,
&ldquo;there are degrees in society which we must respect. You surely cannot
think of being a professional artist. Such a profession is very well for your
young <i>protégé;</i> but for you&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What for me?&rdquo; cries Clive. &ldquo;We are no such great folks that
I know of; and if we were, I say a painter is as good as a lawyer, or a doctor,
or even a soldier. In Dr. Johnston&rsquo;s Life&mdash;which my father is always
reading&mdash;I like to read about Sir Joshua Reynolds best: I think he is the
best gentleman of all in the book. My! wouldn&rsquo;t I like to paint a picture
like Lord Heathfield in the National Gallery! <i>Wouldn&rsquo;t</i> I just! I
think I would sooner have done that, than have fought at Gibraltar. And those
Three Graces&mdash;oh, aren&rsquo;t they graceful! And that Cardinal Beaufort
at Dulwich!&mdash;it frightens me so, I daren&rsquo;t look at it. Wasn&rsquo;t
Reynolds a clipper, that&rsquo;s all! and wasn&rsquo;t Rubens a brick! He was
an ambassador, and Knight of the Bath; so was Vandyck. And Titian, and Raphael,
and Velasquez?&mdash;I&rsquo;ll just trouble you to show me better gentlemen
than them, Uncle Charles.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Far be it from me to say that the pictorial calling is not
honourable,&rdquo; says Uncle Charles; &ldquo;but as the world goes there are
other professions in greater repute; and I should have thought Colonel
Newcome&rsquo;s son&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He shall follow his own bent,&rdquo; said the Colonel; &ldquo;as long as
his calling is honest it becomes a gentleman; and if he were to take a fancy to
play on the fiddle&mdash;actually on the fiddle&mdash;I shouldn&rsquo;t
object.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Such a rum chap there was upstairs!&rdquo; Clive resumes, looking up
from his scribbling. &ldquo;He was walking up and down on the landing in a
dressing-gown, with scarcely any other clothes on, holding a plate in one hand,
and a pork-chop he was munching with the other. Like this&rdquo; (and Clive
draws a figure). &ldquo;What do you think, sir? He was in the Cave of Harmony,
he says, that night you flared up about Captain Costigan. He knew me at once;
and he says, &lsquo;Sir, your father acted like a gentleman, a Christian, and a
man of honour. <i>Maxima debetur puero reverentia</i>. Give him my compliments.
I don&rsquo;t know his highly respectable name.&rsquo; His highly respectable
name,&rdquo; says Clive, cracking with laughter&mdash;&ldquo;those were his
very words. &lsquo;And inform him that I am an orphan myself&mdash;in needy
circumstances&rsquo;&mdash;he said he was in needy circumstances; &lsquo;and I
heartily wish he&rsquo;d adopt me.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The lad puffed out his face, made his voice as loud and as deep as he could;
and from his imitation and the picture he had drawn, I knew at once that Fred
Bayham was the man he mimicked.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And does the Red Rover live here,&rdquo; cried Mr. Pendennis, &ldquo;and
have we earthed him at last?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He sometimes comes here,&rdquo; Mr. Honeyman said with a careless
manner. &ldquo;My landlord and landlady were butler and housekeeper to his
father, Bayham of Bayham, one of the oldest families in Europe. And Mr.
Frederick Bayham, the exceedingly eccentric person of whom you speak, was a
private pupil of my own dear father in our happy days at Borehambury.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
He had scarcely spoken when a knock was heard at the door, and before the
occupant of the lodgings could say &ldquo;Come in!&rdquo; Mr. Frederick Bayham
made his appearance, arrayed in that peculiar costume which he affected. In
those days we wore very tall stocks, only a very few poetic and eccentric
persons venturing on the Byron collar; but Fred Bayham confined his neck by a
simple ribbon, which allowed his great red whiskers to curl freely round his
capacious jowl. He wore a black frock and a large broad-brimmed hat, and looked
somewhat like a Dissenting preacher. At other periods you would see him in a
green coat and a blue neckcloth, as if the turf or the driving of coaches was
his occupation.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have heard from the young man of the house who you were, Colonel
Newcome,&rdquo; he said with the greatest gravity, &ldquo;and happened to be
present, sir, the other night; for I was aweary, having been toiling all the
day in literary labour, and needed some refreshment. I happened to be present,
sir, at a scene which did you the greatest honour, and of which I spoke, not
knowing you, with something like levity to your son. He is an <i>ingenui vultus
puer ingenuique pudoris</i>&mdash;Pendennis, how are you? And I thought, sir, I
would come down and tender an apology if I had said any words that might savour
of offence to a gentleman who was in the right, as I told the room when you
quitted it, as Mr. Pendennis, I am sure, will remember.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Pendennis looked surprise and perhaps negation.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You forget, Pendennis? Those who quit that room, sir, often forget on
the morrow what occurred during the revelry of the night. You did right in
refusing to return to that scene. We public men are obliged often to seek our
refreshment at hours when luckier individuals are lapt in slumber.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And what may be your occupation, Mr. Bayham?&rdquo; asks the Colonel,
rather gloomily, for he had an idea that Bayham was adopting a strain of
<i>persiflage</i> which the Indian gentleman by no means relished. Never saying
aught but a kind word to any one, he was on fire at the notion that any should
take a liberty with him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A barrister, sir, but without business&mdash;a literary man, who can but
seldom find an opportunity to sell the works of his brains&mdash;a gentleman,
sir, who has met with neglect, perhaps merited, perhaps undeserved, from his
family. I get my bread as best I may. On that evening I had been lecturing on
the genius of some of our comic writers, at the Parthenopæon, Hackney. My
audience was scanty, perhaps equal to my deserts. I came home on foot to an egg
and a glass of beer after midnight, and witnessed the scene which did you so
much honour. What is this? I fancy a ludicrous picture of
myself&rdquo;&mdash;he had taken up the sketch which Clive had been
drawing&mdash;&ldquo;I like fun, even at my own expense; and can afford to
laugh at a joke which is meant in good-humour.&rdquo; This speech quite
reconciled the honest Colonel. &ldquo;I am sure the author of that, Mr. Bayham,
means you or any man no harm. Why! the rascal, sir, has drawn me, his own
father; and I have sent the drawing to Major Hobbs, who is in command of my
regiment. Chinnery himself, sir, couldn&rsquo;t hit off a likeness better; he
has drawn me on horseback, and he has drawn me on foot, and he has drawn my
friend, Mr. Binnie, who lives with me. We have scores of his drawings at my
lodgings; and if you will favour us by dining with us to-day, and these
gentlemen, you shall see that you are not the only person caricatured by Clive
here.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I just took some little dinner upstairs, sir. I am a moderate man, and
can live, if need be, like a Spartan; but to join such good company I will
gladly use the knife and fork again. You will excuse the traveller&rsquo;s
dress? I keep a room here, which I use only occasionally, and am at present
lodging&mdash;in the country.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
When Honeyman was ready, the Colonel, who had the greatest respect for the
Church, would not hear of going out of the room before the clergyman, and took
his arm to walk. Bayham then fell to Mr. Pendennis&rsquo;s lot, and they went
together. Through Hill Street and Berkeley Square their course was straight
enough; but at Hay Hill, Mr. Bayham made an abrupt tack larboard, engaging in a
labyrinth of stables, and walking a long way round from Clifford Street,
whither we were bound. He hinted at a cab, but Pendennis refused to ride,
being, in truth, anxious to see which way his eccentric companion would steer.
&ldquo;There are reasons,&rdquo; growled Bayham, &ldquo;which need not be
explained to one of your experience, why Bond Street must be avoided by some
men peculiarly situated. The smell of Truefitt&rsquo;s pomatum makes me ill.
Tell me, Pendennis, is this Indian warrior a rajah of large wealth? Could he,
do you think, recommend me to a situation in the East India Company? I would
gladly take any honest post in which fidelity might be useful, genius might be
appreciated, and courage rewarded. Here we are. The hotel seems comfortable. I
never was in it before.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
When we entered the Colonel&rsquo;s sitting-room at Nerot&rsquo;s, we found the
waiter engaged in extending the table. &ldquo;We are a larger party than I
expected,&rdquo; our host said. &ldquo;I met my brother Brian on horseback
leaving cards at that great house in &mdash;&mdash;&mdash; Street.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Russian Embassy,&rdquo; says Mr. Honeyman, who knew the town quite
well.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And he said he was disengaged, and would dine with us,&rdquo; continues
the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Am I to understand, Colonel Newcome,&rdquo; says Mr. Frederick Bayham,
&ldquo;that you are related to the eminent banker, Sir Brian Newcome, who gives
such uncommonly swell parties in Park Lane?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What is a swell party?&rdquo; asks the Colonel, laughing. &ldquo;I dined
with my brother last Wednesday; and it was a very grand dinner certainly. The
Governor-General himself could not give a more splendid entertainment. But, do
you know, I scarcely had enough to eat? I don&rsquo;t eat side dishes; and as
for the roast beef of Old England, why, the meat was put on the table and
whisked away like Sancho&rsquo;s inauguration feast at Barataria. We did not
dine till nine o&rsquo;clock. I like a few glasses of claret and a cosy talk
after dinner; but&mdash;well, well&rdquo;&mdash;(no doubt the worthy gentleman
was accusing himself of telling tales out of school and had come to a timely
repentance). &ldquo;Our dinner, I hope, will be different. Jack Binnie will
take care of that. That fellow is full of anecdote and fun. You will meet one
or two more of our service; Sir Thomas de Boots, who is not a bad chap over a
glass of wine; Mr. Pendennis&rsquo;s chum, Mr. Warrington, and my nephew,
Barnes Newcome&mdash;a dry fellow at first, but I dare say he has good about
him when you know him; almost every man has,&rdquo; said the good-natured
philosopher. &ldquo;Clive, you rogue, mind and be moderate with the champagne,
sir!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Champagne&rsquo;s for women,&rdquo; says Clive. &ldquo;I stick to
claret.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I say, Pendennis,&rdquo; here Bayham remarked, &ldquo;it is my
deliberate opinion that F. B. has got into a good thing.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Pendennis seeing there was a great party was for going home to his chambers
to dress. &ldquo;Hm!&rdquo; says Mr. Bayham, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t see the
necessity. What right-minded man looks at the exterior of his neighbour? He
looks <i>here</i>, sir, and examines <i>there</i>,&rdquo; and Bayham tapped his
forehead, which was expansive, and then his heart, which he considered to be in
the right place.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What is this I hear about dressing?&rdquo; asks our host. &ldquo;Dine in
your frock, my good friend, and welcome, if your dress-coat is in the
country.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is at present at an uncle&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Mr. Bayham said, with great
gravity, &ldquo;and I take your hospitality as you offer it, Colonel Newcome,
cordially and frankly.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Honest Mr. Binnie made his appearance a short time before the appointed hour
for receiving the guests, arrayed in a tight little pair of trousers, and white
silk stockings and pumps, his bald head shining like a billiard-ball, his jolly
gills rosy with good-humour. He was bent on pleasure. &ldquo;Hey, lads!&rdquo;
says he; &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ll make a night of it. We haven&rsquo;t had a
night since the farewell dinner off Plymouth.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And a jolly night it was, James,&rdquo; ejaculates the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Egad, what a song that Tom Norris sings!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And your &lsquo;Jock o&rsquo; Hazeldean&rsquo; is as good as a play,
Jack.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I think you beat iny one I iver hard in &lsquo;Tom Bowling,&rsquo;
yourself, Tom!&rdquo; cries the Colonel&rsquo;s delighted chum. Mr. Pendennis
opened the eyes of astonishment at the idea of the possibility of renewing
these festivities, but he kept the lips of prudence closed. And now the
carriages began to drive up, and the guests of Colonel Newcome to arrive.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"></a>
CHAPTER XIII.<br/>
In which Thomas Newcome sings his Last Song</h2>

<p>
The earliest comers were the first mate and the medical officer of the ship in
which the two gentlemen had come to England. The mate was a Scotchman: the
doctor was a Scotchman; of the gentlemen from the Oriental Club, three were
Scotchmen.
</p>

<p>
The Southrons, with one exception, were the last to arrive, and for a while we
stood looking out of the windows awaiting their coming. The first mate pulled
out a penknife and arranged his nails. The doctor and Mr. Binnie talked of the
progress of medicine. Binnie had walked the hospitals of Edinburgh before
getting his civil appointment to India. The three gentlemen from Hanover Square
and the Colonel had plenty to say about Tom Smith of the Cavalry, and Harry
Hall of the Engineers: how Topham was going to marry poor little Bob
Wallis&rsquo;s widow; how many lakhs Barber had brought home, and the like. The
tall grey-headed Englishman, who had been in the East too, in the King&rsquo;s
service, joined for a while in this conversation, but presently left it, and
came and talked with Clive; &ldquo;I knew your father in India,&rdquo; said the
gentleman to the lad; &ldquo;there is not a more gallant or respected officer
in that service. I have a boy too, a stepson, who has just gone into the army;
he is older than you, he was born at the end of the Waterloo year, and so was a
great friend of his and mine, who was at your school, Sir Rawdon
Crawley.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He was in Gown Boys, I know,&rdquo; says the boy; &ldquo;succeeded his
uncle Pitt, fourth Baronet. I don&rsquo;t know how his mother&mdash;her who
wrote the hymns, you know, and goes to Mr. Honeyman&rsquo;s chapel&mdash;comes
to be Rebecca, Lady Crawley. His father, Colonel Rawdon Crawley, died at
Coventry Island, in August, 182-, and his uncle, Sir Pitt, not till September
here. I remember, we used to talk about it at Grey Friars, when I was quite a
little chap; and there were bets whether Crawley, I mean the young one, was a
Baronet or not.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When I sailed to Rigy, Cornel,&rdquo; the first mate was
speaking&mdash;nor can any spelling nor combination of letters of which I am
master, reproduce this gentleman&rsquo;s accent when he was talking his
best&mdash;&ldquo;I racklackt they used always to sairve us a drem before
denner. And as your frinds are kipping the denner, and as I&rsquo;ve no watch
to-night, I&rsquo;ll jist do as we used to do at Rigy. James, my fine fellow,
jist look alive and breng me a small glass of brandy, will ye? Did ye iver try
a brandy cocktail, Cornel? Whin I sailed on the New York line, we used jest to
make bits before denner and&mdash;thank ye, James:&rdquo; and he tossed off a
glass of brandy.
</p>

<p>
Here a waiter announces, in a loud voice, &ldquo;Sir Thomas de Boots,&rdquo;
and the General enters, scowling round the room according to his fashion, very
red in the face, very tight in the girth, splendidly attired with a choking
white neckcloth, a voluminous waistcoat, and his orders on.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Stars and garters, by jingo!&rdquo; cries Mr. Frederick Bayham; &ldquo;I
say, Pendennis, have you any idea, is the Duke coming? I wouldn&rsquo;t have
come in these Bluchers if I had known it. Confound it, no&mdash;Hoby himself,
my own bootmaker, wouldn&rsquo;t have allowed poor F. B. to appear in Bluchers,
if he had known that I was going to meet the Duke. My linen&rsquo;s all right,
anyhow.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
F. B. breathed a thankful prayer for that. Indeed, who but the very curious
could tell that not F. B.&rsquo;s, but C. H.&rsquo;s&mdash;Charles
Honeyman&rsquo;s&mdash;was the mark upon that decorous linen?
</p>

<p>
Colonel Newcome introduced Sir Thomas to every one in the room, as he had
introduced us all to each other previously, and as Sir Thomas looked at one
after another, his face was kind enough to assume an expression which seemed to
ask, &ldquo;And who the devil are you, sir?&rdquo; as clearly as though the
General himself had given utterance to the words. With the gentleman in the
window talking to Clive he seemed to have some acquaintance, and said not
unkindly, &ldquo;How d&rsquo;you do, Dobbin?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The carriage of Sir Brian Newcome now drove up, from which the Baronet
descended in state, leaning upon the arm of the Apollo in plush and powder, who
closed the shutters of the great coach, and mounted by the side of the
coachman, laced and periwigged. The Bench of Bishops has given up its wigs;
cannot the box, too, be made to resign that insane decoration? Is it necessary
for our comfort, that the men who do our work in stable or household should be
dressed like Merry-Andrews? Enter Sir Brian Newcome, smiling blandly: he greets
his brother affectionately, Sir Thomas gaily; he nods and smiles to Clive, and
graciously permits Mr. Pendennis to take hold of two fingers of his extended
right hand. That gentleman is charmed, of course, with the condescension. What
man could be otherwise than happy to be allowed a momentary embrace of two such
precious fingers? When a gentleman so favours me, I always ask, mentally, why
he has taken the trouble at all, and regret that I have not had the presence of
mind to poke one finger against his two. If I were worth ten thousand a year, I
cannot help inwardly reflecting, and kept a large account in Threadneedle
Street, I cannot help thinking he would have favoured me with the whole palm.
</p>

<p>
The arrival of these two grandees has somehow cast a solemnity over the
company. The weather is talked about: brilliant in itself, it does not occasion
very brilliant remarks among Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s guests. Sir Brian really
thinks it must be as hot as it is in India. Sir Thomas de Boots, swelling in
his white waistcoat, in the armholes of which his thumbs are engaged, smiles
scornfully, and wishes Sir Brian had ever felt a good sweltering day in the hot
winds in India. Sir Brian withdraws the untenable proposition that London is as
hot as Calcutta. Mr. Binnie looks at his watch, and at the Colonel. &ldquo;We
have only your nephew, Tom, to wait for,&rdquo; he says; &ldquo;I think we may
make so bold as to order the dinner,&rdquo;&mdash;a proposal heartily seconded
by Mr. Frederick Bayham.
</p>

<p>
The dinner appears steaming, borne by steaming waiters. The grandees take their
places, one on each side of the Colonel. He begs Mr. Honeyman to say grace, and
stands reverentially during that brief ceremony, while de Boots looks queerly
at him from over his napkin. All the young men take their places at the farther
end of the table, round about Mr. Binnie; and at the end of the second course
Mr. Barnes Newcome makes his appearance.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Barnes does not show the slightest degree of disturbance, although he
disturbs all the company. Soup and fish are brought for him, and meat, which he
leisurely eats, while twelve other gentlemen are kept waiting. We mark Mr.
Binnie&rsquo;s twinkling eyes, as they watch the young man. &ldquo;Eh,&rdquo;
he seems to say, &ldquo;but that&rsquo;s just about as free-and-easy a young
chap as ever I set eyes on.&rdquo; And so Mr. Barnes was a cool young chap.
That dish is so good, he must really have some more. He discusses the second
supply leisurely; and turning round simpering to his neighbour, says, &ldquo;I
really hope I&rsquo;m not keeping everybody waiting.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hem!&rdquo; grunts the neighbour, Mr. Bayham; &ldquo;it doesn&rsquo;t
much matter, for we had all pretty well done dinner.&rdquo; Barnes takes a note
of Mr. Bayham&rsquo;s dress&mdash;his long frock-coat, the ribbon round his
neck; and surveys him with an admirable impudence. &ldquo;Who are these
people,&rdquo; thinks he, &ldquo;my uncle has got together?&rdquo; He bows
graciously to the honest Colonel, who asks him to take wine. He is so
insufferably affable, that every man near him would like to give him a beating.
</p>

<p>
All the time of the dinner the host was challenging everybody to drink wine, in
his honest old-fashioned way, and Mr. Binnie seconding the chief entertainer.
Such was the way in England and Scotland when they were young men. And when
Binnie, asking Sir Brian, receives for reply from the
Baronet&mdash;&ldquo;Thank you, no, my dear sir. I have exceeded already,
positively exceeded,&rdquo; the poor discomfited gentleman hardly knows whither
to apply: but, luckily, Tom Norris, the first mate, comes to his rescue, and
cries out, &ldquo;Mr. Binnie, <i>I&rsquo;ve</i> not had enough, and I&rsquo;ll
drink a glass of anything ye like with ye.&rdquo; The fact is, that Mr. Norris
has had enough. He has drunk bumpers to the health of every member of the
company; his glass has been filled scores of times by watchful waiters. So has
Mr. Bayham absorbed great quantities of drink; but without any visible effect
on that veteran toper. So has young Clive taken more than is good for him. His
cheeks are flushed and burning; he is chattering and laughing loudly at his end
of the table. Mr. Warrington eyes the lad with some curiosity; and then regards
Mr. Barnes with a look of scorn, which does not scorch that affable young
person.
</p>

<p>
I am obliged to confess that the mate of the Indiaman, at an early period of
the dessert, and when nobody had asked him for any such public expression of
his opinion, insisted on rising and proposing the health of Colonel Newcome,
whose virtues he lauded outrageously, and whom he pronounced to be one of the
best of mortal men. Sir Brian looked very much alarmed at the commencement of
this speech, which the mate delivered with immense shrieks and gesticulation:
but the Baronet recovered during the course of the rambling oration, and at its
conclusion gracefully tapped the table with one of those patronising fingers;
and lifting up a glass containing at least a thimbleful of claret, said,
&ldquo;My dear brother, I drink your health with all my heart, I&rsquo;m
su-ah.&rdquo; The youthful Barnes had uttered many &ldquo;Hear, hears!&rdquo;
during the discourse, with an irony which, with every fresh glass of wine he
drank, he cared less to conceal. And though Barnes had come late he had drunk
largely, making up for lost time.
</p>

<p>
Those ironical cheers, and all his cousin&rsquo;s behaviour during dinner, had
struck young Clive, who was growing very angry. He growled out remarks
uncomplimentary to Barnes. His eyes, as he looked towards his kinsman, flashed
out challenges, of which we who were watching him could see the warlike
purport. Warrington looked at Bayham and Pendennis with glances of
apprehension. We saw that danger was brooding, unless the one young man could
be restrained from his impertinence, and the other from his wine.
</p>

<p>
Colonel Newcome said a very few words in reply to his honest friend the chief
mate, and there the matter might have ended: but I am sorry to say Mr. Binnie
now thought it necessary to rise and deliver himself of some remarks regarding
the King&rsquo;s service, coupled with the name of Major-General Sir Thomas de
Boots, K.C.B., etc.&mdash;the receipt of which that gallant officer was obliged
to acknowledge in a confusion amounting almost to apoplexy. The glasses went
whack whack upon the hospitable board; the evening set in for public speaking.
Encouraged by his last effort, Mr. Binnie now proposed Sir Brian
Newcome&rsquo;s health; and that Baronet rose and uttered an exceedingly
lengthy speech, delivered with his wine-glass on his bosom.
</p>

<p>
Then that sad rogue Bayham must get up, and call earnestly and respectfully for
silence and the chairman&rsquo;s hearty sympathy, for the few observations
which he had to propose. &ldquo;Our armies had been drunk with proper
enthusiasm&mdash;such men as he beheld around him deserved the applause of all
honest hearts, and merited the cheers with which their names had been received.
(&lsquo;Hear, hear!&rsquo; from Barnes Newcome sarcastically. &lsquo;Hear,
hear, H<small>EAR</small>!&rsquo; fiercely from Clive.) But whilst we applauded
our army, should we forget a profession still more exalted? Yes, still more
exalted, I say in the face of the gallant General opposite; and that
profession, I need not say, is the Church. (Applause.) Gentlemen, we have among
us one who, while partaking largely of the dainties on this festive board,
drinking freely of the sparkling wine-cup which our gallant hospitality
administers to us, sanctifies by his presence the feast of which he partakes,
inaugurates with appropriate benedictions, and graces it, I may say, both
before and after meat. Gentlemen, Charles Honeyman was the friend of my
childhood, his father the instructor of my early days. If Frederick
Bayham&rsquo;s latter life has been chequered by misfortune, it may be that I
have forgotten the precepts which the venerable parent of Charles Honeyman
poured into an inattentive ear. He too, as a child, was not exempt from faults;
as a young man, I am told, not quite free from youthful indiscretions. But in
this present Anno Domini, we hail Charles Honeyman as a precept and an example,
as a <i>decus fidei</i> and a <i>lumen ecclesiæ</i> (as I told him in the
confidence of the private circle this morning, and ere I ever thought to
publish my opinion in this distinguished company). Colonel Newcome and Mr.
Binnie! I drink to the health of the Reverend Charles Honeyman, A.M. May we
listen to many more of his sermons, as well as to that admirable discourse with
which I am sure he is about to electrify us now. May we profit by his
eloquence; and cherish in our memories the truths which come mended from his
tongue!&rdquo; He ceased; poor Honeyman had to rise on his legs, and gasp out a
few incoherent remarks in reply. Without a book before him, the Incumbent of
Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel was no prophet, and the truth is he made poor
work of his oration.
</p>

<p>
At the end of it, he, Sir Brian, Colonel Dobbin, and one of the Indian
gentlemen quitted the room, in spite of the loud outcries of our generous host,
who insisted that the party should not break up. &ldquo;Close up,
gentlemen,&rdquo; called out honest Newcome, &ldquo;we are not going to part
just yet. Let me fill your glass, General. You used to have no objection to a
glass of wine.&rdquo; And he poured out a bumper for his friend, which the old
campaigner sucked in with fitting gusto. &ldquo;Who will give us a song?
Binnie, give us the &lsquo;Laird of Cockpen.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s capital, my dear
General. Capital,&rdquo; the Colonel whispered to his neighbour.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Binnie struck up the &ldquo;Laird of Cockpen,&rdquo; without, I am bound to
say, the least reluctance. He bobbed to one man, and he winked to another, and
he tossed his glass, and gave all the points of his song in a manner which did
credit to his simplicity and his humour. You haughty Southerners little know
how a jolly Scotch gentleman can <i>desipere in loco</i>, and how he chirrups
over his honest cups. I do not say whether it was with the song or with Mr.
Binnie that we were most amused. It was a good commonty, as Christopher Sly
says; nor were we sorry when it was done.
</p>

<p>
Him the first mate succeeded; after which came a song from the redoubted F.
Bayham, which he sang with a bass voice which Lablache might envy, and of which
the chorus was frantically sung by the whole company. The cry was then for the
Colonel; on which Barnes Newcome, who had been drinking much, started up with
something like an oath, crying, &ldquo;Oh, I can&rsquo;t stand this.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Then leave it, confound you!&rdquo; said young Clive, with fury in his
face. &ldquo;If our company is not good for you, why do you come into
it?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; asks Barnes, who was evidently affected by
wine. Bayham roared &ldquo;Silence!&rdquo; and Barnes Newcome, looking round
with a tipsy toss of the head, finally sate down.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel sang, as we have said, with a very high voice, using freely the
falsetto, after the manner of the tenor singers of his day. He chose one of his
maritime songs, and got through the first verse very well, Barnes wagging his
head at the chorus, with a &ldquo;Bravo!&rdquo; so offensive that Fred Bayham,
his neighbour, gripped the young man&rsquo;s arm, and told him to hold his
confounded tongue.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel began his second verse: and here, as will often happen to amateur
singers, his falsetto broke down. He was not in the least annoyed, for I saw
him smile very good-naturedly; and he was going to try the verse again, when
that unlucky Barnes first gave a sort of crowing imitation of the song, and
then burst into a yell of laughter. Clive dashed a glass of wine in his face at
the next minute, glass and all; and no one who had watched the young
man&rsquo;s behaviour was sorry for the insult.
</p>

<p>
I never saw a kind face express more terror than Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s. He
started back as if he had himself received the blow from his son.
&ldquo;Gracious God!&rdquo; he cried out. &ldquo;My boy insult a gentleman at
my table!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to do it again,&rdquo; says Clive, whose whole body was
trembling with anger.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Are you drunk, sir?&rdquo; shouted his father.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The boy served the young fellow right, sir,&rdquo; growled Fred Bayham
in his deepest voice. &ldquo;Come along, young man. Stand up straight, and keep
a civil tongue in your head next time, mind you, when you dine with gentlemen.
It&rsquo;s easy to see,&rdquo; says Fred, looking round with a knowing air,
&ldquo;that this young man hasn&rsquo;t got the usages of
society&mdash;he&rsquo;s not been accustomed to it:&rdquo; and he led the dandy
out.
</p>

<p>
Others had meanwhile explained the state of the case to the
Colonel&mdash;including Sir Thomas de Boots, who was highly energetic and
delighted with Clive&rsquo;s spirit; and some were for having the song to
continue; but the Colonel, puffing his cigar, said, &ldquo;No. My pipe is out.
I will never sing again.&rdquo; So this history will record no more of Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s musical performances.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"></a>
CHAPTER XIV.<br/>
Park Lane</h2>

<p>
Clive woke up the next morning to be aware of a racking headache, and, by the
dim light of his throbbing eyes, to behold his father with solemn face at his
bed-foot&mdash;a reproving conscience to greet his waking.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You drank too much wine last night, and disgraced yourself, sir,&rdquo;
the old soldier said. &ldquo;You must get up and eat humble pie this morning,
my boy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Humble what, father?&rdquo; asked the lad, hardly aware of his words, or
the scene before him. &ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ve got such a headache!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Serve you right, sir. Many a young fellow has had to go on parade in the
morning, with a headache earned overnight. Drink this water. Now, jump up. Now,
dash the water well over your head. There you come! Make your toilette quickly;
and let us be off, and find cousin Barnes before he has left home.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive obeyed the paternal orders; dressed himself quickly; and descending,
found his father smoking his morning cigar in the apartment where they had
dined the night before, and where the tables still were covered with the relics
of yesterday&rsquo;s feast&mdash;the emptied bottles, the blank lamps, the
scattered ashes and fruits, the wretched heel-taps that have been lying exposed
all night to the air. Who does not know the aspect of an expired feast?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The field of action strewed with the dead, my boy,&rdquo; says
Clive&rsquo;s father. &ldquo;See, here&rsquo;s the glass on the floor yet, and
a great stain of claret on the carpet.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, father!&rdquo; says Clive, hanging his head down, &ldquo;I know I
shouldn&rsquo;t have done it. But Barnes Newcome would provoke the patience of
Job; and I couldn&rsquo;t bear to have my father insulted.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am big enough to fight my own battles, my boy,&rdquo; the Colonel said
good-naturedly, putting his hand on the lad&rsquo;s damp head. &ldquo;How your
head throbs! If Barnes laughed at my singing, depend upon it, sir, there was
something ridiculous in it, and he laughed because he could not help it. If he
behaved ill, we should not; and to a man who is eating our salt too, and is of
our blood.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He is ashamed of our blood, father,&rdquo; cries Clive, still indignant.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We ought to be ashamed of doing wrong. We must go and ask his pardon.
Once when I was a young man in India,&rdquo; the father continued very gravely,
&ldquo;some hot words passed at mess&mdash;not such an insult as that of last
night; I don&rsquo;t think I could have quite borne that&mdash;and people found
fault with me for forgiving the youngster who had uttered the offensive
expressions over his wine. Some of my acquaintance sneered at my courage, and
that is a hard imputation for a young fellow of spirit to bear. But
providentially, you see, it was war-time, and very soon after I had the good
luck to show that I was not a <i>poule mouillée</i>, as the French call it; and
the man who insulted me, and whom I forgave, became my fastest friend, and died
by my side&mdash;it was poor Jack Cutler&mdash;at Argaum. We must go and ask
Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s pardon, sir, and forgive other people&rsquo;s
trespasses, my boy, if we hope forgiveness of our own.&rdquo; His voice sank
down as he spoke, and he bowed his honest head reverently. I have heard his son
tell the simple story years afterwards, with tears in his eyes.
</p>

<p>
Piccadilly was hardly yet awake the next morning, and the sparkling dews and
the poor homeless vagabonds still had possession of the grass of Hyde Park, as
the pair walked up to Sir Brian Newcome&rsquo;s house, where the shutters were
just opening to let in the day. The housemaid, who was scrubbing the steps of
the house, and washing its trim feet in a manner which became such a polite
mansion&rsquo;s morning toilet, knew Master Clive, and smiled at him from under
her blousy curl-papers, admitting the two gentlemen into Sir Brian&rsquo;s
dining-room, where they proposed to wait until Mr. Barnes should appear. There
they sate for an hour looking at Lawrence&rsquo;s picture of Lady Anne, leaning
over a harp, attired in white muslin; at Harlowe&rsquo;s portrait of Mrs.
Newcome, with her two sons simpering at her knees, painted at a time when the
Newcome Brothers were not the bald-headed, red-whiskered British merchants with
whom the reader has made acquaintance, but chubby children with hair flowing
down their backs, and quaint little swallow-tailed jackets and nankeen
trousers. A splendid portrait of the late Earl of Kew in his peer&rsquo;s robes
hangs opposite his daughter and her harp. We are writing of George the
Fourth&rsquo;s reign; I dare say there hung in the room a fine framed print of
that great sovereign. The chandelier is in a canvas bag; the vast sideboard,
whereon are erected open frames for the support of Sir Brian Newcome&rsquo;s
grand silver trays, which on dinner days gleam on that festive board, now
groans under the weight of Sir Brian&rsquo;s bluebooks. An immense receptacle
for wine, shaped like a Roman sarcophagus, lurks under the sideboard. Two
people sitting at that large dining-table must talk very loud so as to make
themselves heard across those great slabs of mahogany covered with damask. The
butler and servants who attend at the table take a long time walking round it.
I picture to myself two persons of ordinary size sitting in that great room at
that great table, far apart, in neat evening costume, sipping a little sherry,
silent, genteel, and glum; and think the great and wealthy are not always to be
envied, and that there may be more comfort and happiness in a snug parlour,
where you are served by a brisk little maid, than in a great dark, dreary
dining-hall, where a funereal major-domo and a couple of stealthy footmen
minister to you your mutton-chops. They come and lay the cloth presently, wide
as the main-sheet of some tall ammiral. A pile of newspapers and letters for
the master of the house; the <i>Newcome Sentinel</i>, old county paper,
moderate conservative, in which our worthy townsman and member is praised, his
benefactions are recorded, and his speeches given at full length; the
<i>Newcome Independent</i>, in which our precious member is weekly described as
a ninny, and informed almost every Thursday morning that he is a bloated
aristocrat, as he munches his dry toast. Heaps of letters, county papers,
<i>Times</i> and <i>Morning Herald</i> for Sir Brian Newcome; little heaps of
letters (dinner and soirée cards most of these) and <i>Morning Post</i> for Mr.
Barnes. Punctually as eight o&rsquo;clock strikes, that young gentleman comes
to breakfast; his father will lie yet for another hour; the Baronet&rsquo;s
prodigious labours in the House of Commons keeping him frequently out of bed
till sunrise.
</p>

<p>
As his cousin entered the room, Clive turned very red, and perhaps a faint
blush might appear on Barnes&rsquo;s pallid countenance. He came in, a
handkerchief in one hand, a pamphlet in the other, and both hands being thus
engaged, he could offer neither to his kinsmen.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You are come to breakfast, I hope,&rdquo; he said&mdash;calling it
&ldquo;weakfast,&rdquo; and pronouncing the words with a most languid
drawl&mdash;&ldquo;or, perhaps, you want to see my father? He is never out of
his room till half-past nine. Harper, did Sir Brian come in last night before
or after me?&rdquo; Harper, the butler, thinks Sir Brian came in after Mr.
Barnes.
</p>

<p>
When that functionary had quitted the room, Barnes turned round to his uncle in
a candid, smiling way, and said, &ldquo;The fact is, sir, I don&rsquo;t know
when I came home myself very distinctly, and can&rsquo;t, of course, tell about
my father. Generally, you know, there are two candles left in the hall, you
know; and if there are two, you know, I know of course that my father is still
at the House. But last night, after that capital song you sang, hang me if I
know what happened to me. I beg your pardon, sir, I&rsquo;m shocked at having
been so overtaken. Such a confounded thing doesn&rsquo;t happen to me once in
ten years. I do trust I didn&rsquo;t do anything rude to anybody, for I thought
some of your friends the pleasantest fellows I ever met in my life; and as for
the claret, &rsquo;gad, as if I hadn&rsquo;t had enough after dinner, I brought
a quantity of it away with me on my shirt-front and waistcoat!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I beg your pardon, Barnes,&rdquo; Clive said, blushing deeply,
&ldquo;and I&rsquo;m very sorry indeed for what passed; I threw it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Colonel, who had been listening with a queer expression of wonder and doubt
on his face, here interrupted Mr. Barnes. &ldquo;It was Clive that&mdash;that
spilled the wine over you last night,&rdquo; Thomas Newcome said; &ldquo;the
young rascal had drunk a great deal too much wine, and had neither the use of
his head nor his hands, and this morning I have given him a lecture, and he has
come to ask your pardon for his clumsiness; and if you have forgotten your
share in the night&rsquo;s transaction, I hope you have forgotten his, and will
accept his hand and his apology.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Apology: There&rsquo;s no apology,&rdquo; cries Barnes, holding out a
couple of fingers of his hand, but looking towards the Colonel. &ldquo;I
don&rsquo;t know what happened any more than the dead. Did we have a row? Were
there any glasses broken? The best way in such cases is to sweep &rsquo;em up.
We can&rsquo;t mend them.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Colonel said gravely&mdash;&ldquo;that he was thankful to find that the
disturbance of the night before had no worse result.&rdquo; He pulled the tail
of Clive&rsquo;s coat, when that unlucky young blunderer was about to trouble
his cousin with indiscreet questions or explanations, and checked his talk.
&ldquo;The other night you saw an old man in drink, my boy,&rdquo; he said,
&ldquo;and to what shame and degradation the old wretch had brought himself.
Wine has given you a warning too, which I hope you will remember all your life;
no one has seen me the worse for drink these forty years, and I hope both you
young gentlemen will take counsel by an old soldier, who fully preaches what he
practises, and beseeches you to beware of the bottle.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
After quitting their kinsman, the kind Colonel further improved the occasion
with his son; and told him out of his own experience many stories of quarrels,
and duels, and wine;&mdash;how the wine had occasioned the brawls, and the
foolish speech overnight the bloody meeting at morning; how he had known widows
and orphans made by hot words uttered in idle orgies: how the truest honour was
the manly confession of wrong; and the best courage the courage to avoid
temptation. The humble-minded speaker, whose advice contained the best of all
wisdom, that which comes from a gentle and reverent spirit, and a pure and
generous heart, never for once thought of the effect which he might be
producing, but uttered his simple say according to the truth within him.
Indeed, he spoke out his mind pretty resolutely on all subjects which moved or
interested him; and Clive, his son, and his honest chum, Mr. Binnie, who had a
great deal more reading and much keener intelligence than the Colonel, were
amused often at his naive opinion about men, or books, or morals. Mr. Clive had
a very fine natural sense of humour, which played perpetually round his
father&rsquo;s simple philosophy with kind and smiling comments. Between this
pair of friends the superiority of wit lay, almost from the very first, on the
younger man&rsquo;s side; but, on the other hand, Clive felt a tender
admiration for his father&rsquo;s goodness, a loving delight in contemplating
his elder&rsquo;s character, which he has never lost, and which in the trials
of their future life inexpressibly cheered and consoled both of them! <i>Beati
illi!</i> O man of the world, whose wearied eyes may glance over this page, may
those who come after you so regard you! O generous boy, who read in it, may you
have such a friend to trust and cherish in youth, and in future days fondly and
proudly to remember!
</p>

<p>
Some four or five weeks after the quasi-reconciliation between Clive and his
kinsman, the chief part of Sir Brian Newcome&rsquo;s family were assembled at
the breakfast-table together, where the meal was taken in common, and at the
early hour of eight (unless the senator was kept too late in the House of
Commons overnight); and Lady Anne and her nursery were now returned to London
again, little Alfred being perfectly set up by a month of Brighton air. It was
a Thursday morning; on which day of the week, it has been said, the <i>Newcome
Independent</i> and the <i>Newcome Sentinel</i> both made their appearance upon
the Baronet&rsquo;s table. The household from above and from below; the maids
and footmen from the basement; the nurses, children, and governesses from the
attics; all poured into the room at the sound of a certain bell.
</p>

<p>
I do not sneer at the purpose for which, at that chiming eight-o&rsquo;clock
bell, the household is called together. The urns are hissing, the plate is
shining; the father of the house, standing up, reads from a gilt book for three
or four minutes in a measured cadence. The members of the family are around the
table in an attitude of decent reverence; the younger children whisper
responses at their mother&rsquo;s knees; the governess worships a little apart;
the maids and the large footmen are in a cluster before their chairs, the upper
servants performing their devotion on the other side of the sideboard; the
nurse whisks about the unconscious last-born, and tosses it up and down during
the ceremony. I do not sneer at that&mdash;at the act at which all these people
are assembled&mdash;it is at the rest of the day I marvel; at the rest of the
day, and what it brings. At the very instant when the voice has ceased speaking
and the gilded book is shut, the world begins again, and for the next
twenty-three hours and fifty-seven minutes all that household is given up to
it. The servile squad rises up and marches away to its basement, whence, should
it happen to be a gala-day, those tall gentlemen at present attired in Oxford
mixture will issue forth with flour plastered on their heads, yellow coats,
pink breeches, sky-blue waistcoats, silver lace, buckles in their shoes, black
silk bags on their backs, and I don&rsquo;t know what insane emblems of
servility and absurd bedizenments of folly. Their very manner of speaking to
what we call their masters and mistresses will be a like monstrous masquerade.
You know no more of that race which inhabits the basement floor, than of the
men and brethren of Timbuctoo, to whom some among us send missionaries. If you
met some of your servants in the streets (I respectfully suppose for a moment
that the reader is a person of high fashion and a great establishment), you
would not know their faces. You might sleep under the same roof for half a
century and know nothing about them. If they were ill, you would not visit
them, though you would send them an apothecary and of course order that they
lacked for nothing. You are not unkind, you are not worse than your neighbours.
Nay, perhaps, if you did go into the kitchen, or to take the tea in the
servants&rsquo;-hall, you would do little good, and only bore the folks
assembled there. But so it is. With those fellow-Christians who have been just
saying Amen to your prayers, you have scarcely the community of Charity. They
come, you don&rsquo;t know whence; they think and talk, you don&rsquo;t know
what; they die, and you don&rsquo;t care, or <i>vice versâ</i>. They answer the
bell for prayers as they answer the bell for coals: for exactly three minutes
in the day you all kneel together on one carpet&mdash;and, the desires and
petitions of the servants and masters over, the rite called family worship is
ended.
</p>

<p>
Exeunt servants, save those two who warm the newspaper, administer the muffins,
and serve out the tea. Sir Brian reads his letters, and chumps his dry toast.
Ethel whispers to her mother, she thinks Eliza is looking very ill. Lady Anne
asks, which is Eliza? Is it the woman that was ill before they left town? If
she is ill, Mrs. Trotter had better send her away. Mrs. Trotter is only a great
deal too good-natured. She is always keeping people who are ill. Then her
ladyship begins to read the <i>Morning Post</i>, and glances over the names of
the persons who were present at Baroness Bosco&rsquo;s ball, and Mrs. Toddle
Tompkyns&rsquo;s <i>soirée dansante</i> in Belgrave Square.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Everybody was there,&rdquo; says Barnes, looking over from his paper.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But who is Mrs. Toddle Tompkyns?&rdquo; asks mamma. &ldquo;Who ever
heard of a Mrs. Toddle Tompkyns? What do people mean by going to such a
person?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Lady Popinjoy asked the people,&rdquo; Barnes says gravely. &ldquo;The
thing was really doosed well done. The woman looked frightened; but she&rsquo;s
pretty, and I am told the daughter will have a great lot of money.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is she pretty, and did you dance with her?&rdquo; asks Ethel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Me dance!&rdquo; says Mr. Barnes. We are speaking of a time before
casinos were, and when the British youth were by no means so active in dancing
practice as at this present period. Barnes resumed the reading of his county
paper, but presently laid it down, with an execration so brisk and loud, that
his mother gave a little outcry, and even his father looked up from his letters
to ask the meaning of an oath so unexpected and ungenteel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My uncle, the Colonel of sepoys, and his amiable son have been paying a
visit to Newcome&mdash;that&rsquo;s the news which I have the pleasure to
announce to you,&rdquo; says Mr. Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You are always sneering about our uncle,&rdquo; breaks in Ethel, with
impetuous voice, &ldquo;and saying unkind things about Clive. Our uncle is a
dear, good, kind man, and I love him. He came to Brighton to see us, and went
out every day for hours and hours with Alfred; and Clive, too, drew pictures
for him. And he is good, and kind, and generous, and honest as his father. And
Barnes is always speaking ill of him behind his back.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And his aunt lets very nice lodgings, and is altogether a most desirable
acquaintance,&rdquo; says Mr. Barnes. &ldquo;What a shame it is that we have
not cultivated that branch of the family!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear fellow,&rdquo; cries Sir Brian, &ldquo;I have no doubt Miss
Honeyman is a most respectable person. Nothing is so ungenerous as to rebuke a
gentleman or a lady on account of their poverty, and I coincide with Ethel in
thinking that you speak of your uncle and his son in terms which, to say the
least, are disrespectful.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Miss Honeyman is a dear little old woman,&rdquo; breaks in Ethel.
&ldquo;Was not she kind to Alfred, mamma, and did not she make him nice jelly?
And a Doctor of Divinity&mdash;you know Clive&rsquo;s grandfather was a Doctor
of Divinity, mamma, there&rsquo;s a picture of him in a wig&mdash;is just as
good as a banker, you know he is.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Did you bring some of Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s lodging-house cards with
you, Ethel?&rdquo; says her brother, &ldquo;and had we not better hang up one
or two in Lombard Street; hers and our other relation&rsquo;s, Mrs.
Mason?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My darling love, who is Mrs. Mason?&rdquo; asks Lady Anne.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Another member of the family, ma&rsquo;am. She was
cousin&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She was no such thing, sir,&rdquo; roars Sir Brian.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She was relative and housemaid of my grandfather during his first
marriage. She acted, I believe, as dry nurse to the distinguished Colonel of
sepoys, my uncle. She has retired into private life in her native town of
Newcome, and occupies her latter days by the management of a mangle. The
Colonel and young pothouse have gone down to spend a few days with their
elderly relative. It&rsquo;s all here in the paper, by Jove!&rdquo; Mr. Barnes
clenched his fist, and stamped upon the newspaper with much energy.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And so they should go down and see her, and so the Colonel should love
his nurse, and not forget his relations if they are old and poor,&rdquo; cries
Ethel, with a flush on her face, and tears starting into her eyes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hear what the Newcome papers say about it,&rdquo; shrieks out Mr.
Barnes, his voice quivering, his little eyes flashing out scorn.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s in both the papers, I dare say. It will be in the
<i>Times</i> to-morrow. By &mdash;&mdash; it&rsquo;s delightful. Our paper only
mentions the gratifying circumstance; here is the paragraph.
&lsquo;Lieutenant-Colonel Newcome, C.B., a distinguished Indian officer, and
younger brother of our respected townsman and representative Sir Brian Newcome,
Bart., has been staying for the last week at the King&rsquo;s Arms, in our
city. He has been visited by the principal inhabitants and leading gentlemen of
Newcome, and has come among us, as we understand, in order to pass a few days
with an elderly relative, who has been living for many years past in great
retirement in this place.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, I see no great harm in that paragraph,&rdquo; says Sir Brian.
&ldquo;I wish my brother had gone to the Roebuck, and not to the King&rsquo;s
Arms, as the Roebuck is our house: but he could not be expected to know much
about the Newcome inns, as he is a <i>new-comer</i> himself. And I think it was
very right of the people to call on him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Now hear what the <i>Independent</i> says, and see if you like that,
sir,&rdquo; cries Barnes, grinning fiercely; and he began to read as
follows:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;&lsquo;Mr. <i>Independent</i>&mdash;I was born and bred a Screwcomite,
and am naturally proud of <i>everybody</i> and <i>everything</i> which bears
the revered name of Screwcome. I am a Briton and a man, though I have not the
honour of a vote for my native borough; if I had, you may be sure I would give
it to our <i>admired</i> and <i>talented</i> representative, Don Pomposo
Lickspittle Grindpauper, Poor House Agincourt, Screwcome, whose ancestors
fought with Julius Cæsar against William the Conqueror, and whose father
certainly wielded a <i>cloth yard shaft</i> in London not fifty years ago.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Don Pomposo, as you know, seldom favours the town o Screwcome
with a visit.&mdash;Our gentry are not of <i>ancient birth</i> enough to be
welcome to a Lady Screwcome. Our manufacturers make their money by trade. Oh,
fie I how can it be supposed that such <i>vulgarians</i> should be received
among the <i>aristocratic society</i> of Screwcome House? Two balls in the
season, and ten dozen o gooseberry, are enough for <i>them</i>.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s that scoundrel Parrot,&rdquo; burst out Sir Brian;
&ldquo;because I wouldn&rsquo;t have any more wine of him&mdash;No, it&rsquo;s
Vidler, the apothecary. By heavens! Lady Anne, I told you it would be so. Why
didn&rsquo;t you ask the Miss Vidlers to your ball?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;They were on the list,&rdquo; cries Lady Anne, &ldquo;three of them; I
did everything I could; I consulted Mr. Vidler for poor Alfred, and he actually
stopped and saw the dear child take the physic. Why were they not asked to the
ball?&rdquo; cries her ladyship bewildered; &ldquo;I declare to gracious
goodness I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Barnes scratched their names,&rdquo; cries Ethel, &ldquo;out of the
list, mamma. You know you did, Barnes; you said you had gallipots
enough.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it is like Vidler&rsquo;s writing,&rdquo; said Mr.
Barnes, perhaps willing to turn the conversation. &ldquo;I think it must be
that villain Duff the baker, who made the song about us at the last
election;&mdash;but hear the rest of the paragraph,&rdquo; and he continued to
read:&mdash;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;The Screwcomites are at this moment favoured with a visit from a
gentleman of the Screwcome family, who, having passed all his life abroad, is
somewhat different from his relatives, whom we all so <i>love and honour!</i>
This distinguished gentleman, this gallant soldier, has come among us, not
merely to see our manufactures&mdash;in which Screwcome can vie with any city
in the North&mdash;but an old servant and relation of his family, whom he is
not above recognising; who nursed him in his early days; who has been living in
her native place for many years, supported by the generous bounty of Colonel
N&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;. The gallant officer, accompanied by his son, a fine
youth, has taken repeated drives round our beautiful environs in one of friend
Taplow&rsquo;s (of the King&rsquo;s Arms) open drags, and accompanied by Mrs.
&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;, now an aged lady, who speaks, with tears in her eyes, of
the goodness and gratitude of her gallant soldier!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;One day last week they drove to Screwcome House. Will it be
believed that, though the house is only four miles distant from our
city&mdash;though Don Pomposo&rsquo;s family have inhabited it these twelve
years for four or five months every year&mdash;Mrs. M&mdash;&mdash;&mdash; saw
her cousin&rsquo;s house for the first time; has never set eyes upon those
grandees, except in public places, since the day when they <i>honoured</i> the
county by purchasing the estate which they own?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;I have, as I repeat, no vote for the borough; but if I had, oh,
wouldn&rsquo;t I show my respectful gratitude at the next election, and plump
for Pomposo! I shall keep my eye upon him, and am, Mr.
<i>Independent</i>,&mdash;Your Constant Reader, Peeping Tom.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;The spirit of radicalism abroad in this country,&rdquo; said Sir Brian
Newcome, crushing his egg-shell desperately, &ldquo;is dreadful, really
dreadful. We are on the edge of a positive volcano.&rdquo; Down went the
egg-spoon into its crater. &ldquo;The worst sentiments are everywhere publicly
advocated; the licentiousness of the press has reached a pinnacle which menaces
us with ruin; there is no law which these shameless newspapers respect; no rank
which is safe from their attacks; no ancient landmark which the lava-flood of
democracy does not threaten to overwhelm and destroy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When I was at Spielburg,&rdquo; Barnes Newcome remarked kindly, &ldquo;I
saw three long-bearded, putty-faced blaguards pacin up and down a little
courtyard, and Count Keppenheimer told me they were three damned editors of
Milanese newspapers, who had had seven years of imprisonment already; and last
year when Keppenheimer came to shoot at Newcome, I showed him that old thief,
old Batters, the proprietor of the <i>Independent</i>, and Potts, his infernal
ally, driving in a dogcart; and I said to him, Keppenheimer, I wish we had a
place where we could lock up some of our infernal radicals of the press, or
that you could take off those two villains to Spielburg; and as we were passin,
that infernal Potts burst out laughin in my face, and cut one of my pointers
over the head with his whip. We must do something with that <i>Independent</i>,
sir.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We must,&rdquo; says the father, solemnly, &ldquo;we must put it down,
Barnes, we must put it down.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think,&rdquo; says Barnes, &ldquo;we had best give the railway
advertisements to Batters.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But that makes the man of the <i>Sentinel</i> so angry,&rdquo; says the
elder persecutor of the press.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Then let us give Tom Potts some shootin at any rate; the ruffian is
always poachin about our covers as it is. Speers should be written to, sir, to
keep a look-out upon Batters and that villain his accomplice, and to be civil
to them, and that sort of thing; and, damn it, to be down upon them whenever he
sees the opportunity.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
During the above conspiracy for bribing or crushing the independence of a great
organ of British opinion, Miss Ethel Newcome held her tongue; but when her papa
closed the conversation by announcing solemnly that he would communicate with
Speers, Ethel turning to her mother said, &ldquo;Mamma, is it true that
grandpapa has a relation living at Newcome who is old and poor?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My darling child, how on earth should I know?&rdquo; says Lady Anne.
&ldquo;I daresay Mr. Newcome had plenty of poor relations.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am sure some on your side, Anne, have been good enough to visit me at
the bank,&rdquo; said Sir Brian, who thought his wife&rsquo;s ejaculation was a
reflection upon his family, whereas it was the statement of a simple fact in
natural history. &ldquo;This person was no relation of my father&rsquo;s at
all. She was remotely connected with his first wife, I believe. She acted as
servant to him, and has been most handsomely pensioned by the Colonel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Who went to her, like a kind, dear, good, brave uncle as he is,&rdquo;
cried Ethel; &ldquo;the very day I go to Newcome I&rsquo;ll go to see
her.&rdquo; She caught a look of negation in her father&rsquo;s
eye&mdash;&ldquo;I will go&mdash;that is, if papa will give me leave,&rdquo;
says Miss Ethel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By Gad, sir,&rdquo; says Barnes, &ldquo;I think it is the very best
thing she could do; and the best way of doing it, Ethel can go with one of the
boys and take Mrs. What-do-you-call&rsquo;em a gown, or a tract, or that sort
of thing, and stop that infernal <i>Independent&rsquo;s</i> mouth.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If we had gone sooner,&rdquo; said Miss Ethel, simply, &ldquo;there
would not have been all this abuse of us in the paper.&rdquo; To which
statement her worldly father and brother perforce agreeing, we may congratulate
good old Mrs. Mason upon the new and polite acquaintances she is about to make.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"></a>
CHAPTER XV.<br/>
The Old Ladies</h2>

<p>
The above letter and conversation will show what our active Colonel&rsquo;s
movements and history had been since the last chapter in which they were
recorded. He and Clive took the Liverpool mail, and travelled from Liverpool to
Newcome with a post-chaise and a pair of horses, which landed them at the
King&rsquo;s Arms. The Colonel delighted in post-chaising&mdash;the rapid
transit through the country amused him and cheered his spirits. Besides, had he
not Dr. Johnson&rsquo;s word for it, that a swift journey in a post-chaise was
one of the greatest enjoyments in life, and a sojourn in a comfortable inn one
of its chief pleasures? In travelling he was as happy and noisy as a boy. He
talked to the waiters, and made friends with the landlord; got all the
information which he could gather regarding the towns into which he came; and
drove about from one sight or curiosity to another with indefatigable
good-humour and interest. It was good for Clive to see men and cities; to visit
mills, manufactories, country seats, cathedrals. He asked a hundred questions
regarding all things round about him; and any one caring to know who Thomas
Newcome was, and what his rank and business, found no difficulty in having his
questions answered by the simple and kindly traveller.
</p>

<p>
Mine host of the King&rsquo;s Arms, Mr. Taplow aforesaid, knew in five minutes
who his guest was, and the errand on which he came. Was not Colonel
Newcome&rsquo;s name painted on all his trunks and boxes? Was not his servant
ready to answer all questions regarding the Colonel and his son? Newcome pretty
generally introduced Clive to my landlord, when the latter brought his guest
his bottle of wine. With old-fashioned cordiality, the Colonel would bid the
landlord drink a glass of his own liquor, and seldom failed to say to him,
&ldquo;This is my son, sir. We are travelling together to see the country.
Every English gentleman should see his own country first, before he goes
abroad, as we intend to do afterwards&mdash;to make the Grand Tour. And I will
thank you to tell me what there is remarkable in your town, and what we ought
to see&mdash;antiquities, manufactures, and seats in the neighbourhood. We wish
to see everything, sir&mdash;everything. Elaborate diaries of these home tours
are still extant, in Clive&rsquo;s boyish manuscript and the Colonel&rsquo;s
dashing handwriting&mdash;quaint records of places visited, and alarming
accounts of inn bills paid.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So Mr. Taplow knew in five minutes that his guest was a brother of Sir Brian,
their member; and saw the note despatched by an ostler to &ldquo;Mrs. Sarah
Mason, Jubilee Row,&rdquo; announcing that the Colonel had arrived, and would
be with her after his dinner. Mr. Taplow did not think fit to tell his guest
that the house Sir Brian used&mdash;the Blue house&mdash;was the Roebuck, not
the King&rsquo;s Arms. Might not the gentlemen be of different politics? Mr.
Taplow&rsquo;s wine knew none.
</p>

<p>
Some of the jolliest fellows in all Newcome use the Boscawen Room at the
King&rsquo;s Arms as their club, and pass numberless merry evenings and crack
countless jokes there.
</p>

<p>
Duff, the baker; old Mr. Vidler, when he can get away from his medical labours
(and his hand shakes, it must be owned, very much now, and his nose is very
red); Parrot, the auctioneer; and that amusing dog, Tom Potts, the talented
reporter of the <i>Independent</i>&mdash;were pretty constant attendants at the
King&rsquo;s Arms; and Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s dinner was not over before some
of these gentlemen knew what dishes he had had; how he had called for a bottle
of sherry and a bottle of claret, like a gentleman; how he had paid the
postboys, and travelled with a servant like a top-sawyer; that he was come to
shake hands with an old nurse and relative of his family. Every one of those
jolly Britons thought well of the Colonel for his affectionateness and
liberality, and contrasted it with the behaviour of the Tory
Baronet&mdash;their representative.
</p>

<p>
His arrival made a sensation in the place. The Blue Club at the Roebuck
discussed it, as well as the uncompromising Liberals at the King&rsquo;s Arms.
Mr. Speers, Sir Brian&rsquo;s agent, did not know how to act, and advised Sir
Brian by the next night&rsquo;s mail, The Reverend Dr. Bulders, the rector,
left his card.
</p>

<p>
Meanwhile it was not gain or business, but only love and gratitude, which
brought Thomas Newcome to his father&rsquo;s native town. Their dinner over,
away went the Colonel and Clive, guided by the ostler, their previous
messenger, to the humble little tenement which Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s earliest
friend inhabited. The good old woman put her spectacles into her Bible, and
flung herself into her boy&rsquo;s arms&mdash;her boy who was more than fifty
years old. She embraced Clive still more eagerly and frequently than she kissed
his father. She did not know her Colonel with them whiskers. Clive was the very
picture of the dear boy as he had left her almost twoscore years ago. And as
fondly as she hung on the boy, her memory had ever clung round that early time
when they were together. The good soul told endless tales of her
darling&rsquo;s childhood, his frolics and beauty. To-day was uncertain to her,
but the past was still bright and clear. As they sat prattling together over
the bright tea-table, attended by the trim little maid, whose services the
Colonel&rsquo;s bounty secured for his old nurse, the kind old creature
insisted on having Clive by her side. Again and again she would think he was
actually her own boy, forgetting, in that sweet and pious hallucination, that
the bronzed face, and thinned hair, and melancholy eyes of the veteran before
her, were those of her nursling of old days. So for near half the space of
man&rsquo;s allotted life he had been absent from her, and day and night
wherever he was, in sickness or health, in sorrow or danger, her innocent love
and prayers had attended the absent darling. Not in vain, not in vain, does he
live whose course is so befriended. Let us be thankful for our race, as we
think of the love that blesses some of us. Surely it has something of Heaven in
it, and angels celestial may rejoice in it, and admire it.
</p>

<p>
Having nothing whatever to do, our Colonel&rsquo;s movements are of course
exceedingly rapid, and he has the very shortest time to spend in any single
place. That evening, Saturday, and the next day, Sunday, when he will
faithfully accompany his dear old nurse to church. And what a festival is that
day for her, when she has her Colonel and that beautiful brilliant boy of his
by her side, and Mr. Hicks, the curate, looking at him, and the venerable Dr.
Bulders himself eyeing him from the pulpit, and all the neighbours fluttering
and whispering, to be sure, who can be that fine military gentleman, and that
splendid young man sitting by old Mrs. Mason, and leading her so affectionately
out of church? That Saturday and Sunday the Colonel will pass with good old
Mason, but on Monday he must be off; on Tuesday he must be in London, he has
important business in London,&mdash;in fact, Tom Hamilton, of his regiment,
comes up for election at the Oriental on that day, and on such an occasion
could Thomas Newcome be absent? He drives away from the King&rsquo;s Arms
through a row of smirking chambermaids, smiling waiters, and thankful ostlers,
accompanied to the post-chaise, of which the obsequious Taplow shuts the door;
and the Boscawen Room pronounces him that night to be a trump; and the whole of
the busy town, ere the next day is over, has heard of his coming and departure,
praised his kindliness and generosity, and no doubt contrasted it with the
different behaviour of the Baronet, his brother, who has gone for some time by
the ignominious sobriquet of Screwcome, in the neighbourhood of his ancestral
hall.
</p>

<p>
Dear old nurse Mason will have a score of visits to make and to receive, at all
of which you may be sure that triumphal advent of the Colonel&rsquo;s will be
discussed and admired. Mrs. Mason will show her beautiful new India shawl, and
her splendid Bible with the large print, and the affectionate inscription, from
Thomas Newcome to his dearest old friend; her little maid will exhibit her new
gown; the curate will see the Bible, and Mrs. Bulders will admire the shawl;
and the old friends and humble companions of the good old lady, as they take
their Sunday walks by the pompous lodge-gates of Newcome Park, which stand with
the Baronet&rsquo;s new-fangled arms over them, gilded, and filagreed, and
barred, will tell their stories, too, about the kind Colonel and his hard
brother. When did Sir Brian ever visit a poor old woman&rsquo;s cottage, or his
bailiff exempt from the rent? What good action, except a few thin blankets and
beggarly coal and soup tickets, did Newcome Park ever do for the poor? And as
for the Colonel&rsquo;s wealth, Lord bless you, he&rsquo;s been in India these
five-and-thirty years; the Baronet&rsquo;s money is a drop in the sea to his.
The Colonel is the kindest, the best, the richest of men. These facts and
opinions, doubtless, inspired the eloquent pen of &ldquo;Peeping Tom,&rdquo;
when he indited the sarcastic epistle to the <i>Newcome Independent</i>, which
we perused over Sir Brian Newcome&rsquo;s shoulder in the last chapter.
</p>

<p>
And you may be sure Thomas Newcome had not been many weeks in England before
good little Miss Honeyman, at Brighton, was favoured with a visit from her dear
Colonel. The envious Gawler scowling out of his bow-window, where the fly-blown
card still proclaimed that his lodgings were unoccupied, had the mortification
to behold a yellow post-chaise drive up to Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s door, and
having discharged two gentlemen from within, trot away with servant and baggage
to some house of entertainment other than Gawler&rsquo;s. Whilst this wretch
was cursing his own ill fate, and execrating yet more deeply Miss
Honeyman&rsquo;s better fortune, the worthy little lady was treating her
Colonel to a sisterly embrace and a solemn reception. Hannah, the faithful
housekeeper, was presented, and had a shake of the hand. The Colonel knew all
about Hannah: ere he had been in England a week, a basket containing pots of
jam of her confection, and a tongue of Hannah&rsquo;s curing, had arrived for
the Colonel. That very night when his servant had lodged Colonel
Newcome&rsquo;s effects at the neighbouring hotel, Hannah was in possession of
one of the Colonel&rsquo;s shirts, she and her mistress having previously
conspired to make a dozen of those garments for the family benefactor.
</p>

<p>
All the presents which Newcome had ever transmitted to his sister-in-law from
India had been taken out of the cotton and lavender in which the faithful
creature kept them. It was a fine hot day in June, but I promise you Miss
Honeyman wore her blazing scarlet Cashmere shawl; her great brooch,
representing the Taj of Agra, was in her collar; and her bracelets (she used to
say, I am given to understand they are called bangles, my dear, by the natives)
decorated the sleeves round her lean old hands, which trembled with pleasure as
they received the kind grasp of the Colonel of colonels. How busy those hands
had been that morning! What custards they had whipped!&mdash;what a triumph of
pie-crusts they had achieved! Before Colonel Newcome had been ten minutes in
the house, the celebrated veal-cutlets made their appearance. Was not the whole
house adorned in expectation of his coming? Had not Mr. Kuhn, the affable
foreign gentleman of the first-floor lodgers, prepared a French dish? Was not
Betty on the look-out, and instructed to put the cutlets on the fire at the
very moment when the Colonel&rsquo;s carriage drove up to her mistress&rsquo;s
door? The good woman&rsquo;s eyes twinkled, the kind old hand and voice shook,
as, holding up a bright glass of Madeira, Miss Honeyman drank the
Colonel&rsquo;s health. &ldquo;I promise you, my dear Colonel,&rdquo; says she,
nodding her head, adorned with a bristling superstructure of lace and ribbons,
&ldquo;I promise you, that I can drink your health in good <i>wine!</i>&rdquo;
The wine was of his own sending, and so were the China fire-screens, and the
sandalwood workbox, and the ivory cardcase, and those magnificent pink and
white chessmen, carved like little sepoys and mandarins, with the castles on
elephants&rsquo; backs, George the Third and his queen in pink ivory, against
the Emperor of China and lady in white&mdash;the delight of Clive&rsquo;s
childhood, the chief ornament of the old spinster&rsquo;s sitting-room.
</p>

<p>
Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s little feast was pronounced to be the perfection of
cookery; and when the meal was over, came a noise of little feet at the parlour
door, which being opened, there appeared, first, a tall nurse with a dancing
baby; second and third, two little girls with little frocks, little trousers,
long ringlets, blue eyes, and blue ribbons to match; fourth, Master Alfred, now
quite recovered from his illness, and holding by the hand, fifth, Miss Ethel
Newcome, blushing like a rose.
</p>

<p>
Hannah, grinning, acted as mistress of the ceremonies, calling out the names of
&ldquo;Miss Newcomes, Master Newcomes, to see the Colonel, if you please,
ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; bobbing a curtsey, and giving a knowing nod to Master
Clive, as she smoothed her new silk apron. Hannah, too, was in new attire, all
crisp and rustling, in the Colonel&rsquo;s honour. Miss Ethel did not cease
blushing as she advanced towards her uncle; and the honest campaigner started
up, blushing too. Mr. Clive rose also, as little Alfred, of whom he was a great
friend, ran towards him. Clive rose, laughed, nodded at Ethel, and ate
gingerbread nuts all at the same time. As for Colonel Thomas Newcome and his
niece, they fell in love with each other instantaneously, like Prince
Camaralzaman and the Princess of China.
</p>

<p>
I have turned away one artist: the poor creature was utterly incompetent to
depict the sublime, graceful, and pathetic personages and events with which
this history will most assuredly abound, and I doubt whether even the designer
engaged in his place can make such a portrait of Miss Ethel Newcome as shall
satisfy her friends and her own sense of justice. That blush which we have
indicated, he cannot render. How are you to copy it with a steel point and a
ball of printer&rsquo;s ink? That kindness which lights up the Colonel&rsquo;s
eyes; gives an expression to the very wrinkles round about them; shines as a
halo round his face;&mdash;what artist can paint it? The painters of old, when
they portrayed sainted personages, were fain to have recourse to compasses and
gold leaf&mdash;as if celestial splendour could be represented by Dutch metal!
As our artist cannot come up to this task, the reader will be pleased to let
his fancy paint for itself the look of courtesy for a woman, admiration for a
young beauty, protection for an innocent child, all of which are expressed upon
the Colonel&rsquo;s kind face, as his eyes are set upon Ethel Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mamma has sent us to bid you welcome to England, uncle,&rdquo; says Miss
Ethel, advancing, and never thinking for a moment of laying aside that fine
blush which she brought into the room, and which is <i>her</i> pretty symbol of
youth, and modesty, and beauty.
</p>

<p>
He took a little slim white hand and laid it down on his brown palm, where it
looked all the whiter: he cleared the grizzled mustachio from his mouth, and
stooping down he kissed the little white hand with a great deal of grace and
dignity. There was no point of resemblance, and yet a something in the
girl&rsquo;s look, voice, and movements, which caused his heart to thrill, and
an image out of the past to rise up and salute him. The eyes which had
brightened his youth (and which he saw in his dreams and thoughts for faithful
years afterwards, as though they looked at him out of heaven) seemed to shine
upon him after five-and-thirty years. He remembered such a fair bending neck
and clustering hair, such a light foot and airy figure, such a slim hand lying
in his own&mdash;and now parted from it with a gap of ten thousand long days
between. It is an old saying, that we forget nothing; as people in fever begin
suddenly to talk the language of their infancy we are stricken by memory
sometimes, and old affections rush back on us as vivid as in the time when they
were our daily talk, when their presence gladdened our eyes, when their accents
thrilled in our ears, when with passionate tears and grief we flung ourselves
upon their hopeless corpses. Parting is death, at least as far as life is
concerned. A passion comes to an end; it is carried off in a coffin, or weeping
in a post-chaise; it drops out of life one way or other, and the earthclods
close over it, and we see it no more. But it has been part of our souls, and it
is eternal. Does a mother not love her dead infant? a man his lost mistress?
with the fond wife nestling at his side,&mdash;yes, with twenty children
smiling round her knee. No doubt, as the old soldier held the girl&rsquo;s hand
in his, the little talisman led him back to Hades, and he saw
Leonora.&mdash;&mdash;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How do you do, uncle?&rdquo; say girls Nos. 2 and 3 in a pretty little
infantile chorus. He drops the talisman, he is back in common life
again&mdash;the dancing baby in the arms of the bobbing nurse babbles a
welcome. Alfred looks up for a while at his uncle in the white trousers, and
then instantly proposes that Clive should make him some drawings; and is on his
knees at the next moment. He is always climbing on somebody or something, or
winding over chairs, curling through banisters, standing on somebody&rsquo;s
head, or his own head,&mdash;as his convalescence advances, his breakages are
fearful. Miss Honeyman and Hannah will talk about his dilapidations for years
after the little chap has left them. When he is a jolly young officer in the
Guards, and comes to see them at Brighton, they will show him the blue-dragon
Chayny jar, on which he would sit, and which he cried so fearfully upon
breaking.
</p>

<p>
When this little party has gone out smiling to take its walk on the sea-shore,
the Colonel sits down and resumes the interrupted dessert. Miss Honeyman talks
of the children and their mother, and the merits of Mr. Kuhn, and the beauty of
Miss Ethel, glancing significantly towards Clive, who has had enough of
gingerbread nuts and dessert and wine, and whose youthful nose is by this time
at the window. What kind-hearted woman, young or old, does not love
match-making?
</p>

<p>
The Colonel, without lifting his eyes from the table, says &ldquo;she reminds
him of&mdash;of somebody he knew once.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed?&rdquo; cries Miss Honeyman, and thinks Emma must have altered
very much after going to India, for she had fair hair, and white eyelashes, and
not a pretty foot certainly&mdash;but, my dear good lady, the Colonel is not
thinking of the late Mrs. Casey.
</p>

<p>
He has taken a fitting quantity of the Madeira, the artless greeting of the
people here, young and old, has warmed his heart, and he goes upstairs to pay a
visit to his sister-in-law, to whom he makes his most courteous bow as becomes
a lady of her rank. Ethel takes her place quite naturally beside him during his
visit. Where did he learn those fine manners which all of us who knew him
admired in him? He had a natural simplicity, an habitual practice of kind and
generous thoughts; a pure mind, and therefore above hypocrisy and
affectation&mdash;perhaps those French people with whom he had been intimate in
early life had imparted to him some of the traditional graces of their
<i>vieille tour</i>&mdash;certainly his half-brothers had inherited none such.
&ldquo;What is this that Barnes has written about his uncle, that the Colonel
is ridiculous?&rdquo; Lady Anne said to her daughter that night. &ldquo;Your
uncle is adorable. I have never seen a more perfect grand Seigneur. He puts me
in mind of my grandfather, though grandpapa&rsquo;s grand manner was more
artificial, and his voice spoiled by snuff. See the Colonel. He smokes round
the garden, but with what perfect grace! This is the man Uncle Hobson, and your
poor dear papa, have represented to us as a species of bear! Mr. Newcome, who
has himself the ton of a waiter! The Colonel is perfect. What can Barnes mean
by ridiculing him? I wish Barnes had such a distinguished air; but he is like
his poor dear papa. <i>Que voulez-vous</i>, my love? The Newcomes are
honourable: the Newcomes are wealthy: but distinguished&mdash;no. I never
deluded myself with that notion when I married your poor dear papa. At once I
pronounce Colonel Newcome a person to be in every way distinguished by us. On
our return to London I shall present him to all our family: poor good man! let
him see that his family have some presentable relations besides those whom he
will meet at Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s, in Bryanstone Square. You must go to
Bryanstone Square immediately we return to London. You must ask your cousins
and their governess, and we will give them a little party. Mrs. Newcome is
insupportable, but we must never forsake our relatives, Ethel. When you come
out you will have to dine there, and to go to her ball. Every young lady in
your position in the world has sacrifices to make, and duties to her family to
perform. Look at me. Why did I marry your poor dear papa? From duty. Has your
Aunt Fanny, who ran away with Captain Canonbury, been happy? They have eleven
children, and are starving at Boulogne. Think of three of Fanny&rsquo;s boys in
yellow stockings at the Bluecoat School. Your papa got them appointed. I am
sure my papa would have gone mad if he had seen that day! She came with one of
the poor wretches to Park Lane: but I could not see them. My feelings would not
allow me. When my maid,&mdash;I had a French maid then, Louise, you remember;
her conduct was <i>abominable:</i> so was Préville&rsquo;s&mdash;when she came
and said that my Lady Fanny was below with a young gentleman, <i>qui portait
des bas jaunes</i>, I could not see the child. I begged her to come up in my
room: and, absolutely that I might not offend her, I went to bed. That wretch
Louise met her at Boulogne and told her afterwards. Good night, we must not
stand chattering here any more. Heaven bless you, my darling! Those are the
Colonel&rsquo;s windows! Look, he is smoking on his balcony&mdash;that must be
Clive&rsquo;s room. Clive is a good kind boy. It was very kind of him to draw
so many pictures for Alfred. Put the drawings away, Ethel. Mr. Smee saw some in
Park Lane, and said they showed remarkable genius. What a genius your Aunt
Emily had for drawing; but it was flowers! I had no genius in particular, so
mamma used to say&mdash;and Doctor Belper said, &lsquo;My dear Lady
Walham&rsquo; (it was before my grandpapa&rsquo;s death), &lsquo;has Miss Anne
a genius for sewing buttons and making puddens?&rsquo;&mdash;puddens he
pronounced it. Goodnight, my own love. Blessings, blessings, on my
Ethel!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Colonel from his balcony saw the slim figure of the retreating girl, and
looked fondly after her: and as the smoke of his cigar floated in the air, he
formed a fine castle in it, whereof Clive was lord, and that pretty Ethel,
lady. &ldquo;What a frank, generous, bright young creature is yonder!&rdquo;
thought he. &ldquo;How cheery and gay she is; how good to Miss Honeyman, to
whom she behaved with just the respect that was the old lady&rsquo;s
due&mdash;how affectionate with her brothers and sisters! What a sweet voice
she has! What a pretty little white hand it is! When she gave it me, it looked
like a little white bird lying in mine. I must wear gloves, by Jove I must, and
my coat is old-fashioned, as Binnie says; what a fine match might be made
between that child and Clive! She reminds me of a pair of eyes I haven&rsquo;t
seen these forty years. I would like to have Clive married to her; to see him
out of the scrapes and dangers that young fellows encounter, and safe with such
a sweet girl as that. If God had so willed it, I might have been happy myself,
and could have made a woman happy. But the Fates were against me. I should like
to see Clive happy, and then say <i>Nunc dimittis</i>. I shan&rsquo;t want
anything more to-night, Kean, and you can go to bed.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Thank you, Colonel,&rdquo; says Kean, who enters, having prepared his
master&rsquo;s bedchamber, and is retiring when the Colonel calls after him:
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I say, Kean, is that blue coat of mine very old?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Uncommon white about the seams, Colonel,&rdquo; says the man.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is it older than other people&rsquo;s coats?&rdquo;&mdash;Kean is
obliged gravely to confess that the Colonel&rsquo;s coat is very queer.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Get me another coat, then&mdash;see that I don&rsquo;t do anything or
wear anything unusual. I have been so long out of Europe, that I don&rsquo;t
know the customs here, and am not above learning.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Kean retires, vowing that his master is an old trump; which opinion he had
already expressed to Mr. Kuhn, Lady Hanne&rsquo;s man, over a long potation
which those two gentlemen had taken together. And, as all of us, in one way or
another, are subject to this domestic criticism, from which not the most
exalted can escape, I say, lucky is the man whose servants speak well of him.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"></a>
CHAPTER XVI.<br/>
In which Mr. Sherrick lets his House in Fitzroy Square</h2>

<p>
In spite of the sneers of the <i>Newcome Independent</i>, and the
Colonel&rsquo;s unlucky visit to his nurse&rsquo;s native place, he still
remained in high favour in Park Lane; where the worthy gentleman paid almost
daily visits, and was received with welcome and almost affection, at least by
the ladies and the children of the house. Who was it that took the children to
Astley&rsquo;s but Uncle Newcome? I saw him there in the midst of a cluster of
these little people, all children together. He laughed delighted at Mr.
Merryman&rsquo;s jokes in the ring. He beheld the Battle of Waterloo with
breathless interest, and was amazed&mdash;amazed, by Jove, sir&mdash;at the
prodigious likeness of the principal actor to the Emperor Napoleon; whose tomb
he had visited on his return from India, as it pleased him to tell his little
audience who sat clustering round him: the little girls, Sir Brian&rsquo;s
daughters, holding each by a finger of his honest hands; young Masters Alfred
and Edward clapping and hurrahing by his side; while Mr. Clive and Miss Ethel
sat in the back of the box enjoying the scene, but with that decorum which
belonged to their superior age and gravity. As for Clive, he was in these
matters much older than the grizzled old warrior his father. It did one good to
hear the Colonel&rsquo;s honest laughs at clown&rsquo;s jokes, and to see the
tenderness and simplicity with which he watched over this happy brood of young
ones. How lavishly did he supply them with sweetmeats between the acts! There
he sat in the midst of them, and ate an orange himself with perfect
satisfaction. I wonder what sum of money Mr. Barnes Newcome would have taken to
sit for five hours with his young brothers and sisters in a public box at the
theatre and eat an orange in the face of the audience? When little Alfred went
to Harrow, you may be sure Colonel Newcome and Clive galloped over to see the
little man, and tipped him royally. What money is better bestowed than that of
a schoolboy&rsquo;s tip? How the kindness is recalled by the recipient in after
days! It blesses him that gives and him that takes. Remember how happy such
benefactions made you in your own early time, and go off on the very first fine
day and tip your nephew at school!
</p>

<p>
The Colonel&rsquo;s organ of benevolence was so large, that he would have liked
to administer bounties to the young folks his nephews and nieces in Bryanstone
Square, as well as to their cousins in Park Lane; but Mrs. Newcome was a great
deal too virtuous to admit of such spoiling of children. She took the poor
gentleman to task for an attempt upon her boys when those lads came home for
their holidays, and caused them ruefully to give back the shining gold
sovereign with which their uncle had thought to give them a treat.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I do not quarrel with <i>other</i> families,&rdquo; says she; &ldquo;I
do not <i>allude</i> to other families;&rdquo; meaning, of course, that she did
not allude to Park Lane. &ldquo;There may be children who are allowed to
receive money from their father&rsquo;s grown-up friends. There may be children
who hold out their hands for presents, and thus become mercenary in early life.
I make no reflections with regard to <i>other</i> households. <i>I</i> only
look, and think, and pray for the welfare of my own beloved ones. They want for
nothing. Heaven has bounteously furnished us with every comfort, with every
elegance, with every luxury. Why need we be bounden to others, who have been
ourselves so amply provided? I should consider it ingratitude, Colonel Newcome,
want of proper spirit, to allow my boys to accept money. Mind, I make <i>no
allusions</i>. When they go to school they receive a sovereign a-piece from
their father, and a shilling a week, which is ample pocket-money. When they are
at home, I desire that they may have rational amusements: I send them to the
Polytechnic with Professor Hickson, who kindly explains to them some of the
marvels of science and the wonders of machinery. I send them to the
picture-galleries and the British Museum. I go with them myself to the
delightful lectures at the institution in Albemarle Street. I do not desire
that they should attend theatrical exhibitions. I do not quarrel with those who
go to plays; far from it! Who am I that I should venture to judge the conduct
of others? When you wrote from India, expressing a wish that your boy should be
made acquainted with the works of Shakspeare, I gave up my own opinion at once.
Should I interpose between a child and his father? I encouraged the boy to go
to the play, and sent him to the pit with one of our footmen.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And you tipped him very handsomely, my dear Maria, too,&rdquo; said the
good-natured Colonel, breaking in upon her sermon; but Virtue was not to be put
off in that way.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And why, Colonel Newcome,&rdquo; Virtue exclaimed, laying a pudgy little
hand on its heart; &ldquo;why did I treat Clive so? Because I stood towards him
<i>in loco parentis;</i> because he was as a child to me, and I to him as a
mother. I indulged him more than my own. I loved him with a true maternal
tenderness. <i>Then</i> he was happy to come to our house: <i>then</i> perhaps
Park Lane was not so often open to him as Bryanstone Square: but I make n<i>o
allusions. Then</i> he did not go six times to another house for once that he
came to mine. He was a simple, confiding, generous boy, was not dazzled by
worldly rank or titles of splendour. He could not find <i>these</i> in
Bryanstone Square. A merchant&rsquo;s wife, a country lawyer&rsquo;s
daughter&mdash;I could not be expected to have my humble board surrounded by
titled aristocracy; I would not if I could. I love my own family too well; I am
too honest, too simple,&mdash;let me own it at once, Colonel Newcome, too
<i>proud!</i> And now, now his father has come to England, and I have resigned
him, and he meets with no titled aristocrats at my house, and he does not come
here any more.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Tears rolled out of her little eyes as she spoke, and she covered her round
face with her pocket-handkerchief.
</p>

<p>
Had Colonel Newcome read the paper that morning, he might have seen amongst
what are called the fashionable announcements, the cause, perhaps, why his
sister-in-law had exhibited so much anger and virtue. The <i>Morning Post</i>
stated, that yesterday Sir Brian and Lady Newcome entertained at dinner His
Excellency the Persian Ambassador and Bucksheesh Bey; the Right Honourable
Cannon Rowe, President of the Board of Control, and Lady Louisa Rowe; the Earl
of H&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;, the Countess of Kew, the Earl of Kew, Sir Currey
Baughton, Major-General and Mrs. Hooker, Colonel Newcome, and Mr. Horace Fogey.
Afterwards her ladyship had an assembly, which was attended by, etc. etc.
</p>

<p>
This catalogue of illustrious names had been read by Mr. Newcome to her spouse
at breakfast, with such comments as she was in the habit of making.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The President of the Board of Control, the Chairman of the Court of
Directors, and Ex-Governor-General of India, and a whole regiment of Kews. By
Jove, Maria, the Colonel is in good company,&rdquo; cries Mr. Newcome, with a
laugh. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the sort of dinner you should have given him. Some
people to talk about India. When he dined with us he was put between old Lady
Wormely and Professor Roots. I don&rsquo;t wonder at his going to sleep after
dinner. I was off myself once or twice during that confounded long argument
between Professor Roots and Dr. Windus. That Windus is the deuce to
talk.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Dr. Windus is a man of science, and his name is of European
celebrity!&rdquo; says Maria solemnly. &ldquo;Any intellectual person would
prefer such company to the titled nobodies into whose family your brother has
married.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There you go, Polly; you are always having a shy at Lady Anne and her
relations,&rdquo; says Mr. Newcome, good-naturedly.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A shy! How can you use such vulgar words, Mr. Newcome? What have I to do
with Sir Brian&rsquo;s titled relations? I do not value nobility. I prefer
people of science&mdash;people of intellect&mdash;to all the rank in the
world.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;So you do,&rdquo; says Hobson her spouse. &ldquo;You have your
party&mdash;Lady Anne has her party. You take your line&mdash;Lady Anne takes
her line. You are a superior woman, my dear Polly; every one knows that.
I&rsquo;m a plain country farmer, I am. As long as you are happy, I am happy
too. The people you get to dine here may talk Greek or algebra for what I care.
By Jove, my dear, I think you can hold your own with the best of them.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have endeavoured by assiduity to make up for time lost, and an early
imperfect education,&rdquo; says Mrs. Newcome. &ldquo;You married a poor
country lawyer&rsquo;s daughter. You did not seek a partner in the Peerage, Mr.
Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, no. Not such a confounded flat as that,&rdquo; cries Mr. Newcome,
surveying his plump partner behind her silver teapot, with eyes of admiration.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I had an imperfect education, but I knew its blessings, and have, I
trust, endeavoured to cultivate the humble talents which Heaven has given me,
Mr. Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Humble, by Jove!&rdquo; exclaims the husband. &ldquo;No gammon of that
sort, Polly. You know well enough that you are a superior woman. I ain&rsquo;t
a superior man. I know that: one is enough in a family. I leave the reading to
you, my dear. Here comes my horses. I say, I wish you&rsquo;d call on Lady Anne
to-day. Do go and see her, now that&rsquo;s a good girl. I know she is flighty,
and that; and Brian&rsquo;s back is up a little. But he ain&rsquo;t a bad
fellow; and I wish I could see you and his wife better friends.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
On his way to the City, Mr. Newcome rode to look at the new house, No. 120
Fitzroy Square, which his brother, the Colonel, had taken in conjunction with
that Indian friend of his, Mr. Binnie. Shrewd old cock, Mr. Binnie. Has brought
home a good bit of money from India. Is looking out for safe investments. Has
been introduced to Newcome Brothers. Mr. Newcome thinks very well of the
Colonel&rsquo;s friend.
</p>

<p>
The house is vast, but, it must be owned, melancholy. Not long since it was a
ladies&rsquo; school, in an unprosperous condition. The scar left by Madame
Latour&rsquo;s brass plate may still be seen on the tall black door, cheerfully
ornamented in the style of the end of the last century, with a funereal urn in
the centre of the entry, and garlands, and the skulls of rams at each corner.
Madame Latour, who at one time actually kept a large yellow coach, and drove
her parlour young ladies in the Regent&rsquo;s Park, was an exile from her
native country (Islington was her birthplace, and Grigson her paternal name),
and an outlaw at the suit of Samuel Sherrick: that Mr. Sherrick whose
wine-vaults undermine Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel where the eloquent
Honeyman preaches.
</p>

<p>
The house is Mr. Sherrick&rsquo;s house. Some say his name is Shadrach, and
pretend to have known him as an orange-boy, afterwards as a chorus-singer in
the theatres, afterwards as secretary to a great tragedian. I know nothing of
these stories. He may or he may not be a partner of Mr. Campion, of
Shepherd&rsquo;s Inn: he has a handsome villa, Abbey Road, St. John&rsquo;s
Wood, entertains good company, rather loud, of the sporting sort, rides and
drives very showy horses, has boxes at the Opera whenever he likes, and free
access behind the scenes: is handsome, dark, bright-eyed, with a quantity of
jewellery, and a tuft to his chin; sings sweetly sentimental songs after
dinner. Who cares a fig what was the religion of Mr. Sherrick&rsquo;s ancestry,
or what the occupation of his youth? Mr. Honeyman, a most respectable man
surely, introduced Sherrick to the Colonel and Binnie.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Sherrick stocked their cellar with some of the wine over which Honeyman
preached such lovely sermons. It was not dear; it was not bad when you dealt
with Mr. Sherrick for wine alone. Going into his market with ready money in
your hand, as our simple friends did, you were pretty fairly treated by Mr.
Sherrick.
</p>

<p>
The house being taken, we may be certain there was fine amusement for Clive,
Mr. Binnie, and the Colonel, in frequenting the sales, in the inspection of
upholsterers&rsquo; shops, and the purchase of furniture for the new mansion.
It was like nobody else&rsquo;s house. There were three masters with four or
five servants over them. Kean for the Colonel and his son; a smart boy with
boots for Mr. Binnie; Mrs. Kean to cook and keep house, with a couple of maids
under her. The Colonel, himself, was great at making hash mutton, hot-pot,
curry, and pillau. What cosy pipes did we not smoke in the dining-room, in the
drawing-room, or where we would! What pleasant evenings did we not have with Mr
Binnie&rsquo;s books and Schiedam! Then there were the solemn state dinners, at
most of which the writer of this biography had a corner.
</p>

<p>
Clive had a tutor&mdash;Cirindey of Corpus&mdash;whom we recommended to him,
and with whom the young gentleman did not fatigue his brains very much; but his
great forte decidedly lay in drawing. He sketched the horses, he sketched the
dogs; all the servants from the blear-eyed boot-boy to the rosy-cheeked lass,
Mrs. Kean&rsquo;s niece, whom that virtuous housekeeper was always calling to
come downstairs. He drew his father in all postures&mdash;asleep, on foot, on
horseback; and jolly little Mr. Binnie, with his plump legs on a chair, or
jumping briskly on the back of the cob which he rode. He should have drawn the
pictures for this book, but that he no longer condescends to make sketches.
Young Ridley was his daily friend now; and Grindley, his classics and
mathematics over in the morning, and the ride with father over, this pair of
young men would constantly attend Gandish&rsquo;s Drawing Academy, where, to be
sure, Ridley passed many hours at work on his art, before his young friend and
patron could be spared from his books to his pencil.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; says Clive, &ldquo;if you talk to him now about those early
days, it was a jolly time! I do not believe there was any young fellow in
London so happy.&rdquo; And there hangs up in his painting-room now, a head,
painted at one sitting, of a man rather bald, with hair touched with grey, with
a large moustache, and a sweet mouth half smiling beneath it, and melancholy
eyes; and Clive shows that portrait of their grandfather to his children, and
tells them that the whole world never saw a nobler gentleman.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"></a>
CHAPTER XVII.<br/>
A School of Art</h2>

<p>
British art either finds her peculiar nourishment in melancholy, and loves to
fix her abode in desert places; or it may be her purse is but slenderly
furnished, and she is forced to put up with accommodations rejected by more
prosperous callings. Some of the most dismal quarters of the town are colonised
by her disciples and professors. In walking through streets which may have been
gay and polite when ladies&rsquo; chairmen jostled each other on the pavement,
and linkboys with their torches lighted the beaux over the mud, who has not
remarked the artist&rsquo;s invasion of those regions once devoted to fashion
and gaiety? Centre windows of drawing-rooms are enlarged so as to reach up into
bedrooms&mdash;bedrooms where Lady Betty has had her hair powdered, and where
the painter&rsquo;s north-light now takes possession of the place which her
toilet-table occupied a hundred years ago. There are degrees in decadence:
after the Fashion chooses to emigrate, and retreats from Soho or Bloomsbury,
let us say, to Cavendish Square, physicians come and occupy the vacant houses,
which still have a respectable look, the windows being cleaned, and the
knockers and plates kept bright, and the doctor&rsquo;s carriage rolling round
the square, almost as fine as the countess&rsquo;s, which has whisked away her
ladyship to other regions. A boarding-house mayhap succeeds the physician, who
has followed after his sick folks into the new country; and then Dick Tinto
comes with his dingy brass plate, and breaks in his north window, and sets up
his sitters&rsquo; throne. I love his honest moustache, and jaunty velvet
jacket; his queer figure, his queer vanities, and his kind heart. Why should he
not suffer his ruddy ringlets to fall over his shirt-collar? Why should he deny
himself his velvet? it is but a kind of fustian which costs him eighteenpence a
yard. He is naturally what he is, and breaks out into costume as spontaneously
as a bird sings, or a bulb bears a tulip. And as Dick, under yonder terrific
appearance of waving cloak, bristling beard, and shadowy sombrero, is a good
kindly simple creature, got up at a very cheap rate, his life is so consistent
with his dress; he gives his genius a darkling swagger, and a romantic
envelope, which, being removed, you find, not a bravo, but a kind chirping
soul; not a moody poet avoiding mankind for the better company of his own great
thoughts, but a jolly little chap who has an aptitude for painting brocade
gowns, a bit of armour (with figures inside them), or trees and cattle, or
gondolas and buildings, or what not; an instinct for the picturesque, which
exhibits itself in his works, and outwardly on his person; beyond this, a
gentle creature loving his friends, his cups, feasts, merrymakings, and all
good things. The kindest folks alive I have found among those scowling
whiskeradoes. They open oysters with their yataghans, toast muffins on their
rapiers, and fill their Venice glasses with half-and-half. If they have money
in their lean purses, be sure they have a friend to share it. What innocent
gaiety, what jovial suppers on threadbare cloths, and wonderful songs after;
what pathos, merriment, humour does not a man enjoy who frequents their
company! Mr. Clive Newcome, who has long since shaved his beard, who has become
a family man, and has seen the world in a thousand different phases, avers that
his life as an art-student at home and abroad was the pleasantest part of his
whole existence. It may not be more amusing in the telling than the chronicle
of a feast, or the accurate report of two lovers&rsquo; conversation; but the
biographer, having brought his hero to the period of his life, is bound to
relate it, before passing to other occurrences which are to be narrated in
their turn.
</p>

<p>
We may be sure the boy had many conversations with his affectionate guardian as
to the profession which he should follow. As regarded mathematical and
classical learning, the elder Newcome was forced to admit, that out of every
hundred boys, there were fifty as clever as his own, and at least fifty more
industrious; the army in time of peace Colonel Newcome thought a bad trade for
a young fellow so fond of ease and pleasure as his son: his delight in the
pencil was manifest to all. Were not his school-books full of caricatures of
the masters? Whilst his tutor, Grindley, was lecturing him, did he not draw
Grindley instinctively under his very nose? A painter Clive was determined to
be, and nothing else; and Clive, being then some sixteen years of age, began to
study the art, <i>en règle</i>, under the eminent Mr. Gandish, of Soho.
</p>

<p>
It was that well-known portrait-painter, Alfred Smee, Esq., R.A., who
recommended Gandish to Colonel Newcome, one day when the two gentlemen met at
dinner at Lady Anne Newcome&rsquo;s table. Mr. Smee happened to examine some of
Clive&rsquo;s drawings, which the young fellow had executed for his cousins.
Clive found no better amusement than in making pictures for them, and would
cheerfully pass evening after evening in that diversion. He had made a thousand
sketches of Ethel before a year was over; a year, every day of which seemed to
increase the attractions of the fair young creature, develop her nymph-like
form, and give her figure fresh graces. He also of course drew Alfred and the
nursery in general, Aunt Anne and the Blenheim spaniels, and Mr. Kuhn and his
earrings, the majestic John bringing in the coal-scuttle, and all persons or
objects in that establishment with which he was familiar. &ldquo;What a genius
the lad has,&rdquo; the complimentary Mr. Smee averred; &ldquo;what a force and
individuality there is in all his drawings! Look at his horses! capital, by
Jove, capital! and Alfred on his pony, and Miss Ethel in her Spanish hat, with
her hair flowing in the wind! I must take this sketch, I positively must now,
and show it to Landseer.&rdquo; And the courtly artist daintily enveloped the
drawing in a sheet of paper, put it away in his hat, and vowed subsequently
that the great painter had been delighted with the young man&rsquo;s
performance. Smee was not only charmed with Clive&rsquo;s skill as an artist,
but thought his head would be an admirable one to paint. Such a rich
complexion, such fine turns in his hair! such eyes! to see real blue eyes was
so rare nowadays! And the Colonel too, if the Colonel would but give him a few
sittings, the grey uniform of the Bengal Cavalry, the silver lace, the little
bit of red ribbon just to warm up the picture! it was seldom, Mr. Smee
declared, that an artist could get such an opportunity for colour. With our
hideous vermilion uniforms there was no chance of doing anything; Rubens
himself could scarcely manage scarlet. Look at the horseman in Cuyp&rsquo;s
famous picture at the Louvre: the red was a positive blot upon the whole
picture. There was nothing like French grey and silver! All which did not
prevent Mr. Smee from painting Sir Brian in a flaring deputy-lieutenant&rsquo;s
uniform, and entreating all military men whom he met to sit to him in scarlet.
Clive Newcome the Academician succeeded in painting, of course for mere
friendship&rsquo;s sake, and because he liked the subject, though he could not
refuse the cheque which Colonel Newcome sent him for the frame and picture; but
no cajoleries could induce the old campaigner to sit to any artist save one. He
said he should be ashamed to pay fifty guineas for the likeness of his homely
face; he jocularly proposed to James Binnie to have his head put on the canvas,
and Mr. Smee enthusiastically caught at the idea; but honest James winked his
droll eyes, saying his was a beauty that did not want any paint; and when Mr.
Smee took his leave after dinner in Fitzroy Square, where this conversation was
held, James Binnie hinted that the Academician was no better than an old
humbug, in which surmise he was probably not altogether incorrect. Certain
young men who frequented the kind Colonel&rsquo;s house were also somewhat of
this opinion; and made endless jokes at the painter&rsquo;s expense. Smee
plastered his sitters with adulation as methodically as he covered his canvas.
He waylaid gentlemen at dinner; he inveigled unsuspecting folks into his
studio, and had their heads off their shoulders before they were aware. One
day, on our way from the Temple, through Howland Street, to the Colonel&rsquo;s
house, we beheld Major-General Sir Thomas de Boots, in full uniform, rushing
from Smee&rsquo;s door to his brougham. The coachman was absent refreshing
himself at a neighbouring tap: the little street-boys cheered and hurrayed Sir
Thomas, as, arrayed in gold and scarlet, he sate in his chariot. He blushed
purple when he beheld us. No artist would have dared to imitate those purple
tones: he was one of the numerous victims of Mr. Smee.
</p>

<p>
One day, then, day to be noted with a white stone, Colonel Newcome, with his
son and Mr. Smee, R.A., walked from the Colonel&rsquo;s house to
Gandish&rsquo;s, which was not far removed thence; and young Clive, who was a
perfect mimic, described to his friends, and illustrated, as was his wont, by
diagrams, the interview which he had with that professor. &ldquo;By Jove, you
must see Gandish, pa!&rdquo; cries Clive: &ldquo;Gandish is worth the whole
world. Come and be an art-student. You&rsquo;ll find such jolly fellows there!
Gandish calls it hart-student, and says, &lsquo;Hars est celare
Hartem&rsquo;&mdash;by Jove he does! He treated us to a little Latin, as he
brought out a cake and a bottle of wine, you know.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The governor was splendid, sir. He wore gloves: you know he only puts
them on on parade days; and turned out for the occasion spick and span. He
ought to be a general officer. He looks like a field-marshal&mdash;don&rsquo;t
he? You should have seen him bowing to Mrs. Gandish and the Miss Gandishes,
dressed all in their best, round the cake-tray! He takes his glass of wine, and
sweeps them all round with a bow. &lsquo;I hope, young ladies,&rsquo; says he,
&lsquo;you don&rsquo;t often go to the students&rsquo; room. I&rsquo;m afraid
the young gentlemen would leave off looking at the statues if you came
in.&rsquo; And so they would: for you never saw such guys; but the dear old boy
fancies every woman is a beauty.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Mr. Smee, you are looking at my picture of
&ldquo;Boadishia?&rdquo;&rsquo; says Gandish. Wouldn&rsquo;t he have caught it
for his quantities at Grey Friars, that&rsquo;s all.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Yes&mdash;ah&mdash;yes,&rsquo; says Mr. Smee, putting his hand
over his eyes, and standing before it, looking steady, you know, as if he was
going to see whereabouts he should <i>hit</i> Boadishia.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;It was painted when you were a young man, four years before you
were an associate, Smee. Had some success in its time, and there&rsquo;s good
pints about that picture,&rsquo; Gandish goes on. &lsquo;But I never could get
my price for it; and here it hangs in my own room. Igh art won&rsquo;t do in
this country, Colonel&mdash;it&rsquo;s a melancholy fact.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;High art! I should think it <i>is</i> high art!&rsquo; whispers
old Smee; &lsquo;fourteen feet high, at least!&rsquo; And then out loud he says
&lsquo;The picture has very fine points in it, Gandish, as you say.
Foreshortening of that arm, capital! That red drapery carried off into the
right of the picture very skilfully managed!&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;It&rsquo;s not like portrait-painting, Smee&mdash;Igh art,&rsquo;
says Gandish. &lsquo;The models of the hancient Britons in that pictur alone
cost me thirty pound&mdash;when I was a struggling man, and had just married my
Betsey here. You reckonise Boadishia, Colonel, with the Roman elmet, cuirass,
and javeling of the period&mdash;all studied from the hantique, sir, the
glorious hantique.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;All but Boadicea,&rsquo; says father. &lsquo;She remains always
young.&rsquo; And he began to speak the lines out of Cowper, he
did&mdash;waving his stick like an old trump&mdash;and famous they are,&rdquo;
cries the lad:
</p>

<p class="poem">
&ldquo;When the British warrior queen,<br/>
Bleeding from the Roman rods&rdquo;&mdash;
</p>

<p class="noindent">
&ldquo;Jolly verses! Haven&rsquo;t I translated them into alcaics?&rdquo; says
Clive, with a merry laugh, and resumes his history.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Oh, I must have those verses in my album,&rsquo; cries one of the
young ladies. &lsquo;Did you compose them, Colonel Newcome?&rsquo; But Gandish,
you see, is never thinking about any works but his own, and goes on,
&lsquo;Study of my eldest daughter, exhibited 1816.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;No, pa, not &rsquo;16,&rsquo; cries Miss Gandish. She don&rsquo;t
look like a chicken, I can tell you.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Admired,&rsquo; Gandish goes on, never heeding
her,&mdash;&lsquo;I can show you what the papers said of it at the
time&mdash;<i>Morning Chronicle</i> and <i>Examiner</i>&mdash;spoke most ighly
of it. My son as an infant &rsquo;Ercules, stranglin the serpent over the
piano. Fust conception of my picture of &ldquo;Non Hangli said
Hangeli.&rdquo;&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;For which I can guess who were the angels that sat,&rsquo; says
father. Upon my word, that old governor! He is a little too strong. But Mr.
Gandish listened no more to him than to Mr. Smee, and went on, buttering
himself all over, as I have read the Hottentots do. &lsquo;Myself at
thirty-three years of age!&rsquo; says he, pointing to a portrait of a
gentleman in leather breeches and mahogany boots; &lsquo;I could have been a
portrait-painter, Mr. Smee.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Indeed it was lucky for some of us you devoted yourself to high
art, Gandish,&rsquo; Mr. Smee says, and sips the wine and puts it down again,
making a face. It was not first-rate tipple, you see.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Two girls,&rsquo; continues that indomitable Mr. Gandish.
&lsquo;Hidea for &ldquo;Babes in the Wood.&rdquo; &ldquo;View of Pæstum,&rdquo;
taken on the spot by myself, when travelling with the late lamented Earl of
Kew. &lsquo;Beauty, Valour, Commerce, and Liberty, condoling with Britannia on
the death of Admiral Viscount Nelson,&rsquo;&mdash;allegorical piece drawn at a
very early age after Trafalgar. Mr. Fuseli saw that piece, sir, when I was a
student of the Academy, and said to me, &lsquo;Young man, stick to the antique.
There&rsquo;s nothing like it.&rsquo; Those were &rsquo;is very words. If you
do me the favour to walk into the Hatrium, you&rsquo;ll remark my great
pictures also from English &rsquo;istry. An English historical painter, sir,
should be employed chiefly in English &rsquo;istry. That&rsquo;s what I would
have done. Why ain&rsquo;t there temples for us, where the people might read
their history at a glance, and without knowing how to read? Why is my
&lsquo;Alfred&rsquo; &rsquo;anging up in this &rsquo;all? Because there is no
patronage for a man who devotes himself to Igh art. You know the anecdote,
Colonel? King Alfred flying from the Danes, took refuge in a neaterd&rsquo;s
&rsquo;ut. The rustic&rsquo;s wife told him to bake a cake, and the fugitive
sovering set down to his ignoble task, and forgetting it in the cares of state,
let the cake burn, on which the woman struck him. The moment chose is when she
is lifting her &rsquo;and to deliver the blow. The king receives it with
majesty mingled with meekness. In the background the door of the &rsquo;ut is
open, letting in the royal officers to announce the Danes are defeated. The
daylight breaks in at the aperture, signifying the dawning of &rsquo;Ope. That
story, sir, which I found in my researches in &rsquo;istry, has since become so
popular, sir, that hundreds of artists have painted it, hundreds! I who
discovered the legend, have my picture&mdash;here!&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Now, Colonel,&rsquo; says the showman, &lsquo;let me&mdash;let me
lead you through the statue gallery. &lsquo;Apollo,&rsquo; you see. The
&lsquo;Venus Hanadyomene,&rsquo; the glorious Venus of the Louvre, which I saw
in 1814, Colonel, in its glory&mdash;the &lsquo;Laocoon&rsquo;&mdash;my friend
Gibson&rsquo;s &lsquo;Nymth,&rsquo; you see, is the only figure I admit among
the antiques. Now up this stair to the students&rsquo; room, where I trust my
young friend, Mr. Newcome, will labour assiduously. <i>Ars longa est</i>, Mr.
Newcome. <i>Vita</i>&mdash;&mdash;&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I trembled,&rdquo; Clive said, &ldquo;lest my father should introduce a
certain favourite quotation, beginning &lsquo;<i>ingenuas
didicisse</i>&rsquo;&mdash;but he refrained, and we went into the room, where a
score of students were assembled, who all looked away from their drawing-boards
as we entered.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Here will be your place, Mr. Newcome,&rsquo; says the Professor,
&lsquo;and here that of your young friend&mdash;what did you say was his
name?&rsquo; I told him Rigby, for my dear old governor has promised to pay for
J. J. too, you know. &lsquo;Mr. Chivers is the senior pupil and custos of the
room in the absence of my son. Mr. Chivers, Mr. Newcome; gentlemen, Mr.
Newcome, a new pupil. My son, Charles Gandish, Mr. Newcome. Assiduity,
gentlemen, assiduity. <i>Ars longa. Vita brevis, et linea recta brevissima
est</i>. This way, Colonel, down these steps, across the courtyard, to my own
studio. There, gentlemen,&rsquo;&mdash;and pulling aside a curtain, Gandish
says &lsquo;There!&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And what was the masterpiece behind it?&rdquo; we ask of Clive, after we
have done laughing at his imitation.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hand round the hat, J. J.!&rdquo; cries Clive. &ldquo;Now, ladies and
gentlemen, pay your money. Now walk in, for the performance is &lsquo;just
a-going to begin.&rsquo;&rdquo; Nor would the rogue ever tell us what
Gandish&rsquo;s curtained picture was.
</p>

<p>
Not a successful painter, Mr. Gandish was an excellent master, and regarding
all artists save one perhaps a good critic. Clive and his friend J. J. came
soon after and commenced their studies under him. The one took his humble seat
at the drawing-board, a poor mean-looking lad, with worn clothes, downcast
features, and a figure almost deformed; the other adorned by good health, good
looks, and the best of tailors; ushered into the studio with his father and Mr.
Smee as his aides-de-camp on his entry; and previously announced there with all
the eloquence of honest Gandish. &ldquo;I bet he&rsquo;s &rsquo;ad cake and
wine,&rdquo; says one youthful student, of an epicurean and satirical turn.
&ldquo;I bet he might have it every day if he liked.&rdquo; In fact Gandish was
always handing him sweetmeats of compliments and cordials of approbation. He
had coat-sleeves with silk linings&mdash;he had studs in his shirt. How
different was the texture and colour of that garment, to the sleeves Bob Grimes
displayed when he took his coat off to put on his working jacket! Horses used
actually to come for him to Gandish&rsquo;s door (which was situated in a
certain lofty street in Soho). The Miss G.&rsquo;s would smile at him from the
parlour window as he mounted and rode splendidly off; and those opposition
beauties, the Miss Levisons, daughters of the professor of dancing over the
way, seldom failed to greet the young gentleman with an admiring ogle from
their great black eyes. Master Clive was pronounced an
&lsquo;out-and-outer,&rsquo; a &lsquo;swell and no mistake,&rsquo; and
complimented with scarce one dissentient voice by the simple academy at
Gandish&rsquo;s. Besides, he drew very well. There could be no doubt about
that. Caricatures of the students of course were passing constantly among them,
and in revenge for one which a huge red-haired Scotch student, Mr. Sandy
M&rsquo;Collop, had made of John James, Clive perpetrated a picture of Sandy
which set the whole room in a roar; and when the Caledonian giant uttered
satirical remarks against the assembled company, averring that they were a
parcel of sneaks, a set of lick-spittles, and using epithets still more vulgar,
Clive slipped off his fine silk-sleeved coat in an instant, invited Mr.
M&rsquo;Collop into the back-yard, instructed him in a science which the lad
himself had acquired at Grey Friars, and administered two black eyes to Sandy,
which prevented the young artist from seeing for some days after the head of
the &lsquo;Laocoon&rsquo; which he was copying. The Scotchman&rsquo;s superior
weight and age might have given the combat a different conclusion, had it
endured long after Clive&rsquo;s brilliant opening attack with his right and
left; but Professor Gandish came out of his painting-room at the sound of
battle, and could scarcely credit his own eyes when he saw those of poor
M&rsquo;Collop so darkened. To do the Scotchman justice, he bore Clive no
rancour. They became friends there, and afterwards at Rome, whither they
subsequently went to pursue their studies. The fame of Mr. M&rsquo;Collop as an
artist has long since been established. His pictures of &lsquo;Lord Lovat in
Prison,&rsquo; and &lsquo;Hogarth painting him,&rsquo; of the &lsquo;Blowing up
of the Kirk of Field&rsquo; (painted for M&rsquo;Collop of M&rsquo;Collop), of
the &lsquo;Torture of the Covenanters,&rsquo; the &lsquo;Murder of the
Regent,&rsquo; the &lsquo;Murder of Rizzio,&rsquo; and other historical pieces,
all of course from Scotch history, have established his reputation in South as
well as in North Britain. No one would suppose from the gloomy character of his
works that Sandy M&rsquo;Collop is one of the most jovial souls alive. Within
six months after their little difference, Clive and he were the greatest of
friends, and it was by the former&rsquo;s suggestion that Mr. James Binnie gave
Sandy his first commission, who selected the cheerful subject of &lsquo;The
Young Duke of Rothsay starving in Prison.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
During this period, Mr. Clive assumed the <i>toga virilis</i>, and beheld with
inexpressible satisfaction the first growth of those mustachios which have
since given him such a marked appearance. Being at Gandish&rsquo;s, and so near
the dancing academy, what must he do but take lessons in the terpsichorean art
too?&mdash;making himself as popular with the dancing folks as with the drawing
folks, and the jolly king of his company everywhere. He gave entertainments to
his fellow-students in the upper chambers in Fitzroy Square, which were devoted
to his use, inviting his father and Mr. Binnie to those parties now and then.
And songs were sung, and pipes were smoked, and many a pleasant supper eaten.
There was no stint: but no excess. No young man was ever seen to quit those
apartments the worse, as it is called, for liquor. Fred Bayham&rsquo;s uncle
the Bishop could not be more decorous than F. B. as he left the Colonel&rsquo;s
house, for the Colonel made that one of the conditions of his son&rsquo;s
hospitality, that nothing like intoxication should ensue from it. The good
gentleman did not frequent the parties of the juniors. He saw that his presence
rather silenced the young men; and left them to themselves, confiding in
Clive&rsquo;s parole, and went away to play his honest rubber of whist at the
Club. And many a time he heard the young fellows&rsquo; steps tramping by his
bedchamber door, as he lay wakeful within, happy to think his son was happy.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"></a>
CHAPTER XVIII.<br/>
New Companions</h2>

<p>
Clive used to give droll accounts of the young disciples at Gandish&rsquo;s,
who were of various ages and conditions, and in whose company the young fellow
took his place with that good temper and gaiety which have seldom deserted him
in life, and have put him at ease wherever his fate has led him. He is, in
truth, as much at home in a fine drawing-room as in a public-house parlour; and
can talk as pleasantly to the polite mistress of the mansion, as to the jolly
landlady dispensing her drinks from her bar. Not one of the Gandishites but was
after a while well inclined to the young fellow; from Mr. Chivers, the senior
pupil, down to the little imp Harry Hooker, who knew as much mischief at twelve
years old, and could draw as cleverly as many a student of five-and-twenty; and
Bob Trotter, the diminutive fag of the studio, who ran on all the young
men&rsquo;s errands, and fetched them in apples, oranges, and walnuts. Clive
opened his eyes with wonder when he first beheld these simple feasts, and the
pleasure with which some of the young men partook of them. They were addicted
to polonies; they did not disguise their love for Banbury cakes; they made bets
in ginger-beer, and gave and took the odds in that frothing liquor. There was a
young Hebrew amongst the pupils, upon whom his brother-students used playfully
to press ham sandwiches, pork sausages, and the like. This young man (who has
risen to great wealth subsequently, and was bankrupt only three months since)
actually bought cocoa-nuts, and sold them at a profit amongst the lads. His
pockets were never without pencil-cases, French chalk, garnet brooches, for
which he was willing to bargain. He behaved very rudely to Gandish, who seemed
to be afraid before him. It was whispered that the Professor was not altogether
easy in his circumstances, and that the elder Moss had some mysterious hold
over him. Honeyman and Bayham, who once came to see Clive at the studio, seemed
each disturbed at beholding young Moss seated there (making a copy of the
Marsyas). &ldquo;Pa knows both those gents,&rdquo; he informed Clive
afterwards, with a wicked twinkle of his Oriental eyes. &ldquo;Step in, Mr.
Newcome, any day you are passing down Wardour Street, and see if you
don&rsquo;t want anything in our way.&rdquo; (He pronounced the words in his
own way, saying: &ldquo;Step id, <i>Bister</i> Doocob, ady day idto Vordor
Street,&rdquo; etc.) This young gentleman could get tickets for almost all the
theatres, which he gave or sold, and gave splendid accounts at
Cavendish&rsquo;s of the brilliant masquerades. Clive was greatly diverted at
beholding Mr. Moss at one of these entertainments, dressed in a scarlet coat
and top-boots, and calling out, &ldquo;Yoicks! Hark forward!&rdquo; fitfully to
another Orientalist, his younger brother, attired like a midshipman. Once Clive
bought a half-dozen of theatre tickets from Mr. Moss, which he distributed to
the young fellows of the studio. But, when this nice young man tried further to
tempt him on the next day, &ldquo;Mr. Moss,&rdquo; Clive said to him with much
dignity, &ldquo;I am very much obliged to you for your offer, but when I go to
the play, I prefer paying at the doors.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Chivers used to sit in one corner of the room, occupied over a lithographic
stone. He was an uncouth and peevish young man; for ever finding fault with the
younger pupils, whose butt he was. Next in rank and age was M&rsquo;Collop,
before named: and these two were at first more than usually harsh and captious
with Clive, whose prosperity offended them, and whose dandified manners,
free-and-easy ways, and evident influence over the younger scholars, gave
umbrage to these elderly apprentices. Clive at first returned Mr. Chivers war
for war, controlment for controlment; but when he found Chivers was the son of
a helpless widow; that he maintained her by his lithographic vignettes for the
music-sellers, and by the scanty remuneration of some lessons which he gave at
a school at Highgate;&mdash;when Clive saw, or fancied he saw, the lonely
senior eyeing with hungry eyes the luncheons of cheese and bread, and
sweetstuff, which the young lads of the studio enjoyed, I promise you Mr.
Clive&rsquo;s wrath against Chivers was speedily turned into compassion and
kindness, and he sought, and no doubt found, means of feeding Chivers without
offending his testy independence.
</p>

<p>
Nigh to Gandish&rsquo;s was, and perhaps is, another establishment for teaching
the art of design&mdash;Barker&rsquo;s, which had the additional dignity of a
life academy and costume; frequented by a class of students more advanced than
those of Gandish&rsquo;s. Between these and the Barkerites there was a constant
rivalry and emulation, in and out of doors. Gandish sent more pupils to the
Royal Academy; Gandish had brought up three medallists; and the last R.A.
student sent to Rome was a Gandishite. Barker, on the contrary, scorned and
loathed Trafalgar Square, and laughed at its art. Barker exhibited in Pall Mall
and Suffolk Street: he laughed at old Gandish and his pictures, made mincemeat
of his &ldquo;Angli and Angeli,&rdquo; and tore &ldquo;King Alfred&rdquo; and
his muffins to pieces. The young men of the respective schools used to meet at
Lundy&rsquo;s coffee-house and billiard-room, and smoke there, and do battle.
Before Clive and his friend J. J. came to Gandish&rsquo;s, the Barkerites were
having the best of that constant match which the two academies were playing.
Fred Bayham, who knew every coffee-house in town, and whose initials were
scored on a thousand tavern doors, was for a while a constant visitor at
Lundy&rsquo;s, played pool with the young men, and did not disdain to dip his
beard into their porter-pots, when invited to partake of their drink; treated
them handsomely when he was in cash himself; and was an honorary member of
Barker&rsquo;s academy. Nay, when the guardsman was not forthcoming, who was
standing for one of Barker&rsquo;s heroic pictures, Bayham bared his immense
arms and brawny shoulders, and stood as Prince Edward, with Philippa sucking
the poisoned wound. He would take his friends up to the picture in the
Exhibition, and proudly point to it. &ldquo;Look at that biceps, sir, and now
look at this&mdash;that&rsquo;s Barker&rsquo;s masterpiece, sir, and
that&rsquo;s the muscle of F. B., sir.&rdquo; In no company was F. B. greater
than in the society of the artists, in whose smoky haunts and airy parlours he
might often be found. It was from F. B. that Clive heard of Mr. Chivers&rsquo;
struggles and honest industry. A great deal of shrewd advice could F. B. give
on occasion, and many a kind action and gentle office of charity was this jolly
outlaw known to do and cause to be done. His advice to Clive was most edifying
at this time of our young gentleman&rsquo;s life, and he owns that he was kept
from much mischief by this queer counsellor.
</p>

<p>
A few months after Clive and J. J. had entered at Gandish&rsquo;s, that academy
began to hold its own against its rival. The silent young disciple was
pronounced to be a genius. His copies were beautiful in delicacy and finish.
His designs were for exquisite grace and richness of fancy. Mr. Gandish took to
himself the credit for J. J.&rsquo;s genius; Clive ever and fondly acknowledged
the benefit he got from his friend&rsquo;s taste and bright enthusiasm and sure
skill. As for Clive, if he was successful in the academy he was doubly
victorious out of it. His person was handsome, his courage high, his gaiety and
frankness delightful and winning. His money was plenty and he spent it like a
young king. He could speedily beat all the club at Lundy&rsquo;s at billiards,
and give points to the redoubted F. B. himself. He sang a famous song at their
jolly supper-parties: and J. J. had no greater delight than to listen to his
fresh voice, and watch the young conqueror at the billiard-table, where the
balls seemed to obey him.
</p>

<p>
Clive was not the most docile of Mr. Gandish&rsquo;s pupils. If he had not come
to the studio on horseback, several of the young students averred, Gandish
would not always have been praising him and quoting him as that professor
certainly did. It must be confessed that the young ladies read the history of
Clive&rsquo;s uncle in the Book of Baronets, and that Gandish jun., probably
with an eye to business, made a design of a picture, in which, according to
that veracious volume, one of the Newcomes was represented as going cheerfully
to the stake at Smithfield, surrounded by some very ill-favoured Dominicans,
whose arguments did not appear to make the least impression upon the martyr of
the Newcome family. Sandy M&rsquo;Collop devised a counter picture, wherein the
barber-surgeon of King Edward the Confessor was drawn, operating upon the beard
of that monarch. To which piece of satire Clive gallantly replied by a design,
representing Sawney Bean M&rsquo;Collop, chief of the clan of that name,
descending from his mountains into Edinburgh, and his astonishment at beholding
a pair of breeches for the first time. These playful jokes passed constantly
amongst the young men of Gandish&rsquo;s studio. There was no one there who was
not caricatured in one way or another. He whose eyes looked not very straight
was depicted with a most awful squint. The youth whom nature had endowed with
somewhat lengthy nose was drawn by the caricaturists with a prodigious
proboscis. Little Bobby Moss, the young Hebrew artist from Wardour Street, was
delineated with three hats and an old-clothes bag. Nor were poor J. J.&rsquo;s
round shoulders spared, until Clive indignantly remonstrated at the hideous
hunchback pictures which the boys made of his friend, and vowed it was a shame
to make jokes at such a deformity.
</p>

<p>
Our friend, if the truth must be told regarding him, though one of the most
frank, generous, and kind-hearted persons, is of a nature somewhat haughty and
imperious, and very likely the course of life which he now led and the society
which he was compelled to keep, served to increase some original defects in his
character, and to fortify a certain disposition to think well of himself, with
which his enemies not unjustly reproach him. He has been known very
pathetically to lament that he was withdrawn from school too early, where a
couple of years&rsquo; further course of thrashings from his tyrant, old Hodge,
he avers, would have done him good. He laments that he was not sent to college,
where if a young man receives no other discipline, at least he acquires that of
meeting with his equals in society and of assuredly finding his betters:
whereas in poor Mr. Gandish&rsquo;s studio of art, our young gentleman scarcely
found a comrade that was not in one way or other his flatterer, his inferior,
his honest or dishonest admirer. The influence of his family&rsquo;s rank and
wealth acted more or less on all those simple folks, who would run on his
errands and vied with each other in winning the young nabob&rsquo;s favour. His
very goodness of heart rendered him a more easy prey to their flattery, and his
kind and jovial disposition led him into company from which he had been much
better away. I am afraid that artful young Moss, whose parents dealt in
pictures, furniture, gimcracks, and jewellery, victimised Clive sadly with
rings and chains, shirt-studs and flaming shirt-pins, and such vanities, which
the poor young rogue locked up in his desk generally, only venturing to wear
them when he was out of his father&rsquo;s sight or of Mr. Binnie&rsquo;s,
whose shrewd eyes watched him very keenly.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Clive used to leave home every day shortly after noon, when he was supposed
to betake himself to Gandish&rsquo;s studio. But was the young gentleman always
at the drawing-board copying from the antique when his father supposed him to
be so devotedly engaged? I fear his place was sometimes vacant. His friend J.
J. worked every day and all day. Many a time the steady little student remarked
his patron&rsquo;s absence, and no doubt gently remonstrated with him, but when
Clive did come to his work he executed it with remarkable skill and rapidity;
and Ridley was too fond of him to say a word at home regarding the shortcomings
of the youthful scapegrace. Candid readers may sometimes have heard their
friend Jones&rsquo;s mother lament that her darling was working too hard at
college: or Harry&rsquo;s sisters express their anxiety lest his too rigorous
attendance in chambers (after which he will persist in sitting up all night
reading those dreary law books which cost such an immense sum of money) should
undermine dear Henry&rsquo;s health; and to such acute persons a word is
sufficient to indicate young Mr. Clive Newcome&rsquo;s proceedings. Meanwhile
his father, who knew no more of the world than Harry&rsquo;s simple sisters or
Jones&rsquo;s fond mother, never doubted that all Clive&rsquo;s doings were
right, and that his boy was the best of boys.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If that young man goes on as charmingly as he has begun,&rdquo;
Clive&rsquo;s cousin, Barnes Newcome, said of his kinsman, &ldquo;he will be a
paragon. I saw him last night at Vauxhall in company with young Moss, whose
father does bills and keeps the bric-a-brac shop in Wardour Street. Two or
three other gentlemen, probably young old-clothes-men, who had concluded for
the day the labours of the bag, joined Mr. Newcome and his friend, and they
partook of rack-punch in an arbour. He is a delightful youth, cousin Clive, and
I feel sure he is about to be an honour to our family.&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"></a>
CHAPTER XIX.<br/>
The Colonel at Home</h2>

<p>
Our good Colonel&rsquo;s house had received a coat of paint, which, like Madame
Latour&rsquo;s rouge in her latter days, only served to make her careworn face
look more ghastly. The kitchens were gloomy. The stables were gloomy. Great
black passages; cracked conservatory; dilapidated bathroom, with melancholy
waters moaning and fizzing from the cistern; the great large blank stone
staircase&mdash;were all so many melancholy features in the general countenance
of the house; but the Colonel thought it perfectly, cheerful and pleasant, and
furnished it in his rough-and-ready way. One day a cartload of chairs; the next
a waggonful of fenders, fire-irons, and glass and crockery&mdash;a quantity of
supplies, in a word, he poured into the place. There were a yellow curtain in
the back drawing-room, and green curtains in the front. The carpet was an
immense bargain, bought dirt cheap, sir, at a sale in Euston Square. He was
against the purchase of a carpet for the stairs. What was the good of it? What
did men want with stair-carpets? His own apartment contained a wonderful
assortment of lumber. Shelves which he nailed himself, old Indian garments,
camphor trunks. What did he want with gewgaws? anything was good enough for an
old soldier. But the spare bedroom was endowed with all sorts of splendour: a
bed as big as a general&rsquo;s tent, a cheval glass&mdash;whereas the Colonel
shaved in a little cracked mirror, which cost him no more than King
Stephen&rsquo;s breeches&mdash;and a handsome new carpet; while the boards of
the Colonel&rsquo;s bedchamber were as bare&mdash;as bare as old Miss
Scragg&rsquo;s shoulders, which would be so much more comfortable were they
covered up. Mr. Binnie&rsquo;s bedchamber was neat, snug, and appropriate. And
Clive had a study and bedroom at the top of the house, which he was allowed to
furnish entirely according to his own taste. How he and Ridley revelled in
Wardour Street! What delightful coloured prints of hunting, racing, and
beautiful ladies, did they not purchase, mount with their own hands, cut out
for screens, frame and glaze, and hang up on the walls. When the rooms were
ready they gave a party, inviting the Colonel and Mr. Binnie by note of hand,
two gentlemen from Lamb Court, Temple, Mr. Honeyman, and Fred Bayham. We must
have Fred Bayham. Fred Bayham frankly asked, &ldquo;Is Mr. Sherrick, with whom
you have become rather intimate lately&mdash;and mind you I say nothing, but I
recommend strangers in London to be cautious about their friends&mdash;is Mr.
Sherrick coming to you, young &rsquo;un? because if he is, F. B. must
respectfully decline.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Sherrick was not invited, and accordingly F. B. came. But Sherrick was
invited on other days, and a very queer society did our honest Colonel gather
together in that queer house, so dreary, so dingy, so comfortless, so pleasant.
He, who was one of the most hospitable men alive, loved to have his friends
around him; and it must be confessed that the evening parties now occasionally
given in Fitzroy Square were of the oddest assemblage of people. The correct
East India gentlemen from Hanover Square: the artists, Clive&rsquo;s friends,
gentlemen of all ages with all sorts of beards, in every variety of costume.
Now and again a stray schoolfellow from Grey Friars, who stared, as well he
might, at the company in which he found himself. Sometimes a few ladies were
brought to these entertainments. The immense politeness of the good host
compensated some of them for the strangeness of his company. They had never
seen such odd-looking hairy men as those young artists, nor such wonderful
women as Colonel Newcome assembled together. He was good to all old maids and
poor widows. Retired captains with large families of daughters found in him
their best friend. He sent carriages to fetch them and bring them back from the
suburbs where they dwelt. Gandish, Mrs. Gandish, and the four Miss Gandishes in
scarlet robes, were constant attendants at the Colonel&rsquo;s soirées.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I delight, sir, in the &rsquo;ospitality of my distinguished military
friend,&rdquo; Mr. Gandish would say. &ldquo;The harmy has always been my
passion.&mdash;I served in the Soho Volunteers three years myself, till the
conclusion of the war, sir, till the conclusion of the war.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
It was a great sight to see Mr. Frederick Bayham engaged in the waltz or the
quadrille with some of the elderly houris at the Colonel&rsquo;s parties. F.
B., like a good-natured F. B. as he was, always chose the plainest women as
partners, and entertained them with profound compliments and sumptuous
conversation. The Colonel likewise danced quadrilles with the utmost gravity.
Waltzing had been invented long since his time: but he practised quadrilles
when they first came in, about 1817, in Calcutta. To see him leading up a
little old maid, and bowing to her when the dance was ended, and performing
cavalier seul with stately simplicity, was a sight indeed to remember. If Clive
Newcome had not such a fine sense of humour, he would have blushed for his
father&rsquo;s simplicity.&mdash;As it was, the elder&rsquo;s guileless
goodness and childlike trustfulness endeared him immensely to his son.
&ldquo;Look at the old boy, Pendennis,&rdquo; he would say, &ldquo;look at him
leading up that old Miss Tidswell to the piano. Doesn&rsquo;t he do it like an
old duke? I lay a wager she thinks she is going to be my mother-in-law; all the
women are in love with him, young and old. &lsquo;Should he upbraid?&rsquo;
There she goes. &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll own that he&rsquo;ll prevail, and sing as
sweetly as a nigh-tin-gale!&rsquo; Oh, you old warbler! Look at father&rsquo;s
old head bobbing up and down! Wouldn&rsquo;t he do for Sir Roger de Coverley?
How do you do, Uncle Charles?&mdash;I say, M&rsquo;Collop, how gets on the Duke
of What-d&rsquo;ye-call-&rsquo;em starving in the castle?&mdash;Gandish says
it&rsquo;s very good.&rdquo; The lad retires to a group of artists. Mr.
Honeyman comes up with a faint smile playing on his features, like moonlight on
the facade of Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;These parties are the most singular I have ever seen,&rdquo; whispers
Honeyman. &ldquo;In entering one of these assemblies, one is struck with the
immensity of London: and with the sense of one&rsquo;s own insignificance.
Without, I trust, departing from my clerical character, nay, from my very
avocation as incumbent of a London chapel,&mdash;I have seen a good deal of the
world, and here is an assemblage no doubt of most respectable persons, on
scarce one of whom I ever set eyes till this evening. Where does my good
brother find such characters?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That,&rdquo; says Mr. Honeyman&rsquo;s interlocutor, &ldquo;is the
celebrated, though neglected artist, Professor Gandish, whom nothing but
jealousy has kept out of the Royal Academy. Surely you have heard of the great
Gandish?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed I am ashamed to confess my ignorance, but a clergyman busy with
his duties knows little, perhaps too little, of the fine arts.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Gandish, sir, is one of the greatest geniuses on whom our ungrateful
country ever trampled; he exhibited his first celebrated picture of
&lsquo;Alfred in the Neatherd&rsquo;s Hut&rsquo; (he says he is the first who
ever touched that subject) in 180-; but Lord Nelson&rsquo;s death, and victory
of Trafalgar, occupied the public attention at that time, and Gandish&rsquo;s
work went unnoticed. In the year 1816, he painted his great work of
&lsquo;Boadicea.&rsquo; You see her before you. That lady in yellow, with a
light front and a turban. Boadicea became Mrs. Gandish in that year. So late as
&rsquo;27, he brought before the world his &lsquo;Non Angli sed Angeli.&rsquo;
Two of the angels are yonder in sea-green dresses&mdash;the Misses Gandish. The
youth in Berlin gloves was the little male angelus of that piece.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How came you to know all this, you strange man?&rdquo; says Mr.
Honeyman.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Simply because Gandish has told me twenty times. He tells the story to
everybody, every time he sees them. He told it to-day at dinner. Boadicea and
the angels came afterwards.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Satire! satire! Mr. Pendennis,&rdquo; says the divine, holding up a
reproving finger of lavender kid, &ldquo;beware of a wicked wit!&mdash;But when
a man has that tendency, I know how difficult it is to restrain. My dear
Colonel, good evening! You have a great reception to-night. That
gentleman&rsquo;s bass voice is very fine; Mr. Pendennis and I were admiring
it. &lsquo;The Wolf&rsquo; is a song admirably adapted to show its
capabilities.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Gandish&rsquo;s autobiography had occupied the whole time of the retirement
of the ladies from Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s dinner-table. Mr. Hobson Newcome had
been asleep during the performance; Sir Curry Baughton and one or two of the
Colonel&rsquo;s professional and military guests, silent and puzzled. Honest
Mr. Binnie, with his shrewd good-humoured face, sipping his claret as usual,
and delivering a sly joke now and again to the gentlemen at his end of the
table. Mrs. Newcome had sat by him in sulky dignity; was it that Lady
Baughton&rsquo;s diamonds offended her?&mdash;her ladyship and her daughters
being attired in great splendour for a Court ball, which they were to attend
that evening. Was she hurt because <small>SHE</small> was not invited to that
Royal Entertainment? As the festivities were to take place at an early hour,
the ladies bidden were obliged to quit the Colonel&rsquo;s house before the
evening part commenced, from which Lady Anne declared she was quite vexed to be
obliged to run away.
</p>

<p>
Lady Anne Newcome had been as gracious on this occasion as her sister-in-law
had been out of humour. Everything pleased her in the house. She had no idea
that there were such fine houses in that quarter of the town. She thought the
dinner so very nice,&mdash;that Mr Binnie such a good-humoured-looking
gentleman. That stout gentleman with his collars turned down like Lord Byron,
so exceedingly clever and full of information. A celebrated artist was he?
(courtly Mr. Smee had his own opinion upon that point, but did not utter it).
All those artists are so eccentric and amusing and clever. Before dinner she
insisted upon seeing Clive&rsquo;s den with its pictures and casts and pipes.
&ldquo;You horrid young wicked creature, have you begun to smoke
already?&rdquo; she asks, as she admires his room. She admired everything.
Nothing could exceed her satisfaction.
</p>

<p>
The sisters-in-law kissed on meeting, with that cordiality so delightful to
witness in sisters who dwell together in unity. It was, &ldquo;My dear Maria,
what an age since I have seen you!&rdquo; &ldquo;My dear Anne, our occupations
are so engrossing, our circles are so different,&rdquo; in a languid response
from the other. &ldquo;Sir Brian is not coming, I suppose? Now, Colonel,&rdquo;
she turns in a frisky manner towards him, and taps her fan, &ldquo;did I not
tell you Sir Brian would not come?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He is kept at the House of Commons, my dear. Those dreadful committees.
He was quite vexed at not being able to come.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know, I know, dear Anne, there are always excuses to gentlemen in
Parliament; I have received many such. Mr. Shaloo and Mr. M&rsquo;Sheny, the
leaders of our party, often and often disappoint me. I <i>knew</i> Brian would
not come. <i>My</i> husband came down from Marble Head on purpose this morning.
Nothing would have induced us to give up our brother&rsquo;s party.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I believe you. I did come down from Marble Head this morning, and I was
four hours in the hay-field before I came away, and in the City till five, and
I&rsquo;ve been to look at a horse afterwards at Tattersall&rsquo;s, and
I&rsquo;m as hungry as a hunter, and as tired as a hodman,&rdquo; says Mr.
Newcome, with his hands in his pockets. &ldquo;How do you do, Mr. Pendennis?
Maria, you remember Mr. Pendennis&mdash;don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Perfectly,&rdquo; replies the languid Maria. Mrs. Gandish, Colonel
Topham, Major M&rsquo;Cracken, are announced, and then, in diamonds, feathers,
and splendour, Lady Baughton and Miss Baughton, who are going to the
Queen&rsquo;s ball, and Sir Curry Baughton, not quite in his
deputy-lieutenant&rsquo;s uniform as yet, looking very shy in a pair of blue
trousers, with a glittering stripe of silver down the seams. Clive looks with
wonder and delight at these ravishing ladies, rustling in fresh brocades, with
feathers, diamonds, and every magnificence. Aunt Anne has not her Court dress
on as yet; and Aunt Maria blushes as she beholds the new comers, having thought
fit to attire herself in a high dress, with a Quaker-like simplicity, and a
pair of gloves more than ordinarily dingy. The pretty little foot she has, it
is true, and sticks it out from habit; but what is Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s foot
compared with that sweet little chaussure which Miss Baughton exhibits and
withdraws? The shiny white satin slipper, the pink stocking which ever and anon
peeps from the rustling folds of her robe, and timidly retires into its
covert&mdash;that foot, light as it is, crushes Mrs. Newcome.
</p>

<p>
No wonder she winces, and is angry; there are some mischievous persons who
rather like to witness that discomfiture. All Mr. Smee&rsquo;s flatteries that
day failed to soothe her. She was in the state in which his canvasses sometimes
are, when he cannot paint on them.
</p>

<p>
What happened to her alone in the drawing-room, when the ladies invited to the
dinner had departed, and those convoked to the soirée began to
arrive,&mdash;what happened to her or to them I do not like to think. The
Gandishes arrived first. Boadicea and the angels. We judged from the fact that
young Mr. Gandish came blushing in to the dessert. Name after name was
announced of persons of whom Mrs. Newcome knew nothing. The young and the old,
the pretty and homely, they were all in their best dresses, and no doubt stared
at Mrs. Newcome, so obstinately plain in her attire. When we came upstairs from
dinner, we found her seated entirely by herself, tapping her fan at the
fireplace. Timid groups of persons were round about, waiting for the irruption
of the gentlemen, until the pleasure should begin. Mr. Newcome, who came
upstairs yawning, was heard to say to his wife, &ldquo;Oh, dam, let&rsquo;s
cut!&rdquo; And they went downstairs, and waited until their carriage had
arrived, when they quitted Fitzroy Square.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Barnes Newcome presently arrived, looking particularly smart and lively,
with a large flower in his button-hole, and leaning on the arm of a friend.
&ldquo;How do you do, Pendennis?&rdquo; he says, with a peculiarly dandified
air. &ldquo;Did you dine here? You look as if you dined here&rdquo; (and
Barnes, certainly, as if he had dined elsewhere). &ldquo;I was only asked to
the cold soirée. Who did you have for dinner? You had my mamma and the
Baughtons, and my uncle and aunt, I know, for they are down below in the
library, waiting for the carriage: he is asleep, and she is as sulky as a
bear.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why did Mrs. Newcome say I should find nobody I knew up here?&rdquo;
asks Barnes&rsquo;s companion. &ldquo;On the contrary, there are lots of
fellows I know. There&rsquo;s Fred Bayham, dancing like a harlequin.
There&rsquo;s old Gandish, who used to be my drawing-master; and my Brighton
friends, your uncle and cousin, Barnes. What relations are they to me? must be
some relations. Fine fellow your cousin.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; growls Barnes. &ldquo;Very fine boy,&mdash;not spirited at
all,&mdash;not fond of flattery,&mdash;not surrounded by toadies,&mdash;not
fond of drink,&mdash;delightful boy! See yonder, the young fellow is in
conversation with his most intimate friend, a little crooked fellow, with long
hair. Do you know who he is? he is the son of old Todmoreton&rsquo;s butler.
Upon my life it&rsquo;s true.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And suppose it is; what the deuce do I care!&rdquo; cries Lord Kew.
&ldquo;Who can be more respectable than a butler? A man must be
somebody&rsquo;s son. When I am a middle-aged man, I hope humbly I shall look
like a butler myself. Suppose you were to put ten of Gunter&rsquo;s men into
the House of Lords, do you mean to say that they would not look as well as any
average ten peers in the house? Look at Lord Westcot; he is exactly like a
butler that&rsquo;s why the country has such confidence in him. I never dine
with him but I fancy he ought to be at the sideboard. Here comes that
insufferable little old Smee. How do you do, Mr. Smee?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Smee smiles his sweetest smile. With his rings, diamond shirt-studs, and
red velvet waistcoat, there are few more elaborate middle-aged bucks than
Alfred Smee. &ldquo;How do you do, my dear lord?&rdquo; cries the bland one.
&ldquo;Who would ever have thought of seeing your lordship here?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why the deuce not, Mr. Smee?&rdquo; asks Lord Kew, abruptly. &ldquo;Is
it wrong to come here? I have been in the house only five minutes, and three
people have said the same thing to me&mdash;Mrs. Newcome, who is sitting
downstairs in a rage waiting for her carriage, the condescending Barnes, and
yourself. Why do you come here, Since? How are you, Mr. Gandish? How do the
fine arts go?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Your lordship&rsquo;s kindness in asking for them will cheer them if
anything will,&rdquo; says Mr. Gandish. &ldquo;Your noble family has always
patronised them. I am proud to be reckonised by your lordship in this house,
where the distinguished father of one of my pupils entertains us this evening.
A most promising young man is young Mr. Clive&mdash;talents for a hamateur
really most remarkable.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Excellent, upon my word&mdash;excellent,&rdquo; cries Mr. Smee.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not an animal painter myself, and perhaps don&rsquo;t think
much of that branch of the profession; but it seems to me the young fellow
draws horses with the most wonderful spirit. I hope Lady Walham is very well,
and that she was satisfied with her son&rsquo;s portrait. Stockholm, I think,
your brother is appointed to? I wish I might be allowed to paint the elder as
well as the younger brother, my lord.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am an historical painter; but whenever Lord Kew is painted I hope his
lordship will think of the old servant of his lordship&rsquo;s family, Charles
Gandish,&rdquo; cries the Professor.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am like Susannah between the two Elders,&rdquo; says Lord Kew.
&ldquo;Let my innocence alone, Smee. Mr. Gandish, don&rsquo;t persecute my
modesty with your addresses. I won&rsquo;t be painted. I am not a fit subject
for a historical painter, Mr. Gandish.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Halcibiades sat to Praxiteles, and Pericles to Phridjas,&rdquo; remarks
Gandish.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The cases are not quite similar,&rdquo; says Lord Kew, languidly.
&ldquo;You are no doubt fully equal to Praxiteles; but I don&rsquo;t see my
resemblance to the other party. I should not look well as a hero, and Smee
could not paint me handsome enough.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I would try, my dear lord,&rdquo; cries Mr. Smee.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know you would, my dear fellow,&rdquo; Lord Kew answered, looking at
the painter with a lazy scorn in his eyes. &ldquo;Where is Colonel Newcome, Mr.
Gandish?&rdquo; Mr. Gandish replied that our gallant host was dancing a
quadrille in the next room; and the young gentleman walked on towards that
apartment to pay his respects to the giver of the evening&rsquo;s
entertainment.
</p>

<p>
Newcome&rsquo;s behaviour to the young peer was ceremonious, but not in the
least servile. He saluted the other&rsquo;s superior rank, not his person, as
he turned the guard out for a general officer. He never could be brought to be
otherwise than cold and grave in his behaviour to John James; nor was it
without difficulty, when young Ridley and his son became pupils at
Gandish&rsquo;s, he could be induced to invite the former to his parties.
&ldquo;An artist is any man&rsquo;s equal,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have no
prejudice of that sort; and think that Sir Joshua Reynolds and Doctor Johnson
were fit company for any person, of whatever rank. But a young man whose father
may have had to wait behind me at dinner, should not be brought into my
company.&rdquo; Clive compromises the dispute with a laugh.
&ldquo;First,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;I will wait till I am asked; and then I
promise I will not go to dine with Lord Todmoreton.&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"></a>
CHAPTER XX.<br/>
Contains more Particulars of the Colonel and his Brethren</h2>

<p>
Clive&rsquo;s amusements, studies, or occupations, such as they were, filled
his day pretty completely, and caused the young gentleman&rsquo;s time to pass
rapidly and pleasantly, his father, it must be owned, had no such resources,
and the good Colonel&rsquo;s idleness hung heavily upon him. He submitted very
kindly to this infliction, however, as he would have done to any other for
Clive&rsquo;s sake; and though he may have wished himself back with his
regiment again, and engaged in the pursuits in which his life had been spent,
he chose to consider these desires as very selfish and blameable on his part,
and sacrificed them resolutely for his son&rsquo;s welfare. The young fellow, I
dare say, gave his parent no more credit for his long self-denial, than many
other children award to theirs. We take such life-offerings as our due
commonly. The old French satirist avers that, in a love affair, there is
usually one person who loves, and the other, <i>qui se laisse aimer;</i> it is
only in later days, perhaps, when the treasures of love are spent, and the kind
hand cold which ministered them, that we remember how tender it was; how soft
to soothe; how eager to shield; how ready to support and caress. The ears may
no longer hear, which would have received our words of thanks so delightedly.
Let us hope those fruits of love, though tardy, are yet not all too late; and
though we bring our tribute of reverence and gratitude, it may be to a
gravestone, there is an acceptance even there for the stricken heart&rsquo;s
oblation of fond remorse, contrite memories, and pious tears. I am thinking of
the love of Clive Newcome&rsquo;s father for him (and, perhaps, young reader,
that of yours and mine for ourselves); how the old man lay awake, and devised
kindnesses, and gave his all for the love of his son; and the young man took,
and spent, and slept, and made merry. Did we not say at our tale&rsquo;s
commencement that all stories were old? Careless prodigals and anxious elders
have been from the beginning:&mdash;and so may love, and repentance, and
forgiveness endure even till the end.
</p>

<p>
The stifling fogs, the slippery mud, the dun dreary November mornings, when the
Regent&rsquo;s Park, where the Colonel took his early walk, was wrapped in
yellow mist, must have been a melancholy exchange for the splendour of Eastern
sunrise, and the invigorating gallop at dawn, to which, for so many years of
his life, Thomas Newcome had accustomed himself. His obstinate habit of early
waking accompanied him to England, and occasioned the despair of his London
domestics, who, if master wasn&rsquo;t so awful early, would have found no
fault with him; for a gentleman as gives less trouble to his servants; as
scarcely ever rings the bell for his self; as will brush his own clothes; as
will even boil his own shaving-water in the little hetna which he keeps up in
his dressing-room; as pays so regular, and never looks twice at the accounts;
such a man deserved to be loved by his household, and I dare say comparisons
were made between him and his son, who do ring the bells, and scold if his
boots ain&rsquo;t nice, and horder about like a young lord. But Clive, though
imperious, was very liberal and good-humoured, and not the worse served because
he insisted upon exerting his youthful authority. As for friend Binnie, he had
a hundred pursuits of his own, which made his time pass very comfortably. He
had all the Lectures at the British Institution; he had the Geographical
Society, the Asiatic Society, and the Political Economy Club; and though he
talked year after year of going to visit his relations in Scotland, the months
and seasons passed away, and his feet still beat the London pavement.
</p>

<p>
In spite of the cold reception his brothers gave him, duty was duty, and
Colonel Newcome still proposed, or hoped to be well with the female members of
the Newcome family; and having, as we have said, plenty of time on his hands,
and living at no very great distance from either of his brothers&rsquo; town
houses, when their wives were in London, the elder Newcome was for paying them
pretty constant visits. But after the good gentleman had called twice or thrice
upon his sister-in-law in Bryanstone Square&mdash;bringing, as was his wont, a
present for this little niece, or a book for that&mdash;Mrs. Newcome, with her
usual virtue, gave him to understand that the occupation of an English matron,
who, besides her multifarious family duties, had her own intellectual culture
to mind, would not allow her to pass the mornings in idle gossips: and of
course took great credit to herself for having so rebuked him. &ldquo;I am not
above instruction of any age,&rdquo; says she, thanking Heaven (or
complimenting it, rather, for having created a being so virtuous and
humble-minded). &ldquo;When Professor Schroff comes, I sit with my children,
and take lessons in German,&mdash;and I say my verbs with Maria and Tommy in
the same class!&rdquo; Yes, with curtsies and fine speeches she actually bowed
her brother out of doors; and the honest gentleman meekly left her, though with
bewilderment, as he thought of the different hospitality to which he had been
accustomed in the East, where no friend&rsquo;s house was ever closed to him,
where no neighbour was so busy but he had time to make Thomas Newcome welcome.
</p>

<p>
When Hobson Newcome&rsquo;s boys came home for the holidays, their kind uncle
was for treating them to the sights of the town, but here Virtue again
interposed and laid its interdict upon pleasure. &ldquo;Thank you, very much,
my dear Colonel,&rdquo; says Virtue, &ldquo;there never was surely such a kind,
affectionate, unselfish creature as you are, and so indulgent for children, but
my boys and yours are brought up on a <i>very different</i> plan. Excuse me for
saying that I do not think it is advisable that they should even see too much
of each other. Clive&rsquo;s company is not good for them.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Great heavens, Maria!&rdquo; cries the Colonel, starting up, &ldquo;do
you mean that my boy&rsquo;s society is not good enough for any boy
alive?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Maria turned very red: she had said not more than she meant, but more than she
meant to say. &ldquo;My dear Colonel, how hot we are! how angry you Indian
gentlemen become with us poor women! Your boy is much older than mine. He lives
with artists, with all sorts of eccentric people. Our children are bred on
<i>quite a different plan</i>. Hobson will succeed his father in the bank, and
dear Samuel I trust will go into the Church. I told you, before, the views I
had regarding the boys: but it was most kind of you to think of them&mdash;most
generous and kind.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That nabob of ours is a queer fish,&rdquo; Hobson Newcome remarked to
his nephew Barnes. &ldquo;He is as proud as Lucifer, he is always taking huff
about one thing or the other. He went off in a fume the other night because
your aunt objected to his taking the boys to the play. She don&rsquo;t like
their going to the play. My mother didn&rsquo;t either. Your aunt is a woman
who is uncommon wideawake, I can tell you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I always knew, sir, that my aunt was perfectly aware of the time of the
day,&rdquo; says Barnes, with a bow.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And then the Colonel flies out about his boy, and says that my wife
insulted him! I used to like that boy. Before his father came he was a good lad
enough&mdash;a jolly brave little fellow.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I confess I did not know Mr. Clive at that interesting period of his
existence,&rdquo; remarks Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But since he has taken this madcap freak of turning painter,&rdquo; the
uncle continues, &ldquo;there is no understanding the chap. Did you ever see
such a set of fellows as the Colonel had got together at his party the other
night? Dirty chaps in velvet coats and beards? They looked like a set of
mountebanks. And this young Clive is going to turn painter!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Very advantageous thing for the family. He&rsquo;ll do our pictures for
nothing. I always said he was a darling boy,&rdquo; simpered Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Darling jackass!&rdquo; growled out the senior. &ldquo;Confound it, why
doesn&rsquo;t my brother set him up in some respectable business? I ain&rsquo;t
proud. I have not married an earl&rsquo;s daughter. No offence to you,
Barnes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not at all, sir. I can&rsquo;t help it if my grandfather is a
gentleman,&rdquo; says Barnes, with a fascinating smile.
</p>

<p>
The uncle laughs. &ldquo;I mean I don&rsquo;t care what a fellow is if he is a
good fellow. But a painter! hang it&mdash;a painter&rsquo;s no trade at
all&mdash;I don&rsquo;t fancy seeing one of our family sticking up pictures for
sale. I don&rsquo;t like it, Barnes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hush! here comes his distinguished friend, Mr. Pendennis,&rdquo;
whispers Barnes; and the uncle growling out, &ldquo;Damn all literary
fellows&mdash;all artists&mdash;the whole lot of them!&rdquo; turns away.
Barnes waves three languid fingers of recognition towards Pendennis: and when
the uncle and nephew have moved out of the club newspaper room, little Tom
Eaves comes up and tells the present reporter every word of their conversation.
</p>

<p>
Very soon Mrs. Newcome announced that their Indian brother found the society of
Bryanstone Square very little to his taste, as indeed how should he? being a
man of a good harmless disposition certainly, but of small intellectual
culture. It could not be helped. She had done her utmost to make him welcome,
and grieved that their pursuits were not more congenial. She heard that he was
much more intimate in Park Lane. Possibly the superior rank of Lady
Anne&rsquo;s family might present charms to Colonel Newcome, who fell asleep at
her assemblies. His boy, she was afraid, was leading the most <i>irregular
life</i>. He was growing a pair of mustachios, and going about with all sorts
of wild associates. She found no fault; who was she, to find fault with any
one? But she had been compelled to hint that her children must not be too
intimate with him. And so, between one brother who meant no unkindness, and
another who was all affection and goodwill, this undoubting woman created
difference, distrust, dislike, which might one day possibly lead to open
rupture. The wicked are wicked, no doubt, and they go astray and they fall, and
they come by their deserts: but who can tell the mischief which the very
virtuous do?
</p>

<p class="p2">
To her sister-in-law, Lady Anne, the Colonel&rsquo;s society was more welcome.
The affectionate gentleman never tired of doing kindnesses to his
brother&rsquo;s many children; and as Mr. Clive&rsquo;s pursuits now separated
him a good deal from his father, the Colonel, not perhaps without a sigh that
fate should so separate him from the society which he loved best in the world,
consoled himself as best he might with his nephews and nieces, especially with
Ethel, for whom his <i>belle passion</i> conceived at first sight never
diminished. If Uncle Newcome had a hundred children, Ethel said, who was rather
jealous of disposition, he would spoil them all. He found a fine occupation in
breaking a pretty little horse for her, of which he made her a present, and
there was no horse in the Park that was so handsome, and surely no girl who
looked more beautiful than Ethel Newcome with her broad hat and red ribbon,
with her thick black locks waving round her bright face, galloping along the
ride on Bhurtpore. Occasionally Clive was at their riding-parties, when the
Colonel would fall back and fondly survey the young people cantering side by
side over the grass: but by a tacit convention it was arranged that the cousins
should be but seldom together; the Colonel might be his niece&rsquo;s companion
and no one could receive him with a more joyous welcome, but when Mr. Clive
made his appearance with his father at the Park Lane door, a certain
<i>gêne</i> was visible in Miss Ethel, who would never mount except with
Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s assistance, and who, especially after Mr. Clive&rsquo;s
famous mustachios made their appearance, rallied him, and remonstrated with him
regarding those ornaments, and treated him with much distance and dignity. She
asked him if he was going into the army? she could not understand how any but
military men could wear mustachios; and then she looked fondly and archly at
her uncle, and said she liked none that were not grey.
</p>

<p>
Clive set her down as a very haughty, spoiled, aristocratic young creature. If
he had been in love with her, no doubt he would have sacrificed even those
beloved new-born whiskers for the charmer. Had he not already bought on credit
the necessary implements in a fine dressing-case, from young Moss? But he was
not in love with her; otherwise he would have found a thousand opportunities of
riding with her, walking with her, meeting her, in spite of all prohibitions
tacit or expressed, all governesses, guardians, mamma&rsquo;s punctilios, and
kind hints from friends. For a while, Mr. Clive thought himself in love with
his cousin; than whom no more beautiful young girl could be seen in any park,
ball, or drawing-room; and he drew a hundred pictures of her, and discoursed
about her beauties to J. J., who fell in love with her on hearsay. But at this
time Mademoiselle Saltarelli was dancing at Drury Lane Theatre, and it
certainly may be said that Clive&rsquo;s first love was bestowed upon that
beauty: whose picture of course he drew in most of her favourite characters;
and for whom his passion lasted until the end of the season, when her night was
announced, tickets to be had at the theatre, or of Mademoiselle Saltarelli,
Buckingham Street, Strand. Then it was that with a throbbing heart and a
five-pound note, to engage places for the houri&rsquo;s benefit, Clive beheld
Madame Rogomme, Mademoiselle Saltarelli&rsquo;s mother, who entertained him in
the French language in a dark parlour smelling of onions. And oh! issuing from
the adjoining dining-room (where was a dingy vision of a feast and pewter pots
upon a darkling tablecloth), could that lean, scraggy, old, beetle-browed
yellow face, who cried, &ldquo;Ou es tu donc, maman?&rdquo; with such a shrill
nasal voice&mdash;could that elderly vixen be that blooming and divine
Saltarelli? Clive drew her picture as she was, and a likeness of Madame
Rogomme, her mamma; a Mosaic youth, profusely jewelled, and scented at once
with tobacco and eau-de-cologne, occupied Clive&rsquo;s stall on Mademoiselle
Saltarelli&rsquo;s night. It was young Mr. Moss, of Gandish&rsquo;s to whom
Newcome ceded his place, and who laughed (as he always did at Clive&rsquo;s
jokes) when the latter told the story of his interview with the dancer.
&ldquo;Paid five pound to see that woman! I could have took you behind the
scenes&rdquo; (or &ldquo;beide the seeds,&rdquo; Mr. Moss said) &ldquo;and
showed her to you for nothing.&rdquo; Did he take Clive behind the scenes? Over
this part of the young gentleman&rsquo;s life, without implying the least harm
to him&mdash;for have not others been behind the scenes; and can there be any
more dreary object than those whitened and raddled old women who shudder at the
slips?&mdash;over this stage of Clive Newcome&rsquo;s life we may surely drop
the curtain.
</p>

<p>
It is pleasanter to contemplate that kind old face of Clive&rsquo;s father,
that sweet young blushing lady by his side, as the two ride homewards at
sunset. The grooms behind in quiet conversation about horses, as men never tire
of talking about horses. Ethel wants to know about battles; about lovers&rsquo;
lamps, which she has read of in Lalla Rookh. &ldquo;Have you ever seen them,
uncle, floating down the Ganges of a night?&rdquo; About Indian widows.
&ldquo;Did you actually see one burning, and hear her scream as you rode
up?&rdquo; She wonders whether he will tell her anything about Clive&rsquo;s
mother: how she must have loved Uncle Newcome! Ethel can&rsquo;t bear, somehow,
to think that her name was Mrs. Casey, perhaps he was very fond of her; though
he scarcely ever mentions her name. She was nothing like that good old funny
Miss Honeyman at Brighton. Who could the person be?&mdash;a person that her
uncle knew ever so long ago&mdash;a French lady, whom her uncle says Ethel
often resembles? That is why he speaks French so well. He can recite whole
pages out of Racine. Perhaps it was the French lady who taught him. And he was
not very happy at the Hermitage (though grandpapa was a very kind good man),
and he upset papa in a little carriage, and was wild, and got into disgrace,
and was sent to India? He could not have been very bad, Ethel thinks, looking
at him with her honest eyes. Last week he went to the Drawing-room, and papa
presented him. His uniform of grey and silver was quite old, yet he looked much
grander than Sir Brian in his new deputy-lieutenant&rsquo;s dress. &ldquo;Next
year, when I am presented, you must come too, sir,&rdquo; says Ethel. &ldquo;I
insist upon it, you must come too!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I will order a new uniform, Ethel,&rdquo; says her uncle.
</p>

<p>
The girl laughs. &ldquo;When little Egbert took hold of your sword, uncle, and
asked you how many people you had killed, do you know I had the same question
in my mind; and I thought when you went to the Drawing-room, perhaps the King
will knight him. But instead he knighted mamma&rsquo;s apothecary, Sir Danby
Jilks: that horrid little man, and I won&rsquo;t have you knighted any
more.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I hope Egbert won&rsquo;t ask Sir Danby Jilks how many people HE has
killed,&rdquo; says the Colonel, laughing; but thinking the joke too severe
upon Sir Danby and the profession, he forthwith apologises by narrating many
anecdotes he knows to the credit of surgeons. How, when the fever broke out on
board the ship going to India, their surgeon devoted himself to the safety of
the crew, and died himself, leaving directions for the treatment of the
patients when he was gone! What heroism the doctors showed during the cholera
in India; and what courage he had seen some of them exhibit in action:
attending the wounded men under the hottest fire, and exposing themselves as
readily as the bravest troops. Ethel declares that her uncle always will talk
of other people&rsquo;s courage, and never say a word about his own; &ldquo;and
the only reason,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;which made me like that odious Sir
Thomas de Boots, who laughs so, and looks so red, and pays such horrid
compliments to all ladies, was, that he praised you, uncle, at Newcome, last
year, when Barnes and he came to us at Christmas. Why did you not come? Mamma
and I went to see your old nurse; and we found her such a nice old lady.&rdquo;
So the pair talk kindly on, riding homewards through the pleasant summer
twilight. Mamma had gone out to dinner; and there were cards for three parties
afterwards. &ldquo;Oh, how I wish it was next year!&rdquo; says Miss Ethel.
</p>

<p>
Many a splendid assembly, and many a brilliant next year, will the ardent and
hopeful young creature enjoy; but in the midst of her splendour and triumphs,
buzzing flatterers, conquered rivals, prostrate admirers, no doubt she will
think sometimes of that quiet season before the world began for her, and that
dear old friend, on whose arm she leaned while she was yet a young girl.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel comes to Park Street early in the forenoon, when the mistress of
the house, surrounded by her little ones, is administering dinner to them. He
behaves with splendid courtesy to Miss Quigley, the governess, and makes a
point of taking wine with her, and of making a most profound bow during that
ceremony. Miss Quigley cannot help thinking Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s bow very
fine. She has an idea that his late Majesty must have bowed in that way: she
flutteringly imparts this opinion to Lady Anne&rsquo;s maid; who tells her
mistress, who tells Miss Ethel, who watches the Colonel the next time he takes
wine with Miss Quigley, and they laugh, and then Ethel tells him; so that the
gentleman and the governess have to blush ever after when they drink wine
together. When she is walking with her little charges in the Park, or in that
before-mentioned paradise nigh to Apsley House, faint signals of welcome appear
on her wan cheeks. She knows the dear Colonel amongst a thousand horsemen. If
Ethel makes for her uncle purses, guard-chains, antimacassars, and the like
beautiful and useful articles, I believe it is in reality Miss Quigley who does
four-fifths of the work, as she sits alone in the schoolroom, high, high up in
that lone house, when the little ones are long since asleep, before her dismal
little tea-tray, and her little desk containing her mother&rsquo;s letters and
her mementos of home.
</p>

<p>
There are, of course, numberless fine parties in Park Lane, where the Colonel
knows he would be very welcome. But if there be grand assemblies, he does not
care to come. &ldquo;I like to go to the club best,&rdquo; he says to Lady
Anne. &ldquo;We talk there as you do here about persons, and about Jack
marrying, and Tom dying, and so forth. But we have known Jack and Tom all our
lives, and so are interested in talking about them. Just as you are in speaking
of your own friends and habitual society. They are people whose names I have
sometimes read in the newspaper, but whom I never thought of meeting until I
came to your house. What has an old fellow like me to say to your young dandies
or old dowagers?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mamma is very odd and sometimes very captious, my dear Colonel,&rdquo;
said Lady Anne, with a blush; &ldquo;she suffers so frightfully from tic that
we are all bound to pardon her.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Truth to tell, old Lady Kew had been particularly rude to Colonel Newcome and
Clive. Ethel&rsquo;s birthday befell in the spring, on which occasion she was
wont to have a juvenile assembly, chiefly of girls of her own age and
condition; who came, accompanied by a few governesses, and they played and sang
their little duets and choruses together, and enjoyed a gentle refection of
sponge-cakes, jellies, tea, and the like.&mdash;The Colonel, who was invited to
this little party, sent a fine present to his favourite Ethel; and Clive and
his friend J. J. made a funny series of drawings, representing the life of a
young lady as they imagined it, and drawing her progress from her cradle
upwards: now engaged with her doll, then with her dancing-master; now marching
in her back-board; now crying over her German lessons: and dressed for her
first ball finally, and bestowing her hand upon a dandy, of preternatural
ugliness, who was kneeling at her feet as the happy man. This picture was the
delight of the laughing happy girls; except, perhaps, the little cousins from
Bryanstone Square, who were invited to Ethel&rsquo;s party, but were so
overpowered by the prodigious new dresses in which their mamma had attired
them, that they could admire nothing but their rustling pink frocks, their
enormous sashes, their lovely new silk stockings.
</p>

<p>
Lady Kew coming to London attended on the party, and presented her
granddaughter with a sixpenny pincushion. The Colonel had sent Ethel a
beautiful little gold watch and chain. Her aunt had complimented her with that
refreshing work, Alison&rsquo;s History of Europe, richly bound.&mdash;Lady
Kew&rsquo;s pincushion made rather a poor figure among the gifts, whence
probably arose her ladyship&rsquo;s ill-humour.
</p>

<p>
Ethel&rsquo;s grandmother became exceedingly testy when, the Colonel arriving,
Ethel ran up to him and thanked him for the beautiful watch, in return for
which she gave him a kiss, which, I dare say, amply repaid Colonel Newcome; and
shortly after him Mr. Clive arrived, looking uncommonly handsome, with that
smart little beard and mustachio with which nature had recently gifted him. As
he entered, all the girls, who had been admiring his pictures, began to clap
their hands. Mr. Clive Newcome blushed, and looked none the worse for that
indication of modesty.
</p>

<p>
Lady Kew had met Colonel Newcome a half-dozen times at her daughter&rsquo;s
house: but on this occasion she had quite forgotten him, for when the Colonel
made her a bow, her ladyship regarded him steadily, and beckoning her daughter
to her, asked who the gentleman was who has just kissed Ethel? Trembling as she
always did before her mother, Lady Anne explained. Lady Kew said
&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; and left Colonel Newcome blushing and rather <i>embarrassé de
sa personne</i>&mdash;before her.
</p>

<p>
With the clapping of hands that greeted Clive&rsquo;s arrival, the Countess was
by no means more good-humoured. Not aware of her wrath, the young fellow, who
had also previously been presented to her, came forward presently to make her
his compliments. &ldquo;Pray, who are you?&rdquo; she said, looking at him very
earnestly in the face. He told her his name.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; said Lady Kew, &ldquo;I have heard of you, and I have heard
very little good of you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Will your ladyship please to give me your informant?&rdquo; cried out
Colonel Newcome.
</p>

<p>
Barnes Newcome, who had condescended to attend his sister&rsquo;s little fête,
and had been languidly watching the frolics of the young people, looked very
much alarmed.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"></a>
CHAPTER XXI.<br/>
Is Sentimental, but Short</h2>

<p>
Without wishing to disparage the youth of other nations, I think a well-bred
English lad has this advantage over them, that his bearing is commonly more
modest than theirs. He does not assume the tail-coat and the manners of manhood
too early: he holds his tongue, and listens to his elders: his mind blushes as
well as his cheeks: he does not know how to make bows and pay compliments like
the young Frenchman: nor to contradict his seniors as I am informed American
striplings do. Boys, who learn nothing else at our public schools, learn at
least good manners, or what we consider to be such; and with regard to the
person at present under consideration, it is certain that all his
acquaintances, excepting perhaps his dear cousin Barnes Newcome, agreed in
considering him as a very frank, manly, modest, and agreeable young
fellow.&mdash;My friend Warrington found a grim pleasure in his company; and
his bright face, droll humour, and kindly laughter were always welcome in our
chambers. Honest Fred Bayham was charmed to be in his society; and used
pathetically to aver that he himself might have been such a youth, had he been
blest with a kind father to watch, and good friends to guide, his early career.
In fact, Fred was by far the most didactic of Clive&rsquo;s bachelor
acquaintances, pursued the young man with endless advice and sermons, and held
himself up as a warning to Clive, and a touching example of the evil
consequences of early idleness and dissipation. Gentlemen of much higher rank
in the world took a fancy to the lad. Captain Jack Belsize introduced him to
his own mess, as also to the Guard dinner at St. James&rsquo;s; and my Lord Kew
invited him to Kewbury, his lordship&rsquo;s house in Oxfordshire, where Clive
enjoyed hunting, shooting, and plenty of good company. Mrs. Newcome groaned in
spirit when she heard of these proceedings; and feared, feared very much that
that unfortunate young man was going to ruin; and Barnes Newcome amiably
disseminated reports amongst his family that the lad was plunged in all sorts
of debaucheries: that he was tipsy every night: that he was engaged, in his
sober moments, with dice, the turf, or worse amusements: and that his head was
so turned by living with Kew and Belsize, that the little rascal&rsquo;s pride
and arrogance were perfectly insufferable. Ethel would indignantly deny these
charges; then perhaps credit a few of them; and she looked at Clive with
melancholy eyes when he came to visit his aunt; and I hope prayed that Heaven
might mend his wicked ways. The truth is, the young fellow enjoyed life, as one
of his age and spirit might be expected to do; but he did very little harm, and
meant less; and was quite unconscious of the reputation which his kind friends
were making for him.
</p>

<p>
There had been a long-standing promise that Clive and his father were to go to
Newcome at Christmas: and I dare say Ethel proposed to reform the young
prodigal, if prodigal he was, for she busied herself delightedly in preparing
the apartments which they were to inhabit during their stay&mdash;speculated
upon it in a hundred pleasant ways, putting off her visit to this pleasant
neighbour, or that pretty scene in the vicinage, until her uncle should come
and they should be enabled to enjoy the excursion together. And before the
arrival of her relatives, Ethel, with one of her young brothers, went to see
Mrs. Mason; and introduced herself as Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s niece; and came
back charmed with the old lady, and eager once more in defence of Clive (when
that young gentleman&rsquo;s character happened to be called in question by her
brother Barnes), for had she not seen the kindest letter, which Clive had
written to old Mrs. Mason, and the beautiful drawing of his father on horseback
and in regimentals, waving his sword in front of the gallant the Bengal
Cavalry, which the lad had sent down to the good old woman? He could not be
very bad, Ethel thought, who was so kind and thoughtful for the poor. His
father&rsquo;s son could not be altogether a reprobate. When Mrs. Mason, seeing
how good and beautiful Ethel was, and thinking in her heart nothing could be
too good or beautiful for Clive, nodded her kind old head at Miss Ethel, and
said she should like to find a husband for her, Miss Ethel blushed, and looked
handsomer than ever; and at home, when she was describing the interview, never
mentioned this part of her talk with Mrs. Mason.
</p>

<p>
But the <i>enfant terrible</i>, young Alfred, did: announcing to all the
company at dessert, that Ethel was in love with Clive&mdash;that Clive was
coming to marry her&mdash;that Mrs. Mason, the old woman at Newcome, had told
him so.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I dare say she has told the tale all over Newcome!&rdquo; shrieked out
Mr. Barnes. &ldquo;I dare say it will be in the Independent next week. By Jove,
it&rsquo;s a pretty connexion&mdash;and nice acquaintances this uncle of ours
brings us!&rdquo; A fine battle ensued upon the receipt and discussion of this
intelligence: Barnes was more than usually bitter and sarcastic: Ethel
haughtily recriminated, losing her temper, and then her firmness, until, fairly
bursting into tears, she taxed Barnes with meanness and malignity in for ever
uttering stories to his cousin&rsquo;s disadvantage, and pursuing with constant
slander and cruelty one of the very best of men. She rose and left the table in
great tribulation&mdash;she went to her room and wrote a letter to her uncle,
blistered with tears, in which she besought him not to come to
Newcome.&mdash;Perhaps she went and looked at the apartments which she had
adorned and prepared for his reception. It was for him and for his company that
she was eager. She had met no one so generous and gentle, so honest and
unselfish, until she had seen him.
</p>

<p>
Lady Anne knew the ways of women very well; and when Ethel that night, still in
great indignation and scorn against Barnes, announced that she had written a
letter to her uncle, begging the Colonel not to come at Christmas,
Ethel&rsquo;s mother soothed the wounded girl, and treated her with peculiar
gentleness and affection; and she wisely gave Mr. Barnes to understand, that if
he wished to bring about that very attachment, the idea of which made him so
angry, he could use no better means than those which he chose to employ at
present, of constantly abusing and insulting poor Clive, and awakening
Ethel&rsquo;s sympathies by mere opposition. And Ethel&rsquo;s sad little
letter was extracted from the post-bag: and her mother brought it to her,
sealed, in her own room, where the young lady burned it: being easily brought
by Lady Anne&rsquo;s quiet remonstrances to perceive that it was best no
allusion should take place to the silly dispute which had occurred that
evening; and that Clive and his father should come for the Christmas holidays,
if they were so minded. But when they came, there was no Ethel at Newcome. She
was gone on a visit to her sick aunt, Lady Julia. Colonel Newcome passed the
holidays sadly without his young favourite, and Clive consoled himself by
knocking down pheasants with Sir Brian&rsquo;s keepers: and increased his
cousin&rsquo;s attachment for him by breaking the knees of Barnes&rsquo;s
favourite mare out hunting. It was a dreary entertainment; father and son were
glad enough to get away from it, and to return to their own humbler quarters in
London.
</p>

<p>
Thomas Newcome had now been for three years in the possession of that felicity
which his soul longed after; and had any friend of his asked him if he was
happy, he would have answered in the affirmative no doubt, and protested that
he was in the enjoyment of everything a reasonable man could desire. And yet,
in spite of his happiness, his honest face grew more melancholy: his loose
clothes hung only the looser on his lean limbs: he ate his meals without
appetite: his nights were restless: and he would sit for hours silent in the
midst of his family, so that Mr. Binnie first began jocularly to surmise that
Tom was crossed in love; then seriously to think that his health was suffering
and that a doctor should be called to see him; and at last to agree that
idleness was not good for the Colonel, and that he missed the military
occupation to which he had been for so many years accustomed.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel insisted that he was perfectly happy and contented. What could he
want more than he had&mdash;the society of his son, for the present; and a
prospect of quiet for his declining days? Binnie vowed that his friend&rsquo;s
days had no business to decline as yet; that a sober man of fifty ought to be
at his best; and that Newcome had grown older in three years in Europe, than in
a quarter of a century in the East&mdash;all which statements were true, though
the Colonel persisted in denying them.
</p>

<p>
He was very restless. He was always finding business in distant quarters of
England. He must go visit Tom Barker who was settled in Devonshire, or Harry
Johnson who had retired and was living in Wales. He surprised Mrs. Honeyman by
the frequency of his visits to Brighton, and always came away much improved in
health by the sea air, and by constant riding with the harriers there. He
appeared at Bath and at Cheltenham, where, as we know, there are many old
Indians. Mr. Binnie was not indisposed to accompany him on some of these
jaunts&mdash;&ldquo;provided,&rdquo; the civilian said, &ldquo;you don&rsquo;t
take young Hopeful, who is much better without us; and let us two old fogies
enjoy ourselves together.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive was not sorry to be left alone. The father knew that only too well. The
young man had occupations, ideas, associates, in whom the elder could take no
interest. Sitting below in his blank, cheerless bedroom, Newcome could hear the
lad and his friends talking, singing, and making merry overhead. Something
would be said in Clive&rsquo;s well-known tones, and a roar of laughter would
proceed from the youthful company. They had all sorts of tricks, bywords,
waggeries, of which the father could not understand the jest nor the secret. He
longed to share in it, but the party would be hushed if he went in to join
it&mdash;and he would come away sad at heart, to think that his presence should
be a signal for silence among them; and that his son could not be merry in his
company.
</p>

<p>
We must not quarrel with Clive and Clive&rsquo;s friends, because they could
not joke and be free in the presence of the worthy gentleman. If they hushed
when he came in, Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s sad face would seem to look
round&mdash;appealing to one after another of them, and asking, &ldquo;Why
don&rsquo;t you go on laughing?&rdquo; A company of old comrades shall be merry
and laughing together, and the entrance of a single youngster will stop the
conversation&mdash;and if men of middle age feel this restraint with our
juniors, the young ones surely have a right to be silent before their elders.
The boys are always mum under the eyes of the usher. There is scarce any
parent, however friendly or tender with his children, but must feel sometimes
that they have thoughts which are not his or hers; and wishes and secrets quite
beyond the parental control: and, as people are vain, long after they are
fathers, ay; or grandfathers, and not seldom fancy that mere personal desire of
domination is overweening anxiety and love for their family, no doubt that
common outcry against thankless children might often be shown to prove, not
that the son is disobedient, but the father too exacting. When a mother (as
fond mothers often will) vows that she knows every thought in her
daughter&rsquo;s heart, I think she pretends to know a great deal too much; nor
can there be a wholesomer task for the elders, as our young subjects grow up,
naturally demanding liberty and citizen&rsquo;s rights, than for us gracefully
to abdicate our sovereign pretensions and claims of absolute control.
There&rsquo;s many a family chief who governs wisely and gently, who is loth to
give the power up when he should. Ah, be sure, it is not youth alone that has
need to learn humility! By their very virtues, and the purity of their lives,
many good parents create flatterers for themselves, and so live in the midst of
a filial court of parasites&mdash;and seldom without a pang of unwillingness,
and often not at all, will they consent to forgo their autocracy, and exchange
the tribute they have been wont to exact of love and obedience for the willing
offering of love and freedom.
</p>

<p>
Our good Colonel was not of the tyrannous, but of the loving order of fathers:
and having fixed his whole heart upon this darling youth, his son, was
punished, as I suppose such worldly and selfish love ought to be punished (so
Mr. Honeyman says, at least, in his pulpit), by a hundred little
mortifications, disappointments, and secret wounds, which stung not the less
severely though never mentioned by their victim.
</p>

<p>
Sometimes he would have a company of such gentlemen as Messrs. Warrington,
Honeyman, and Pendennis, when haply a literary conversation would ensue after
dinner; and the merits of our present poets and writers would be discussed with
the claret. Honeyman was well enough read in profane literature, especially of
the lighter sort; and, I dare say, could have passed a satisfactory examination
in Balzac, Dumas, and Paul de Kock himself, of all whose works our good host
was entirely ignorant,&mdash;as indeed he was of graver books, and of earlier
books, and of books in general&mdash;except those few which we have said formed
his travelling library. He heard opinions that amazed and bewildered him. He
heard that Byron was no great poet, though a very clever man. He heard that
there had been a wicked persecution against Mr. Pope&rsquo;s memory and fame,
and that it was time to reinstate him that his favourite, Dr. Johnson, talked
admirably, but did not write English: that young Keats was a genius to be
estimated in future days with young Raphael: and that a young gentleman of
Cambridge who had lately published two volumes of verses, might take rank with
the greatest poets of all. Doctor Johnson not write English! Lord Byron not one
of the greatest poets of the world! Sir Walter a poet of the second order! Mr.
Pope attacked for inferiority and want of imagination; Mr. Keats and this young
Mr. Tennyson of Cambridge, the chief of modern poetic literature! What were
these new dicta, which Mr. Warrington delivered with a puff of tobacco-smoke:
to which Mr. Honeyman blandly assented and Clive listened with pleasure? Such
opinions were not of the Colonel&rsquo;s time. He tried in vain to construe
Oenone, and to make sense of Lamia. Ulysses he could understand; but what were
these prodigious laudations bestowed on it? And that reverence for Mr.
Wordsworth, what did it mean? Had he not written Peter Bell, and been turned
into deserved ridicule by all the reviews? Was that dreary Excursion to be
compared to Goldsmith&rsquo;s Traveller, or Doctor Johnson&rsquo;s Imitation of
the Tenth Satire of Juvenal? If the young men told the truth, where had been
the truth in his own young days, and in what ignorance had our forefathers been
brought up?&mdash;Mr. Addison was only an elegant essayist, and shallow
trifler! All these opinions were openly uttered over the Colonel&rsquo;s
claret, as he and Mr. Binnie sate wondering at the speakers, who were knocking
the gods of their youth about their ears. To Binnie the shock was not so great;
the hard-headed Scotchman had read Hume in his college days, and sneered at
some of the gods even at that early time. But with Newcome the admiration for
the literature of the last century was an article of belief: and the
incredulity of the young men seemed rank blasphemy. &ldquo;You will be sneering
at Shakspeare next,&rdquo; he said: and was silenced, though not better
pleased, when his youthful guests told him, that Doctor Goldsmith sneered at
him too; that Dr. Johnson did not understand him, and that Congreve, in his own
day and afterwards, was considered to be, in some points, Shakspeare&rsquo;s
superior. &ldquo;What do you think a man&rsquo;s criticism is worth,
sir,&rdquo; cries Mr. Warrington, &ldquo;who says those lines of Mr. Congreve,
about a church&mdash;
</p>

<p class="poem">
&lsquo;How reverend is the face of yon tall pile,<br/>
Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads,<br/>
To bear aloft its vast and ponderous roof,<br/>
By its own weight made steadfast and immovable;<br/>
Looking tranquillity. It strikes an awe<br/>
And terror on my aching sight&rsquo;&mdash;et cætera
</p>

<p class="noindent">
what do you think of a critic who says those lines are finer than anything
Shakspeare ever wrote?&rdquo; A dim consciousness of danger for Clive, a terror
that his son had got into the society of heretics and unbelievers, came over
the Colonel,&mdash;and then presently, as was the wont with his modest soul, a
gentle sense of humility. He was in the wrong, perhaps, and these younger men
were right. Who was he, to set up his judgment against men of letters, educated
at college? It was better that Clive should follow them than him, who had had
but a brief schooling, and that neglected, and who had not the original genius
of his son&rsquo;s brilliant companions. We particularise these talks, and the
little incidental mortifications which one of the best of men endured, not
because the conversations are worth the remembering or recording, but because
they presently very materially influenced his own and his son&rsquo;s future
history.
</p>

<p>
In the midst of the artists and their talk the poor Colonel was equally in the
dark. They assaulted this Academician and that; laughed at Mr. Haydon, or
sneered at Mr. Eastlake, or the contrary; deified Mr. Turner on one side of the
table, and on the other scorned him as a madman&mdash;nor could Newcome
comprehend a word of their jargon. Some sense there must be in their
conversation: Clive joined eagerly in it and took one side or another. But what
was all this rapture about a snuffy brown picture called Titian, this delight
in three flabby nymphs by Rubens, and so forth? As for the vaunted Antique, and
the Elgin Marbles&mdash;it might be that that battered torso was a miracle, and
that broken-nosed bust a perfect beauty. He tried and tried to see that they
were. He went away privily and worked at the National Gallery with a catalogue:
and passed hours in the Museum before the ancient statues, desperately praying
to comprehend them, and puzzled before them as he remembered he was puzzled
before the Greek rudiments as a child when he cried over &#8001;,
&#954;&#945;&#953; &#7969; &#7936;&#955;&#951;&#952;&#8053;&#962;,
&#954;&#945;&#953; &#964;&#8056; &#7936;&#955;&#951;&#952;&#8050;&#962;.
Whereas when Clive came to look at these same things his eyes would lighten up
with pleasure, and his cheeks flush with enthusiasm. He seemed to drink in
colour as he would a feast of wine. Before the statues he would wave his
finger, following the line of grace, and burst into ejaculations of delight and
admiration. &ldquo;Why can&rsquo;t I love the things which he loves?&rdquo;
thought Newcome; &ldquo;why am I blind to the beauties which he admires so
much&mdash;and am I unable to comprehend what he evidently understands at his
young age?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So, as he thought what vain egotistical hopes he used to form about the boy
when he was away in India&mdash;how in his plans for the happy future, Clive
was to be always at his side; how they were to read, work, play, think, be
merry together&mdash;a sickening and humiliating sense of the reality came over
him: and he sadly contrasted it with the former fond anticipations. Together
they were, yet he was alone still. His thoughts were not the boy&rsquo;s: and
his affections rewarded but with a part of the young man&rsquo;s heart. Very
likely other lovers have suffered equally. Many a man and woman has been
incensed and worshipped, and has shown no more feeling than is to be expected
from idols. There is yonder statue in St. Peter&rsquo;s, of which the toe is
worn away with kisses, and which sits, and will sit eternally, prim and cold.
As the young man grew, it seemed to the father as if each day separated them
more and more. He himself became more melancholy and silent. His friend the
civilian marked the ennui, and commented on it in his laughing way. Sometimes
he announced to the club that Tom Newcome was in love: then he thought it was
not Tom&rsquo;s heart but his liver that was affected, and recommended blue
pill. O thou fond fool! who art thou, to know any man&rsquo;s heart save thine
alone? Wherefore were wings made, and do feathers grow, but that birds should
fly? The instinct that bids you love your nest, leads the young ones to seek a
tree and a mate of their own. As if Thomas Newcome by poring over poems or
pictures ever so much could read them with Clive&rsquo;s eyes!&mdash;as if by
sitting mum over his wine, but watching till the lad came home with his
latchkey (when the Colonel crept back to his own room in his stockings), by
prodigal bounties, by stealthy affection, by any schemes or prayers, he could
hope to remain first in his son&rsquo;s heart!
</p>

<p>
One day going into Clive&rsquo;s study, where the lad was so deeply engaged
that he did not hear the father&rsquo;s steps advancing, Thomas Newcome found
his son, pencil in hand, poring over a paper, which, blushing, he thrust
hastily into his breast-pocket, as soon as he saw his visitor. The father was
deeply smitten and mortified. &ldquo;I&mdash;I am sorry you have any secrets
from me, Clive,&rdquo; he gasped out at length.
</p>

<p>
The boy&rsquo;s face lighted up with humour. &ldquo;Here it is, father, if you
would like to see:&rdquo;&mdash;and he pulled out a paper which contained
neither more nor less than a copy of very flowery verses, about a certain young
lady, who had succeeded (after I know not how many predecessors) to the place
of <i>prima donna assoluta</i> in Clive&rsquo;s heart. And be pleased, madam,
not to be too eager with your censure, and fancy that Mr. Clive or his
chronicler would insinuate anything wrong. I dare say you felt a flame or two
before you were married yourself: and that the Captain or the Curate, and the
interesting young foreigner with whom you danced, caused your heart to beat,
before you bestowed that treasure on Mr. Candour. Clive was doing no more than
your own son will do when he is eighteen or nineteen years old himself&mdash;if
he is a lad of any spirit and a worthy son of so charming a lady as yourself.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"></a>
CHAPTER XXII.<br/>
Describes a Visit to Paris; with Accidents and Incidents in London</h2>

<p>
Mr. Clive, as we have said, had now begun to make acquaintances of his own; and
the chimney-glass in his study was decorated with such a number of cards of
invitation, as made his ex-fellow-student of Gandish&rsquo;s, young Moss, when
admitted into that sanctum, stare with respectful astonishment. &ldquo;Lady
Bary Rowe at obe,&rdquo; the young Hebrew read out; &ldquo;Lady Baughton at
obe, dadsig! By eyes! what a tip-top swell you&rsquo;re a gettid to be,
Newcome! I guess this is a different sort of business to the hops at old
Levison&rsquo;s, where you first learned the polka; and where we had to pay a
shilling a glass for negus!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>We</i> had to pay! <i>You</i> never paid anything, Moss,&rdquo; cries
Clive, laughing; and indeed the negus imbibed by Mr. Moss did not cost that
prudent young fellow a penny.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, well; I suppose at these swell parties you &rsquo;ave as bush
champade as ever you like,&rdquo; continues Moss. &ldquo;Lady Kicklebury at
obe&mdash;small early party. Why, I declare you know the whole peerage! I say,
if any of these swells want a little tip-top lace, a real bargain, or diamonds,
you know, you might put in a word for us, and do us a good turn.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Give me some of your cards,&rdquo; says Clive; &ldquo;I can distribute
them about at the balls I go to. But you must treat my friends better than you
serve me. Those cigars which you sent me were abominable, Moss; the groom in
the stable won&rsquo;t smoke them.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What a regular swell that Newcome has become!&rdquo; says Mr. Moss to an
old companion, another of Clive&rsquo;s fellow-students: &ldquo;I saw him
riding in the Park with the Earl of Kew, and Captain Belsize, and a whole lot
of &rsquo;em&mdash;<i>I</i> know &rsquo;em all&mdash;and he&rsquo;d hardly nod
to me. I&rsquo;ll have a horse next Sunday, and <i>then</i> I&rsquo;ll see
whether he&rsquo;ll cut me or not. Confound his airs! For all he&rsquo;s such a
count, I know he&rsquo;s got an aunt who lets lodgings at Brighton, and an
uncle who&rsquo;ll be preaching in the Bench if he don&rsquo;t keep a precious
good look-out.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Newcome is not a bit of a count,&rdquo; answers Moss&rsquo;s companion,
indignantly. &ldquo;He don&rsquo;t care a straw whether a fellow&rsquo;s poor
or rich; and he comes up to my room just as willingly as he would go to a
duke&rsquo;s. He is always trying to do a friend a good turn. He draws the
figure capitally: he <i>looks</i> proud, but he isn&rsquo;t, and is the
best-natured fellow I ever saw.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He ain&rsquo;t been in our place this eighteen months,&rdquo; says Mr.
Moss: &ldquo;I know that.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Because when he came you were always screwing him with some bargain or
other,&rdquo; cried the intrepid Hicks, Mr. Moss&rsquo;s companion for the
moment. &ldquo;He said he couldn&rsquo;t afford to know you: you never let him
out of your house without a pin, or a box of eau-de-cologne, or a bundle of
cigars. And when you cut the arts for the shop, how were you and Newcome to go
on together, I should like to know?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know a relative of his who comes to our &rsquo;ouse every three
months, to renew a little bill,&rdquo; says Mr. Moss, with a grin: &ldquo;and I
know this, if I go to the Earl of Kew in the Albany, or the Honourable Captain
Belsize, Knightsbridge Barracks, <i>they</i> let me in soon enough. I&rsquo;m
told his father ain&rsquo;t got much money.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How the deuce should I know? or what do I care?&rdquo; cries the young
artist, stamping the heel of his blucher on the pavement. &ldquo;When I was
sick in that confounded Clipstone Street, I know the Colonel came to see me,
and Newcome too, day after day, and night after night. And when I was getting
well, they sent me wine and jelly, and all sorts of jolly things. I should like
to know how often you came to see me, Moss, and what you did for a
fellow?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, I kep away because I thought you wouldn&rsquo;t like to be
reminded of that two pound three you owe me, Hicks: that&rsquo;s why I kep
away,&rdquo; says Mr. Moss, who, I dare say, was good-natured too. And when
young Moss appeared at the billiard-room that night, it was evident that Hicks
had told the story; for the Wardour Street youth was saluted with a roar of
queries, &ldquo;How about that two pound three that Hicks owes you?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The artless conversation of the two youths will enable us to understand how our
hero&rsquo;s life was speeding. Connected in one way or another with persons in
all ranks, it never entered his head to be ashamed of the profession which he
had chosen. People in the great world did not in the least trouble themselves
regarding him, or care to know whether Mr. Clive Newcome followed painting or
any other pursuit: and though Clive saw many of his schoolfellows in the world,
these entering into the army, others talking with delight of college, and its
pleasures or studies; yet, having made up his mind that art was his calling, he
refused to quit her for any other mistress, and plied his easel very stoutly.
He passed through the course of study prescribed by Mr. Gandish, and drew every
cast and statue in that gentleman&rsquo;s studio. Grindley, his tutor, getting
a curacy, Clive did not replace him; but he took a course of modern languages,
which he learned with considerable aptitude and rapidity. And now, being strong
enough to paint without a master, it was found that there was no good light in
the house in Fitzroy Square; and Mr. Clive must needs have an atelier hard by,
where he could pursue his own devices independently.
</p>

<p>
If his kind father felt any pang even at this temporary parting, he was greatly
soothed and pleased by a little mark of attention on the young man&rsquo;s
part, of which his present biographer happened to be a witness; for having
walked over with Colonel Newcome to see the new studio, with its tall centre
window, and its curtains, and carved wardrobes, china jars, pieces of armour,
and other artistical properties, the lad, with a very sweet smile of kindness
and affection lighting up his honest face, took one of two Bramah&rsquo;s
house-keys with which he was provided, and gave it to his father:
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s your key, sir,&rdquo; he said to the Colonel; &ldquo;and
you must be my first sitter, please, father; for though I&rsquo;m a historical
painter, I shall condescend to do a few portraits, you know.&rdquo; The Colonel
took his son&rsquo;s hand, and grasped it; as Clive fondly put the other hand
on his father&rsquo;s shoulder. Then Colonel Newcome walked away into the next
room for a minute or two, and came back wiping his moustache with his
handkerchief, and still holding the key in the other hand. He spoke about some
trivial subject when he returned; but his voice quite trembled; and I thought
his face seemed to glow with love and pleasure. Clive has never painted
anything better than that head, which he executed in a couple of sittings; and
wisely left without subjecting it to the chances of further labour.
</p>

<p>
It is certain the young man worked much better after he had been inducted into
this apartment of his own. And the meals at home were gayer; and the rides with
his father more frequent and agreeable. The Colonel used his key once or twice,
and found Clive and his friend Ridley engaged in depicting a
life-guardsman,&mdash;or a muscular negro,&mdash;or a Malay from a neighbouring
crossing, who would appear as Othello, conversing with a Clipstone Street
nymph, who was ready to represent Desdemona, Diana, Queen Ellinor (sucking
poison from the arm of the Plantagenet of the Blues), or any other model of
virgin or maiden excellence.
</p>

<p>
Of course our young man commenced as a historical painter, deeming that the
highest branch of art; and declining (except for preparatory studies) to
operate on any but the largest canvasses. He painted a prodigious battle-piece
of Assaye, with General Wellesley at the head of the 19th Dragoons charging the
Mahratta Artillery, and sabring them at their guns. A piece of ordnance was
dragged into the back-yard, and the Colonel&rsquo;s stud put into requisition
to supply studies for this enormous picture. Fred Bayham (a stunning likeness)
appeared as the principal figure in the foreground, terrifically wounded, but
still of undaunted courage, slashing about amidst a group of writhing Malays,
and bestriding the body of a dead cab-horse, which Clive painted, until the
landlady and rest of the lodgers cried out, and for sanitary reasons the
knackers removed the slaughtered charger. So large was this picture that it
could only be got out of the great window by means of artifice and coaxing; and
its transport caused a shout of triumph among the little boys in Charlotte
Street. Will it be believed that the Royal Academicians rejected the
&ldquo;Battle of Assaye&rdquo;? The masterpiece was so big that Fitzroy Square
could not hold it; and the Colonel had thoughts of presenting it to the
Oriental Club; but Clive (who had taken a trip to Paris with his father, as a
<i>délassement</i> after the fatigues incident on this great work), when he saw
it, after a month&rsquo;s interval, declared the thing was rubbish, and
massacred Britons, Malays, Dragoons, Artillery and all.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hôtel de la Terrasse, Rue de Rivoli,
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;April 27&mdash;May 1, 183-.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My Dear Pendennis&mdash;You said I might write you a line from Paris;
and if you find in my correspondence any valuable hints for the <i>Pall Mall
Gazette</i>, you are welcome to use them gratis. Now I am here, I wonder I have
never been here before, and that I have seen the Dieppe packet a thousand times
at Brighton pier without thinking of going on board her. We had a rough little
passage to Boulogne. We went into action as we cleared Dover pier&mdash;when
the <i>first gun</i> was fired, and a stout old lady was carried off by a
steward to the cabin; half a dozen more dropped immediately, and the crew
bustled about, bringing basins for the wounded. The Colonel smiled as he saw
them fall. &lsquo;I&rsquo;m an old sailor,&rsquo; says he to a gentleman on
board. &lsquo;I was coming home, sir, and we had plenty of rough weather on the
voyage, I never thought of being unwell. My boy here, who made the voyage
twelve years ago last May, may have lost his sea-legs; but for me,
sir&mdash;&rsquo; Here a great wave dashed over the three of us; and would you
believe it? in five minutes after, the dear old governor was as ill as all the
rest of the passengers. When we arrived, we went through a line of ropes to the
custom-house, with a crowd of snobs jeering at us on each side; and then were
carried off by a bawling commissioner to an hotel, where the Colonel, who
speaks French beautifully, you know, told the waiter to get us a <i>petit
déjeuner soigné;</i> on which the fellow, grinning, said, a &lsquo;nice fried
sole, sir,&mdash;nice mutton-chop, sir,&rsquo; in regular Temple Bar English;
and brought us Harvey sauce with the chops, and the last <i>Bell&rsquo;s
Life</i> to amuse us after our luncheon. I wondered if all the Frenchmen read
<i>Bell&rsquo;s Life</i>, and if all the inns smell so of brandy-and-water!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We walked out to see the town, which I dare say you know, and therefore
shan&rsquo;t describe. We saw some good studies of fishwomen with bare legs,
and remarked that the soldiers were very dumpy and small. We were glad when the
time came to set off by the diligence; and having the coupe to ourselves, made
a very comfortable journey to Paris. It was jolly to hear the postillions
crying to their horses, and the bells of the team, and to feel ourselves really
in France. We took in provender at Abbeville and Amiens, and were comfortably
landed here after about six-and-twenty hours of coaching. Didn&rsquo;t I get up
the next morning and have a good walk in the Tuileries! The chestnuts were out,
and the statues all shining, and all the windows of the palace in a blaze. It
looks big enough for the king of the giants to live in. How grand it is! I like
the barbarous splendour of the architecture, and the ornaments profuse and
enormous with which it is overladen. Think of Louis XVI. with a thousand
gentlemen at his back, and a mob of yelling ruffians in front of him, giving up
his crown without a fight for it; leaving his friends to be butchered, and
himself sneaking into prison! No end of little children were skipping and
playing in the sunshiny walks, with dresses as bright and cheeks as red as the
flowers and roses in the parterres. I couldn&rsquo;t help thinking of Barbaroux
and his bloody pikemen swarming in the gardens, and fancied the Swiss in the
windows yonder; where they were to be slaughtered when the King had turned his
back. What a great man that Carlyle is! I have read the battle in his History
so often, that I knew it before I had seen it. Our windows look out on the
obelisk where the guillotine stood. The Colonel doesn&rsquo;t admire Carlyle.
He says Mrs. Graham&rsquo;s Letters from Paris are excellent, and we bought
Scott&rsquo;s Visit to Paris, and Paris Re-visited, and read them in the
diligence. They are famous good reading; but the Palais Royal is very much
altered since Scott&rsquo;s time: no end of handsome shops; I went there
directly,&mdash;the same night we arrived, when the Colonel went to bed. But
there is none of the fun going on which Scott describes. The
<i>laquais-de-place</i> says Charles X. put an end to it all.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Next morning the governor had letters to deliver after breakfast, and
left me at the Louvre door. I shall come and live here, I think. I feel as if I
never want to go away. I had not been ten minutes in the place before I fell in
love with the most beautiful creature the world has ever seen. She was standing
silent and majestic in the centre of one of the rooms of the statue-gallery;
and the very first glimpse of her struck one breathless with the sense of her
beauty. I could not see the colour of her eyes and hair exactly, but the latter
is light, and the eyes I should think are grey. Her complexion is of a
beautiful warm marble tinge. She is not a clever woman, evidently; I do not
think she laughs or talks much&mdash;she seems too lazy to do more than smile.
She is only beautiful. This divine creature has lost an arm, which has been cut
off at the shoulder, but she looks none the less lovely for the accident. She
maybe some two-and-thirty years old; and she was born about two thousand years
ago. Her name is the Venus of Milo. O Victrix! O lucky Paris! (I don&rsquo;t
mean this present Lutetia, but Priam&rsquo;s son.) How could he give the apple
to any else but this enslaver&mdash;this joy of gods and men? at whose benign
presence the flowers spring up, and the smiling ocean sparkles, and the soft
skies beam with serene light! I wish we might sacrifice. I would bring a
spotless kid, snowy-coated, and a pair of doves and a jar of honey&mdash;yea,
honey from Morel&rsquo;s in Piccadilly, thyme-flavoured, narbonian, and we
would acknowledge the Sovereign Loveliness, and adjure the Divine Aphrodite.
Did you ever see my pretty young cousin, Miss Newcome, Sir Brian&rsquo;s
daughter? She has a great look of the huntress Diana. It is sometimes too proud
and too cold for me. The blare of those horns is too shrill and the rapid
pursuit through bush and bramble too daring. O thou generous Venus! O thou
beautiful bountiful calm! At thy soft feet let me kneel&mdash;on cushions of
Tyrian purple. Don&rsquo;t show this to Warrington, please: I never thought
when I began that Pegasus was going to run away with me.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish I had read Greek a little more at school: it&rsquo;s too late at
my age; I shall be nineteen soon, and have got my own business; but when we
return I think I shall try and read it with Cribs. What have I been doing,
spending six months over a picture of sepoys and dragoons cutting each
other&rsquo;s throats? Art ought not to be a fever. It ought to be a calm; not
a screaming bull-fight or a battle of gladiators, but a temple for placid
contemplation, rapt worship, stately rhythmic ceremony, and music solemn and
tender. I shall take down my Snyders and Rubens when I get home; and turn
quietist. To think I have spent weeks in depicting bony life-guardsmen
delivering cut one, or Saint George, and painting black beggars off a crossing!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What a grand thing it is to think of half a mile of pictures at the
Louvre! Not but that there are a score under the old pepper-boxes in Trafalgar
Square as fine as the best here. I don&rsquo;t care for any Raphael here, as
much as our own St. Catharine. There is nothing more grand. Could the Pyramids
of Egypt or the Colossus of Rhodes be greater than our Sebastian? and for our
Bacchus and Ariadne, you cannot beat the best you know. But if we have fine
jewels, here there are whole sets of them: there are kings and all their
splendid courts round about them. J. J. and I must come and live here. Oh, such
portraits of Titian! Oh, such swells by Vandyke! I&rsquo;m sure he must have
been as fine a gentleman as any he painted! It&rsquo;s a shame they
haven&rsquo;t got a Sir Joshua or two. At a feast of painters he has a right to
a place, and at the high table too. Do you remember Tom Rogers, of
Gandish&rsquo;s? He used to come to my rooms&mdash;my other rooms in the
Square. Tom is here with a fine carrotty beard, and a velvet jacket, cut open
at the sleeves, to show that Tom has a shirt. I dare say it was clean last
Sunday. He has not learned French yet, but pretends to have forgotten English;
and promises to introduce me to a set of the French artists his
<i>camarades</i>. There seems to be a scarcity of soap among these young
fellows; and I think I shall cut off my mustachios; only Warrington will have
nothing to laugh at when I come home.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Colonel and I went to dine at the Café de Paris, and afterwards to
the opera. Ask for <i>huitres de Marenne</i> when you dine here. We dined with
a tremendous French swell, the Vicomte de Florac, <i>officier
d&rsquo;ordonnance</i> to one of the princes, and son of some old friends of my
father&rsquo;s. They are of very high birth, but very poor. He will be a duke
when his cousin, the Duc d&rsquo;Ivry, dies. His father is quite old. The
vicomte was born in England. He pointed out to us no end of famous people at
the opera&mdash;a few of the Fauxbourg St. Germain, and ever so many of the
present people:&mdash;M. Thiers, and Count Molé, and Georges Sand, and Victor
Hugo, and Jules Janin&mdash;I forget half their names. And yesterday we went to
see his mother, Madame de Florac. I suppose she was an old flame of the
Colonel&rsquo;s, for their meeting was uncommonly ceremonious and tender. It
was like an elderly Sir Charles Grandison saluting a middle-aged Miss Byron.
And only fancy! the Colonel has been here once before since his return to
England! It must have been last year, when he was away for ten days, whilst I
was painting that rubbishing picture of the Black Prince waiting on King John.
Madame de F. is a very grand lady, and must have been a great beauty in her
time. There are two pictures by Gerard in her salon&mdash;of her and M. de
Florac. M. de Florac, old swell, powder, thick eyebrows, hooked nose; no end of
stars, ribbons, and embroidery. Madame also in the dress of the
Empire&mdash;pensive, beautiful, black velvet, and a look something like my
cousin&rsquo;s. She wore a little old-fashioned brooch yesterday, and said,
&lsquo;<i>Voilà, la reconnoissez-vous?</i> Last year when you were here, it was
in the country;&rsquo; and she smiled at him: and the dear old boy gave a sort
of groan and dropped his head in his hand. I know what it is. I&rsquo;ve gone
through it myself. I kept for six months an absurd ribbon of that infernal
little flirt Fanny Freeman. Don&rsquo;t you remember how angry I was when you
abused her?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Your father and I knew each other when we were children, my
friend,&rsquo; the Countess said to me (in the sweetest French accent). He was
looking into the garden of the house where they live, in the Rue Saint
Dominique. &lsquo;You must come and see me often, always. You remind me of
him,&rsquo; and she added, with a very sweet kind smile, &lsquo;Do you like
best to think that he was better-looking than you, or that you excel
him?&rsquo; I said I should like to be like him. But who is? There are cleverer
fellows, I dare say; but where is there such a good one? I wonder whether he
was very fond of Madame de Florac? The old Count does not show. He is quite
old, and wears a pigtail. We saw it bobbing over his garden chair. He lets the
upper part of his house; Major-General the Honourable Zeno F. Pokey, of
Cincinnati, U.S., lives in it. We saw Mrs. Pokey&rsquo;s carriage in the court,
and her footmen smoking cigars there; a tottering old man with feeble legs, as
old as old Count de Florac, seemed to be the only domestic who waited on the
family below.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Madame de Florac and my father talked about my profession. The Countess
said it was a <i>belle carrière</i>. The Colonel said it was better than the
army. &lsquo;<i>Ah oui, monsieur</i>,&rsquo; says she very sadly. And then he
said, &lsquo;that presently I should very likely come to study at Paris, when
he knew there would be a kind friend to watch over <i>son garçon</i>.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;But you will be here to watch over him yourself, <i>mon
ami?</i>&rsquo; says the French lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Father shook his head. &lsquo;I shall very probably have to go back to
India,&rsquo; he said. &lsquo;My furlough is expired. I am now taking my extra
leave. If I can get my promotion, I need not return. Without that I cannot
afford to live in Europe. But my absence in all probability will be but very
short,&rsquo; he said. &lsquo;And Clive is old enough now to go on without
me.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is this the reason why father has been so gloomy for some months past? I
thought it might have been some of my follies which made him uncomfortable; and
you know I have been trying my best to amend&mdash;I have not half such a
tailor&rsquo;s bill this year as last. I owe scarcely anything. I have paid off
Moss every halfpenny for his confounded rings and gimcracks. I asked father
about this melancholy news as we walked away from Madame de Florac.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He is not near so rich as we thought. Since he has been at home he says
he has spent greatly more than his income, and is quite angry at his own
extravagance. At first he thought he might have retired from the army
altogether; but after three years at home, he finds he cannot live upon his
income. When he gets his promotion as full Colonel, he will be entitled to a
thousand a year; that, and what he has invested in India, and a little in this
country, will be plenty for both of us. He never seems to think of my making
money by my profession. Why, suppose I sell the &lsquo;Battle of Assaye&rsquo;
for 500 pounds? that will be enough to carry me on ever so long, without
dipping into the purse of the dear old father.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Viscount de Florac called to dine with us. The Colonel said he did
not care about going out: and so the Viscount and I went together. <i>Trois
Frères Provençaux</i>&mdash;he ordered the dinner and of course I paid. Then we
went to a little theatre, and he took me behind the scenes&mdash;such a queer
place! We went to the <i>loge</i> of Mademoiselle Fine who acted the part of
&lsquo;Le petit Tambour,&rsquo; in which she sings a famous song with a drum.
He asked her and several literary fellows to supper at the Café Anglais. And I
came home ever so late, and lost twenty napoleons at a game called bouillotte.
It was all the change out of a twenty-pound note which dear old Binnie gave me
before we set out, with a quotation out of Horace, you know, about <i>Neque tu
choreas sperne puer</i>. O me! how guilty I felt as I walked home at ever so
much o&rsquo;clock to the Hotel de la Terrasse, and sneaked into our apartment!
But the Colonel was sound asleep. His dear old boots stood sentries at his
bedroom door, and I slunk into mine as silently as I could.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;P.S.&mdash;Wednesday.&mdash;There&rsquo;s just one scrap of paper left.
I have got J. J.&rsquo;s letter. He has been to the private view of the Academy
(so that his own picture is in), and the &lsquo;Battle of Assaye&rsquo; is
refused. Smee told him it was too big. I dare say it&rsquo;s very bad.
I&rsquo;m glad I&rsquo;m away, and the fellows are not condoling with me.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Please go and see Mr. Binnie. He has come to grief. He rode the
Colonel&rsquo;s horse; came down on the pavement and wrenched his leg, and
I&rsquo;m afraid the grey&rsquo;s. Please look at his legs; we can&rsquo;t
understand John&rsquo;s report of them. He, I mean Mr. B., was going to
Scotland to see his relations when the accident happened. You know he has
always been going to Scotland to see his relations. He makes light of the
business, and says the Colonel is not to think of coming to him: and <i>I</i>
don&rsquo;t want to go back just yet, to see all the fellows from
Gandish&rsquo;s and the Life Academy, and have them grinning at my misfortune.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The governor would send his regards, I dare say, but he is out, and I am
always yours affectionately, Clive Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;P.S.&mdash;He tipped me himself this morning; isn&rsquo;t he a kind,
dear old fellow?&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
Arthur Pendennis, Esq., to Clive Newcome, Esq.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Pall Mall Gazette,&rsquo; Journal of Politics, Literature and
Fashion, 225 Catherine Street, Strand,
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Dear Clive&mdash;I regret very much for Fred Bayham&rsquo;s sake (who
has lately taken the responsible office of Fine Arts Critic for the <i>P.
G.</i>) that your extensive picture of the &lsquo;Battle of Assaye&rsquo; has
not found a place in the Royal Academy Exhibition. F. B. is at least fifteen
shillings out of pocket by its rejection, as he had prepared a flaming eulogium
of your work, which of course is so much waste paper in consequence of this
calamity. Never mind. Courage, my son. The Duke of Wellington you know was best
back at Seringapatam before he succeeded at Assaye. I hope you will fight other
battles, and that fortune in future years will be more favourable to you. The
town does not talk very much of your discomfiture. You see the parliamentary
debates are very interesting just now, and somehow the &lsquo;Battle of
Assaye&rsquo; did not seem to excite the public mind.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have been to Fitzroy Square; both to the stables and the house. The
Houyhnhnm&rsquo;s legs are very well; the horse slipped on his side and not on
his knees, and has received no sort of injury. Not so Mr. Binnie; his ankle is
much wrenched and inflamed. He must keep his sofa for many days, perhaps weeks.
But you know he is a very cheerful philosopher, and endures the evils of life
with much equanimity. His sister has come to him. I don&rsquo;t know whether
that may be considered as a consolation of his evil or an aggravation of it.
You know he uses the sarcastic method in his talk, and it was difficult to
understand from him whether he was pleased or bored by the embraces of his
relative. She was an infant when he last beheld her, on his departure to India.
She is now (to speak with respect) a very brisk, plump, pretty little widow;
having, seemingly, recovered from her grief at the death of her husband,
Captain Mackenzie in the West Indies. Mr. Binnie was just on the point of
visiting his relatives, who reside at Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, when he met
with the fatal accident which prevented his visit to his native shores. His
account of his misfortune and his lonely condition was so pathetic that Mrs.
Mackenzie and her daughter put themselves into the Edinburgh steamer, and
rushed to console his sofa. They occupy your bedroom and sitting-room, which
latter Mrs. Mackenzie says no longer smells of tobacco smoke, as it did when
she took possession of your den. If you have left any papers about, any bills,
any billets-doux, I make no doubt the ladies have read every single one of
them, according to the amiable habits of their sex. The daughter is a bright
little blue-eyed fair-haired lass, with a very sweet voice, in which she sings
(unaided by instrumental music, and seated on a chair in the middle of the
room) the artless ballads of her native country. I had the pleasure of hearing
the &lsquo;Bonnets of Bonny Dundee&rsquo; and &lsquo;Jack of Hazeldean&rsquo;
from her ruby lips two evenings since; not indeed for the first time in my
life, but never from such a pretty little singer. Though both ladies speak our
language with something of the tone usually employed by the inhabitants of the
northern part of Britain, their accent is exceedingly pleasant, and indeed by
no means so strong as Mr. Binnie&rsquo;s own; for Captain Mackenzie was an
Englishman, for whose sake his lady modified her native Musselburgh
pronunciation. She tells many interesting anecdotes of him, of the West Indies,
and of the distinguished regiment of infantry to which the captain belonged.
Miss Rosa is a great favourite with her uncle, and I have had the good fortune
to make their stay in the metropolis more pleasant, by sending them orders,
from the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, for the theatres, panoramas, and the
principal sights in town. For pictures they do not seem to care much; they
thought the National Gallery a dreary exhibition, and in the Royal Academy
could be got to admire nothing but the picture of M&rsquo;Collop of
M&rsquo;Collop, by our friend of the like name; but they think Madame
Tussaud&rsquo;s interesting exhibition of waxwork the most delightful in
London; and there I had the happiness of introducing them to our friend Mr.
Frederick Bayham; who, subsequently, on coming to this office with his valuable
contributions on the Fine Arts, made particular inquiries as to their pecuniary
means, and expressed himself instantly ready to bestow his hand upon the mother
or daughter, provided old Mr. Binnie would make a satisfactory settlement. I
got the ladies a box at the opera, whither they were attended by Captain Goby
of their regiment, godfather to Miss, and where I had the honour of paying them
a visit. I saw your fair young cousin Miss Newcome in the lobby with her
grandmamma Lady Kew. Mr. Bayham with great eloquence pointed out to the Scotch
ladies the various distinguished characters in the house. The opera delighted
them, but they were astounded at the ballet, from which mother and daughter
retreated in the midst of a fire of pleasantries of Captain Goby. I can fancy
that officer at mess, and how brilliant his anecdotes must be when the company
of ladies does not restrain his genial flow of humour.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Here comes Mr. Baker with the proofs. In case you don&rsquo;t see the
<i>P. G.</i> at Galignani&rsquo;s, I send you an extract from Bayham&rsquo;s
article on the Royal Academy, where you will have the benefit of his opinion on
the works of some of your friends:&mdash;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;617. &ldquo;Moses Bringing Home the Gross of Green
Spectacles,&rdquo; Smith, R.A.&mdash;Perhaps poor Goldsmith&rsquo;s exquisite
little work has never been so great a favourite as in the present age. We have
here, in a work by one of our most eminent artists, an homage to the genius of
him &ldquo;who touched nothing which he did not adorn:&rdquo; and the charming
subject is handled in the most delicious manner by Mr. Smith. The chiaroscuro
is admirable: the impasto is perfect. Perhaps a very captious critic might
object to the foreshortening of Moses&rsquo;s left leg; but where there is so
much to praise justly, the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> does not care to condemn.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;420. Our (and the public&rsquo;s) favourite, Brown, R.A., treats
us to a subject from the best of all stories, the tale &ldquo;which laughed
Spain&rsquo;s chivalry away,&rdquo; the ever new Don Quixote. The incident
which Brown has selected is the &ldquo;Don&rsquo;s Attack on the Flock of
Sheep;&rdquo; the sheep are in his best manner, painted with all his well-known
facility and <i>brio</i>. Mr. Brown&rsquo;s friendly rival, Hopkins, has
selected &ldquo;Gil Blas&rdquo; for an illustration this year; and the
&ldquo;Robber&rsquo;s Cavern&rdquo; is one of the most masterly of
Hopkins&rsquo; productions.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Great Rooms. 33. &ldquo;Portrait of Cardinal Cospetto,&rdquo;
O&rsquo;Gogstay, A.R.A.; and &ldquo;Neighbourhood of
Corpodibacco&mdash;Evening&mdash;a Contadina and a Trasteverino dancing at the
door of a Locanda to the music of a Pifferaro.&rdquo;&mdash;Since his visit to
Italy Mr. O&rsquo;Gogstay seems to have given up the scenes of Irish humour
with which he used to delight us; and the romance, the poetry, the religion of
&ldquo;Italia la bella&rdquo; form the subjects of his pencil. The scene near
Corpodibacco (we know the spot well, and have spent many a happy month in its
romantic mountains) is most characteristic. Cardinal Cospetto, we must say, is
a most truculent prelate, and not certainly an ornament to his church.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;49, 210, 311. Smee, R.A.&mdash;Portraits which a Reynolds might
be proud of,&mdash;a Vandyke or Claude might not disown. &ldquo;Sir Brian
Newcome, in the costume of a Deputy-Lieutenant,&rdquo; &ldquo;Major-General Sir
Thomas de Boots, K.C.B.,&rdquo; painted for the 50th Dragoons, are triumphs,
indeed, of this noble painter. Why have we no picture of the Sovereign and her
august consort from Smee&rsquo;s brush? When Charles II. picked up
Titian&rsquo;s mahl-stick, he observed to a courtier, &ldquo;A king you can
always have; a genius comes but rarely.&rdquo; While we have a Smee among us,
and a monarch whom we admire,&mdash;may the one be employed to transmit to
posterity the beloved features of the other! We know our lucubrations are read
in <i>high places</i>, and respectfully insinuate <i>verbum sapienti</i>.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;1906. &ldquo;The M&rsquo;Collop of
M&rsquo;Collop,&rdquo;&mdash;A. M&rsquo;Collop,&mdash;is a noble work of a
young artist, who, in depicting the gallant chief of a hardy Scottish clan, has
also represented a romantic Highland landscape, in the midst of which,
&ldquo;his foot upon his native heath,&rdquo; stands a man of splendid
symmetrical figure and great facial advantages. We shall keep our eye on Mr.
M&rsquo;Collop.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;1367. &ldquo;Oberon and Titania.&rdquo; Ridley.&mdash;This sweet
and fanciful little picture draws crowds round about it, and is one of the most
charming and delightful works of the present exhibition. We echo the universal
opinion in declaring that it shows not only the greatest promise, but the most
delicate and beautiful performance. The Earl of Kew, we understand, bought the
picture at the private view; and we congratulate the young painter heartily
upon his successful <i>début</i>. He is, we understand, a pupil of Mr. Gandish.
Where is that admirable painter? We miss his bold canvasses and grand historic
outline.&rsquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;I shall alter a few inaccuracies in the composition of our friend F. B.,
who has, as he says, &lsquo;drawn it uncommonly mild in the above
criticism.&rsquo; In fact, two days since, he brought in an article of quite a
different tendency, of which he retains only the two last paragraphs; but he
has, with great magnanimity, recalled his previous observations; and, indeed,
he knows as much about pictures as some critics I could name.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Good-bye, my dear Clive! I send my kindest regards to your father; and
think you had best see as little as possible of your bouillotte-playing French
friend and his friends. This advice I know you will follow, as young men always
follow the advice of their seniors and well-wishers. I dine in Fitzroy Square
to-day with the pretty widow and her daughter, and am yours always, dear Clive,
A. P.&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"></a>
CHAPTER XXIII.<br/>
In which we hear a Soprano and a Contralto</h2>

<p>
The most hospitable and polite of Colonels would not hear of Mrs. Mackenzie and
her daughter quitting his house when he returned to it, after six weeks&rsquo;
pleasant sojourn in Paris; nor, indeed, did his fair guest show the least
anxiety or intention to go away. Mrs. Mackenzie had a fine merry humour of her
own. She was an old soldier&rsquo;s wife, she said and knew when her quarters
were good; and I suppose, since her honeymoon, when the captain took her to
Harrogate and Cheltenham, stopping at the first hotels, and travelling in a
chaise-and-pair the whole way, she had never been so well off as in that roomy
mansion near Tottenham Court Road. Of her mother&rsquo;s house at Musselburgh
she gave a ludicrous but dismal account. &ldquo;Eh, James,&rdquo; she said,
&ldquo;I think if you had come to mamma, as you threatened, you would not have
staid very long. It&rsquo;s a wearisome place. Dr. M&rsquo;Craw boards with
her; and it&rsquo;s sermon and psalm-singing from morning till night. My little
Josey takes kindly to the life there, and I left her behind, poor little
darling! It was not fair to bring three of us to take possession of your house,
dear James; but my poor little Rosey was just withering away there. It&rsquo;s
good for the dear child to see the world a little, and a kind uncle, who is not
afraid of us now he sees us, is he?&rdquo; Kind Uncle James was not at all
afraid of little Rosey; whose pretty face and modest manners, and sweet songs,
and blue eyes, cheered and soothed the old bachelor. Nor was Rosey&rsquo;s
mother less agreeable and pleasant. She had married the captain (it was a
love-match, against the will of her parents, who had destined her to be the
third wife of old Dr. M&rsquo;Mull) when very young. Many sorrows she had had,
including poverty, the captain&rsquo;s imprisonment for debt, and his demise;
but she was of a gay and lightsome spirit. She was but three-and-thirty years
old, and looked five-and-twenty. She was active, brisk, jovial, and alert; and
so good-looking, that it was a wonder she had not taken a successor to Captain
Mackenzie. James Binnie cautioned his friend the Colonel against the
attractions of the buxom siren; and laughingly would ask Clive how he would
like Mrs. Mackenzie for a mamaw?
</p>

<p>
Colonel Newcome felt himself very much at ease regarding his future prospects.
He was very glad that his friend James was reconciled to his family, and hinted
to Clive that the late Captain Mackenzie&rsquo;s extravagance had been the
cause of the rupture between him and his brother-in-law, who had helped that
prodigal captain repeatedly during his life; and, in spite of family quarrels,
had never ceased to act generously to his widowed sister and her family.
&ldquo;But I think, Mr. Clive,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that as Miss Rosa is very
pretty, and you have a spare room at your studio, you had best take up your
quarters in Charlotte Street as long as the ladies are living with us.&rdquo;
Clive was nothing loth to be independent; but he showed himself to be a very
good home-loving youth. He walked home to breakfast every morning, dined often,
and spent the evenings with the family. Indeed, the house was a great deal more
cheerful for the presence of the two pleasant ladies. Nothing could be prettier
than to see the two ladies tripping downstairs together, mamma&rsquo;s pretty
arm round Rosey&rsquo;s pretty waist. Mamma&rsquo;s talk was perpetually of
Rosey. That child was always gay, always good, always happy! That darling girl
woke with a smile on her face, it was sweet to see her! Uncle James, in his dry
way, said, he dared to say it was very pretty. &ldquo;Go away, you droll, dear
old kind Uncle James!&rdquo; Rosey&rsquo;s mamma would cry out. &ldquo;You old
bachelors are wicked old things!&rdquo; Uncle James used to kiss Rosey very
kindly and pleasantly. She was as modest, as gentle, as eager to please Colonel
Newcome as any little girl could be. It was pretty to see her tripping across
the room with his coffee-cup, or peeling walnuts for him after dinner with her
white plump little fingers.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Irons, the housekeeper, naturally detested Mrs. Mackenzie, and was jealous
of her: though the latter did everything to soothe and coax the governess of
the two gentlemen&rsquo;s establishment. She praised her dinners, delighted in
her puddings, must beg Mrs. Irons to allow her to see one of those delicious
puddings made, and to write the receipt for her, that Mrs. Mackenzie might use
it when she was away. It was Mrs. Irons&rsquo; belief that Mrs. Mackenzie never
intended to go away. She had no ideer of ladies, as were ladies, coming into
her kitchen. The maids vowed that they heard Miss Rosa crying, and mamma
scolding in her bedroom for all she was so soft-spoken. How was that jug broke,
and that chair smashed in the bedroom, that day there was such a awful row up
there?
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Mackenzie played admirably, in the old-fashioned way, dances, reels, and
Scotch and Irish tunes, the former, of which filled James Binnie&rsquo;s soul
with delectation. The good mother naturally desired that her darling should
have a few good lessons of the piano while she was in London. Rosey was
eternally strumming upon an instrument which had been taken upstairs for her
special practice; and the Colonel, who was always seeking to do harmless jobs
of kindness for his friends, bethought him of little Miss Cann, the governess
at Ridley&rsquo;s, whom he recommended as an instructress. &ldquo;Anybody whom
you recommend I&rsquo;m sure, dear Colonel, we shall like,&rdquo; said Mrs.
Mackenzie, who looked as black as thunder, and had probably intended to have
Monsieur Quatremains or Signor Twankeydillo; and the little governess came to
her pupil. Mrs. Mackenzie treated her very gruffly and haughtily at first; but
as soon as she heard Miss Cann play, the widow was pacified&mdash;nay, charmed.
Monsieur Quatremains charged a guinea for three-quarters of an hour; while Miss
Cann thankfully took five shillings for an hour and a half; and the difference
of twenty lessons, for which dear Uncle James paid, went into Mrs.
Mackenzie&rsquo;s pocket, and thence probably on to her pretty shoulders and
head in the shape of a fine silk dress and a beautiful French bonnet, in which
Captain Goby said, upon his life, she didn&rsquo;t look twenty.
</p>

<p>
The little governess trotting home after her lesson would often look in to
Clive&rsquo;s studio in Charlotte Street, where her two boys, as she called
Clive and J. J., were at work each at his easel. Clive used to laugh, and tell
us, who joked him about the widow and her daughter, what Miss Cann said about
them. Mrs. Mack was not all honey, it appeared. If Rosey played incorrectly,
mamma flew at her with prodigious vehemence of language, and sometimes with a
slap on poor Rosey&rsquo;s back. She must make Rosey wear tight boots, and
stamp on her little feet if they refused to enter into the slipper. I blush for
the indiscretion of Miss Cann; but she actually told J. J., that mamma insisted
upon lacing her so tight, as nearly to choke the poor little lass. Rosey did
not fight: Rosey always yielded; and the scolding over and the tears dried,
would come simpering downstairs with mamma&rsquo;s arm round her waist, and her
pretty artless happy smile for the gentlemen below. Besides the Scottish songs
without music, she sang ballads at the piano very sweetly. Mamma used to cry at
these ditties. &ldquo;That child&rsquo;s voice brings tears into my eyes, Mr.
Newcome,&rdquo; she would say. &ldquo;She has never known a moment&rsquo;s
sorrow yet! Heaven grant, heaven grant, she may be happy! But what shall I be
when I lose her?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why, my dear, when ye lose Rosey, ye&rsquo;ll console yourself with
Josey,&rdquo; says droll Mr. Binnie from the sofa, who perhaps saw the manœuvre
of the widow.
</p>

<p>
The widow laughs heartily and really. She places a handkerchief over her mouth.
She glances at her brother with a pair of eyes full of knowing mischief.
&ldquo;Ah, dear James,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;you don&rsquo;t know what it is
to have a mother&rsquo;s feelings.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I can partly understand them,&rdquo; says James. &ldquo;Rosey, sing me
that pretty little French song.&rdquo; Mrs. Mackenzie&rsquo;s attention to
Clive was really quite affecting. If any of his friends came to the house, she
took them aside and praised Clive to them. The Colonel she adored. She had
never met with such a man or seen such a manner. The manners of the Bishop of
Tobago were beautiful, and he certainly had one of the softest and finest hands
in the world; but not finer than Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s. &ldquo;Look at his
foot!&rdquo; (and she put out her own, which was uncommonly pretty, and
suddenly withdrew it, with an arch glance meant to represent a
blush)&mdash;&ldquo;my shoe would fit it! When we were at Coventry Island, Sir
Peregrine Blandy, who succeeded poor dear Sir Rawdon Crawley&mdash;I saw his
dear boy was gazetted to a lieutenant-colonelcy in the Guards last
week&mdash;Sir Peregrine, who was one of the Prince of Wales&rsquo;s most
intimate friends, was always said to have the finest manner and presence of any
man of his day; and very grand and noble he was, but I don&rsquo;t think he was
equal to Colonel Newcome&mdash;I don&rsquo;t really think so. Do you think so,
Mr. Honeyman? What a charming discourse that was last Sunday! I know there were
two pair of eyes not dry in the church. I could not see the other people just
for crying myself. Oh, but I wish we could have you at Musselburgh! I was bred
a Presbyterian, of course; but in much travelling through the world with my
dear husband, I came to love his church. At home we sit under Dr M&rsquo;Craw,
of course; but he is so awfully long! Four hours every Sunday at least, morning
and afternoon! It nearly kills poor Rosey. Did you hear her voice at your
church? The dear girl is delighted with the chants. Rosey, were you not
delighted with the chants?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
If she is delighted with the chants, Honeyman is delighted with the chantress
and her mamma. He dashes the fair hair from his brow: he sits down to the
piano, and plays one or two of them, warbling a faint vocal accompaniment, and
looking as if he would be lifted off the screw music-stool, and flutter up to
the ceiling.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s just seraphic!&rdquo; says the widow. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
just the breath of incense and the pealing of the organ at the Cathedral at
Montreal. Rosey doesn&rsquo;t remember Montreal. She was a wee wee child. She
was born on the voyage out, and christened at sea. You remember, Goby.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Gad, I promised and vowed to teach her her catechism; &rsquo;gad, but I
haven&rsquo;t,&rdquo; says Captain Goby. &ldquo;We were between Montreal and
Quebec for three years with the Hundredth, and the Hundred Twentieth
Highlanders, and the Thirty-third Dragoon Guards a part of the time; Fipley
commanded them, and a very jolly time we had. Much better than the West Indies,
where a fellow&rsquo;s liver goes to the deuce with hot pickles and sangaree.
Mackenzie was a dev&rsquo;lish wild fellow,&rdquo; whispers Captain Goby to his
neighbour (the present biographer, indeed), &ldquo;and Mrs. Mack was as pretty
a little woman as ever you set eyes on.&rdquo; (Captain Goby winks, and looks
peculiarly sly as he makes this statement.) &ldquo;Our regiment wasn&rsquo;t on
your side of India, Colonel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And in the interchange of such delightful remarks, and with music and song, the
evening passes away. &ldquo;Since the house had been adorned by the fair
presence of Mrs. Mackenzie and her daughter,&rdquo; Honeyman said, always
gallant in behaviour and flowery in expression, &ldquo;it seemed as if spring
had visited it. Its hospitality was invested with a new grace; its ever welcome
little <i>réunions</i> were doubly charming. But why did these ladies come, if
they were to go away again? How&mdash;how would Mr. Binnie console himself (not
to mention others) if they left him in solitude?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We have no wish to leave my brother James in solitude,&rdquo; cries Mrs.
Mackenzie, frankly laughing. &ldquo;We like London a great deal better than
Musselburgh.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, that we do!&rdquo; ejaculates the blushing Rosey.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And we will stay as long as ever my brother will keep us,&rdquo;
continues the widow.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Uncle James is so kind and dear,&rdquo; says Rosey. &ldquo;I hope he
won&rsquo;t send me and mamma away.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He were a brute&mdash;a savage, if he did!&rdquo; cries Binnie, with
glances of rapture towards the two pretty faces. Everybody liked them. Binnie
received their caresses very good-humouredly. The Colonel liked every woman
under the sun. Clive laughed and joked and waltzed alternately with Rosey and
her mamma. The latter was the briskest partner of the two. The unsuspicious
widow, poor dear innocent, would leave her girl at the painting-room, and go
shopping herself; but little J. J. also worked there, being occupied with his
second picture: and he was almost the only one of Clive&rsquo;s friends whom
the widow did not like. She pronounced the quiet little painter a pert, little,
obtrusive, underbred creature.
</p>

<p>
In a word, Mrs. Mackenzie was, as the phrase is, &ldquo;setting her cap&rdquo;
so openly at Clive, that none of us could avoid seeing her play: and Clive
laughed at her simple manœuvres as merrily as the rest. She was a merry little
woman. We gave her and her pretty daughter a luncheon in Lamb Court, Temple; in
Sibwright&rsquo;s chambers&mdash;luncheon from Dick&rsquo;s Coffee
House&mdash;ices and dessert from Partington&rsquo;s in the Strand. Miss Rosey,
Mr. Sibwright, our neighbour in Lamb Court, and the Reverend Charles Honeyman
sang very delightfully after lunch; there was quite a crowd of porters,
laundresses, and boys to listen in the court; Mr. Paley was disgusted with the
noise we made&mdash;in fact, the party was perfectly successful. We all liked
the widow, and if she did set her pretty ribbons at Clive, why should not she?
We all liked the pretty, fresh, modest Rosey. Why, even the grave old benchers
in the Temple church, when the ladies visited it on Sunday, winked their
reverend eyes with pleasure, as they looked at those two uncommonly smart,
pretty, well-dressed, fashionable women. Ladies, go to the Temple church. You
will see more young men, and receive more respectful attention there than in
any place, except perhaps at Oxford or Cambridge. Go to the Temple
church&mdash;not, of course, for the admiration which you will excite and which
you cannot help; but because the sermon is excellent, the choral services
beautifully performed, and the church so interesting as a monument of the
thirteenth century, and as it contains the tombs of those dear Knights
Templars!
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Mackenzie could be grave or gay, according to her company: nor could any
woman be of more edifying behaviour when an occasional Scottish friend bringing
a letter from darling Josey, or a recommendatory letter from Josey&rsquo;s
grandmother, paid a visit in Fitzroy Square. Little Miss Cann used to laugh and
wink knowingly, saying, &ldquo;You will never get back your bedroom, Mr. Clive.
You may be sure that Miss Josey will come in a few months; and perhaps old Mrs.
Binnie, only no doubt she and her daughter do not agree. But the widow has
taken possession of Uncle James; and she will carry off somebody else if I am
not mistaken. Should you like a stepmother, Mr. Clive, or should you prefer a
wife?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Whether the fair lady tried her wiles upon Colonel Newcome the present writer
has no certain means of ascertaining: but I think another image occupied his
heart: and this Circe tempted him no more than a score of other enchantresses
who had tried their spells upon him. If she tried she failed. She was a very
shrewd woman, quite frank in her talk when such frankness suited her. She said
to me, &ldquo;Colonel Newcome has had some great passion, once upon a time, I
am sure of that, and has no more heart to give away. The woman who had his must
have been a very lucky woman: though I daresay she did not value what she had;
or did not live to enjoy it&mdash;or&mdash;or something or other. You see
tragedies in some people&rsquo;s faces. I recollect when we were in Coventry
Island&mdash;there was a chaplain there&mdash;a very good man&mdash;a Mr. Bell,
and married to a pretty little woman who died. The first day I saw him I said,
&lsquo;I know that man has had a great grief in life. I am sure that he left
his heart in England.&rsquo; You gentlemen who write books, Mr. Pendennis, and
stop at the third volume, know very well that the real story often begins
afterwards. My third volume ended when I was sixteen, and was married to my
poor husband. Do you think all our adventures ended then, and that we lived
happy ever after? I live for my darling girls now. All I want is to see them
comfortable in life. Nothing can be more generous than my dear brother James
has been. I am only his half-sister, you know, and was an infant in arms when
he went away. He had differences with Captain Mackenzie, who was headstrong and
imprudent, and I own my poor dear husband was in the wrong. James could not
live with my poor mother. Neither could by possibility suit the other. I have
often, I own, longed to come and keep house for him. His home, the society he
sees, of men of talents like Mr. Warrington and&mdash;and I won&rsquo;t mention
names, or pay compliments to a man who knows human nature so well as the author
of Walter Lorraine: this house is pleasanter a thousand times than
Musselburgh&mdash;pleasanter for me and my dearest Rosey, whose delicate nature
shrunk and withered up in poor mamma&rsquo;s society. She was never happy
except in my room, the dear child! She&rsquo;s all gentleness and affection.
She doesn&rsquo;t seem to show it: but she has the most wonderful appreciation
of wit, of genius, and talent of all kinds. She always hides her feelings,
except from her fond old mother. I went up into our room yesterday, and found
her in tears. I can&rsquo;t bear to see her eyes red or to think of her
suffering. I asked her what ailed her, and kissed her. She is a tender plant,
Mr. Pendennis! Heaven knows with what care I have nurtured her! She looked up
smiling on my shoulder. She looked so pretty! &lsquo;Oh, mamma,&rsquo; the
darling child said, &lsquo;I couldn&rsquo;t help it. I have been crying over
Walter Lorraine.&rsquo; (Enter Rosey.) Rosey, darling! I have been telling Mr.
Pendennis what a naughty, naughty child you were yesterday, and how you read a
book which I told you you shouldn&rsquo;t read; for it is a very wicked book;
and though it contains some sad sad truths, it is a great deal too misanthropic
(is that the right word? I&rsquo;m a poor soldier&rsquo;s wife, and no scholar,
you know), and a great deal too <i>bitter;</i> and though the reviews praise
it, and the clever people&mdash;we are poor simple country people&mdash;we
won&rsquo;t praise it. Sing, dearest, that little song&rdquo; (profuse kisses
to Rosey), &ldquo;that pretty thing that Mr. Pendennis likes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am sure that I will sing anything that Mr. Pendennis likes,&rdquo;
says Rosey, with her candid bright eyes&mdash;and she goes to the piano and
warbles &ldquo;Batti, Batti,&rdquo; with her sweet fresh artless voice.
</p>

<p>
More caresses follow. Mamma is in a rapture. How pretty they look&mdash;the
mother and daughter&mdash;two lilies twining together! The necessity of an
entertainment at the Temple-lunch from Dick&rsquo;s (as before mentioned),
dessert from Partington&rsquo;s, Sibwright&rsquo;s spoons, his boy to aid ours,
nay, Sib himself, and his rooms, which are so much more elegant than ours, and
where there is a piano and guitar: all these thoughts pass in rapid and
brilliant combination in the pleasant Mr. Pendennis&rsquo;s mind. How delighted
the ladies are with the proposal! Mrs. Mackenzie claps her pretty hands, and
kisses Rosey again. If osculation is a mark of love, surely Mrs. Mack is the
best of mothers. I may say, without false modesty, that our little
entertainment was most successful. The champagne was iced to a nicety. The
ladies did not perceive that our laundress, Mrs. Flanagan, was intoxicated very
early in the afternoon. Percy Sibwright sang admirably, and with the greatest
spirit, ditties in many languages. I am sure Miss Rosey thought him (as indeed
he is) one of the most fascinating young fellows about town. To her
mother&rsquo;s excellent accompaniment Rosey sang her favourite songs (by the
way, her stock was very small&mdash;five, I think, was the number). Then the
table was moved into a corner, where the quivering moulds of jelly seemed to
keep time to the music; and whilst Percy played, two couple of waltzers
actually whirled round the little room. No wonder that the court below was
thronged with admirers, that Paley the reading man was in a rage, and Mrs.
Flanagan in a state of excitement. Ah! pleasant days, happy gold dingy chambers
illuminated by youthful sunshine! merry songs and kind faces&mdash;it is
pleasant to recall you. Some of those bright eyes shine no more: some of those
smiling lips do not speak. Some are not less kind, but sadder than in those
days: of which the memories revisit us for a moment, and sink back into the
grey past. The dear old Colonel beat time with great delight to the songs; the
widow lit his cigar with her own fair fingers. That was the only smoke
permitted during the entertainment&mdash;George Warrington himself not being
allowed to use his cutty-pipe&mdash;though the gay little widow said that she
had been used to smoking in the West Indies and I dare say spoke the truth. Our
entertainment lasted actually until after dark: and a particularly neat cab
being called from St. Clement&rsquo;s by Mr. Binnie&rsquo;s boy, you may be
sure we all conducted the ladies to their vehicle: and many a fellow returning
from his lonely club that evening into chambers must have envied us the
pleasure of having received two such beauties.
</p>

<p>
The clerical bachelor was not to be outdone by the gentlemen of the bar; and
the entertainment at the Temple was followed by one at Honeyman&rsquo;s
lodgings, which, I must own, greatly exceeded ours in splendour, for Honeyman
had his luncheon from Gunter&rsquo;s; and if he had been Miss Rosey&rsquo;s
mother, giving a breakfast to the dear girl on her marriage, the affair could
not have been more elegant and handsome. We had but two bouquets at our
entertainment; at Honeyman&rsquo;s there were four upon the breakfast-table,
besides a great pineapple, which must have cost the rogue three or four
guineas, and which Percy Sibwright delicately cut up. Rosey thought the
pineapple delicious. &ldquo;The dear thing does not remember the pineapples in
the West Indies!&rdquo; cries Mrs. Mackenzie; and she gave us many exciting
narratives of entertainments at which she had been present at various colonial
governors&rsquo; tables. After luncheon, our host hoped we should have a little
music. Dancing, of course, could not be allowed. &ldquo;That,&rdquo; said
Honeyman with his soft-bleating sigh, &ldquo;were scarcely clerical. You know,
besides, you are in a <i>hermitage;</i> and&rdquo; (with a glance round the
table) &ldquo;must put up with Cenobite&rsquo;s fare.&rdquo; The fare was, as I
have said, excellent. The wine was bad, as George, and I, and Sib agreed; and
in so far we flattered ourselves that <i>our</i> feast altogether excelled the
parson&rsquo;s. The champagne especially was such stuff, that Warrington
remarked on it to his neighbour, a dark gentleman, with a tuft to his chin, and
splendid rings and chains.
</p>

<p>
The dark gentleman&rsquo;s wife and daughter were the other two ladies invited
by our host. The elder was splendidly dressed. Poor Mrs. Mackenzie&rsquo;s
simple gimcracks, though she displayed them to the most advantage, and could
make an ormolu bracelet go as far as another woman&rsquo;s emerald clasps, were
as nothing compared to the other lady&rsquo;s gorgeous jewellery. Her fingers
glittered with rings innumerable. The head of her smelling-bottle was as big as
her husband&rsquo;s gold snuff box, and of the same splendid material. Our
ladies, it must be confessed, came in a modest cab from Fitzroy Square; these
arrived in a splendid little open carriage with white ponies, and harness all
over brass, which the lady of the rings drove with a whip that was a parasol.
Mrs. Mackenzie, standing at Honeyman&rsquo;s window, with her arm round
Rosey&rsquo;s waist, viewed this arrival perhaps with envy. &ldquo;My dear Mr.
Honeyman, whose are those beautiful horses?&rdquo; cries Rosey, with
enthusiasm.
</p>

<p>
The divine says with a faint blush&mdash;&ldquo;It is&mdash;ah&mdash;it is Mrs.
Sherrick and Miss Sherrick who have done me the favour to come to
luncheon.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Wine-merchant. Oh!&rdquo; thinks Mrs. Mackenzie, who has seen
Sherrick&rsquo;s brass plate on the cellar door of Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s
Chapel; and hence, perhaps, she was a trifle more magniloquent than usual, and
entertained us with stories of colonial governors and their ladies, mentioning
no persons but those who &ldquo;had handles to their names,&rdquo; as the
phrase is.
</p>

<p>
Although Sherrick had actually supplied the champagne which Warrington abused
to him in confidence, the wine-merchant was not wounded; on the contrary, he
roared with laughter at the remark, and some of us smiled who understood the
humour of the joke. As for George Warrington, he scarce knew more about the
town than the ladies opposite to him; who, yet more innocent than George,
thought the champagne very good. Mrs. Sherrick was silent during the meal,
looking constantly up at her husband, as if alarmed and always in the habit of
appealing to that gentleman, who gave her, as I thought, knowing glances and
savage winks, which made me augur that he bullied her at home. Miss Sherrick
was exceedingly handsome: she kept the fringed curtains of her eyes constantly
down; but when she lifted them up towards Clive, who was very attentive to her
(the rogue never sees a handsome woman but to this day he continues the same
practice)&mdash;when she looked up and smiled, she was indeed a beautiful young
creature to behold&mdash;with her pale forehead, her thick arched eyebrows, her
rounded cheeks, and her full lips slightly shaded,&mdash;how shall I mention
the word?&mdash;slightly pencilled, after the manner of the lips of the French
governess, Mademoiselle Lenoir.
</p>

<p>
Percy Sibwright engaged Miss Mackenzie with his usual grace and affability.
Mrs. Mackenzie did her very utmost to be gracious, but it was evident the party
was not altogether to her liking. Poor Percy, about whose means and
expectations she had in the most natural way in the world asked information
from me, was not perhaps a very eligible admirer for darling Rosey. She knew
not that Percy can no more help gallantry than the sun can help shining. As
soon as Rosey had done eating up her pineapple, artlessly confessing (to Percy
Sibwright&rsquo;s inquiries) that she preferred it to the rasps and hinnyblobs
in her grandmamma&rsquo;s garden, &ldquo;Now, dearest Rosey,&rdquo; cries Mrs.
Mack, &ldquo;now, a little song. You promised Mr. Pendennis a little
song.&rdquo; Honeyman whisks open the piano in a moment. The widow takes off
her cleaned gloves (Mrs. Sherrick&rsquo;s were new, and of the best Paris
make), and little Rosey sings No. 1, followed by No. 2, with very great
applause. Mother and daughter entwine as they quit the piano. &ldquo;Brava!
brava!&rdquo; says Percy Sibwright. Does Mr. Clive Newcome say nothing? His
back is turned to the piano, and he is looking with all his might into the eyes
of Miss Sherrick.
</p>

<p>
Percy sings a Spanish seguidilla, or a German lied, or a French romance, or a
Neapolitan canzonet, which, I am bound to say, excites very little attention.
Mrs. Ridley is sending in coffee at this juncture, of which Mrs. Sherrick
partakes, with lots of sugar, as she has partaken of numberless things before.
Chicken, plovers&rsquo; eggs, prawns, aspics, jellies, creams, grapes, and
what-not. Mr. Honeyman advances, and with deep respect asks if Mrs. Sherrick
and Miss Sherrick will not be persuaded to sing? She rises and bows, and again
takes off the French gloves, and shows the large white hands glittering with
rings, and, summoning Emily her daughter, they go to the piano.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Can she sing,&rdquo; whispers Mrs. Mackenzie, &ldquo;can she sing after
eating so much?&rdquo; Can she sing, indeed! Oh, you poor ignorant Mrs.
Mackenzie! Why, when you were in the West Indies, if you ever read the English
newspapers, you must have read of the fame of Miss Folthorpe. Mrs. Sherrick is
no other than the famous artist, who, after three years of brilliant triumphs
at the Scala, the Pergola, the San Carlo, the opera in England, forsook her
profession, rejected a hundred suitors, and married Sherrick, who was Mr.
Cox&rsquo;s lawyer, who failed, as everybody knows, as manager of Drury Lane.
Sherrick, like a man of spirit, would not allow his wife to sing in public
after his marriage; but in private society, of course, she is welcome to
perform: and now with her daughter, who possesses a noble contralto voice, she
takes her place royally at the piano, and the two sing so magnificently that
everybody in the room, with one single exception, is charmed and delighted; and
that little Miss Cann herself creeps up the stairs, and stands with Mrs. Ridley
at the door to listen to the music.
</p>

<p>
Miss Sherrick looks doubly handsome as she sings. Clive Newcome is in a
rapture; so is good-natured Miss Rosey, whose little heart beats with pleasure,
and who says quite unaffectedly to Miss Sherrick, with delight and gratitude
beaming from her blue eyes, &ldquo;Why did you ask me to sing, when you sing so
wonderfully, so beautifully, yourself? Do not leave the piano, please&mdash;do
sing again!&rdquo; And she puts out a kind little hand towards the superior
artist, and, blushing, leads her back to the instrument. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure
me and Emily will sing for you as much as you like, dear,&rdquo; says Mrs.
Sherrick, nodding to Rosey good-naturedly. Mrs. Mackenzie, who has been biting
her lips and drumming the time on a side-table, forgets at last the pain of
being vanquished in admiration of the conquerors. &ldquo;It was cruel of you
not to tell us, Mr. Honeyman,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;of the&mdash;of the treat
you had in store for us. I had no idea we were going to meet professional
people; Mrs. Sherrick&rsquo;s singing is indeed beautiful.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If you come up to our place in the Regent&rsquo;s Park, Mr.
Newcome,&rdquo; Mr. Sherrick says, &ldquo;Mrs. S. and Emily will give you as
many songs as you like. How do you like the house in Fitzroy Square? Anything
wanting doing there? I&rsquo;m a good landlord to a good tenant. Don&rsquo;t
care what I spend on my houses. Lose by &rsquo;em sometimes. Name a day when
you&rsquo;ll come to us; and I&rsquo;ll ask some good fellows to meet you. Your
father and Mr. Binnie came once. That was when you were a young chap. They
didn&rsquo;t have a bad evening, I believe. You just come and try us&mdash;I
can give you as good a glass of wine as most, I think,&rdquo; and he smiles,
perhaps thinking of the champagne which Mr. Warrington had slighted.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve ad the close carriage for my wife this evening,&rdquo; he
continues, looking out of window at a very handsome brougham which has just
drawn up there. &ldquo;That little pair of horses steps prettily together,
don&rsquo;t they? Fond of horses? I know you are. See you in the Park; and
going by our house sometimes. The Colonel sits a horse uncommonly well: so do
you, Mr. Newcome. I&rsquo;ve often said, &lsquo;Why don&rsquo;t they get off
their horses and say, Sherrick, we&rsquo;re come for a bit of lunch and a glass
of Sherry?&rsquo; Name a day, sir. Mr. P., will you be in it?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive Newcome named a day, and told his father of the circumstance in the
evening. The Colonel looked grave. &ldquo;There was something which I did not
quite like about Mr. Sherrick,&rdquo; said that acute observer of human nature.
&ldquo;It was easy to see that the man is not quite a gentleman. I don&rsquo;t
care what a man&rsquo;s trade is, Clive. Indeed, who are we, to give ourselves
airs upon that subject? But when I am gone, my boy, and there is nobody near
you who knows the world as I do, you may fall into designing hands, and rogues
may lead you into mischief: keep a sharp look-out, Clive. Mr. Pendennis, here,
knows that there are designing fellows abroad&rdquo; (and the dear old
gentleman gives a very knowing nod as he speaks). &ldquo;When I am gone, keep
the lad from harm&rsquo;s way, Pendennis. Meanwhile Mr. Sherrick has been a
very good and obliging landlord; and a man who sells wine may certainly give a
friend a bottle. I am glad you had a pleasant evening, boys. Ladies, I hope you
have had a pleasant afternoon. Miss Rosey, you are come back to make tea for
the old gentlemen? James begins to get about briskly now. He walked to Hanover
Square, Mrs. Mackenzie, without hurting his ankle in the least.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am almost sorry that he is getting well,&rdquo; says Mrs. Mackenzie
sincerely. &ldquo;He won&rsquo;t want us when he is quite cured.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed, my dear creature!&rdquo; cries the Colonel, taking her pretty
hand and kissing it; &ldquo;he will want you, and he shall want you. James no
more knows the world than Miss Rosey here; and if I had not been with him,
would have been perfectly unable to take care of himself. When I am gone to
India, somebody must stay with him; and&mdash;and my boy must have a home to go
to,&rdquo; says the kind soldier, his voice dropping. &ldquo;I had been in
hopes that his own relatives would have received him more, but never mind about
that,&rdquo; he cried more cheerfully. &ldquo;Why, I may not be absent a year!
I perhaps need not go at all&mdash;I am second for promotion. A couple of our
old generals may drop any day; and when I get my regiment I come back to stay,
to live at home. Meantime, whilst I am gone, my dear lady, you will take care
of James; and you will be kind to my boy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That I will!&rdquo; said the widow, radiant with pleasure, and she took
one of Clive&rsquo;s hands and pressed it for an instant; and from
Clive&rsquo;s father&rsquo;s kind face there beamed out that benediction which
always made his countenance appear to me among the most beautiful of human
faces.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"></a>
CHAPTER XXIV.<br/>
In which the Newcome Brothers once more meet together in Unity</h2>

<p>
His narrative, as the judicious reader no doubt is aware, is written maturely
and at ease, long after the voyage is over, whereof it recounts the adventures
and perils; the winds adverse and favourable; the storms, shoals, shipwrecks,
islands, and so forth, which Clive Newcome met in his early journey in life. In
such a history events follow each other without necessarily having a connection
with one another. One ship crosses another ship, and after a visit from one
captain to his comrade, they sail away each on his course. The Clive Newcome
meets a vessel which makes signals that she is short of bread and water; and
after supplying her, our captain leaves her to see her no more. One or two of
the vessels with which we commenced the voyage together, part company in a
gale, and founder miserably; others, after being wofully battered in the
tempest, make port, or are cast upon surprising islands where all sorts of
unlooked-for prosperity awaits the lucky crew. Also, no doubt, the writer of
the book, into whose hands Clive Newcome&rsquo;s logs have been put, and who is
charged with the duty of making two octavo volumes out of his friend&rsquo;s
story, dresses up the narrative in his own way; utters his own remarks in place
of Newcome&rsquo;s; makes fanciful descriptions of individuals and incidents
with which he never could have been personally acquainted; and commits
blunders, which the critics will discover. A great number of the descriptions
in Cook&rsquo;s Voyages, for instance, were notoriously invented by Dr.
Hawkesworth, who &ldquo;did&rdquo; the book: so in the present volumes, where
dialogues are written down, which the reporter could by no possibility have
heard, and where motives are detected which the persons actuated by them
certainly never confided to the writer, the public must once for all be warned
that the author&rsquo;s individual fancy very likely supplies much of the
narrative; and that he forms it as best he may, out of stray papers,
conversations reported to him, and his knowledge, right or wrong, of the
characters of the persons engaged. And, as is the case with the most orthodox
histories, the writer&rsquo;s own guesses or conjectures are printed in exactly
the same type as the most ascertained patent facts. I fancy, for my part, that
the speeches attributed to Clive, the Colonel, and the rest, are as authentic
as the orations in Sallust or Livy, and only implore the truth-loving public to
believe that incidents here told, and which passed very probably without
witnesses, were either confided to me subsequently as compiler of this
biography, or are of such a nature that they must have happened from what we
know happened after. For example, when you read such words as QVE ROMANVS on a
battered Roman stone, your profound antiquarian knowledge enables you to assert
that SENATVS POPVLVS was also inscribed there at some time or other. You take a
mutilated statue of Mars, Bacchus, Apollo, or Virorum, and you pop him on a
wanting hand, an absent foot, or a nose which time or barbarians have defaced.
You tell your tales as you can, and state the facts as you think they must have
been. In this manner, Mr. James (historiographer to Her Majesty), Titus Livius,
Professor Alison, Robinson Crusoe, and all historians proceeded. Blunders there
must be in the best of these narratives, and more asserted than they can
possibly know or vouch for.
</p>

<p>
To recur to our own affairs, and the subject at present in hand, I am obliged
here to supply from conjecture a few points of the history, which I could not
know from actual experience or hearsay. Clive, let us say, is Romanus, and we
must add Senatus Populusque to his inscription. After Mrs. Mackenzie and her
pretty daughter had been for a few months in London, which they did not think
of quitting, although Mr. Binnie&rsquo;s wounded little leg was now as well and
as brisk as ever it had been, a redintegration of love began to take place
between the Colonel and his relatives in Park Lane. How should we know that
there had ever been a quarrel, or at any rate a coolness? Thomas Newcome was
not a man to talk at length of any such matter; though a word or two
occasionally dropped in conversation by the simple gentleman might lead persons
who chose to interest themselves about his family affairs to form their own
opinions concerning them. After that visit of the Colonel and his son to
Newcome, Ethel was constantly away with her grandmother. The Colonel went to
see his pretty little favourite at Brighton, and once, twice, thrice, Lady
Kew&rsquo;s door was denied to him. The knocker of that door could not be more
fierce than the old lady&rsquo;s countenance, when Newcome met her in her
chariot driving on the cliff. Once, forming the loveliest of a charming
Amazonian squadron, led by Mr. Whiskin, the riding-master, when the Colonel
encountered his pretty Ethel, she greeted him affectionately, it is true; there
was still the sweet look of candour and love in her eyes; but when he rode up
to her she looked so constrained, when he talked about Clive, so reserved, when
he left her, so sad, that he could not but feel pain and commiseration. Back he
went to London, having in a week only caught this single glance of his darling.
</p>

<p>
This event occurred while Clive was painting his picture of the &ldquo;Battle
of Assaye&rdquo; before mentioned, during the struggles incident on which
composition he was not thinking much about Miss Ethel, or his papa, or any
other subject but his great work. Whilst Assaye was still in progress, Thomas
Newcome must have had an explanation with his sister-in-law, Lady Anne, to whom
he frankly owned the hopes which he had entertained for Clive, and who must as
frankly have told the Colonel that Ethel&rsquo;s family had very different
views for that young lady to those which the simple Colonel had formed. A
generous early attachment, the Colonel thought, is the safeguard of a young
man. To love a noble girl; to wait a while and struggle, and haply do some
little achievement in order to win her; the best task to which his boy could
set himself. If two young people so loving each other were to marry on rather
narrow means, what then? A happy home was better than the finest house in
Mayfair; a generous young fellow, such as, please God, his son was&mdash;loyal,
upright, and a gentleman&mdash;might pretend surely to his kinswoman&rsquo;s
hand without derogation; and the affection he bore Ethel himself was so great,
and the sweet regard with which she returned it, that the simple father thought
his kindly project was favoured by Heaven, and prayed for its fulfilment, and
pleased himself to think, when his campaigns were over, and his sword hung on
the wall, what a beloved daughter he might have to soothe and cheer his old
age. With such a wife for his son, and child for himself, he thought the
happiness of his last years might repay him for friendless boyhood, lonely
manhood, and cheerless exile; and he imparted his simple scheme to
Ethel&rsquo;s mother, who no doubt was touched as he told his story; for she
always professed regard and respect for him, and in the differences which
afterwards occurred in the family, and the quarrels which divided the brothers,
still remained faithful to the good Colonel.
</p>

<p>
But Barnes Newcome, Esquire, was the head of the house, and the governor of his
father and all Sir Brian&rsquo;s affairs; and Barnes Newcome, Esquire, hated
his cousin Clive, and spoke of him as a beggarly painter, an impudent snob, an
infernal young puppy, and so forth; and Barnes with his usual freedom of
language imparted his opinions to his Uncle Hobson at the bank, and Uncle
Hobson carried them home to Mrs. Newcome in Bryanstone Square; and Mrs. Newcome
took an early opportunity of telling the Colonel her opinion on the subject,
and of bewailing that love for aristocracy which she saw actuated some folks;
and the Colonel was brought to see that Barnes was his boy&rsquo;s enemy, and
words very likely passed between them, for Thomas Newcome took a new banker at
this time, and, as Clive informed me, was in very great dudgeon because Hobson
Brothers wrote to him to say that he had overdrawn his account. &ldquo;I am
sure there is some screw loose,&rdquo; the sagacious youth remarked to me;
&ldquo;and the Colonel and the people in Park Lane are at variance, because he
goes there very little now; and he promised to go to Court when Ethel was
presented, and he didn&rsquo;t go.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Some months after the arrival of Mr. Binnie&rsquo;s niece and sister in Fitzroy
Square, the fraternal quarrel between the Newcomes must have come to an
end&mdash;for that time at least&mdash;and was followed by a rather
ostentatious reconciliation. And pretty little Rosey Mackenzie was the innocent
and unconscious cause of this amiable change in the minds of the three
brethren, as I gathered from a little conversation with Mrs. Newcome, who did
me the honour to invite me to her table. As she had not vouchsafed this
hospitality to me for a couple of years previously, and perfectly stifled me
with affability when we met,&mdash;as her invitation came quite at the end of
the season, when almost everybody was out of town, and a dinner to a man is no
compliment,&mdash;I was at first for declining this invitation, and spoke of it
with great scorn when Mr. Newcome orally delivered it to me at Bays&rsquo;s
Club.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What,&rdquo; said I, turning round to an old man of the world, who
happened to be in the room at the time, &ldquo;what do these people mean by
asking a fellow to dinner in August, and taking me up after dropping me for two
years?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My good fellow,&rdquo; says my friend&mdash;it was my kind old Uncle
Major Pendennis, indeed&mdash;&ldquo;I have lived long enough about town never
to ask myself questions of that sort. In the world people drop you and take you
up every day. You know Lady Cheddar by sight? I have known her husband for
forty years: I have stayed with them in the country, for weeks at a time. She
knows me as well as she knows King Charles at Charing Cross, and a doosid deal
better, and yet for a whole season she will drop me&mdash;pass me by, as if
there was no such person in the world. Well, sir, what do I do? I never see
her. I give you my word I am never conscious of her existence; and if I meet
her at dinner, I&rsquo;m no more aware of her than the fellows in the play are
of Banquo. What&rsquo;s the end of it? She comes round&mdash;only last Toosday
she came round&mdash;and said Lord Cheddar wanted me to go down to Wiltshire. I
asked after the family (you know Henry Churningham is engaged to Miss
Rennet?&mdash;a doosid good match for the Cheddars). We shook hands and are as
good friends as ever. I don&rsquo;t suppose she&rsquo;ll cry when I die, you
know,&rdquo; said the worthy old gentleman with a grin. &ldquo;Nor shall I go
into very deep mourning if anything happens to her. You were quite right to say
to Newcome that you did not know whether you were free or not, and would look
at your engagements when you got home, and give him an answer. A fellow of that
rank <i>has</i> no right to give himself airs. But they will, sir. Some of
those bankers are as high and mighty as the oldest families. They marry
noblemen&rsquo;s daughters, by Jove, and think nothing is too good for
&rsquo;em. But I should go, if I were you, Arthur. I dined there a couple of
months ago; and the bankeress said something about you: that you and her nephew
were much together, that you were sad wild dogs, I think&mdash;something of
that sort. &lsquo;Gad, ma&rsquo;am,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;boys will be
boys.&rsquo; &lsquo;And they grow to be men!&rsquo; says she, nodding her head.
Queer little woman, devilish pompous. Dinner confoundedly long, stoopid,
scientific.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The old gentleman was on this day inclined to be talkative and confidential,
and I set down some more remarks which he made concerning my friends.
&ldquo;Your Indian Colonel,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;seems a worthy man.&rdquo;
The Major quite forgot having been in India himself, unless he was in company
with some very great personage. &ldquo;He don&rsquo;t seem to know much of the
world, and we are not very intimate. Fitzroy Square is a dev&rsquo;lish long
way off for a fellow to go for a dinner, and <i>entre nous</i>, the dinner is
rather queer and the company still more so. It&rsquo;s right for you who are a
literary man to see all sorts of people; but I&rsquo;m different, you know, so
Newcome and I are not very thick together. They say he wanted to marry your
friend to Lady Anne&rsquo;s daughter, an exceedingly fine girl; one of the
prettiest girls come out this season. I hear the young men say so. And that
shows how monstrous ignorant of the world Colonel Newcome is. His son could no
more get that girl than he could marry one of the royal princesses. Mark my
words, they intend Miss Newcome for Lord Kew. Those banker fellows are wild
after grand marriages. Kew will sow his wild oats, and they&rsquo;ll marry her
to him; or if not to him, to some man of high rank. His father Walham was a
weak young man; but his grandmother, old Lady Kew, is a monstrous clever old
woman, too severe with her children, one of whom ran away and married a poor
devil without a shilling. Nothing could show a more deplorable ignorance of the
world than poor Newcome supposing his son could make such a match as that with
his cousin. Is it true that he is going to make his son an artist? I
don&rsquo;t know what the dooce the world is coming to. An artist! By gad, in
my time a fellow would as soon have thought of making his son a hairdresser, or
a pastrycook, by gad.&rdquo; And the worthy Major gives his nephew two fingers,
and trots off to the next club in St. James&rsquo;s Street, of which he is a
member.
</p>

<p>
The virtuous hostess of Bryanstone Square was quite civil and good-humoured
when Mr. Pendennis appeared at her house; and my surprise was not
inconsiderable when I found the whole party from Saint Pancras there
assembled&mdash;Mr. Binnie; the Colonel and his son; Mrs. Mackenzie, looking
uncommonly handsome and perfectly well-dressed; and Miss Rosey, in pink crape,
with pearly shoulders and blushing cheeks, and beautiful fair ringlets&mdash;as
fresh and comely a sight as it was possible to witness. Scarcely had we made
our bows, and shaken our hands, and imparted our observations about the
fineness of the weather, when, behold! as we look from the drawing-room windows
into the cheerful square of Bryanstone, a great family coach arrives, driven by
a family coachman in a family wig, and we recognise Lady Anne Newcome&rsquo;s
carriage, and see her ladyship, her mother, her daughter, and her husband, Sir
Brian, descend from the vehicle. &ldquo;It is quite a family party,&rdquo;
whispers the happy Mrs. Newcome to the happy writer conversing with her in the
niche of the window. &ldquo;Knowing your intimacy with our brother, Colonel
Newcome, we thought it would please him to meet you here. Will you be so kind
as to take Miss Newcome to dinner?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Everybody was bent upon being happy and gracious. It was &ldquo;My dear
brother, how do you do?&rdquo; from Sir Brian. &ldquo;My dear Colonel, how glad
we are to see you! how well you look!&rdquo; from Lady Anne. Miss Newcome ran
up to him with both hands out, and put her beautiful face so close to his that
I thought, upon my conscience, she was going to kiss him. And Lady Kew,
advancing in the frankest manner, with a smile, I must own, rather awful,
playing round her many wrinkles, round her ladyship&rsquo;s hooked nose, and
displaying her ladyship&rsquo;s teeth (a new and exceedingly handsome set),
held out her hand to Colonel Newcome, and said briskly, &ldquo;Colonel, it is
an age since we met.&rdquo; She turns to Clive with equal graciousness and
good-humour, and says, &ldquo;Mr. Clive, let me shake hands with you; I have
heard all sorts of good of you, that you have been painting the most beautiful
things, that you are going to be quite famous.&rdquo; Nothing can exceed the
grace and kindness of Lady Anne Newcome towards Mrs. Mackenzie: the pretty
widow blushes with pleasure at this greeting; and now Lady Anne must be
introduced to Mrs. Mackenzie&rsquo;s charming daughter, and whispers in the
delighted mother&rsquo;s ear, &ldquo;She is lovely!&rdquo; Rosey comes up
looking rosy indeed, and executes a pretty curtsey with a great deal of
blushing grace.
</p>

<p>
Ethel has been so happy to see her dear uncle, that as yet she has had no eyes
for any one else, until Clive advancing, those bright eyes become brighter
still with surprise and pleasure as she beholds him. For being absent with his
family in Italy now, and not likely to see this biography for many many months,
I may say that he is a much handsomer fellow than our designer has represented;
and if that wayward artist should take this very scene for the purpose of
illustration, he is requested to bear in mind that the hero of this story will
wish to have justice done to his person. There exists in Mr. Newcome&rsquo;s
possession a charming little pencil-drawing of Clive at this age, and which
Colonel Newcome took with him when he went&mdash;whither he is about to go in a
very few pages&mdash;and brought back with him to this country. A florid
apparel becomes some men, as simple raiment suits others, and Clive in his
youth was of the ornamental class of mankind&mdash;a customer to tailors, a
wearer of handsome rings, shirt-studs, mustachios, long hair, and the like; nor
could he help, in his costume or his nature, being picturesque and generous and
splendid. He was always greatly delighted with that Scotch man-at-arms in
Quentin Durward, who twists off an inch or two of his gold chain to treat a
friend and pay for a bottle. He would give a comrade a ring or a fine jewelled
pin, if he had no money. Silver dressing-cases and brocade morning-gowns were
in him a sort of propriety at this season of his youth. It was a pleasure to
persons of colder temperament to sun themselves in the warmth of his bright
looks and generous humour. His laughter cheered one like wine. I do not know
that he was very witty; but he was pleasant. He was prone to blush: the history
of a generous trait moistened his eyes instantly. He was instinctively fond of
children, and of the other sex from one year old to eighty. Coming from the
Derby once&mdash;a merry party&mdash;and stopped on the road from Epsom in a
lock of carriages, during which the people in the carriage ahead saluted us
with many vituperative epithets, and seized the heads of our
leaders,&mdash;Clive in a twinkling jumped off the box, and the next minute we
saw him engaged with a half-dozen of the enemy: his hat gone, his fair hair
flying off his face, his blue eyes flashing with fire, his lips and nostrils
quivering wrath, his right and left hand hitting out, <i>que c&rsquo;étoit un
plaisir à voir</i>. His father sat back in the carriage, looking with delight
and wonder&mdash;indeed it was a great sight. Policeman X separated the
warriors. Clive ascended the box again with a dreadful wound in the coat, which
was gashed from the waist to the shoulder. I hardly ever saw the elder Newcome
in such a state of triumph. The postboys quite stared at the gratuity he gave
them, and wished they might drive his lordship to the Oaks.
</p>

<p>
All the time we have been making this sketch Ethel is standing, looking at
Clive; and the blushing youth casts down his eyes before hers. Her face assumes
a look of arch humour. She passes a slim hand over the prettiest lips and a
chin with the most lovely of dimples, thereby indicating her admiration of Mr.
Clive&rsquo;s mustachios and imperial. They are of a warm yellowish chestnut
colour, and have not yet known the razor. He wears a low cravat; a shirt-front
of the finest lawn, with ruby buttons. His hair, of a lighter colour, waves
almost to his &ldquo;manly shoulders broad.&rdquo; &ldquo;Upon my word; my dear
Colonel,&rdquo; says Lady Kew, after looking at him, and nodding her head
shrewdly, &ldquo;I think we were right.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No doubt right in everything your ladyship does, but in what
particularly?&rdquo; asks the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Right to keep him out of the way. Ethel has been disposed of these ten
years. Did not Anne tell you? How foolish of her! But all mothers like to have
young men dying for their daughters. Your son is really the handsomest boy in
London. Who is that conceited-looking young man in the window? Mr.
Pen&mdash;what? has your son really been very wicked? I was told he was a sad
scapegrace.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I never knew him do, and I don&rsquo;t believe he ever thought, anything
that was untrue, or unkind, or ungenerous,&rdquo; says the Colonel. &ldquo;If
any one has belied my boy to you, and I think I know who his enemy has
been&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The young lady is very pretty,&rdquo; remarks Lady Kew, stopping the
Colonel&rsquo;s further outbreak. &ldquo;How very young her mother looks!
Ethel, my dear! Colonel Newcome must present us to Mrs. Mackenzie and Miss
Mackenzie;&rdquo; and Ethel, giving a nod to Clive, with whom she has talked
for a minute or two, again puts her hand in her uncle&rsquo;s, and walks
towards Mrs. Mackenzie and her daughter.
</p>

<p>
And now let the artist, if he has succeeded in drawing Clive to his liking, cut
a fresh pencil, and give us a likeness of Ethel. She is seventeen years old;
rather taller than the majority of women; of a countenance somewhat grave and
haughty, but on occasion brightening with humour or beaming with kindliness and
affection. Too quick to detect affectation or insincerity in others, too
impatient of dulness or pomposity, she is more sarcastic now than she became
when after years of suffering had softened her nature. Truth looks out of her
bright eyes, and rises up armed, and flashes scorn or denial, perhaps too
readily, when she encounters flattery, or meanness, or imposture. After her
first appearance in the world, if the truth must be told, this young lady was
popular neither with many men, nor with most women. The innocent dancing youth
who pressed round her, attracted by her beauty, were rather afraid, after a
while, of engaging her. This one felt dimly that she despised him; another,
that his simpering commonplaces (delights of how many well-bred maidens!) only
occasioned Miss Newcome&rsquo;s laughter. Young Lord Croesus, whom all maidens
and matrons were eager to secure, was astounded to find that he was utterly
indifferent to her, and that she would refuse him twice or thrice in an
evening, and dance as many times with poor Tom Spring, who was his
father&rsquo;s ninth son, and only at home till he could get a ship and go to
sea again. The young women were frightened at her sarcasm. She seemed to know
what <i>fadaises</i> they whispered to their partners as they paused in the
waltzes; and Fanny, who was luring Lord Croesus towards her with her blue eyes,
dropped them guiltily to the floor when Ethel&rsquo;s turned towards her; and
Cecilia sang more out of time than usual; and Clara, who was holding Freddy,
and Charley, and Tommy round her enchanted by her bright conversation and witty
mischief, became dumb and disturbed when Ethel passed her with her cold face;
and old Lady Hookham, who was playing off her little Minnie now at young Jack
Gorget of the Guards, now at the eager and simple Bob Bateson of the
Coldstreams, would slink off when Ethel made her appearance on the ground,
whose presence seemed to frighten away the fish and the angler. No wonder that
the other Mayfair nymphs were afraid of this severe Diana, whose looks were so
cold and whose arrows were so keen.
</p>

<p>
But those who had no cause to heed Diana&rsquo;s shot or coldness might admire
her beauty; nor could the famous Parisian marble, which Clive said she
resembled, be more perfect in form than this young lady. Her hair and eyebrows
were jet black (these latter may have been too thick according to some
physiognomists, giving rather a stern expression to the eyes, and hence causing
those guilty ones to tremble who came under her lash), but her complexion was
as dazzlingly fair and her cheeks as red as Miss Rosey&rsquo;s own, who had a
right to those beauties, being a blonde by nature. In Miss Ethel&rsquo;s black
hair there was a slight natural ripple, as when a fresh breeze blows over the
<i>melan hudor</i>&mdash;a ripple such as Roman ladies nineteen hundred years
ago, and our own beauties a short time since, endeavoured to imitate by art,
paper, and I believe crumpling-irons. Her eyes were grey; her mouth rather
large; her teeth as regular and bright as Lady Kew&rsquo;s own; her voice low
and sweet; and her smile, when it lighted up her face and eyes, as beautiful as
spring sunshine; also they could lighten and flash often, and sometimes, though
rarely, rain. As for her figure&mdash;but as this tall slender form is
concealed in a simple white muslin robe (of the sort which I believe is called
<i>demie toilette</i>), in which her fair arms are enveloped, and which is
confined at her slim waist by an azure ribbon, and descends to her
feet&mdash;let us make a respectful bow to that fair image of Youth, Health,
and Modesty, and fancy it as pretty as we will. Miss Ethel made a very stately
curtsey to Mrs. Mackenzie, surveying that widow calmly, so that the elder lady
looked up and fluttered; but towards Rosey she held out her hand, and smiled
with the utmost kindness, and the smile was returned by the other; and the
blushes with which Miss Mackenzie was always ready at this time, became her
very much. As for Mrs. Mackenzie&mdash;the very largest curve that shall not be
a caricature, and actually disfigure the widow&rsquo;s countenance&mdash;a
smile so wide and steady, so exceedingly rident, indeed, as almost to be
ridiculous, may be drawn upon her buxom face, if the artist chooses to attempt
it as it appeared during the whole of this summer evening, before dinner came
(when people ordinarily look very grave), when she was introduced to the
company: when she was made known to our friends Julia and Maria,&mdash;the
darling child, lovely little dears! how like their papa and mamma!&mdash;when
Sir Brian Newcome gave her his arm downstairs to the dining-room when anybody
spoke to her: when John offered her meat, or the gentleman in the white
waistcoat, wine; when she accepted or when she refused these refreshments; when
Mr. Newcome told her a dreadfully stupid story; when the Colonel called
cheerily from his end of the table, &ldquo;My dear Mrs. Mackenzie, you
don&rsquo;t take any wine to-day; may I not have the honour of drinking a glass
of champagne with you?&rdquo; when the new boy from the country upset some
sauce upon her shoulder: when Mrs. Newcome made the sign for departure; and I
have no doubt in the drawing-room, when the ladies retired thither. &ldquo;Mrs.
Mack is perfectly awful,&rdquo; Clive told me afterwards, &ldquo;since that
dinner in Bryanstone Square. Lady Kew and Lady Anne are never out of her mouth;
she has had white muslin dresses made just like Ethel&rsquo;s for herself and
her daughter. She has bought a Peerage, and knows the pedigree of the whole Kew
family. She won&rsquo;t go out in a cab now without the boy on the box; and in
the plate for the cards which she has established in the drawing-room, you
know, Lady Kew&rsquo;s pasteboard always <i>will</i> come up to the top, though
I poke it down whenever I go into the room. As for poor Lady Trotter, the
governess of St. Kitt&rsquo;s, you know, and the Bishop of Tobago, they are
quite bowled out: Mrs. Mack has not mentioned them for a week.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
During the dinner it seemed to me that the lovely young lady by whom I sate
cast many glances towards Mrs. Mackenzie, which did not betoken particular
pleasure. Miss Ethel asked me several questions regarding Clive, and also
respecting Miss Mackenzie: perhaps her questions were rather downright and
imperious, and she patronised me in a manner that would not have given all
gentlemen pleasure. I was Clive&rsquo;s friend, his schoolfellow? had I seen
him a great deal? know him very well&mdash;very well indeed? Was it true that
he had been very thoughtless? very wild? Who told her so? That was not her
question (with a blush). It was not true, and I ought to know? He was not
spoiled? He was very good-natured, generous, told the truth? He loved his
profession very much, and had great talent? Indeed she was very glad. Why do
they sneer at his profession? It seemed to her quite as good as her
father&rsquo;s and brother&rsquo;s. Were artists not very dissipated? Not more
so, nor often so much as other young men? Was Mr. Binnie rich, and was he going
to leave all his money to his niece? How long have you known them? Is Miss
Mackenzie as good-natured as she looks? Not very clever, I suppose. Mrs.
Mackenzie looks very&mdash;No, thank you, no more. Grandmamma (she is very
deaf, and cannot hear) scolded me for reading the book you wrote, and took the
book away. I afterwards got it, and read it all. I don&rsquo;t think there was
any harm in it. Why do you give such bad characters of women? Don&rsquo;t you
know any good ones? Yes, two as good as any in the world. They are unselfish:
they are pious; they are always doing good; they live in the country? Why
don&rsquo;t you put them into a book? Why don&rsquo;t you put my uncle into a
book? He is so good, that nobody could make him good enough. Before I came out,
I heard a young lady&mdash;(Lady Clavering&rsquo;s daughter, Miss Amory) sing a
song of yours. I have never spoken to an author before. I saw Mr. Lyon at Lady
Popinjoy&rsquo;s, and heard him speak. He said it was very hot, and he looked
so, I am sure. Who is the greatest author now alive? You will tell me when you
come upstairs after dinner;&mdash;and the young lady sails away, following the
matrons, who rise and ascend to the drawing-room. Miss Newcome has been
watching the behaviour of the author by whom she sate; curious to know what
such a person&rsquo;s habits are; whether he speaks and acts like other people;
and in what respect authors are different from persons &ldquo;in
society.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
When we had sufficiently enjoyed claret and politics below-stairs, the
gentlemen went to the drawing-room to partake of coffee and the ladies&rsquo;
delightful conversation. We had heard previously the tinkling of the piano
above, and the well-known sound of a couple of Miss Rosey&rsquo;s five songs.
The two young ladies were engaged over an album at a side-table, when the males
of the party arrived. The book contained a number of Clive&rsquo;s drawings
made in the time of his very early youth for the amusement of his little
cousins. Miss Ethel seemed to be very much pleased with these performances,
which Miss Mackenzie likewise examined with great good-nature and satisfaction.
So she did the views of Rome, Naples, Marble Hill in the county of Sussex,
etc., in the same collection: so she did the Berlin cockatoo and spaniel which
Mrs. Newcome was working in idle moments: so she did the &ldquo;Books of
Beauty,&rdquo; &ldquo;Flowers of Loveliness,&rdquo; and so forth. She thought
the prints very sweet and pretty: she thought the poetry very pretty and sweet.
Which did she like best, Mr. Niminy&rsquo;s &ldquo;Lines to a bunch of
violets,&rdquo; or Miss Piminy&rsquo;s &ldquo;Stanzas to a wreath of
roses&rdquo;? Miss Mackenzie was quite puzzled to say which of these
masterpieces she preferred; she found them alike so pretty. She appealed, as in
most cases, to mamma. &ldquo;How, my darling love, can I pretend to
know?&rdquo; mamma says. &ldquo;I have been a soldier&rsquo;s wife, battling
about the world. I have not had your advantages. I had no drawing-masters, nor
music-masters as you have. You, dearest child, must instruct me in these
things.&rdquo; This poses Rosey: who prefers to have her opinions dealt out to
her like her frocks, bonnets, handkerchiefs, her shoes and gloves, and the
order thereof; the lumps of sugar for her tea, the proper quantity of raspberry
jam for breakfast; who trusts for all supplies corporeal and spiritual to her
mother. For her own part, Rosey is pleased with everything in nature. Does she
love music? Oh, yes. Bellini and Donizetti? Oh, yes. Dancing? They had no
dancing at grandmamma&rsquo;s, but she adores dancing, and Mr. Clive dances
very well indeed. (A smile from Miss Ethel at this admission.) Does she like
the country? Oh, she is so happy in the country! London? London is delightful,
and so is the seaside. She does not really know which she likes best, London or
the country, for mamma is not near her to decide, being engaged listening to
Sir Brian, who is laying down the law to her, and smiling, smiling with all her
might. In fact, Mr. Newcome says to Mr. Pendennis in his droll, humorous way,
&ldquo;That woman grins like a Cheshire cat.&rdquo; Who was the naturalist who
first discovered that peculiarity of the cats in Cheshire?
</p>

<p>
In regard to Miss Mackenzie&rsquo;s opinions, then, it is not easy to discover
that they are decided, or profound, or original; but it seems pretty clear that
she has a good temper, and a happy contented disposition. And the smile which
her pretty countenance wears shows off to great advantage the two dimples on
her pink cheeks. Her teeth are even and white, her hair of a beautiful colour,
and no snow can be whiter than her fair round neck and polished shoulders. She
talks very kindly and good-naturedly with Julia and Maria (Mrs. Hobson&rsquo;s
precious ones) until she is bewildered by the statements which those young
ladies make regarding astronomy, botany, and chemistry, all of which they are
studying. &ldquo;My dears, I don&rsquo;t know a single word about any of these
abstruse subjects: I wish I did,&rdquo; she says. And Ethel Newcome laughs. She
too is ignorant upon all these subjects. &ldquo;I am glad there is some one
else,&rdquo; says Rosey, with naivete, &ldquo;who is as ignorant as I
am.&rdquo; And the younger children, with a solemn air, say they will ask mamma
leave to teach her. So everybody, somehow, great or small, seems to protect
her; and the humble, simple, gentle little thing wins a certain degree of
goodwill from the world, which is touched by her humility and her pretty sweet
looks. The servants in Fitzroy Square waited upon her much more kindly than
upon her smiling bustling mother. Uncle James is especially fond of his little
Rosey. Her presence in his study never discomposes him; whereas his sister
fatigues him with the exceeding activity of her gratitude, and her energy in
pleasing. As I was going away, I thought I heard Sir Brian Newcome say,
&ldquo;It&rdquo; (but what &ldquo;it&rdquo; was, of course I cannot
conjecture)&mdash;&ldquo;it will do very well. The mother seems a superior
woman.&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"></a>
CHAPTER XXV.<br/>
Is passed in a Public-house</h2>

<p>
I had no more conversation with Miss Newcome that night, who had forgotten her
curiosity about the habits of authors. When she had ended her talk with Miss
Mackenzie, she devoted the rest of the evening to her uncle, Colonel Newcome;
and concluded by saying, &ldquo;And now you will come and ride with me
to-morrow, uncle, won&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; which the Colonel faithfully promised
to do. And she shook hands with Clive very kindly: and with Rosey very frankly,
but as I thought with rather a patronising air: and she made a very stately bow
to Mrs. Mackenzie, and so departed with her father and mother. Lady Kew had
gone away earlier. Mrs. Mackenzie informed us afterwards that the Countess had
gone to sleep after her dinner. If it was at Mrs. Mack&rsquo;s story about the
Governor&rsquo;s ball at Tobago, and the quarrel for precedence between the
Lord Bishop&rsquo;s lady, Mrs. Rotchet, and the Chief Justice&rsquo;s wife,
Lady Barwise, I should not be at all surprised.
</p>

<p>
A handsome fly carried off the ladies to Fitzroy Square, and the two worthy
Indian gentlemen in their company; Clive and I walking, with the usual Havannah
to light us home. And Clive remarked that he supposed there had been some
difference between his father and the bankers: for they had not met for ever so
many months before, and the Colonel always had looked very gloomy when his
brothers were mentioned. &ldquo;And I can&rsquo;t help thinking,&rdquo; says
the astute youth, &ldquo;that they fancied I was in love with Ethel (I know the
Colonel would have liked me to make up to her), and that may have occasioned
the row. Now, I suppose, they think I am engaged to Rosey. What the deuce are
they in such a hurry to marry me for?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive&rsquo;s companion remarked, &ldquo;that marriage was a laudable
institution: and an honest attachment an excellent conservator of youthful
morals.&rdquo; On which Clive replied, &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you marry
yourself?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
This it was justly suggested was no argument, but a merely personal allusion
foreign to the question, which was, that marriage was laudable, etc.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Clive laughed. &ldquo;Rosey is as good a little creature as can be,&rdquo;
he said. &ldquo;She is never out of temper, though I fancy Mrs. Mackenzie tries
her. I don&rsquo;t think she is very wise: but she is uncommonly pretty, and
her beauty grows on you. As for Ethel, anything so high and mighty I have never
seen since I saw the French giantess. Going to Court, and about to parties
every night where a parcel of young fools flatter her, has perfectly spoiled
her. By Jove, how handsome she is! How she turns with her long neck, and looks
at you from under those black eyebrows! If I painted her hair, I think I should
paint it almost blue, and then glaze over with lake. It <i>is</i> blue. And how
finely her head is joined on to her shoulders!&rdquo;&mdash;And he waves in the
air an imaginary line with his cigar. &ldquo;She would do for Judith,
wouldn&rsquo;t she? Or how grand she would look as Herodias&rsquo;s daughter
sweeping down a stair&mdash;in a great dress of cloth-of-gold like Paul
Veronese&mdash;holding a charger before her with white arms, you
know&mdash;with the muscles accented like that glorious Diana at Paris&mdash;a
savage smile on her face and a ghastly solemn gory head on the dish. I see the
picture, sir, I see the picture!&rdquo; and he fell to curling his mustachios
just like his brave old father.
</p>

<p>
I could not help laughing at the resemblance, and mentioning it to my friend.
He broke, as was his wont, into a fond eulogium of his sire, wished he could be
like him&mdash;worked himself up into another state of excitement, in which he
averred &ldquo;that if his father wanted him to marry, he would marry that
instant. And why not Rosey? She is a dear little thing. Or why not that
splendid Miss Sherrick? What ahead!&mdash;a regular Titian! I was looking at
the difference of their colour at Uncle Honeyman&rsquo;s that day of the
<i>déjeuner</i>. The shadows in Rosey&rsquo;s face, sir, are all pearly-tinted.
You ought to paint her in milk, sir!&rdquo; cries the enthusiast. &ldquo;Have
you ever remarked the grey round her eyes, and the sort of purple bloom of her
cheek? Rubens could have done the colour: but I don&rsquo;t somehow like to
think of a young lady and that sensuous old Peter Paul in company. I look at
her like a little wild-flower in a field&mdash;like a little child at play,
sir. Pretty little tender nursling! If I see her passing in the street, I feel
as if I would like some fellow to be rude to her, that I might have the
pleasure of knocking him down. She is like a little songbird, sir,&mdash;a
tremulous, fluttering little linnet that you would take into your hand,
<i>pavidam quaerentem matrem</i>, and smooth its little plumes, and let it
perch on your finger and sing. The Sherrick creates quite a different
sentiment&mdash;the Sherrick is splendid, stately, sleepy&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Stupid,&rdquo; hints Clive&rsquo;s companion.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Stupid! Why not? Some women ought to be stupid. What you call dulness I
call repose. Give me a calm woman, a slow woman,&mdash;a lazy, majestic woman.
Show me a gracious virgin bearing a lily: not a leering giggler frisking a
rattle. A lively woman would be the death of me. Look at Mrs. Mack, perpetually
nodding, winking, grinning, throwing out signals which you are to be at the
trouble to answer! I thought her delightful for three days; I declare I was in
love with her&mdash;that is, as much as I can be after&mdash;but never mind
that, I feel I shall never be really in love again. Why shouldn&rsquo;t the
Sherrick be stupid, I say? About great beauty there should always reign a
silence. As you look at the great stars, the great ocean, any great scene of
nature: you hush, sir. You laugh at a pantomime, but you are still in a temple.
When I saw the great Venus of the Louvre, I thought&mdash;Wert thou alive, O
goddess, thou shouldst never open those lovely lips but to speak lowly, slowly:
thou shouldst never descend from that pedestal but to walk stately to some near
couch, and assume another attitude of beautiful calm. To be beautiful is
enough. If a woman can do that well: who shall demand more from her? You
don&rsquo;t want a rose to sing. And I think wit is out of place where
there&rsquo;s great beauty; as I wouldn&rsquo;t have a Queen to cut jokes on
her throne. I say, Pendennis,&rdquo;&mdash;here broke off the enthusiastic
youth,&mdash;&ldquo;have you got another cigar? Shall we go into Finch&rsquo;s,
and have a game at billiards? Just one&mdash;it&rsquo;s quite early yet. Or
shall we go in the Haunt? It&rsquo;s Wednesday night, you know, when all the
boys go.&rdquo; We tap at a door in an old, old street in Soho: an old maid
with a kind, comical face opens the door, and nods friendly, and says,
&ldquo;How do, sir? ain&rsquo;t seen you this ever so long. How do, Mr.
Noocom?&rdquo; &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s here?&rdquo; &ldquo;Most everybody&rsquo;s
here.&rdquo; We pass by a little snug bar, in which a trim elderly lady is
seated by a great fire, on which boils an enormous kettle; while two gentlemen
are attacking a cold saddle of mutton and West India pickles: hard by Mrs.
Nokes the landlady&rsquo;s elbow&mdash;with mutual bows&mdash;we recognise
Hickson, the sculptor, and Morgan, the intrepid Irish chieftain, chief of the
reporters of the <i>Morning Press</i> newspaper. We pass through a passage into
a back room, and are received with a roar of welcome from a crowd of men,
almost invisible in the smoke.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am right glad to see thee, boy!&rdquo; cries a cheery voice (that will
never troll a chorus more). &ldquo;We spake anon of thy misfortune, gentle
youth! and that thy warriors of Assaye have charged the Academy in vain. Mayhap
thou frightenedst the courtly school with barbarous visages of grisly
war.&mdash;Pendennis, thou dost wear a thirsty look! Resplendent swell! untwine
thy choker white, and I will either stand a glass of grog, or thou shalt pay
the like for me, my lad, and tell us of the fashionable world.&rdquo; Thus
spake the brave old Tom Sarjent,&mdash;also one of the Press, one of the old
boys: a good old scholar with a good old library of books, who had taken his
seat any time these forty years by the chimney-fire in this old Haunt: where
painters, sculptors, men of letters, actors, used to congregate, passing
pleasant hours in rough kindly communion, and many a day seeing the sunrise
lighting the rosy street ere they parted, and Betsy put the useless lamp out
and closed the hospitable gates of the Haunt.
</p>

<p>
The time is not very long since, though to-day is so changed. As we think of
it, the kind familiar faces rise up, and we hear the pleasant voices and
singing. There are they met, the honest hearty companions. In the days when the
Haunt was a haunt, stage-coaches were not yet quite over. Casinos were not
invented: clubs were rather rare luxuries: there were sanded floors, triangular
sawdust-boxes, pipes, and tavern parlours. Young Smith and Brown, from the
Temple, did not go from chambers to dine at the Polyanthus, or the Megatherium,
off potage à la Bisque, turbot au gratin, cotelettes a la
What-do-you-call-&rsquo;em, and a pint of St. Emilion; but ordered their
beefsteak and pint of port from the &ldquo;plump head-waiter at the
Cock;&rdquo; did not disdain the pit of the theatre; and for a supper a homely
refection at the tavern. How delightful are the suppers in Charles Lamb to read
of even now!&mdash;the cards&mdash;the punch&mdash;the candles to be
snuffed&mdash;the social oysters&mdash;the modest cheer! Whoever snuffs a
candle now? What man has a domestic supper whose dinner-hour is eight
o&rsquo;clock? Those little meetings, in the memory of many of us yet, are gone
quite away into the past. Five-and-twenty years ago is a hundred years
off&mdash;so much has our social life changed in those five lustres. James
Boswell himself, were he to revisit London, would scarce venture to enter a
tavern. He would find scarce a respectable companion to enter its doors with
him. It is an institution as extinct as a hackney-coach. Many a grown man who
peruses this historic page has never seen such a vehicle, and only heard of
rum-punch as a drink which his ancestors used to tipple.
</p>

<p>
Cheery old Tom Sarjent is surrounded at the Haunt by a dozen of kind boon
companions. They toil all day at their avocations of art, or letters, or law,
and here meet for a harmless night&rsquo;s recreation and converse. They talk
of literature, or politics, or pictures, or plays; socially banter one another
over their cheap cups: sing brave old songs sometimes when they are especially
jolly kindly ballads in praise of love and wine; famous maritime ditties in
honour of Old England. I fancy I hear Jack Brent&rsquo;s noble voice rolling
out the sad, generous <i>refrain</i> of &ldquo;The Deserter,&rdquo; &ldquo;Then
for that reason and for a season we will be merry before we go,&rdquo; or
Michael Percy&rsquo;s clear tenor carolling the Irish chorus of
&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that to any one, whether or no!&rdquo; or Mark Wilder
shouting his bottle-song of &ldquo;Garryowen na gloria.&rdquo; These songs were
regarded with affection by the brave old frequenters of the Haunt. A
gentleman&rsquo;s property in a song was considered sacred. It was respectfully
asked for: it was heard with the more pleasure for being old. Honest Tom
Sarjent! how the times have changed since we saw thee! I believe the present
chief of the reporters of the newspaper (which responsible office Tom filled)
goes to Parliament in his brougham, and dines with the Ministers of the Crown.
</p>

<p>
Around Tom are seated grave Royal Academicians, rising gay Associates; writers
of other journals besides the <i>Pall Mall Gazette;</i> a barrister maybe,
whose name will be famous some day: a hewer of marble perhaps: a surgeon whose
patients have not come yet; and one or two men about town who like this queer
assembly better than haunts much more splendid. Captain Shandon has been here,
and his jokes are preserved in the tradition of the place. Owlet, the
philosopher, came once and tried, as his wont is, to lecture; but his
metaphysics were beaten down by a storm of banter. Slatter, who gave himself
such airs because he wrote in the &mdash;&mdash; <i>Review</i>, tried to air
himself at the Haunt, but was choked by the smoke, and silenced by the
unanimous pooh-poohing of the assembly. Dick Walker, who rebelled secretly at
Sarjent&rsquo;s authority, once thought to give himself consequence by bringing
a young lord from the Blue Posts, but he was so unmercifully
&ldquo;chaffed&rdquo; by Tom, that even the young lord laughed at him. His
lordship has been heard to say he had been taken to a monsus queeah place,
queeah set of folks, in a tap somewhere, though he went away quite delighted
with Tom&rsquo;s affability, but he never came again. He could not find the
place, probably. You might pass the Haunt in the daytime, and not know it in
the least. &ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; said Charley Ormond (A.R.A. he was
then)&mdash;&ldquo;I believe in the day there&rsquo;s no such place at all: and
when Betsy turns the gas off at the door-lamp as we go away, the whole thing
vanishes: the door, the house, the bar, the Haunt, Betsy, the beer-boy, Mrs.
Nokes and all.&rdquo; It has vanished: it is to be found no more: neither by
night nor by day&mdash;unless the ghosts of good fellows still haunt it.
</p>

<p>
As the genial talk and glass go round, and after Clive and his friend have
modestly answered the various queries put to them by good old Tom Sarjent, the
acknowledged Praeses of the assembly and Sachem of this venerable wigwam, the
door opens and another well-known figure is recognised with shouts as it
emerges through the smoke. &ldquo;Bayham, all hail!&rdquo; says Tom.
&ldquo;Frederick, I am right glad to see thee!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Bayham says he is disturbed in spirit, and calls for a pint of beer to console
him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hast thou flown far, thou restless bird of night?&rdquo; asks Father
Tom, who loves speaking in blank verses.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have come from Cursitor Street,&rdquo; says Bayham, in a low groan.
&ldquo;I have just been to see a poor devil in quod there. Is that you,
Pendennis? You know the man&mdash;Charles Honeyman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What!&rdquo; cries Clive, starting up.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;O my prophetic soul, my uncle!&rdquo; growls Bayham. &ldquo;I did not
see the young one; but &rsquo;tis true.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The reader is aware that more than the three years have elapsed, of which time
the preceding pages contain the harmless chronicle; and while Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s leave has been running out and Clive&rsquo;s mustachios
growing, the fate of other persons connected with our story has also had its
development, and their fortune has experienced its natural progress, its
increase or decay. Our tale, such as it has hitherto been arranged, has passed
leisurely in scenes wherein the present tense is perforce adopted; the writer
acting as chorus to the drama, and occasionally explaining, by hints or more
open statements, what has occurred during the intervals of the acts; and how it
happens that the performers are in such or such a posture. In the modern
theatre, as the play-going critic knows, the explanatory personage is usually
of quite a third-rate order. He is the two walking-gentlemen friends of Sir
Harry Courtly, who welcome the young baronet to London, and discourse about the
niggardliness of Harry&rsquo;s old uncle, the Nabob; and the depth of
Courtly&rsquo;s passion for Lady Annabel the <i>première amoureuse</i>. He is
the confidant in white linen to the heroine in white satin. He is &ldquo;Tom,
you rascal,&rdquo; the valet or tiger, more or less impudent and
acute&mdash;that well-known menial in top-boots and a livery frock with red
cuffs and collar, whom Sir Harry always retains in his service, addresses with
scurrilous familiarity, and pays so irregularly: or he is Lucetta, Lady
Annabel&rsquo;s waiting-maid, who carries the <i>billets-doux</i> and peeps
into them; knows all about the family affairs; pops the lover under the sofa;
and sings a comic song between the scenes. Our business now is to enter into
Charles Honeyman&rsquo;s privacy, to peer into the secrets of that reverend
gentleman, and to tell what has happened to him during the past months, in
which he has made fitful though graceful appearances on our scene.
</p>

<p>
While his nephew&rsquo;s whiskers have been budding, and his brother-in-law has
been spending his money and leave, Mr. Honeyman&rsquo;s hopes have been
withering, his sermons growing stale, his once blooming popularity drooping and
running to seed. Many causes have contributed to bring him to his present
melancholy strait. When you go to Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel now, it is by
no means crowded. Gaps are in the pews: there is not the least difficulty in
getting a snug place near the pulpit, whence the preacher can look over his
pocket-handkerchief and see Lord Dozeley no more: his lordship has long gone to
sleep elsewhere and a host of the fashionable faithful have migrated too. The
incumbent can no more cast his fine eyes upon the French bonnets of the female
aristocracy and see some of the loveliest faces in Mayfair regarding his with
expressions of admiration. Actual dowdy tradesmen of the neighbourhood are
seated with their families in the aisles: Ridley and his wife and son have one
of the very best seats. To be sure Ridley looks like a nobleman, with his large
waistcoat, bald head, and gilt book: J. J. has a fine head; but Mrs. Ridley!
cook and housekeeper is written on her round face. The music is by no means of
its former good quality. That rebellious and ill-conditioned basso Bellew has
seceded, and seduced the four best singing boys, who now perform glees at the
Cave of Harmony. Honeyman has a right to speak of persecution, and to compare
himself to a hermit in so far that he preaches in a desert. Once, like another
hermit, St. Hierome, he used to be visited by lions. None such come to him now.
Such lions as frequent the clergy are gone off to lick the feet of other
ecclesiastics. They are weary of poor Honeyman&rsquo;s old sermons.
</p>

<p>
Rivals have sprung up in the course of these three years&mdash;have sprung up
round about Honeyman and carried his flock into their folds. We know how such
simple animals will leap one after another, and that it is the sheepish way.
Perhaps a new pastor has come to the church of St. Jacob&rsquo;s hard
by&mdash;bold, resolute, bright, clear, a scholar and no pedant: his manly
voice is thrilling in their ears, he speaks of life and conduct, of practice as
well as faith; and crowds of the most polite and most intelligent, and best
informed, and best dressed, and most selfish people in the world come and hear
him twice at least. There are so many well-informed and well-dressed etc. etc.
people in the world that the succession of them keeps St. Jacob&rsquo;s full
for a year or more. Then, it may be, a bawling quack, who has neither
knowledge, nor scholarship, nor charity, but who frightens the public with
denunciations and rouses them with the energy of his wrath, succeeds in
bringing them together for a while till they tire of his din and curses.
Meanwhile the good quiet old churches round about ring their accustomed bell:
open their Sabbath gates: receive their tranquil congregations and sober
priest, who has been busy all the week, at schools and sick-beds, with watchful
teaching, gentle counsel, and silent alms.
</p>

<p>
Though we saw Honeyman but seldom, for his company was not altogether amusing,
and his affectation, when one became acquainted with it, very tiresome to
witness, Fred Bayham, from his garret at Mrs. Ridley&rsquo;s, kept constant
watch over the curate, and told us of his proceedings from time to time. When
we heard the melancholy news first announced, of course the intelligence damped
the gaiety of Clive and his companion; and F. B., conducted all the affairs of
life with great gravity, telling Tom Sarjent that he had news of importance for
our private ear, Tom with still more gravity than F. B.&rsquo;s, said,
&ldquo;Go, my children, you had best discuss this topic in a separate room,
apart from the din and fun of a convivial assembly;&rdquo; and ringing the bell
he bade Betsy bring him another glass of rum-and-water, and one for Mr.
Desborough, to be charged to him.
</p>

<p>
We adjourned to another parlour then, where gas was lighted up: and F. B. over
a pint of beer narrated poor Honeyman&rsquo;s mishap. &ldquo;Saving your
presence, Clive,&rdquo; said Bayham, &ldquo;and with every regard for the
youthful bloom of your young heart&rsquo;s affections, your uncle Charles
Honeyman, sir, is a bad lot. I have known him these twenty years, when I was at
his father&rsquo;s as a private tutor. Old Miss Honeyman is one of those cards
which we call trumps&mdash;so was old Honeyman a trump; but Charles and his
sister&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I stamped on F. B.&rsquo;s foot under the table. He seemed to have forgotten
that he was about to speak of Clive&rsquo;s mother.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hem! of your poor mother, I&mdash;hem&mdash;I may say <i>vidi
tantum</i>. I scarcely knew her. She married very young: as I was when she left
Borhambury. But Charles exhibited his character at a very early age&mdash;and
it was not a charming one&mdash;no, by no means a model of virtue. He always
had a genius for running into debt. He borrowed from every one of the
pupils&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know how he spent it except in hardbake and
alycompaine&mdash;and even from old Nosey&rsquo;s groom,&mdash;pardon me, we
used to call your grandfather by that playful epithet (boys will be boys, you
know),&mdash;even from the doctor&rsquo;s groom he took money, and I recollect
thrashing Charles Honeyman for that disgraceful action.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;At college, without any particular show, he was always in debt and
difficulties. Take warning by him, dear youth! By him and by me, if you like.
See me&mdash;me, F. Bayham, descended from the ancient kings that long the
Tuscan sceptre swayed, dodge down a street to get out of sight of a boot-shop,
and my colossal frame tremble if a chap puts his hand on my shoulder, as you
did, Pendennis, the other day in the Strand, when I thought a straw might have
knocked me down! I have had my errors, Clive. I know &rsquo;em. I&rsquo;ll take
another pint of beer, if you please. Betsy, has Mrs. Nokes any cold meat in the
bar? and an accustomed pickle? Ha! Give her my compliments, and say F. B. is
hungry. I resume my tale. Faults F. B. has, and knows it. Humbug he may have
been sometimes; but I&rsquo;m not such a complete humbug as Honeyman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive did not know how to look at this character of his relative, but
Clive&rsquo;s companion burst into a fit of laughter, at which F. B. nodded
gravely, and resumed his narrative. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how much money he
has had from your governor, but this I can say, the half of it would make F. B.
a happy man. I don&rsquo;t know out of how much the reverend party has nobbled
his poor old sister at Brighton. He has mortgaged his chapel to Sherrick, I
suppose you know, who is master of it, and could turn him out any day. I
don&rsquo;t think Sherrick is a bad fellow. I think he&rsquo;s a good fellow; I
have known him do many a good turn to a chap in misfortune. He wants to get
into society: what more natural? That was why you were asked to meet him the
other day, and why he asked you to dinner. I hope you had a good one. I wish
he&rsquo;d ask me.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Then Moss has got his bills, and Moss&rsquo;s brother-in-law in Cursitor
Street has taken possession of his revered person. He&rsquo;s very welcome. One
Jew has the chapel, another Hebrew has the clergyman. It&rsquo;s singular,
ain&rsquo;t it? Sherrick might turn Lady Whittlesea into a synagogue and have
the Chief Rabbi into the pulpit, where my uncle the Bishop has given out the
text.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The shares of that concern ain&rsquo;t at a premium. I have had immense
fun with Sherrick about it. I like the Hebrew, sir. He maddens with rage when
F. B. goes and asks him whether any more pews are let overhead. Honeyman begged
and borrowed in order to buy out the last man. I remember when the speculation
was famous, when all the boxes (I mean the pews) were taken for the season, and
you couldn&rsquo;t get a place, come ever so early. Then Honeyman was spoilt,
and gave his sermons over and over again. People got sick of seeing the old
humbug cry, the old crocodile! Then we tried the musical dodge. F. B. came
forward, sir, there. That <i>was</i> a coup: I did it, sir. Bellew
wouldn&rsquo;t have sung for any man but me&mdash;and for two-and-twenty months
I kept him as sober as Father Mathew. Then Honeyman didn&rsquo;t pay him: there
was a row in the sacred building, and Bellew retired. Then Sherrick must meddle
in it. And having heard a chap out Hampstead way who Sherrick thought would do,
Honeyman was forced to engage him, regardless of expense. You recollect the
fellow, sir? The Reverend Simeon Rawkins, the lowest of the Low Church,
sir&mdash;a red-haired dumpy man, who gasped at his <i>h&rsquo;s</i> and spoke
with a Lancashire twang&mdash;he&rsquo;d no more do for Mayfair than Grimaldi
for Macbeth. He and Honeyman used to fight like cat and dog in the vestry: and
he drove away a third part of the congregation. He was an honest man and an
able man too, though not a sound Churchman&rdquo; (F. B. said this with a very
edifying gravity): &ldquo;I told Sherrick this the very day I heard him. And if
he had spoken to me on the subject I might have saved him a pretty
penny&mdash;a precious deal more than the paltry sum which he and I had a
quarrel about at that time&mdash;a matter of business, sir&mdash;a pecuniary
difference about a small three months&rsquo; thing which caused a temporary
estrangement between us. As for Honeyman, he used to cry about it. Your uncle
is great in the lachrymatory line, Clive Newcome. He used to go with tears in
his eyes to Sherrick, and implore him not to have Rawkins, but he would. And I
must say for poor Charles that the failure of Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s has not
been altogether Charles&rsquo;s fault; and that Sherrick has kicked down that
property.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, then, sir, poor Charles thought to make it all right by marrying
Mrs. Brumby;&mdash;and she was very fond of him and the thing was all but done,
in spite of her sons, who were in a rage as you may fancy. But Charley, sir,
has such a propensity for humbug that he will tell lies when there is no
earthly good in lying. He represented his chapel at twelve hundred a year, his
private means as so-and-so; and when he came to book up with Briggs the lawyer,
Mrs. Brumby&rsquo;s brother, it was found that he lied and prevaricated so,
that the widow in actual disgust would have nothing more to do with him. She
was a good woman of business, and managed the hat-shop for nine years, whilst
poor Brumby was at Dr. Tokelys. A first-rate shop it was, too. I introduced
Charles to it. My uncle the Bishop had his shovels there: and they used for a
considerable period to cover <i>this</i> humble roof with tiles,&rdquo; said F.
B., tapping his capacious forehead; &ldquo;I am sure he might have had
Brumby,&rdquo; he added, in his melancholy tones, &ldquo;but for those unlucky
lies. She didn&rsquo;t want money. She had plenty. She longed to get into
society, and was bent on marrying a gentleman.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But what I can&rsquo;t pardon in Honeyman is the way in which he has
done poor old Ridley and his wife. I took him there, you know, thinking they
would send their bills in once a month: that he was doing a good business: in
fact, that I had put &rsquo;em into a good thing. And the fellow has told me a
score of times that he and the Ridleys were all right. But he has not only not
paid his lodgings, but he has had money of them: he has given dinners: he has
made Ridley pay for wine. He has kept paying lodgers out of the house, and he
tells me all this with a burst of tears, when he sent for me to Lazarus&rsquo;s
to-night, and I went to him, sir, because he was in distress&mdash;went into
the lion&rsquo;s den, sir!&rdquo; says F. B., looking round nobly. &ldquo;I
don&rsquo;t know how much he owes them: because of course you know the sum he
mentions ain&rsquo;t the right one. He never does tell the truth&mdash;does
Charles. But think of the pluck of those good Ridleys never saying a single
word to F. B. about the debt! &lsquo;We are poor, but we have saved some money
and can lie out of it. And we think Mr. Honeyman will pay us,&rsquo; says Mrs.
Ridley to me this very evening. And she thrilled my heart-strings, sir; and I
took her in my arms, and kissed the old woman,&rdquo; says Bayham; &ldquo;and I
rather astonished little Miss Cann, and young J. J., who came in with a picture
under his arm. But she said she had kissed Master Frederick long before J. J.
was born&mdash;and so she had: that good and faithful servant&mdash;and my
emotion in embracing her was manly, sir, manly.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Here old Betsy came in to say that the supper was a-waitin&rsquo; for Mr.
Bayham and it was a-getting&rsquo; very late; and we left F. B. to his meal;
and bidding adieu to Mrs. Nokes, Clive and I went each to our habitation.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"></a>
CHAPTER XXVI.<br/>
In which Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s Horses are sold</h2>

<p>
At an hour early the next morning I was not surprised to see Colonel Newcome at
my chambers, to whom Clive had communicated Bayham&rsquo;s important news of
the night before. The Colonel&rsquo;s object, as any one who knew him need
scarcely be told, was to rescue his brother-in-law; and being ignorant of
lawyers, sheriffs&rsquo;-officers, and their proceedings, he bethought him that
he would apply to Lamb Court for information, and in so far showed some
prudence, for at least I knew more of the world and its ways than my simple
client, and was enabled to make better terms for the unfortunate prisoner, or
rather for Colonel Newcome, who was the real sufferer, than Honeyman&rsquo;s
creditors might otherwise have been disposed to give.
</p>

<p>
I thought it would be more prudent that our good Samaritan should not see the
victim of rogues whom he was about to succour; and left him to entertain
himself with Mr. Warrington in Lamb Court, while I sped to the lock-up house,
where the Mayfair pet was confined. A sickly smile played over his countenance
as he beheld me when I was ushered to his private room. The reverent gentleman
was not shaved; he had partaken of breakfast. I saw a glass which had once
contained brandy on the dirty tray whereon his meal was placed: a greasy novel
from a Chancery Lane library lay on the table: but he was at present occupied
in writing one or more of those great long letters, those laborious, ornate,
eloquent statements, those documents so profusely underlined, in which the
<i>machinations of villains</i> are laid bare with italic fervour; the
coldness, to use no <i>harsher</i> phrase, of friends on whom reliance <i>might
have been placed;</i> the outrageous conduct of Solomons; the astonishing
failure of Smith to pay a sum of money on which he had counted as <i>on the
Bank of England;</i> finally, the <i>infallible certainty</i> of repaying (with
what heartfelt thanks need not be said) the loan of so many pounds <i>next
Saturday week at farthest</i>. All this, which some readers in the course of
their experience have read no doubt in many handwritings, was duly set forth by
poor Honeyman. There was a wafer in a wine-glass on the table, and the bearer
no doubt below to carry the missive. They always sent these letters by a
messenger, who is introduced in the postscript; he is always sitting in the
hall when you get the letter, and is &ldquo;a young man waiting for an answer,
please.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
No one can suppose that Honeyman laid a complete statement of his affairs
before the negotiator who was charged to look into them. No debtor does confess
all his debts, but breaks them gradually to his man of business, factor or
benefactor, leading him on from surprise to surprise; and when he is in
possession of the tailor&rsquo;s little account, introducing him to the
bootmaker. Honeyman&rsquo;s schedule I felt perfectly certain was not correct.
The detainees against him were trifling. &ldquo;Moss of Wardour Street, one
hundred and twenty&mdash;I believe I have paid him thousands in this very
transaction,&rdquo; ejaculates Honeyman. &ldquo;A heartless West End tradesman
hearing of my misfortune&mdash;all these people a linked together, my dear
Pendennis, and rush like vultures upon their prey!&mdash;Waddilove, the tailor,
has another writ out for ninety-eight pounds; a man whom I have made by my
recommendations! Tobbins, the bootmaker, his neighbour in Jermyn Street,
forty-one pounds more, and that is all&mdash;I give you my word, all. In a few
months, when my pew-rents will be coming in, I should have settled with those
cormorants; otherwise, my total and irretrievable ruin, and the disgrace and
humiliation of a prison attends me. I know it; I can bear it; I have been
wretchedly weak, Pendennis: I can say mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, and I
can&mdash;bear&mdash;my&mdash;penalty.&rdquo; In his finest moments he was
never more pathetic. He turned his head away, and concealed it in a
handkerchief not so white as those which veiled his emotions at Lady
Whittlesea&rsquo;s.
</p>

<p>
How by degrees this slippery penitent was induced to make other confessions;
how we got an idea of Mrs. Ridley&rsquo;s account from him, of his dealings
with Mr. Sherrick, need not be mentioned here. The conclusion to which Colonel
Newcome&rsquo;s ambassador came was, that to help such a man would be quite
useless; and that the Fleet Prison would be a most wholesome retreat for this
most reckless divine. Ere the day was out, Messrs. Waddilove and Tobbins had
conferred with their neighbour in St. James&rsquo;s, Mr. Brace; and there came
a detainer from that haberdasher for gloves, cravats, and pocket-handkerchiefs,
that might have done credit to the most dandified young Guardsman. Mr.
Warrington was on Mr. Pendennis&rsquo;s side, and urged that the law should
take its course. &ldquo;Why help a man,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;who will not
help himself? Let the law sponge out the fellow&rsquo;s debts; set him going
again with twenty pounds when he quits the prison, and get him a chaplaincy in
the Isle of Man.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I saw by the Colonel&rsquo;s grave kind face that these hard opinions did not
suit him. &ldquo;At all events, sir, promise us,&rdquo; we said, &ldquo;that
you will pay nothing yourself&mdash;that you won&rsquo;t see Honeyman&rsquo;s
creditors, and let people, who know the world better, deal with him.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Know the world, young man!&rdquo; cries Newcome; &ldquo;I should think
if I don&rsquo;t know the world at my age, I never shall.&rdquo; And if he had
lived to be as old as Jahaleel, a boy could still have cheated him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I do not scruple to tell you,&rdquo; he said, after a pause during which
a plenty of smoke was delivered from the council of three, &ldquo;that I
have&mdash;a fund&mdash;which I had set aside for mere purposes of pleasure, I
give you my word, and a part of which I shall think it my duty to devote to
poor Honeyman&rsquo;s distresses. The fund is not large. The money was
intended, in fact:&mdash;however, there it is. If Pendennis will go round to
these tradesmen, and make some composition with them, as their prices have been
no doubt enormously exaggerated, I see no harm. Besides the tradesfolk, there
is good Mrs. Ridley and Mr. Sherrick&mdash;we must see them; and, if we can,
set this luckless Charles again on his legs. We have read of other prodigals
who were kindly treated; and we may have debts of our own to forgive,
boys.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Into Mr. Sherrick&rsquo;s account we had no need to enter. That gentleman had
acted with perfect fairness by Honeyman. He laughingly said to us, &ldquo;You
don&rsquo;t imagine I would lend that chap a shilling without security? I will
give him fifty or a hundred. Here&rsquo;s one of his notes, with
What-do-you-call-&rsquo;ems&mdash;that rum fellow Bayham&rsquo;s name as
drawer. A nice pair, ain&rsquo;t they? Pooh! <i>I</i> shall never touch
&rsquo;em. I lent some money on the shop overhead,&rdquo; says Sherrick,
pointing to the ceiling (we were in his counting-house in the cellar of Lady
Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel), &ldquo;because I thought it was a good speculation.
And so it was at first. The people liked Honeyman. All the nobs came to hear
him. Now the speculation ain&rsquo;t so good. He&rsquo;s used up. A chap
can&rsquo;t be expected to last for ever. When I first engaged Mademoiselle
Bravura at my theatre, you couldn&rsquo;t get a place for three weeks together.
The next year she didn&rsquo;t draw twenty pounds a week. So it was with Pottle
and the regular drama humbug. At first it was all very well. Good business,
good houses, our immortal bard, and that sort of game. They engaged the tigers
and the French riding people over the way; and there was Pottle bellowing away
in my place to the orchestra and the orders. It&rsquo;s all a speculation.
I&rsquo;ve speculated in about pretty much everything that&rsquo;s going: in
theatres, in joint-stock jobs, in building-ground, in bills, in gas and
insurance companies, and in this chapel. Poor old Honeyman! I won&rsquo;t hurt
him. About that other chap I put in to do the first business&mdash;that
red-haired chap, Rawkins&mdash;I think I was wrong. I think he injured the
property. But I don&rsquo;t know everything, you know. I wasn&rsquo;t bred to
know about parsons&mdash;quite the reverse. I thought, when I heard Rawkins at
Hampstead, he was just the thing. I used to go about, sir, just as I did to the
provinces, when I had the theatre&mdash;Camberwell, Islington, Kennington,
Clapton, all about, and hear the young chaps. Have a glass of sherry; and
here&rsquo;s better luck to Honeyman. As for that Colonel, he&rsquo;s a trump,
sir! I never see such a man. I have to deal with such a precious lot of rogues,
in the City and out of it, among the swells and all, you know, that to see such
a fellow refreshes me; and I&rsquo;d do anything for him. You&rsquo;ve made a
good thing of that <i>Pall Mall Gazette!</i> I tried papers too; but mine
didn&rsquo;t do. I don&rsquo;t know why. I tried a Tory one, moderate Liberal,
and out-and-out uncompromising Radical. I say, what d&rsquo;ye think of a
religious paper, the <i>Catechism</i>, or some such name? Would Honeyman do as
editor? I&rsquo;m afraid it&rsquo;s all up with the poor cove at the
chapel.&rdquo; And I parted with Mr. Sherrick, not a little edified by his
talk, and greatly relieved as to Honeyman&rsquo;s fate. The tradesmen of
Honeyman&rsquo;s body were appeased; and as for Mr. Moss, when he found that
the curate had no effects, and must go before the Insolvent Court, unless Moss
chose to take the composition which we were empowered to offer him, he too was
brought to hear reason, and parted with the stamped paper on which was poor
Honeyman&rsquo;s signature. Our negotiation had like to have come to an end by
Clive&rsquo;s untimely indignation, who offered at one stage of the proceedings
to pitch young Moss out of window; but nothing came of this most
ungentlemanlike behaviour on Noocob&rsquo;s part, further than remonstrance and
delay in the proceedings; and Honeyman preached a lovely sermon at Lady
Whittlesea&rsquo;s the very next Sunday. He had made himself much liked in the
sponging-house, and Mr. Lazarus said, &ldquo;if he hadn&rsquo;t a got out time
enough, I&rsquo;d a let him out for Sunday, and sent one of my men with him to
show him the way ome, you know; for when a gentleman behaves as a gentleman to
me, I behave as a gentleman to him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Ridley&rsquo;s account, and it was a long one, was paid without a single
question, or the deduction of a farthing; but the Colonel rather sickened of
Honeyman&rsquo;s expressions of rapturous gratitude, and received his
professions of mingled contrition and delight very coolly. &ldquo;My
boy,&rdquo; says the father to Clive, &ldquo;you see to what straits debt
brings a man, to tamper with truth to have to cheat the poor. Think of flying
before a washerwoman, or humbling yourself to a tailor, or eating a poor
man&rsquo;s children&rsquo;s bread!&rdquo; Clive blushed, I thought, and looked
rather confused.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, father,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;I&mdash;I&rsquo;m afraid I owe some
money too&mdash;not much; but about forty pound, five-and-twenty for cigars,
and fifteen I borrowed of Pendennis, and&mdash;and I&rsquo;ve been devilish
annoyed about it all this time.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You stupid boy,&rdquo; says the father &ldquo;I knew about the cigars
bill, and paid it last week. Anything I have is yours, you know. As long as
there is a guinea, there is half for you. See that every shilling we owe is
paid before&mdash;before a week is over. And go down and ask Binnie if I can
see him in his study. I want to have some conversation with him.&rdquo; When
Clive was gone away, he said to me in a very sweet voice, &ldquo;In God&rsquo;s
name, keep my boy out of debt when I am gone, Arthur. I shall return to India
very soon.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Very soon, sir! You have another year&rsquo;s leave,&rdquo; said I.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, but no allowances, you know; and this affair of Honeyman&rsquo;s
has pretty nearly emptied the little purse I had set aside for European
expenses. They have been very much heavier than I expected. As it is, I
overdrew my account at my brother&rsquo;s, and have been obliged to draw money
from my agents in Calcutta. A year sooner or later (unless two of our senior
officers had died, when I should have got my promotion and full colonel&rsquo;s
pay with it, and proposed to remain in this country)&mdash;a year sooner or
later, what does it matter? Clive will go away and work at his art, and see the
great schools of painting while I am absent. I thought at one time how pleasant
it would be to accompany him. But <i>l&rsquo;homme propose</i>, Pendennis. I
fancy now a lad is not the better for being always tied to his parent&rsquo;s
apron-string. You young fellows are too clever for me. I haven&rsquo;t learned
your ideas or read your books. I feel myself very often an old damper in your
company. I will go back, sir, where I have some friends, where I am somebody
still. I know an honest face or two, white and brown, that will lighten up in
the old regiment when they see Tom Newcome again. God bless you, Arthur. You
young fellows in this country have such cold ways that we old ones hardly know
how to like you at first. James Binnie and I, when we first came home, used to
talk you over, and think you laughed at us. But you didn&rsquo;t, I know. God
Almighty bless you, and send you a good wife, and make a good man of you. I
have bought a watch, which I would like you to wear in remembrance of me and my
boy, to whom you were so kind when you were boys together in the old Grey
Friars.&rdquo; I took his hand, and uttered some incoherent words of affection
and respect. Did not Thomas Newcome merit both from all who knew him?
</p>

<p>
His resolution being taken, our good Colonel began to make silent but effectual
preparations for his coming departure. He was pleased during these last days of
his stay to give me even more of his confidence than I had previously enjoyed,
and was kind enough to say that he regarded me almost as a son of his own, and
hoped I would act as elder brother and guardian to Clive. Ah! who is to guard
the guardian? The younger brother had many nobler qualities than belonged to
the elder. The world had not hardened Clive, nor even succeeded in spoiling
him. I perceive I am diverging from his history into that of another person,
and will return to the subject proper of the book.
</p>

<p>
Colonel Newcome expressed himself as being particularly touched and pleased
with his friend Binnie&rsquo;s conduct, now that the Colonel&rsquo;s departure
was determined. &ldquo;James is one of the most generous of men, Pendennis, and
I am proud to be put under an obligation to him, and to tell it too. I hired
this house, as you are aware, of our speculative friend Mr. Sherrick, and am
answerable for the payment of the rent till the expiry of the lease. James has
taken the matter off my hands entirely. The place is greatly too large for him,
but he says that he likes it, and intends to stay, and that his sister and
niece shall be his housekeepers. Clive&rdquo; (here, perhaps, the
speaker&rsquo;s voice drops a little)&mdash;&ldquo;Clive will be the son of the
house still, honest James says, and God bless him. James is richer than I
thought by near a lakh of rupees&mdash;and here is a hint for you, Master
Arthur. Mr. Binnie has declared to me in confidence that if his niece, Miss
Rosey, shall marry a person of whom he approves, he will leave her a
considerable part of his fortune.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Colonel&rsquo;s confidant here said that his own arrangements were made in
another quarter, to which statement the Colonel replied knowingly, &ldquo;I
thought so. A little bird has whispered to me the name of a certain Miss A. I
knew her grandfather, an accommodating old gentleman, and I borrowed some money
from him when I was a subaltern at Calcutta. I tell you in strict confidence,
my dear young friend, that I hope and trust a certain young gentleman of your
acquaintance may be induced to think how good and pretty and sweet-tempered a
girl Miss Mackenzie is, and that she may be brought to like him. If you young
men would marry in good time good and virtuous women&mdash;as I am
sure&mdash;ahem!&mdash;Miss Amory is&mdash;half the temptations of your youth
would be avoided. You would neither be dissolute, has many of you seem to me,
or cold and selfish, which are worse vices still. And my prayer is, that my
Clive may cast anchor early out of the reach of temptation, and mate with some
such kind girl as Binnie&rsquo;s niece. When I first came home I formed other
plans for him which could not be brought to a successful issue; and knowing his
ardent disposition, and having kept an eye on the young rogue&rsquo;s conduct,
I tremble lest some mischance with a woman should befall him, and long to have
him out of danger.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So the kind scheme of the two elders was, that their young ones should marry
and be happy ever after, like the Prince and Princess of the Fairy Tale: and
dear Mrs. Mackenzie (have I said that at the commencement of her visit to her
brother she made almost open love to the Colonel?), dear Mrs. Mack was content
to forgo her own chances so that her darling Rosey might be happy. We used to
laugh and say, that as soon as Clive&rsquo;s father was gone, Josey would be
sent for to join Rosey. But little Josey being under her grandmother&rsquo;s
sole influence took most gratifying and serious turn; wrote letters, in which
she questioned the morality of operas, Towers of London, and waxworks; and,
before a year was out, married Elder Bogie, of Mr. M&rsquo;Craw&rsquo;s church.
</p>

<p>
Presently was to be read in the <i>Morning Post</i> an advertisement of the
sale of three horses (the description and pedigree following), &ldquo;the
property of an officer returning to India. Apply to the groom, at the stables,
150 Fitzroy Square.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Court of Directors invited Lieutenant-Colonel Newcome to an entertainment
given to Major-General Sir Ralph Spurrier, K.C.B., appointed Commander-in-Chief
at Madras. Clive was asked to this dinner too, &ldquo;and the governor&rsquo;s
health was drunk, sir,&rdquo; Clive said, &ldquo;after dinner, and the dear old
fellow made such a good speech, in returning thanks!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
He, Clive, and I made a pilgrimage to Grey Friars, and had the Green to
ourselves, it being the Bartlemytide vacation, and the boys all away. One of
the good old Poor Brothers whom we both recollected accompanied us round the
place; and we sate for a while in Captain Scarsdale&rsquo;s little room (he had
been a Peninsular officer, who had sold out, and was fain in his old age to
retire into this calm retreat). And we talked, as old schoolmates and lovers
talk, about subjects interesting to schoolmates and lovers only.
</p>

<p>
One by one the Colonel took leave of his friends, young and old; ran down to
Newcome, and gave Mrs. Mason a parting benediction; slept a night at Tom
Smith&rsquo;s, and passed a day with Jack Brown; went to all the boys&rsquo;
and girls&rsquo; schools where his little <i>protégés</i> were, so as to be
able to take the very last and most authentic account of the young folks to
their parents in India; spent a week at Marble Hill, and shot partridges there,
but for which entertainment, Clive said, the place would have been intolerable;
and thence proceeded to Brighton to pass a little time with good Miss Honeyman.
As for Sir Brian&rsquo;s family, when Parliament broke up, of course, they did
not stay in town. Barnes, of course, had part of a moor in Scotland, whither
his uncle and cousin did not follow him. The rest went abroad. Sir Brian wanted
the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle. The brothers parted very good friends; Lady
Anne, and all the young people, heartily wished him farewell. I believe Sir
Brian even accompanied the Colonel downstairs from the drawing-room, in Park
Lane, and actually came out and saw his brother into his cab (just as he would
accompany old Lady Bagges when she came to look at her account at the bank,
from the parlour to her carriage). But as for Ethel, she was not going to be
put off with this sort of parting and the next morning a cab dashed up to
Fitzroy Square, and a veiled lady came out thence, and was closeted with
Colonel Newcome for five minutes, and when he led her back to the carriage
there were tears in his eyes.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Mackenzie joked about the transaction (having watched it from the
dining-room windows), and asked the Colonel who his sweetheart was? Newcome
replied very sternly, that he hoped no one would ever speak lightly of that
young lady, whom he loved as his own daughter; and I thought Rosey looked vexed
at the praises thus bestowed. This was the day before we all went down to
Brighton. Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s lodgings were taken for Mr. Binnie and his
ladies. Clive and her dearest Colonel had apartments next door. Charles
Honeyman came dawn and preached one of his very best sermons. Fred Bayham was
there, and looked particularly grand and noble on the pier and the cliff. I am
inclined to think he had had some explanation with Thomas Newcome, which had
placed F. B. in a state of at least temporary prosperity. Whom did he not
benefit whom he knew, and what eye that saw him did not bless him? F. B. was
greatly affected at Charles&rsquo;s sermon, of which our party of course could
see the allusions. Tears actually rolled down his brown cheeks; for Fred was a
man very easily moved, and, as it were, a softened sinner. Little Rosey and her
mother sobbed audibly, greatly to the surprise of stout old Miss Honeyman, who
had no idea of such watery exhibitions, and to the discomfiture of poor
Newcome, who was annoyed to have his praises even hinted in that sacred
edifice. Good Mr. James Binnie came for once to church; and, however variously
their feelings might be exhibited or, repressed, I think there was not one of
the little circle there assembled who did not bring to the place a humble
prayer and a gentle heart. It was the last Sabbath-bell our dear friend was to
hear for many a day on his native shore. The great sea washed the beach as we
came out, blue with the reflection of the skies, and its innumerable waves
crested with sunshine. I see the good man and his boy yet clinging to him, as
they pace together by the shore.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel was very much pleased by a visit from Mr. Ridley and the
communication which he made (my Lord Todmorden has a mansion and park in
Sussex, whence Mr. Ridley came to pay his duty to Colonel Newcome). He said he
&ldquo;never could forget the kindness with which the Colonel have a treated
him. His lordship have taken a young man, which Mr. Ridley had brought him up
under his own eye, and can answer for him, Mr. R. says, with impunity; and
which he is to be his lordship&rsquo;s own man for the future. And his lordship
have appointed me his steward, and having, as he always hev been, been most
liberal in point of sellary. And me and Mrs. Ridley was thinking, sir, most
respectfully, with regard to our son, Mr. John James Ridley&mdash;as good and
honest a young man, which I am proud to say it, that if Mr. Clive goes abroad
we should be most proud and happy if John James went with him. And the money
which you have paid us so handsome, Colonel, he shall have it; which it was the
excellent ideer of Miss Cann; and my lord have ordered a pictur of John James
in the most libral manner, and have asked my son to dinner, sir, at his
lordship&rsquo;s own table, which I have faithfully served him five-and-thirty
years.&rdquo; Ridley&rsquo;s voice fairly broke down at this part of his
speech, which evidently was a studied composition, and he uttered no more of
it, for the Colonel cordially shook him by the hand, and Clive jumped up
clapping his, and saying that it was the greatest wish of his heart that J. J.
and he should be companions in France and Italy. &ldquo;But I did not like to
ask my dear old father,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;who has had so many calls on his
purse, and besides, I knew that J. J. was too independent to come as my
follower.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Colonel&rsquo;s berth has been duly secured ere now. This time he makes the
overland journey; and his passage is to Alexandria, taken in one of the noble
ships of the Peninsular and Oriental Company. His kit is as simple as a
subaltern&rsquo;s; I believe, but for Clive&rsquo;s friendly compulsion, he
would have carried back no other than the old uniform which has served him for
so many years. Clive and his father travelled to Southampton together by
themselves. F. B. and I took the Southampton coach: we had asked leave to see
the last of him, and say a &ldquo;God bless you&rdquo; to our dear old friend.
So the day came when the vessel was to sail. We saw his cabin, and witnessed
all the bustle and stir on board the good ship on a day of departure. Our
thoughts, however, were fixed but on one person&mdash;the case, no doubt, with
hundreds more on such a day. There was many a group of friends closing
wistfully together on the sunny deck, and saying the last words of blessing and
farewell. The bustle of the ship passes dimly round about them; the hurrying
noise of crew and officers running on their duty; the tramp and song of the men
at the capstan-bars; the bells ringing, as the hour for departure comes nearer
and nearer, as mother and son, father and daughter, husband and wife, hold
hands yet for a little while. We saw Clive and his father talking together by
the wheel. Then they went below; and a passenger, her husband, asked me to give
my arm to an almost fainting lady, and to lead her off the ship. Bayham
followed us, carrying their two children in his arms, as the husband turned
away and walked aft. The last bell was ringing, and they were crying,
&ldquo;Now for the shore.&rdquo; The whole ship had begun to throb ere this,
and its great wheels to beat the water, and the chimneys had flung out their
black signals for sailing. We were as yet close on the dock, and we saw Clive
coming up from below, looking very pale; the plank was drawn after him as he
stepped on land.
</p>

<p>
Then, with three great cheers from the dock, and from the crew in the bows, and
from the passengers on the quarter-deck, the noble ship strikes the first
stroke of her destined race, and swims away towards the ocean. &ldquo;There he
is, there he is,&rdquo; shouts Fred Bayham, waving his hat. &ldquo;God bless
him, God bless him!&rdquo; I scarce perceived at the ship&rsquo;s side,
beckoning an adieu, our dear old friend, when the lady, whose husband had
bidden me to lead her away from the ship, fainted in my arms. Poor soul! Her,
too, has fate stricken. Ah, pangs of hearts torn asunder, passionate regrets,
cruel, cruel partings! Shall you not end one day, ere many years; when the
tears shall be wiped from all eyes, and there shall be neither sorrow nor pain?
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027"></a>
CHAPTER XXVII.<br/>
Youth and Sunshine</h2>

<p>
Although Thomas Newcome was gone back to India in search of more money, finding
that he could not live upon his income at home, he was nevertheless rather a
wealthy man; and at the moment of his departure from Europe had two lakhs of
rupees invested in various Indian securities. &ldquo;A thousand a year,&rdquo;
he thought, &ldquo;more, added to the interest accruing from my two lakhs, will
enable us to live very comfortably at home. I can give Clive ten thousand
pounds when he marries, and five hundred a year out of my allowances. If he
gets a wife with some money, they may have every enjoyment of life; and as for
his pictures, he can paint just as few or as many of those as he
pleases.&rdquo; Newcome did not seem seriously to believe that his son would
live by painting pictures, but considered Clive as a young prince who chose to
amuse himself with painting. The Muse of Painting is a lady whose social
station is not altogether recognised with us as yet. The polite world permits a
gentleman to amuse himself with her; but to take her for better or for worse!
forsake all other chances and cleave unto her! to assume her name! Many a
respectable person would be as much shocked at the notion, as if his son had
married an opera-dancer.
</p>

<p>
Newcome left a hundred a year in England, of which the principal sum was to be
transferred to his boy as soon as he came of age. He endowed Clive further with
a considerable annual sum, which his London bankers would pay: &ldquo;And if
these are not enough,&rdquo; says he kindly, &ldquo;you must draw upon my
agents, Messrs. Frank and Merryweather at Calcutta, who will receive your
signature just as if it was mine.&rdquo; Before going away, he introduced Clive
to F. and M.&rsquo;s corresponding London house, Jolly and Baines, Fog
Court&mdash;leading out of Leadenhall&mdash;Mr. Jolly, a myth as regarded the
firm, now married to Lady Julia Jolly&mdash;a Park in Kent&mdash;evangelical
interest&mdash;great at Exeter Hall meetings&mdash;knew Clive&rsquo;s
grandmother&mdash;that is, Mrs. Newcome, a most admirable woman. Baines
represents a house in the Regent&rsquo;s Park, with an emigrative tendency
towards Belgravia&mdash;musical daughters&mdash;Herr Moscheles, Benedick,
Ella,&mdash;Osborne, constantly at dinner-sonatas in P flat (op. 936), composed
and dedicated to Miss Euphemia Baines, by her most obliged, most obedient
servant, Ferdinando Blitz. Baines hopes that his young friend will come
constantly to York Terrace, where the most girls will be happy to see him; and
mentions at home a singular whim of Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s, who can give his
son twelve or fifteen hundred a year, and makes an artist of him. Euphemia and
Flora adore artists; they feel quite interested about this young man. &ldquo;He
was scribbling caricatures all the time I was talking with his father in my
parlour,&rdquo; says Mr. Baines, and produces a sketch of an orange-woman near
the Bank, who had struck Clive&rsquo;s eyes, and been transferred to the
blotting-paper in Fog Court. &ldquo;<i>He</i> needn&rsquo;t do anything,&rdquo;
said good-natured Mr. Baines. &ldquo;I guess all the pictures he&rsquo;ll paint
won&rsquo;t sell for much.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is he fond of music, papa?&rdquo; asks Miss. &ldquo;What a pity he had
not come to our last evening; and now the season is over!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And Mr. Newcome is going out of town. He came to me, to-day for circular
notes&mdash;says he&rsquo;s going through Switzerland and into
Italy&mdash;lives in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square. Queer place, ain&rsquo;t
it? Put his name down in your book, and ask him to dinner next season.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Before Clive went away, he had an apparatus of easels, sketching-stools,
umbrellas, and painting-boxes, the most elaborate and beautiful that Messrs.
Soap and Isaac could supply. It made J. J.&rsquo;s eyes glisten to see those
lovely gimcracks of art; those smooth mill-boards, those slab-tinted
sketching-blocks, and glistening rows of colour-tubes lying in their boxes,
which seemed to cry, &ldquo;Come, squeeze me.&rdquo; If painting-boxes made
painters, if sketching-stools would but enable one to sketch, surely I would
hasten this very instant to Messrs. Soap and Isaac! but, alas! these pretty
toys no more make artists than cowls make monks.
</p>

<p>
As a proof that Clive did intend to practise his profession, and to live by it
too, at this time he took four sporting sketches to a printseller in the
Haymarket, and disposed of them at the rate of seven shillings and sixpence per
sketch. His exultation at receiving a sovereign and half a sovereign from Mr.
Jones was boundless. &ldquo;I can do half a dozen of these things easily in a
morning,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Two guineas a day is twelve guineas&mdash;say
ten guineas a week, for I won&rsquo;t work on Sundays, and may take a holiday
in the week besides. Ten guineas a week is five hundred a year. That is pretty
nearly as much money as I shall want, and I need not draw the dear old
governor&rsquo;s allowance at all.&rdquo; He wrote an ardent letter, full of
happiness and affection, to the kind father, which he shall find a month after
he has arrived in India, and read to his friends in Calcutta and Barrackpore.
Clive invited many of his artist friends to a grand feast in honour of the
thirty shillings. The King&rsquo;s Arms, Kensington, was the hotel selected
(tavern beloved of artists for many score years!). Gandish was there, and the
Gandishites, and some chosen spirits from the Life Academy, Clipstone Street,
and J. J. was vice-president, with Fred Bayham by his side, to make the
speeches and carve the mutton; and I promise you many a merry song was sung,
and many a health drunk in flowing bumpers; and as jolly a party was assembled
as any London contained that day. The <i>beau monde</i> had quitted it; the
Park was empty as we crossed it; and the leaves of Kensington Gardens had begun
to fall, dying after the fatigues of a London season. We sang all the way home
through Knightsbridge and by the Park railings, and the Covent Garden carters
halting at the Half-way House were astonished at our choruses. There is no
half-way house now; no merry chorus at midnight.
</p>

<p>
Then Clive and J. J. took the steamboat to Antwerp; and those who love pictures
may imagine how the two young men rejoiced in one of the most picturesque
cities of the world; where they went back straightway into the sixteenth
century; where the inn at which they stayed (delightful old Grand Laboureur,
thine ancient walls are levelled! thy comfortable hospitalities exist no more!)
seemed such a hostelry as that where Quentin Durward first saw his sweetheart;
where knights of Velasquez or burgomasters of Rubens seemed to look from the
windows of the tall-gabled houses and the quaint porches; where the Bourse
still stood, the Bourse of three hundred years ago, and you had but to supply
figures with beards and ruffs, and rapiers and trunk-hose, to make the picture
complete; where to be awakened by the carillon of the bells was to waken to the
most delightful sense of life and happiness; where nuns, actual nuns, walked
the streets, and every figure in the Place de Meir, and every devotee at
church, kneeling and draped in black, or entering the confessional (actually
the confessional!), was a delightful subject for the new sketchbook. Had Clive
drawn as much everywhere as at Antwerp, Messrs. Soap and Isaac might have made
a little income by supplying him with materials.
</p>

<p>
After Antwerp, Clive&rsquo;s correspondent gets a letter dated from the Hotel
de Suede at Brussels, which contains an elaborate eulogy of the cookery and
comfort of that hotel, where the wines, according to the writer&rsquo;s
opinion, are unmatched almost in Europe. And this is followed by a description
of Waterloo, and a sketch of Hougoumont, in which J. J. is represented running
away in the character of a French grenadier, Clive pursuing him in the
lifeguard&rsquo;s habit, and mounted on a thundering charger.
</p>

<p>
Next follows a letter from Bonn. Verses about Drachenfels of a not very
superior style of versification; an account of Crichton, an old Grey Friars
man, who has become a student at the university; of a commerz, a drunken bout,
and a students&rsquo; duel at Bonn. &ldquo;And whom should I find here,&rdquo;
says Mr. Clive, &ldquo;but Aunt Anne, Ethel, Miss Quigley, and the little ones,
the whole detachment under the command of Kuhn? Uncle Brian is staying at Aix.
He is recovered from his attack. And, upon my conscience, I think my pretty
cousin looks prettier every day.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When they are not in London,&rdquo; Clive goes on to write, &ldquo;or I
sometimes think when Barnes or old Lady Kew are not looking over them, they are
quite different. You know how cold they have latterly seemed to us, and how
their conduct annoyed my dear old father. Nothing can be kinder than their
behaviour since we have met. It was on the little hill at Godesberg: J. J. and
I were mounting to the ruin, followed by the beggars who waylay you, and have
taken the place of the other robbers who used to live there, when there came a
procession of donkeys down the steep, and I heard a little voice cry,
&lsquo;Hullo! it&rsquo;s Clive! hooray, Clive!&rsquo; and an ass came pattering
down the declivity, with a little pair of white trousers at an immensely wide
angle over the donkey&rsquo;s back, and behold there was little Alfred grinning
with all his might.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He turned his beast and was for galloping up the hill again, I suppose
to inform his relations; but the donkey refused with many kicks, one of which
sent Alfred plunging amongst the stones, and we were rubbing him down just as
the rest of the party came upon us. Miss Quigley looked very grim on an old
white pony; my aunt was on a black horse that might have turned grey, he is so
old. Then come two donkeysful of children, with Kuhn as supercargo; then Ethel
on donkey-back, too, with a bunch of wildflowers in her hand, a great straw hat
with a crimson ribbon, a white muslin jacket, you know, bound at the waist with
a ribbon of the first, and a dark skirt, with a shawl round her feet which Kuhn
had arranged. As she stopped, the donkey fell to cropping greens in the hedge;
the trees there chequered her white dress and face with shadow. Her eyes, hair,
and forehead were in shadow too&mdash;but the light was all upon her right
cheek: upon her shoulder down to her arm, which was of a warmer white, and on
the bunch of flowers which she held, blue, yellow, and red poppies, and so
forth.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;J. J. says, &lsquo;I think the birds began to sing louder when she
came.&rsquo; We have both agreed that she is the handsomest woman in England.
It&rsquo;s not her form merely, which is certainly as yet too thin and a little
angular&mdash;it is her colour. I do not care for woman or picture without
colour. O, ye carnations! O, ye <i>lilia mista rosis!</i> O such black hair and
solemn eyebrows! It seems to me the roses and carnations have bloomed again
since we saw them last in London, when they were drooping from the exposure to
night air, candle-light, and heated ballrooms.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Here I was in the midst of a regiment of donkeys, bearing a crowd of
relations; J. J. standing modestly in the background&mdash;beggars completing
the group, and Kuhn ruling over them with voice and gesture, oaths and whip.
Throw in the Rhine in the distance flashing by the Seven Mountains&mdash;but
mind and make Ethel the principal figure: if you make her like, she certainly
<i>will</i> be&mdash;and other lights will be only minor fires. You may paint
her form, but you can&rsquo;t paint her colour; that is what beats us in
nature. A line must come right; you can force that into its place, but you
can&rsquo;t compel the circumambient air. There is no yellow I know of will
make sunshine, and no blue that is a bit like sky. And so with pictures: I
think you only get signs of colour, and formulas to stand for it. That
brick-dust which we agree to receive as representing a blush, look at
it&mdash;can you say it is in the least like the blush which flickers and
varies as it sweeps over the down of the cheek&mdash;as you see sunshine
playing over a meadow? Look into it and see what a variety of delicate blooms
there are! a multitude of flowerets twining into one tint! We may break our
colour-pots and strive after the line alone: that is palpable and we can grasp
it&mdash;the other is impossible and beyond us.&rdquo; Which sentiment I here
set down, not on account of its worth (and I think it is contradicted&mdash;as
well as asserted&mdash;in more than one of the letters I subsequently had from
Mr. Clive, but it may serve to show the ardent and impulsive disposition of
this youth), by whom all beauties of art and nature, animate or inanimate (the
former especially), were welcomed with a gusto and delight whereof colder
temperaments are incapable. The view of a fine landscape, a fine picture, a
handsome woman, would make this harmless young sensualist tipsy with pleasure.
He seemed to derive an actual hilarity and intoxication as his eye drank in
these sights; and, though it was his maxim that all dinners were good, and he
could eat bread and cheese and drink small beer with perfect good-humour, I
believe that he found a certain pleasure in a bottle of claret, which most
men&rsquo;s systems were incapable of feeling.
</p>

<p>
This springtime of youth is the season of letter-writing. A lad in high health
and spirits, the blood running briskly in his young veins, and the world, and
life, and nature bright and welcome to him, looks out, perforce, for some
companion to whom he may impart his sense of the pleasure which he enjoys, and
which were not complete unless a friend were by to share it. I was the person
most convenient for the young fellow&rsquo;s purpose; he was pleased to confer
upon me the title of friend <i>en titre</i>, and confidant in particular; to
endow the confidant in question with a number of virtues and excellences which
existed very likely only in the lad&rsquo;s imagination; to lament that the
confidant had no sister whom he, Clive, might marry out of hand; and to make me
a thousand simple protests of affection and admiration, which are noted here as
signs of the young man&rsquo;s character, by no means as proofs of the goodness
of mine. The books given to the present biographer by &ldquo;his affectionate
friend, Clive Newcome,&rdquo; still bear on the titlepages the marks of that
boyish hand and youthful fervour. He had a copy of Walter Lorraine bound and
gilt with such splendour as made the author blush for his performance, which
has since been seen at the bookstalls at a price suited to the very humblest
purses. He fired up and fought a newspaper critic (whom Clive met at the Haunt
one night) who had dared to write an article in which that work was slighted;
and if, in the course of nature, his friendship has outlived that rapturous
period, the kindness of the two old friends, I hope, is not the less because it
is no longer romantic, and the days of white vellum and gilt edges have passed
away. From the abundance of the letters which the affectionate young fellow now
wrote, the ensuing portion of his youthful history is compiled. It may serve to
recall passages of their early days to such of his seniors as occasionally turn
over the leaves of a novel; and in the story of his faults, indiscretions,
passions, and actions, young readers may be reminded of their own.
</p>

<p>
Now that the old Countess, and perhaps Barnes, were away, the barrier between
Clive and this family seemed to be withdrawn. The young folks who loved him
were free to see him as often as he would come. They were going to Baden: would
he come too? Baden was on the road to Switzerland, he might journey to
Strasbourg, Basle, and so on. Clive was glad enough to go with his cousins, and
travel in the orbit of such a lovely girl as Ethel Newcome. J. J. performed the
second part always when Clive was present: and so they all travelled to
Coblentz, Mayence, and Frankfort together, making the journey which everybody
knows, and sketching the mountains and castles we all of us have sketched.
Ethel&rsquo;s beauty made all the passengers on all the steamers look round and
admire. Clive was proud of being in the suite of such a lovely person. The
family travelled with a pair of those carriages which used to thunder along the
Continental roads a dozen years since, and from interior, box, and rumble
discharge a dozen English people at hotel gates.
</p>

<p>
The journey is all sunshine and pleasure and novelty: the circular notes with
which Mr. Baines of Fog Court has supplied Clive Newcome, Esquire, enabled that
young gentleman to travel with great ease and comfort. He has not yet ventured
upon engaging a <i>valet de chambre</i>, it being agreed between him and J. J.
that two travelling artists have no right to such an aristocratic appendage;
but he has bought a snug little britzska at Frankfort (the youth has very
polite tastes, is already a connoisseur in wine, and has no scruple in ordering
the best at the hotels), and the britzska travels in company with Lady
Anne&rsquo;s caravan, either in its wake so as to be out of reach of the dust,
or more frequently ahead of that enormous vehicle and its tender, in which come
the children and the governess of Lady Anne Newcome, guarded by a huge and
melancholy London footman, who beholds Rhine and Neckar, valley and mountain,
village and ruin, with a like dismal composure. Little Alfred and little Egbert
are by no means sorry to escape from Miss Quigley and the tender, and for a
stage ride or two in Clive&rsquo;s britzska. The little girls cry sometimes to
be admitted to that privilege. I dare say Ethel would like very well to quit
her place in the caravan, where she sits, circumvented by mamma&rsquo;s dogs,
and books, bags, dressing-boxes, and gimcrack cases, without which apparatus
some English ladies of condition cannot travel; but Miss Ethel is grown up, she
is out, and has been presented at Court, and is a person of too great dignity
now to sit anywhere but in the place of state in the chariot corner. I like to
think, for my part, of the gallant young fellow taking his pleasure and
enjoying his holiday, and few sights are more pleasant than to watch a happy,
manly English youth, free-handed and generous-hearted, content and good-humour
shining in his honest face, pleased and pleasing, eager, active, and thankful
for services, and exercising bravely his noble youthful privilege to be happy
and to enjoy. Sing, cheery spirit, whilst the spring lasts; bloom whilst the
sun shines, kindly flowers of youth! You shall be none the worse to-morrow for
having been happy to-day, if the day brings no action to shame it. As for J.
J., he too had his share of enjoyment; the charming scenes around him did not
escape his bright eye, he absorbed pleasure in his silent way, he was up with
the sunrise always, and at work with his eyes and his heart if not with his
hands. A beautiful object too is such a one to contemplate, a pure virgin soul,
a creature gentle, pious, and full of love, endowed with sweet gifts, humble
and timid; but for truth&rsquo;s and justice&rsquo;s sake inflexible, thankful
to God and man, fond, patient, and faithful. Clive was still his hero as ever,
his patron, his splendid young prince and chieftain. Who was so brave, who was
so handsome, generous, witty as Clive? To hear Clive sing, as the lad would
whilst they were seated at their work, or driving along on this happy journey,
through fair landscapes in the sunshine, gave J. J. the keenest pleasure; his
wit was a little slow, but he would laugh with his eyes at Clive&rsquo;s
sallies, or ponder over them and explode with laughter presently, giving a new
source of amusement to these merry travellers, and little Alfred would laugh at
J. J.&rsquo;s laughing; and so, with a hundred harmless jokes to enliven, and
the ever-changing, ever-charming smiles of nature to cheer and accompany it,
the happy day&rsquo;s journey would come to an end.
</p>

<p>
So they travelled by the accustomed route to the prettiest town of all places
where Pleasure has set up her tents; and where the gay, the melancholy, the
idle or occupied, grave or haughty, come for amusement, or business, or
relaxation; where London beauties, having danced and flirted all the season,
may dance and flirt a little more; where well-dressed rogues from all quarters
of the world assemble; where I have seen severe London lawyers, forgetting
their wigs and the Temple, trying their luck against fortune and M. Bénazet;
where wistful schemers conspire and prick cards down, and deeply meditate the
infallible coup; and try it, and lose it, and borrow a hundred francs to go
home; where even virtuous British ladies venture their little stakes, and draw
up their winnings with trembling rakes, by the side of ladies who are not
virtuous at all, no, not even by name; where young prodigals break the bank
sometimes, and carry plunder out of a place which Hercules himself could
scarcely compel; where you meet wonderful countesses and princesses, whose
husbands are almost always absent on their vast estates&mdash;in Italy, Spain,
Piedmont&mdash;who knows where their lordships&rsquo; possessions
are?&mdash;while trains of suitors surround those wandering Penelopes their
noble wives; Russian Boyars, Spanish Grandees of the Order of the Fleece,
Counts of France, and Princes Polish and Italian innumerable, who perfume the
gilded halls with their tobacco-smoke, and swear in all languages against the
black and the red. The famous English monosyllable by which things, persons,
luck, even eyes, are devoted to the infernal gods, we may be sure is not
wanting in that Babel. Where does one not hear it? &ldquo;D&mdash;&mdash; the
luck,&rdquo; says Lord Kew, as the croupier sweeps off his lordship&rsquo;s
rouleaux. &ldquo;D&mdash;&mdash; the luck,&rdquo; says Brown the bagman, who
has been backing his lordship with five-franc pieces. &ldquo;Ah, body of
Bacchus!&rdquo; says Count Felice, whom we all remember a courier. &ldquo;Ah,
sacré coup,&rdquo; cries M. le Vicomte de Florac, as his last louis parts
company from him&mdash;each cursing in his native tongue. Oh, sweet chorus!
</p>

<p>
That Lord Kew should be at Baden is no wonder. If you heard of him at the
Finish, or at Buckingham Palace ball, or in a watch-house, or at the Third
Cataract, or at a Newmarket meeting, you would not be surprised. He goes
everywhere; does everything with all his might; knows everybody. Last week he
won who knows how many thousand louis from the bank (it appears Brown has
chosen one of the unlucky days to back his lordship). He will eat his supper as
gaily after a great victory as after a signal defeat; and we know that to win
with magnanimity requires much more constancy than to lose. His sleep will not
be disturbed by one event or the other. He will play skittles all the morning
with perfect contentment, romp with children in the forenoon (he is the friend
of half the children in the place), or he will cheerfully leave the green table
and all the risk and excitement there, to take a hand at sixpenny whist with
General Fogey, or to give the six Miss Fogeys a turn each in the ballroom. From
H.R.H. the Prince Royal of &mdash;&mdash;, who is the greatest guest at Baden,
down to Brown the bagman, who does not consider himself the smallest, Lord Kew
is hail fellow with everybody, and has a kind word from and for all.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028"></a>
CHAPTER XXVIII.<br/>
In which Clive begins to see the World</h2>

<p>
In the company assembled at Baden, Clive found one or two old acquaintances;
among them his friend of Paris, M. de Florac, not in quite so brilliant a
condition as when Newcome had last met him on the Boulevard. Florac owned that
Fortune had been very unkind to him at Baden; and, indeed, she had not only
emptied his purse, but his portmanteaus, jewel-box, and linen-closet&mdash;the
contents of all of which had ranged themselves on the red and black against
Monsieur Bénazet&rsquo;s crown-pieces: whatever side they took was, however,
the unlucky one. &ldquo;This campaign has been my Moscow, <i>mon
cher</i>,&rdquo; Florac owned to Clive. &ldquo;I am conquered by Bénazet; I
have lost in almost every combat. I have lost my treasure, my baggage, my
ammunition of war, everything but my honour, which, <i>au reste</i>, Mons.
Bénazet will not accept as a stake; if he would, there are plenty here, believe
me, who would set it on the trente-et-quarante. Sometimes I have had a mind to
go home; my mother, who is an angel all forgiveness, would receive her
prodigal, and kill the fatted veal for me. But what will you? He annoys
me&mdash;the domestic veal. Besides, my brother the Abbé, though the best of
Christians, is a Jew upon certain matters; a Bénazet who will not
<i>troquer</i> absolution except against repentance; and I have not for a sou
of repentance in my pocket! I have been sorry, yes&mdash;but it was because odd
came up in place of even, or the reverse. The accursed <i>après</i> has chased
me like a remorse, and when black has come up I have wished myself converted to
red. Otherwise I have no repentance&mdash;I am <i>joueur</i>&mdash;nature has
made me so, as she made my brother <i>dévot</i>. The Archbishop of Strasbourg
is of our parents; I saw his grandeur when I went lately to Strasbourg, on my
last pilgrimage to the Mont de Piété. I owned to him that I would pawn his
cross and ring to go play: the good prelate laughed, and said his chaplain
should keep an eye on them. Will you dine with me? The landlord of my hotel was
the intendant of our cousin, the Duc d&rsquo;Ivry, and will give me credit to
the day of judgment. I do not abuse his noble confidence. My dear! there are
covers of silver put upon my table every day with which I could retrieve my
fortune, did I listen to the suggestions of Satanas; but I say to him, <i>Vade
retro</i>. Come and dine with me&mdash;Duluc&rsquo;s kitchen is very
good.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
These easy confessions were uttered by a gentleman who was nearly forty years
of age, and who had indeed played the part of a young man in Paris and the
great European world so long, that he knew or chose to perform no other. He did
not want for abilities; had the best temper in the world; was well bred and
gentlemanlike always; and was gay even after Moscow. His courage was known, and
his character for bravery and another kind of gallantry probably exaggerated by
his bad reputation. Had his mother not been alive, perhaps he would have
believed in the virtue of no woman. But this one he worshipped, and spoke with
tenderness and enthusiasm of her constant love and patience and goodness.
&ldquo;See her miniature!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I never separate myself from
it&mdash;oh, never! It saved my life in an affair about&mdash;about a woman who
was not worth the powder which poor Jules and I burned for her. His ball struck
me here, upon the waistcoat, bruising my rib and sending me to my bed, which I
never should have left alive but for this picture. Oh, she is an angel, my
mother! I am sure that Heaven has nothing to deny that saint, and that her
tears wash out my sins.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive smiled. &ldquo;I think Madame de Florac must weep a good deal,&rdquo; he
said.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Enormément</i>, my friend! My faith! I do not deny it! I give her
cause, night and evening. I am possessed by demons! This little Affenthaler
wine of this country has a little smack which is most agreeable. The passions
tear me, my young friend! Play is fatal, but play is not so fatal as woman.
Pass me the écrévisses, they are most succulent. Take warning by me, and avoid
both. I saw you <i>rôder</i> round the green tables, and marked your eyes as
they glistened over the heaps of gold, and looked at some of our beauties of
Baden. Beware of such sirens, young man! and take me for your Mentor; avoiding
what I have done&mdash;that understands itself. You have not played as yet? Do
not do so; above all avoid a martingale, if you do. Play ought not to be an
affair of calculation, but of inspiration. I have calculated infallibly, and
what has been the effect? Gousset empty, tiroirs empty, nécessaire parted for
Strasbourg! Where is my fur pelisse, Frédéric?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Parbleu, vous le savez bien, Monsieur le Vicomte,&rdquo; says Frédéric,
the domestic, who was waiting on Clive and his friend.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A pelisse lined with true sable, and, worth three thousand francs, that
I won of a little Russian at billiards. That pelisse at Strasbourg (where the
infamous worms of the Mount of Piety are actually gnawing her). Two hundred
francs and this <i>reconnaissance</i>, which Frédéric receive, are all that now
represent the pelisse. How many chemises have I, Frédéric?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Eh, parbleu, Monsieur le Vicomte sait bien que nous avons toujours
vingt-quatre chemises,&rdquo; says Frédéric, grumbling.
</p>

<p>
Monsieur le Vicomte springs up shrieking from the dinner-table.
&ldquo;Twenty-four shirts,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;and I have been a week
without a louis in my pocket! <i>Bélître! Nigaud!</i>&rdquo; He flings open one
drawer after another, but there are no signs of that&mdash;superfluity of linen
of which the domestic spoke, whose countenance now changes from a grim frown to
a grim smile.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ah, my faithful Frédéric, I pardon thee! Mr. Newcome will understand my
harmless <i>supercherie</i>. Frédéric was in my company of the Guard, and
remains with me since. He is Caleb Balderstone and I am Ravenswood. Yes, I am
Edgard. Let us have coffee and a cigar, Balderstone.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Plait-il, Monsieur le Vicomte?&rdquo; says the French Caleb.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Thou comprehendest not English. Thou readest not Valtare Scott,
thou!&rdquo; cries the master. &ldquo;I was recounting to Monsieur Newcome thy
history and my misfortunes. Go seek coffee for us, <i>Nigaud</i>.&rdquo; And as
the two gentlemen partake of that exhilarating liquor, the elder confides gaily
to his guest the reason why he prefers taking coffee at the hotel to the coffee
at the great Café of the Redoute, with a <i>duris urgéns in rebus égestāss!</i>
pronounced in the true French manner.
</p>

<p>
Clive was greatly amused by the gaiety of the Viscount after his misfortunes
and his Moscow; and thought that one of Mr. Baines&rsquo;s circular notes might
not be ill laid out in succouring this hero. It may have been to this end that
Florac&rsquo;s confessions tended; though, to do him justice, the incorrigible
young fellow would confide his adventures to any one who would listen; and the
exact state of his wardrobe, and the story of his pawned pelisse,
dressing-case, rings and watches, were known to all Baden.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You tell me to marry and range myself,&rdquo; said Clive (to whom the
Viscount was expatiating upon the charms of the <i>superbe</i> young
<i>Anglaise</i> with whom he had seen Clive walking on the promenade).
&ldquo;Why do you not marry and range yourself too?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Eh, my dear! I am married already. You do not know it? I am married
since the Revolution of July. Yes. We were poor in those days, as poor we
remain. My cousins the Duc d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s sons and his grandson were
still alive. Seeing no other resource and pursued by the Arabs, I espoused the
Vicomtesse de Florac. I gave her my name, you comprehend, in exchange for her
own odious one. She was Miss Higg. Do you know the family Higg of Manchesterre
in the comte of Lancastre? She was then a person of a ripe age. The Vicomtesse
is now&mdash;ah! it is fifteen years since, and she dies not. Our union was not
happy, my friend&mdash;Madame Paul de Florac is of the reformed
religion&mdash;not of the Anglican Church, you understand&mdash;but a dissident
I know not of what sort. We inhabited the Hôtel de Florac for a while after our
union, which was all of convenience, you understand. She filled her salon with
ministers to make you die. She assaulted my poor father in his garden-chair,
whence he could not escape her. She told my sainted mother that she was an
idolatress&mdash;she who only idolatrises her children! She called us other
poor Catholics who follow the rites of our fathers, <i>des Romishes;</i> and
Rome, Babylon; and the Holy Father&mdash;a scarlet&mdash;eh! a scarlet
abomination. She outraged my mother, that angel; essayed to convert the
antechamber and the office; put little books in the Abbé&rsquo;s bedroom. Eh,
my friend! what a good king was Charles IX., and his mother what a wise
sovereign! I lament that Madame de Florac should have escaped the St.
Barthelemi, when no doubt she was spared on account of her tender age. We have
been separated for many years; her income was greatly exaggerated. Beyond the
payment of my debts I owe her nothing. I wish I could say as much of all the
rest of the world. Shall we take a turn of promenade? <i>Mauvais sujet!</i> I
see you are longing to be at the green table.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive was not longing to be at the green table: but his companion was never
easy at it or away from it. Next to winning, losing, M. de Florac said, was the
best sport&mdash;next to losing, looking on. So he and Clive went down to the
Redoute, where Lord Kew was playing with a crowd of awestruck amateurs and
breathless punters admiring his valour and fortune; and Clive, saying that he
knew nothing about the game, took out five Napoleons from his purse, and
besought Florac to invest them in the most profitable manner at roulette. The
other made some faint attempts at a scruple: but the money was speedily laid on
the table, where it increased and multiplied amazingly too; so that in a
quarter of an hour Florac brought quite a handful of gold pieces to his
principal. Then Clive, I dare say blushing as he made the proposal, offered
half the handful of Napoleons to M. de Florac, to be repaid when he thought
fit. And fortune must have been very favourable to the husband of Miss Higg
that night; for in the course of an hour he insisted on paying back
Clive&rsquo;s loan; and two days afterwards appeared with his shirt-studs (of
course with his shirts also), released from captivity, his watch, rings, and
chains, on the parade; and was observed to wear his celebrated fur pelisse as
he drove back in a britzska from Strasbourg. &ldquo;As for myself,&rdquo; wrote
Clive, &ldquo;I put back into my purse the five Napoleons with which I had
begun; and laid down the whole mass of winnings on the table, where it was
doubled and then quadrupled, and then swept up by the croupiers, greatly to my
ease of mind. And then Lord Kew asked me to supper and we had a merry
night.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
This was Mr. Clive&rsquo;s first and last appearance as a gambler. J. J. looked
very grave when he heard of these transactions. Clive&rsquo;s French friend did
not please his English companion at all, nor the friends of Clive&rsquo;s
French friend, the Russians, the Spaniards, the Italians, of sounding titles
and glittering decorations, and the ladies who belonged to their society. He
saw by chance Ethel, escorted by her cousin Lord Kew, passing through a crowd
of this company one day. There was not one woman there who was not the heroine
of some discreditable story. It was the Comtesse Calypso who had been jilted by
the Duc Ulysse. It was the Marquise Ariane to whom the Prince Thésée had
behaved so shamefully, and who had taken to Bacchus as a consolation. It was
Madame Médée, who had absolutely killed her old father by her conduct regarding
Jason: she had done everything for Jason: she had got him the <i>toison
d&rsquo;or</i> from the Queen Mother, and now had to meet him every day with
his little blonde bride on his arm! J. J. compared Ethel, moving in the midst
of these folks, to the Lady amidst the rout of Comus. There they were the Fauns
and Satyrs: there they were, the merry Pagans: drinking and dancing, dicing and
sporting; laughing out jests that never should be spoken; whispering rendezvous
to be written in midnight calendars; jeering at honest people who passed under
their palace windows&mdash;jolly rebels and repealers of the law. Ah, if Mrs.
Brown, whose children are gone to bed at the hotel, knew but the history of
that calm dignified-looking gentleman who sits under her, and over whose
patient back she frantically advances and withdraws her two-franc piece, whilst
his own columns of louis d&rsquo;or are offering battle to fortune&mdash;how
she would shrink away from the shoulder which she pushes! That man so calm and
well bred, with a string of orders on his breast, so well dressed, with such
white hands, has stabbed trusting hearts; severed family ties; written lying
vows; signed false oaths; torn up pitilessly tender appeals for redress, and
tossed away into the fire supplications blistered with tears; packed cards and
cogged dice; or used pistol or sword as calmly and dexterously as he now ranges
his battalions of gold pieces.
</p>

<p>
Ridley shrank away from such lawless people with the delicacy belonging to his
timid and retiring nature, but it must be owned that Mr. Clive was by no means
so squeamish. He did not know, in the first place, the mystery of their
iniquities; and his sunny kindly spirit, undimmed by any of the cares which
clouded it subsequently, was disposed to shine upon all people alike. The world
was welcome to him: the day a pleasure: all nature a gay feast: scarce any
dispositions discordant with his own (for pretension only made him laugh, and
hypocrisy he will never be able to understand if he lives to be a hundred years
old): the night brought him a long sleep, and the morning a glad waking. To
those privileges of youth what enjoyments of age are comparable? what
achievements of ambition? what rewards of money and fame? Clive&rsquo;s happy
friendly nature shone out of his face; and almost all who beheld it felt kindly
towards him. As those guileless virgins of romance and ballad, who walk smiling
through dark forests charming off dragons and confronting lions, the young man
as yet went through the world harmless; no giant waylaid him as yet; no robbing
ogre fed on him: and (greatest danger of all for one of his ardent nature) no
winning enchantress or artful siren coaxed him to her cave, or lured him into
her waters&mdash;haunts into which we know so many young simpletons are drawn,
where their silly bones are picked and their tender flesh devoured.
</p>

<p>
The time was short which Clive spent at Baden, for it has been said the winter
was approaching, and the destination of our young artists was Rome; but he may
have passed some score of days here, to which he and another person in that
pretty watering-place possibly looked back afterwards, as not the unhappiest
period of their lives. Among Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s papers to which the family
biographer has had subsequent access, there are a couple of letters from Clive,
dated Baden, at this time, and full of happiness, gaiety, and affection. Letter
No. 1 says, &ldquo;Ethel is the prettiest girl here. At the assemblies all the
princes, counts, dukes, Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, are dying to dance with
her. She sends her dearest love to her uncle.&rdquo; By the side of the words
&ldquo;prettiest girl,&rdquo; was written in a frank female hand the
monosyllable &ldquo;<i>Stuff;</i>&rdquo; and as a note to the expression
&ldquo;dearest love,&rdquo; with a star to mark the text and the note, are
squeezed, in the same feminine characters, at the bottom of Clive&rsquo;s page,
the words, &ldquo;<i>That I do. E. N.</i>&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
In letter No. 2, the first two pages are closely written in Clive&rsquo;s
handwriting, describing his pursuits and studies, and giving amusing details of
the life at Baden, and the company whom he met there&mdash;narrating his
<i>rencontre</i> with their Paris friend, M. de Florac, and the arrival of the
Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, Florac&rsquo;s cousin, whose titles the Vicomte will
probably inherit. Not a word about Florac&rsquo;s gambling propensities are
mentioned in the letter; but Clive honestly confesses that he has staked five
Napoleons, doubled them, quadrupled them, won ever so much, lost it all back
again, and come away from the table with his original five pounds in his
pocket&mdash;proposing never to play any more. &ldquo;Ethel,&rdquo; he
concluded, &ldquo;is looking over my shoulder. She thinks me such a delightful
creature that she is never easy without me. She bids me to say that I am the
best of sons and cousins, and am, in a word, a darling du&mdash;&rdquo; The
rest of this important word is not given, but <i>goose</i> is added in the
female hand. In the faded ink, on the yellow paper that may have crossed and
recrossed oceans, that has lain locked in chests for years, and buried under
piles of family archives, while your friends have been dying and your head has
grown white&mdash;who has not disinterred mementos like these&mdash;from which
the past smiles at you so sadly, shimmering out of Hades an instant but to sink
back again into the cold shades, perhaps with a faint, faint sound as of a
remembered tone&mdash;a ghostly echo of a once familiar laughter? I was looking
of late at a wall in the Naples Museum, whereon a boy of Herculaneum eighteen
hundred years ago had scratched with a nail the figure of a soldier. I could
fancy the child turning round and smiling on me after having done his etching.
Which of us that is thirty years old has not had his Pompeii? Deep under ashes
lies the Life of Youth,&mdash;the careless Sport, the Pleasure and Passion, the
darling Joy. You open an old letter-box and look at your own childish scrawls,
or your mother&rsquo;s letters to you when you were at school; and excavate
your heart. Oh me, for the day when the whole city shall be bare and the
chambers unroofed&mdash;and every cranny visible to the Light above, from the
Forum to the Lupanar!
</p>

<p>
Ethel takes up the pen. &ldquo;My dear uncle,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;while
Clive is sketching out of window, let me write you a line or two on his paper,
though <i>I know you like to hear no one speak</i> but him. I wish I could draw
him for you as he stands yonder, looking the picture of good health, good
spirits, and good humour. Everybody likes him. He is quite unaffected; always
gay; always pleased. He draws more and more beautifully every day; and his
affection for young Mr. Ridley, who is really a most excellent and astonishing
young man, and actually a better artist than Clive himself, is most romantic,
and does your son the greatest credit. You will order Clive not to sell his
pictures, won&rsquo;t you? I know it is not wrong, but your son might look
higher than to be an artist. It is a rise for Mr. Ridley, but a fall for him.
An artist, an organist, a pianist, all these are very good people, but you know
not <i>de notre monde</i>, and Clive ought to belong to it.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We met him at Bonn on our way to a great family gathering here; where, I
must tell you, we are assembled for what I call the Congress of Baden! The
chief of the house of Kew is here, and what time he does not devote to
skittles, to smoking cigars, to the <i>jeu</i> in the evenings, to Madame
d&rsquo;Ivry, to Madame de Cruchecassée, and the foreign people (of whom there
are a host here of the worst kind, as usual), he graciously bestows on me. Lord
and Lady Dorking are here, with their meek little daughter, Clara Pulleyn; and
Barnes is coming. Uncle Hobson has returned to Lombard Street to relieve guard.
I think you will hear before very long of Lady Clara Newcome. Grandmamma, who
was to have presided at the Congress of Baden, and still, you know, reigns over
the house of Kew, has been stopped at Kissingen with an attack of rheumatism; I
pity poor Aunt Julia, who can never leave her. Here are all our news. I declare
I have filled the whole page; men write closer than we do. I wear the dear
brooch you gave me, often and often; I think of you always, dear, kind uncle,
as your affectionate Ethel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
Besides roulette and trente-et-quarante, a number of amusing games are played
at Baden, which are not performed, so to speak, <i>sur table</i>. These little
diversions and <i>jeux de société</i> can go on anywhere; in an alley in the
park; in a picnic to this old schloss, or that pretty hunting-lodge; at a
tea-table in a lodging-house or hotel; in a ball at the Redoute; in the
play-rooms behind the backs of the gamblers, whose eyes are only cast upon
rakes and rouleaux, and red and black; or on the broad walk in front of the
conversation rooms, where thousands of people are drinking and chattering,
lounging and smoking, whilst the Austrian brass band, in the little music
pavilion, plays the most delightful mazurkas and waltzes. Here the widow plays
her black suit and sets her bright eyes against the rich bachelor, elderly or
young as may be. Here the artful practitioner, who has dealt in a thousand such
games, engages the young simpleton with more money than wit; and knowing his
weakness and her skill, we may safely take the odds, and back rouge et couleur
to win. Here mamma, not having money, perhaps, but metal more attractive,
stakes her virgin daughter against Count Fettacker&rsquo;s forests and meadows;
or Lord Lackland plays his coronet, of which the jewels have long since been in
pawn, against Miss Bags&rsquo; three-per-cents. And so two or three funny
little games were going on at Baden amongst our immediate acquaintance; besides
that vulgar sport round the green table, at which the mob, with whom we have
little to do, was elbowing each other. A hint of these domestic prolusions has
been given to the reader in the foregoing extract from Miss Ethel
Newcome&rsquo;s letter: likewise some passions have been in play, of which a
modest young English maiden could not be aware. Do not, however, let us be too
prematurely proud of our virtue. That tariff of British virtue is wonderfully
organised. Heaven help the society which made its laws! Gnats are shut out of
its ports, or not admitted without scrutiny and repugnance, whilst herds of
camels are let in. The law professes to exclude some goods (or bads shall we
call them?)&mdash;well, some articles of baggage, which are yet smuggled openly
under the eyes of winking officers, and worn every day without shame. Shame!
What is shame? Virtue is very often shameful according to the English social
constitution, and shame honourable. Truth, if yours happens to differ from your
neighbour&rsquo;s, provokes your friend&rsquo;s coldness, your mother&rsquo;s
tears, the world&rsquo;s persecution. Love is not to be dealt in, save under
restrictions which kill its sweet, healthy, free commerce. Sin in man is so
light, that scarce the fine of a penny is imposed; while for woman it is so
heavy that no repentance can wash it out. Ah! yes; all stories are old. You
proud matrons in your Mayfair markets, have you never seen a virgin sold, or
sold one? Have you never heard of a poor wayfarer fallen among robbers, and not
a Pharisee to help him? of a poor woman fallen more sadly yet, abject in
repentance and tears, and a crowd to stone her? I pace this broad Baden walk as
the sunset is gilding the hills round about, as the orchestra blows its merry
tunes, as the happy children laugh and sport in the alleys, as the lamps of the
gambling-palace are lighted up, as the throngs of pleasure-hunters stroll, and
smoke, and flirt, and hum: and wonder sometimes, is it the sinners who are the
most sinful? Is it poor Prodigal yonder amongst the bad company, calling black
and red and tossing the champagne; or brother Straitlace that grudges his
repentance? Is it downcast Hagar that slinks away with poor little Ishmael in
her hand; or bitter old virtuous Sarah, who scowls at her from my demure Lord
Abraham&rsquo;s arm?
</p>

<p>
One day of the previous May, when of course everybody went to visit the
Water-colour Exhibitions, Ethel Newcome was taken to see the pictures by her
grandmother, that rigorous old Lady Kew, who still proposed to reign over all
her family. The girl had high spirit, and very likely hot words had passed
between the elder and the younger lady; such as I am given to understand will
be uttered in the most polite families. They came to a piece by Mr. Hunt,
representing one of those figures which he knows how to paint with such
consummate truth and pathos&mdash;a friendless young girl cowering in a
doorway, evidently without home or shelter. The exquisite fidelity of the
details, and the plaintive beauty of the expression of the child, attracted old
Lady Kew&rsquo;s admiration, who was an excellent judge of works of art; and
she stood for some time looking at the drawing, with Ethel by her side.
Nothing, in truth, could be more simple or pathetic; Ethel laughed, and her
grandmother looking up from her stick on which she hobbled about, saw a very
sarcastic expression in the girl&rsquo;s eyes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have no taste for pictures, only for painters, I suppose,&rdquo;
said Lady Kew.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I was not looking at the picture,&rdquo; said Ethel, still with a smile,
&ldquo;but at the little green ticket in the corner.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Sold,&rdquo; said Lady Kew. &ldquo;Of course it is sold; all Mr.
Hunt&rsquo;s pictures are sold. There is not one of them here on which you
won&rsquo;t see the green ticket. He is a most admirable artist. I don&rsquo;t
know whether his comedy or tragedy are the most excellent.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think, grandmamma,&rdquo; Ethel said, &ldquo;we young ladies in the
world, when we are exhibiting, ought to have little green tickets pinned on our
backs, with &lsquo;Sold&rsquo; written on them; it would prevent trouble and
any future haggling, you know. Then at the end of the season the owner would
come to carry us home.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Grandmamma only said, &ldquo;Ethel, you are a fool,&rdquo; and hobbled on to
Mr. Cattermole&rsquo;s picture hard by. &ldquo;What splendid colour; what a
romantic gloom; what a flowing pencil and dexterous hand!&rdquo; Lady Kew could
delight in pictures, applaud good poetry, and squeeze out a tear over a good
novel too. That afternoon, young Dawkins, the rising water-colour artist, who
used to come daily to the gallery and stand delighted before his own piece, was
aghast to perceive that there was no green ticket in the corner of his frame,
and he pointed out the deficiency to the keeper of the pictures. His landscape,
however, was sold and paid for, so no great mischief occurred. On that same
evening, when the Newcome family assembled at dinner in Park Lane, Ethel
appeared with a bright green ticket pinned in the front of her white muslin
frock, and when asked what this queer fancy meant, she made Lady Kew a curtsey,
looking her full in the face, and turning round to her father, said, &ldquo;I
am a <i>tableau-vivant</i>, papa. I am Number 46 in the Exhibition of the
Gallery of Painters in Water-colours.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My love, what do you mean?&rdquo; says mamma; and Lady Kew, jumping up
on her crooked stick with immense agility, tore the card out of Ethel&rsquo;s
bosom, and very likely would have boxed her ears, but that her parents were
present and Lord Kew announced.
</p>

<p>
Ethel talked about pictures the whole evening, and would talk of nothing else.
Grandmamma went away furious. &ldquo;She told Barnes, and when everybody was
gone there was a pretty row in the building,&rdquo; said Madam Ethel, with an
arch look, when she narrated the story. &ldquo;Barnes was ready to kill me and
eat me; but I never was afraid of Barnes.&rdquo; And the biographer gathers
from this little anecdote, narrated to him, never mind by whom, at a long
subsequent period, that there had been great disputes in Sir Brian
Newcome&rsquo;s establishment, fierce drawing-room battles, whereof certain
pictures of a certain painter might have furnished the cause, and in which Miss
Newcome had the whole of the family forces against her. That such battles take
place in other domestic establishments, who shall say or shall not say? Who,
when he goes out to dinner, and is received by a bland host with a gay shake of
the hand, and a pretty hostess with a gracious smile of welcome, dares to think
that Mr. Johnson upstairs, half an hour before, was swearing out of his
dressing-room at Mrs. Johnson, for having ordered a turbot instead of a salmon,
or that Mrs. Johnson now talking to Lady Jones so nicely about their mutual
darling children, was crying her eyes out as her maid was fastening her gown,
as the carriages were actually driving up? The servants know these things, but
not we in the dining-room. Hark with what a respectful tone Johnson begs the
clergyman present to say grace!
</p>

<p>
Whatever these family quarrels may have been, let bygones be bygones, and let
us be perfectly sure, that to whatever purpose Miss Ethel Newcome, for good or
for evil, might make her mind up, she had quite spirit enough to hold her own.
She chose to be Countess of Kew because she chose to be Countess of Kew; had
she set her heart on marrying Mr. Kuhn, she would have had her way, and made
the family adopt it, and called him dear Fritz, as by his godfathers and
godmothers, in his baptism, Mr. Kuhn was called. Clive was but a fancy, if he
had even been so much as that, not a passion, and she fancied a pretty
four-pronged coronet still more.
</p>

<p>
So that the diatribe wherein we lately indulged, about the selling of virgins,
by no means applies to Lady Anne Newcome, who signed the address to Mrs Stowe,
the other day, along with thousands more virtuous British matrons; but should
the reader haply say, &ldquo;Is thy fable, O Poet, narrated concerning Tancred
Pulleyn, Earl of Dorking, and Sigismunda, his wife?&rdquo; the reluctant
moralist is obliged to own that the cap <i>does</i> fit those noble personages,
of whose lofty society you will, however, see but little.
</p>

<p>
For though I would like to go into an Indian Brahmin&rsquo;s house, and see the
punkahs, and the purdahs and tattys, and the pretty brown maidens with great
eyes, and great nose-rings, and painted foreheads, and slim waists cased in
Cashmir shawls, Kincob scarfs, curly slippers, gilt trousers, precious anklets
and bangles; and have the mystery of Eastern existence revealed to me (as who
would not who has read the Arabian Nights in his youth?), yet I would not
choose the moment when the Brahmin of the house was dead, his women howling,
his priests doctoring his child of a widow, now frightening her with sermons,
now drugging her with bang, so as to push her on his funeral pile at last, and
into the arms of that carcase, stupefied, but obedient and decorous. And though
I like to walk, even in fancy, in an earl&rsquo;s house, splendid, well
ordered, where there are feasts and fine pictures and fair ladies and endless
books and good company; yet there are times when the visit is not pleasant; and
when the parents in that fine house are getting ready their daughter for sale,
and frightening away her tears with threats, and stupefying her grief with
narcotics, praying her and imploring her, and dramming her and coaxing her, and
blessing her, and cursing her perhaps, till they have brought her into such a
state as shall fit the poor young thing for that deadly couch upon which they
are about to thrust her. When my lord and lady are so engaged I prefer not to
call at their mansion, Number 1000 in Grosvenor Square, but to partake of a
dinner of herbs rather than of that stalled ox which their cook is roasting
whole. There are some people who are not so squeamish. The family comes, of
course; the Most Reverend the Lord Arch-Brahmin of Benares will attend the
ceremony; there will be flowers and lights and white favours; and quite a
string of carriages up to the pagoda; and such a breakfast afterwards; and
music in the street and little parish boys hurrahing; and no end of speeches
within and tears shed (no doubt), and His Grace the Arch-Brahmin will make a
highly appropriate speech, just with a faint scent of incense about it as such
a speech ought to have; and the young person will slip away unperceived, and
take off her veils, wreaths, orange-flowers, bangles and finery, and will put
on a plain dress more suited for the occasion, and the house-door will
open&mdash;and there comes the SUTTEE in company of the body: yonder the pile
is waiting on four wheels with four horses, the crowd hurrahs and the deed is
done.
</p>

<p>
This ceremony amongst us is so stale and common that to be sure there is no
need to describe its rites, and as women sell themselves for what you call an
establishment every day; to the applause of themselves, their parents, and the
world, why on earth should a man ape at originality and pretend to pity them?
Never mind about the lies at the altar, the blasphemy against the godlike name
of love, the sordid surrender, the smiling dishonour. What the deuce does a
<i>mariage de convenance</i> mean but all this, and are not such sober Hymeneal
torches more satisfactory often than the most brilliant love matches that ever
flamed and burnt out? Of course. Let us not weep when everybody else is
laughing: let us pity the agonised duchess when her daughter, Lady Atalanta,
runs away with the doctor&mdash;of course, that&rsquo;s respectable; let us
pity Lady Iphigenia&rsquo;s father when that venerable chief is obliged to
offer up his darling child; but it is over <i>her</i> part of the business that
a decorous painter would throw the veil now. Her ladyship&rsquo;s sacrifice is
performed, and the less said about it the better.
</p>

<p>
Such was the case regarding an affair which appeared in due subsequence in the
newspapers not long afterwards under the fascinating title of &ldquo;Marriage
in High Life,&rdquo; and which was in truth the occasion of the little family
Congress of Baden which we are now chronicling. We all know&mdash;everybody at
least who has the slightest acquaintance with the army list&mdash;that, at the
commencement of their life, my Lord Kew, my Lord Viscount Rooster, the Earl of
Dorking&rsquo;s eldest son, and the Honourable Charles Belsize, familiarly
called Jack Belsize, were subaltern officers in one of His Majesty&rsquo;s
regiments of cuirassier guards. They heard the chimes at midnight like other
young men, they enjoyed their fun and frolics as gentlemen of spirit will do;
sowing their wild oats plentifully, and scattering them with boyish profusion.
Lady Kew&rsquo;s luck had blessed him with more sacks of oats than fell to the
lot of his noble young companions. Lord Dorking&rsquo;s house is known to have
been long impoverished; an excellent informant, Major Pendennis, has
entertained me with many edifying accounts of the exploits of Lord
Rooster&rsquo;s grandfather &ldquo;with the wild Prince and Poins,&rdquo; of
his feats in the hunting-field, over the bottle, over the dice-box. He played
two nights and two days at a sitting with Charles Fox, when they both lost sums
awful to reckon. He played often with Lord Steyne, and came away, as all men
did, dreadful sufferers from those midnight encounters. His descendants
incurred the penalties of the progenitor&rsquo;s imprudence, and Chanticlere,
though one of the finest castles in England, is splendid but for a month in the
year. The estate is mortgaged up to the very castle windows. &ldquo;Dorking
cannot cut a stick or kill a buck in his own park,&rdquo; the good old Major
used to tell with tragic accents, &ldquo;he lives by his cabbages, grapes, and
pineapples, and the fees which people give for seeing the place and gardens,
which are still the show of the county, and among the most splendid in the
island. When Dorking is at Chanticlere, Ballard, who married his sister, lends
him the plate and sends three men with it. Four cooks inside, and four maids
and six footmen on the roof, with a butler driving, come down from London in a
trap, and wait the month. And as the last carriage of the company drives away,
the servants&rsquo; coach is packed, and they all bowl back to town again.
It&rsquo;s pitiable, sir, pitiable.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
In Lord Kew&rsquo;s youth, the names of himself and his two noble friends
appeared on innumerable slips of stamped paper, conveying pecuniary assurances
of a promissory nature; all of which promises, my Lord Kew singly and most
honourably discharged. Neither of his two companions-in-arms had the means of
meeting these engagements. Ballard, Rooster&rsquo;s uncle, was said to make his
lordship some allowance. As for Jack Belsize: how he lived; how he laughed; how
he dressed himself so well, and looked so fat and handsome; how he got a
shilling to pay for a cab or a cigar; what ravens fed him; was a wonder to all.
The young men claimed kinsmanship with one another, which those who are learned
in the peerage may unravel.
</p>

<p>
When Lord Dorking&rsquo;s eldest daughter married the Honourable and Venerable
Dennis Gallowglass, Archdeacon of Bullintubber (and at present Viscount
Gallowglass and Killbrogue, and Lord Bishop of Ballyshannon), great festivities
took place at Chanticlere, whither the relatives of the high contracting
parties were invited. Among them came poor Jack Belsize, and hence the tears
which are dropping at Baden at this present period of our history. Clara
Pulleyn was then a pretty little maiden of sixteen, and Jack a handsome
guardsman of six or seven and twenty. As she had been especially warned against
Jack as a wicked young rogue, whose <i>antécédents</i> were wofully against
him; as she was never allowed to sit near him at dinner, or to walk with him,
or to play at billiards with him, or to waltz with him; as she was scolded if
he spoke a word to her, or if he picked up her glove, or touched her hand in a
round game, or caught him when they were playing at blindman&rsquo;s-buff; as
they neither of them had a penny in the world, and were both very good-looking,
of course Clara was always catching Jack at blindman&rsquo;s-buff; constantly
lighting upon him in the shrubberies or corridors, etc. etc. etc. She fell in
love (she was not the first) with Jack&rsquo;s broad chest and thin waist; she
thought his whiskers as indeed they were, the handsomest pair in all His
Majesty&rsquo;s Brigade of Cuirassiers.
</p>

<p>
We know not what tears were shed in the vast and silent halls of Chanticlere,
when the company were gone, and the four cooks, and four maids, six footmen,
and temporary butler had driven back in their private trap to the metropolis,
which is not forty miles distant from that splendid castle. How can we tell?
The guests departed, the lodge-gates shut; all is mystery:&mdash;darkness with
one pair of wax candles blinking dismally in a solitary chamber; all the rest
dreary vistas of brown hollands, rolled Turkey carpets, gaunt ancestors on the
walls scowling out of the twilight blank. The imagination is at liberty to
depict his lordship, with one candle, over his dreadful endless tapes and
papers; her ladyship with the other, and an old, old novel, wherein perhaps,
Mrs. Radcliffe describes a castle as dreary as her own; and poor little Clara
sighing and crying in the midst of these funereal splendours, as lonely and
heart-sick as Oriana in her moated grange:&mdash;poor little Clara!
</p>

<p>
Lord Kew&rsquo;s drag took the young men to London; his lordship driving, and
the servants sitting inside. Jack sat behind with the two grooms, and tooted on
a cornet-a-piston in the most melancholy manner. He partook of no refreshment
on the road. His silence at his clubs was remarked: smoking, billiards,
military duties, and this and that, roused him a little, and presently Jack was
alive again. But then came the season, Lady Clara Pulleyn&rsquo;s first season
in London, and Jack was more alive than ever. There was no ball he did not go
to; no opera (that is to say, no opera of <i>certain</i> operas) which he did
not frequent. It was easy to see by his face, two minutes after entering a
room, whether the person he sought was there or absent; not difficult for those
who were in the secret to watch in another pair of eyes the bright kindling
signals which answered Jack&rsquo;s fiery glances. Ah! how beautiful he looked
on his charger on the birthday, all in a blaze of scarlet, and bullion, and
steel. O Jack! tear her out of yon carriage, from the side of yonder livid,
feathered, painted, bony dowager! place her behind you on the black charger;
cut down the policeman, and away with you! The carriage rolls in through St.
James&rsquo;s Park; Jack sits alone with his sword dropped to the ground, or
only <i>atra cura</i> on the crupper behind him; and Snip, the tailor, in the
crowd, thinks it is for fear of him Jack&rsquo;s head droops. Lady Clara
Pulleyn is presented by her mother, the Countess of Dorking; and Jack is
arrested that night as he is going out of White&rsquo;s to meet her at the
Opera.
</p>

<p>
Jack&rsquo;s little exploits are known in the Insolvent Court, where he made
his appearances as Charles Belsize, commonly called the Honourable Charles
Belsize, whose dealings were smartly chronicled by the indignant moralists of
the press of those days. The <i>Scourge</i> flogged him heartily. The
<i>Whip</i> (of which the accomplished editor was himself in Whitecross Street
prison) was especially virtuous regarding him; and the <i>Penny Voice of
Freedom</i> gave him an awful dressing. I am not here to scourge sinners; I am
true to my party; it is the other side this humble pen attacks; let us keep to
the virtuous and respectable, for as for poor sinners they get the
whipping-post every day. One person was faithful to poor Jack through all his
blunders and follies and extravagance and misfortunes, and that was the pretty
young girl of Chanticlere, round whose young affections his luxuriant whiskers
had curled. And the world may cry out at Lord Kew for sending his brougham to
the Queen&rsquo;s Bench prison, and giving a great feast at Grignon&rsquo;s to
Jack on the day of his liberation, but I for one will not quarrel with his
lordship. He and many other sinners had a jolly night. They said Kew made a
fine speech, in hearing and acknowledging which Jack Belsize wept copiously.
Barnes Newcome was in a rage at Jack&rsquo;s manumission, and sincerely hoped
Mr. Commissioner would give him a couple of years longer; and cursed and swore
with a great liberality on hearing of his liberty.
</p>

<p>
That this poor prodigal should marry Clara Pulleyn, and by way of a dowry lay
his schedule at her feet, was out of the question. His noble father, Lord
Highgate, was furious against him; his eldest brother would not see him; he had
given up all hopes of winning his darling prize long ago, and one day there
came to him a great packet bearing the seal of Chanticlere, containing a
wretched little letter signed C. P., and a dozen sheets of Jack&rsquo;s own
clumsy writing, delivered who knows how, in what crush-rooms, quadrilles,
bouquets, balls, and in which were scrawled Jack&rsquo;s love and passion and
ardour. How many a time had he looked into the dictionary at White&rsquo;s, to
see whether eternal was spelt with an e, and adore with one a or two! There
they were, the incoherent utterances of his brave longing heart; and those two
wretched, wretched lines signed C., begging that C.&rsquo;s little letters
might too be returned or destroyed. To do him justice, he burnt them loyally
every one along with his own waste paper. He kept not one single little token
which she had given him or let him take. The rose, the glove, the little
handkerchief which she had dropped to him, how he cried over them! The ringlet
of golden hair&mdash;he burnt them all, all in his own fire in the prison, save
a little, little bit of the hair, which might be any one&rsquo;s, which was the
colour of his sister&rsquo;s. Kew saw the deed done; perhaps he hurried away
when Jack came to the very last part of the sacrifice, and flung the hair into
the fire, where he would have liked to fling his heart and his life too.
</p>

<p>
So Clara was free, and the year when Jack came out of prison and went abroad,
she passed the season in London dancing about night after night, and everybody
said she was well out of that silly affair with Jack Belsize. It was then that
Barnes Newcome, Esq., a partner of the wealthy banking firm of Hobson Brothers
and Newcome, son and heir of Sir Brian Newcome, of Newcome, Bart., and M. P.,
descended in right line from Bryan de Newcomyn, slain at Hastings, and
barber-surgeon to Edward the Confessor, etc. etc., cast the eyes of regard on
the Lady Clara Pulleyn, who was a little pale and languid certainly, but had
blue eyes, a delicate skin, and a pretty person, and knowing her previous
history as well as you who have just perused it, deigned to entertain
matrimonial intentions towards her ladyship.
</p>

<p>
Not one of the members of these most respectable families, excepting poor
little Clara perhaps, poor little fish (as if she had any call but to do her
duty, or to ask <i>à quelle sauce elle serait mangée</i>), protested against
this little affair of traffic; Lady Dorking had a brood of little chickens to
succeed Clara. There was little Hennie, who was sixteen, and Biddy, who was
fourteen, and Adelaide, and who knows how many more? How could she refuse a
young man, not very agreeable it is true, nor particularly amiable, nor of good
birth, at least on his father&rsquo;s side, but otherwise eligible, and heir to
so many thousands a year? The Newcomes, on their side, think it a desirable
match. Barnes, it must be confessed, is growing rather selfish, and has some
bachelor ways which a wife will reform. Lady Kew is strongly for the match.
With her own family interest, Lord Steyne and Lord Kew, her nephews, and
Barnes&rsquo;s own father-in-law, Lord Dorking, in the Peers, why shall not the
Newcomes sit there too, and resume the old seat which all the world knows they
had in the time of Richard III.? Barnes and his father had got up quite a
belief about a Newcome killed at Bosworth, along with King Richard, and hated
Henry VII. as an enemy of their noble race. So all the parties were pretty well
agreed. Lady Anne wrote rather a pretty little poem about welcoming the white
Fawn to the Newcome bowers, and &ldquo;Clara&rdquo; was made to rhyme with
&ldquo;fairer,&rdquo; and &ldquo;timid does and antlered deer to dot the glades
of Chanticlere,&rdquo; quite in a picturesque way. Lady Kew pronounced that the
poem was very pretty indeed.
</p>

<p>
The year after Jack Belsize made his foreign tour he returned to London for the
season. Lady Clara did not happen to be there; her health was a little
delicate, and her kind parents took her abroad; so all things went on very
smoothly and comfortably indeed.
</p>

<p>
Yes, but when things were so quiet and comfortable, when the ladies of the two
families had met at the Congress of Baden, and liked each other so much, when
Barnes and his papa the Baronet, recovered from his illness, were actually on
their journey from Aix-la-Chapelle, and Lady Kew in motion from Kissingen to
the Congress of Baden, why on earth should Jack Belsize, haggard, wild, having
been winning great sums, it was said, at Hombourg, forsake his luck there, and
run over frantically to Baden? He wore a great thick beard, a great slouched
hat&mdash;he looked like nothing more or less than a painter or an Italian
brigand. Unsuspecting Clive, remembering the jolly dinner which Jack had
procured for him at the Guards&rsquo; mess in St. James&rsquo;s, whither Jack
himself came from the Horse Guards&mdash;simple Clive, seeing Jack enter the
town, hailed him cordially, and invited him to dinner, and Jack accepted, and
Clive told him all the news he had of the place; how Kew was there, and Lady
Anne Newcome, and Ethel; and Barnes was coming. &ldquo;I am not very fond of
him either,&rdquo; says Clive, smiling, when Belsize mentioned his name. So
Barnes was coming to marry that pretty little Lady Clara Pulleyn. The knowing
youth! I dare say he was rather pleased with his knowledge of the fashionable
world, and the idea that Jack Belsize would think he, too, was somebody.
</p>

<p>
Jack drank an immense quantity of champagne, and the dinner over, as they could
hear the band playing from Clive&rsquo;s open windows in the snug clean little
Hôtel de France, Jack proposed they should go on the promenade. M. de Florac
was of the party; he had been exceedingly jocular when Lord Kew&rsquo;s name
was mentioned, and said, &ldquo;Ce petit Kiou! M. le Duc d&rsquo;Ivry, mon
oncle, l&rsquo;honore d&rsquo;une amitié toute particulière.&rdquo; These three
gentlemen walked out; the promenade was crowded, the was band playing
&ldquo;Home, sweet Home&rdquo; very sweetly, and the very first persons they
met on the walk were the Lords of Kew and Dorking, on the arm of which latter
venerable peer his daughter Lady Clara was hanging.
</p>

<p>
Jack Belsize, in a velvet coat, with a sombrero slouched over his face, with a
beard reaching to his waist, was, no doubt, not recognised at first by the
noble lord of Dorking, for he was greeting the other two gentlemen with his
usual politeness and affability; when, of a sudden, Lady Clara looking up, gave
a little shriek and fell down lifeless on the gravel walk. Then the old earl
recognised Mr. Belsize, and Clive heard him say, &ldquo;You villain, how dare
you come here?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Belsize had flung himself down to lift up Clara, calling her frantically by her
name, when old Dorking sprang to seize him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hands off, my lord,&rdquo; said the other, shaking the old man from his
back. &ldquo;Confound you, Jack, hold your tongue,&rdquo; roars out Kew. Clive
runs for a chair, and a dozen were forthcoming. Florac skips back with a glass
of water. Belsize runs towards the awakening girl: and the father, for an
instant losing all patience and self-command, trembling in every limb, lifts
his stick, and says again, &ldquo;Leave her, you ruffian.&rdquo; &ldquo;Lady
Clara has fainted again, sir,&rdquo; says Captain Belsize. &ldquo;I am staying
at the Hôtel de France. If you touch me, old man&rdquo; (this in a very low
voice), &ldquo;by Heaven I shall kill you. I wish you good morning;&rdquo; and
taking a last long look at the lifeless girl, he lifts his hat and walks away.
Lord Dorking mechanically takes his hat off, and stands stupidly gazing after
him. He beckoned Clive to follow him, and a crowd of the frequenters of the
place are by this time closed round the fainting young lady.
</p>

<p>
Here was a pretty incident in the Congress of Baden!
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029"></a>
CHAPTER XXIX.<br/>
In which Barnes comes a-wooing</h2>

<p>
Ethel had all along known that her holiday was to be a short one, and that, her
papa and Barnes arrived, there was to be no more laughing and fun and sketching
and walking with Clive; so she took the sunshine while it lasted, determined to
bear with a stout heart the bad weather.
</p>

<p>
Sir Brian Newcome and his eldest born arrived at Baden on the very night of
Jack Belsize&rsquo;s performance upon the promenade; of course it was necessary
to inform the young bridegroom of the facts. His acquaintances of the public,
who by this time know his temper, and are acquainted with his language, can
imagine the explosions of the one and the vehemence of the other; it was a
perfect <i>feu d&rsquo;artifice</i> of oaths which he sent up. Mr. Newcome only
fired off these volleys of curses when he was in a passion, but then he was in
a passion very frequently.
</p>

<p>
As for Lady Clara&rsquo;s little accident, he was disposed to treat that very
lightly. &ldquo;Poor dear Clara, of course, of course,&rdquo; he said,
&ldquo;she&rsquo;s been accustomed to fainting fits; no wonder she was agitated
on the sight of that villain, after his infernal treatment of her. If I had
been there&rdquo; (a volley of oaths comes here along the whole line) &ldquo;I
should have strangled the scoundrel; I should have murdered him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mercy, Barnes!&rdquo; cries Lady Anne.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It was a mercy Barnes was not there,&rdquo; says Ethel, gravely;
&ldquo;a fight between him and Captain Belsize would have been awful
indeed.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am afraid of no man, Ethel,&rdquo; says Barnes fiercely, with another
oath.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hit one of your own size, Barnes,&rdquo; says Miss Ethel (who had a
number of school-phrases from her little brothers, and used them on occasions
skilfully). &ldquo;Hit Captain Belsize, he has no friends.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
As Jack Belsize from his height and strength was fitted to be not only an
officer but actually a private in his former gallant regiment, and brother
Barnes was but a puny young gentleman, the idea of a personal conflict between
them was rather ridiculous. Some notion of this sort may have passed through
Sir Brian&rsquo;s mind, for the Baronet said with his usual solemnity,
&ldquo;It is the cause, Ethel, it is the cause, my dear, which gives strength;
in such a cause as Barnes&rsquo;s, with a beautiful young creature to protect
from a villain, any man would be strong, any man would be strong.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Since his last attack,&rdquo; Barnes used to say, &ldquo;my poor old
governor is exceedingly shaky, very groggy about the head;&rdquo; which was the
fact. Barnes was already master at Newcome and the bank, and awaiting with
perfect composure the event which was to place the blood-red hand of the
Newcome baronetcy on his own brougham.
</p>

<p>
Casting his eyes about the room, a heap of drawings, the work of a well-known
hand which he hated, met his eye. There were a half-dozen sketches of Baden;
Ethel on horseback again; the children and the dogs just in the old way.
&ldquo;D&mdash;&mdash; him, is he here?&rdquo; screams out Barnes. &ldquo;Is
that young pothouse villain here? and hasn&rsquo;t Kew knocked his head off? Is
Clive Newcome here, sir,&rdquo; he cries out to his father. &ldquo;The
Colonel&rsquo;s son. I have no doubt they met by&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By what, Barnes?&rdquo; says Ethel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive is here, is he?&rdquo; says the Baronet; &ldquo;making
caricatures, hey? You did not mention him in your letters, Lady Anne.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Sir Brian was evidently very much touched by his last attack.
</p>

<p>
Ethel blushed; it was a curious fact, but there had been no mention of Clive in
the ladies&rsquo; letters to Sir Brian.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear, we met him by the merest chance, at Bonn, travelling with a
friend of his; and he speaks a little German, and was very useful to us, and
took one of the boys in his britzska the whole way.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Boys always crowd in a carriage,&rdquo; says Sir Brian. &ldquo;Kick your
shins; always in the way. I remember, when we used to come in the carriage from
Clapham, when we were boys, I used to kick my brother Tom&rsquo;s shins. Poor
Tom, he was a devilish wild fellow in those days. You don&rsquo;t recollect
Tom, my Lady Anne?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Further anecdotes from Sir Brian are interrupted by Lord Kew&rsquo;s arrival.
&ldquo;How dydo, Kew!&rdquo; cries Barnes. &ldquo;How&rsquo;s Clara?&rdquo; and
Lord Kew walking up with great respect to shake hands with Sir Brian, says,
&ldquo;I am glad to see you looking so well, sir,&rdquo; and scarcely takes any
notice of Barnes. That Mr. Barnes Newcome was an individual not universally
beloved, is a point of history of which there can be no doubt.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have not told me how Clara is, my good fellow,&rdquo; continues
Barnes. &ldquo;I have heard all about her meeting with that villain, Jack
Belsize.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t call names, my good fellow,&rdquo; says Lord Kew. &ldquo;It
strikes me you don&rsquo;t know Belsize well enough to call him by nicknames or
by other names. Lady Clara Pulleyn, I believe, is very unwell indeed.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Confound the fellow! How dared he to come here?&rdquo; cries Barnes,
backing from this little rebuff.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Dare is another ugly word. I would advise you not to use it to the
fellow himself.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; says Barnes, looking very serious in an
instant.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Easy, my good friend. Not so very loud. It appears, Ethel, that poor
Jack&mdash;<i>I</i> know him pretty well, you see, Barnes, and may call him by
what names I like&mdash;had been dining to-day with cousin Clive; he and M. de
Florac; and that they went with Jack to the promenade, not in the least aware
of Mr. Jack Belsize&rsquo;s private affairs, or of the shindy that was going to
happen.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By Jove, he shall answer for it,&rdquo; cries out Barnes in a loud
voice.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I dare say he will, if you ask him,&rdquo; says the other drily;
&ldquo;but not before ladies. He&rsquo;d be afraid of frightening them. Poor
Jack was always as gentle as a lamb before women. I had some talk with the
Frenchman just now,&rdquo; continued Lord Kew gaily, as if wishing to pass over
this side of the subject. &ldquo;Mi Lord Kiou,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;we have
made your friend Jac to hear reason. He is a little <i>fou</i>, your friend
Jack. He drank champagne at dinner like an ogre. How is the <i>charmante</i>
Miss Clara? Florac, you see, calls her Miss Clara, Barnes; the world calls her
Lady Clara. You call her Clara. You happy dog, you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see why that infernal young cub of a Clive is always
meddling in our affairs,&rdquo; cries out Barnes, whose rage was perpetually
being whipped into new outcries. &ldquo;Why has he been about this house? Why
is he here?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is very well for you that he was, Barnes,&rdquo; Lord Kew said.
&ldquo;The young fellow showed great temper and spirit. There has been a famous
row, but don&rsquo;t be alarmed, it is all over. It is all over, everybody may
go to bed and sleep comfortably. Barnes need not get up in the morning to punch
Jack Belsize&rsquo;s head. I&rsquo;m sorry for your disappointment, you
Fenchurch Street fire-eater. Come away. It will be but proper, you know, for a
bridegroom elect to go and ask news of <i>la charmante</i> Miss Clara.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;As we went out of the house,&rdquo; Lord Kew told Clive, &ldquo;I said
to Barnes that every word I had uttered upstairs with regard to the
reconciliation was a lie. That Jack Belsize was determined to have his blood,
and was walking under the lime-trees by which we had to pass with a thundering
big stick. You should have seen the state the fellow was in, sir. The sweet
youth started back, and turned as yellow as a cream cheese. Then he made a
pretext to go into his room, and said it was for his pocket-handkerchief, but I
know it was for a pistol; for he dropped his hand from my arm into his pocket,
every time I said &lsquo;Here&rsquo;s Jack,&rsquo; as we walked down the avenue
to Lord Dorking&rsquo;s apartment.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
A great deal of animated business had been transacted during the two hours
subsequent to poor Lady Clara&rsquo;s mishap. Clive and Belsize had returned to
the former&rsquo;s quarters, while gentle J. J. was utilising the last rays of
the sun to tint a sketch which he had made during the morning. He fled to his
own apartment on the arrival of the fierce-looking stranger, whose glaring
eyes, pallid looks, shaggy beard, clutched hands, and incessant gasps and
mutterings as he strode up and down, might well scare a peaceable person. Very
terrible must Jack have looked as he trampled those boards in the growing
twilight, anon stopping to drink another tumbler of champagne, then groaning
expressions of inarticulate wrath, and again sinking down on Clive&rsquo;s bed
with a dropping head and breaking voice, crying, &ldquo;Poor little thing, poor
little devil.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If the old man sends me a message, you will stand by me, won&rsquo;t
you, Newcome? He was a fierce old fellow in his time, and I have seen him shoot
straight enough at Chanticlere. I suppose you know what the affair is
about?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I never heard of it before, but I think I understand,&rdquo; says Clive,
gravely.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t ask Kew, he is one of the family; he is going to marry
Miss Newcome. It is no use asking him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
All Clive&rsquo;s blood tingled at the idea that any man was going to marry
Miss Newcome. He knew it before&mdash;a fortnight since, and it was nothing to
him to hear it. He was glad that the growing darkness prevented his face from
being seen. &ldquo;I am of the family, too,&rdquo; said Clive, &ldquo;and
Barnes Newcome and I had the same grandfather.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, yes, old boy&mdash;old banker, the weaver, what was he? I
forgot,&rdquo; says poor Jack, kicking on Clive&rsquo;s bed, &ldquo;in that
family the Newcomes don&rsquo;t count. I beg your pardon,&rdquo; groans poor
Jack.
</p>

<p>
They lapse into silence, during which Jack&rsquo;s cigar glimmers from the
twilight corner where Clive&rsquo;s bed is; whilst Clive wafts his fragrance
out of the window where he sits, and whence he has a view of Lady Anne
Newcome&rsquo;s windows to the right, over the bridge across the little rushing
river, at the Hotel de Hollande hard by. The lights twinkle in the booths under
the pretty lime avenues. The hum of distant voices is heard; the
gambling-palace is all in a blaze; it is an assembly night, and from the doors
of the conversation rooms, as they open and close, escape gusts of harmony.
Behind on the little hill the darkling woods lie calm, the edges of the
fir-trees cut sharp against the sky, which is clear with a crescent moon and
the lambent lights of the starry hosts of heaven. Clive does not see pine-robed
hills and shining stars, nor think of pleasure in its palace yonder, nor of
pain writhing on his own bed within a few feet of him, where poor Belsize was
groaning. His eyes are fixed upon a window whence comes the red light of a
lamp, across which shadows float now and again. So every light in every booth
yonder has a scheme of its own: every star above shines by itself; and each
individual heart of ours goes on brightening with its own hopes, burning with
its own desires, and quivering with its own pain.
</p>

<p>
The reverie is interrupted by the waiter, who announces M. le Vicomte de
Florac, and a third cigar is added to the other two smoky lights. Belsize is
glad to see Florac, whom he has known in a thousand haunts. &ldquo;He will do
my business for me. He has been out half a dozen times,&rdquo; thinks Jack. It
would relieve the poor fellow&rsquo;s boiling blood that some one would let a
little out. He lays his affair before Florac; he expects a message from Lord
Dorking.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Comment donc?&rdquo; cries Florac; &ldquo;il y avait donc quelque chose!
Cette pauvre petite Miss! Vous voulez tuer le père, après avoir délaissé la
fille? Cherchez d&rsquo;autres témoins, Monsieur. Le Vicomte de Florac ne se
fait pas complice de telles lâchetés.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By Heaven,&rdquo; says Jack, sitting up on the bed, with his eyes
glaring, &ldquo;I have a great mind, Florac, to wring your infernal little
neck, and to fling you out of the window. Is all the world going to turn
against me? I am half mad as it is. If any man dares to think anything wrong
regarding that little angel, or to fancy that she is not as pure, and as good,
and as gentle, and as innocent, by Heaven, as any angel there,&mdash;if any man
thinks I&rsquo;d be the villain to hurt her, I should just like to see
him,&rdquo; says Jack. &ldquo;By the Lord, sir, just bring him to me. Just tell
the waiter to send him upstairs. Hurt her! I hurt her! Oh! I&rsquo;m a fool! a
fool! a d&mdash;&mdash;d fool! Who&rsquo;s that?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Kew,&rdquo; says a voice out of the darkness from behind
cigar No. 4, and Clive now, having a party assembled, scrapes a match and
lights his candles.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I heard your last words, Jack,&rdquo; Lord Kew says bluntly, &ldquo;and
you never spoke more truth in your life. Why did you come here? What right had
you to stab that poor little heart over again, and frighten Lady Clara with
your confounded hairy face? You promised me you would never see her. You gave
your word of honour you wouldn&rsquo;t, when I gave you the money to go abroad.
Hang the money, I don&rsquo;t mind that; it was on your promise that you would
prowl about her no more. The Dorkings left London before you came there; they
gave you your innings. They have behaved kindly and fairly enough to that poor
girl. How was she to marry such a bankrupt beggar as you are? What you have
done is a shame, Charley Belsize. I tell you it is unmanly and cowardly.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pst,&rdquo; says Florac, &ldquo;numero deux, voilà le mot lâche.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t bite your thumb at me,&rdquo; Kew went on. &ldquo;I know you
could thrash me, if that&rsquo;s what you mean by shaking your fists; so could
most men. I tell you again&mdash;you have done a bad deed; you have broken your
word of honour, and you knocked down Clara Pulleyn to-day as cruelly as if you
had done it with your hand.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
With this rush upon him, and fiery assault of Kew, Belsize was quite
bewildered. The huge man flung up his great arms, and let them drop at his side
as a gladiator that surrenders, and asks for pity. He sank down once more on
the iron bed.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; says he, rolling and rolling round, in one of
his great hands, one of the brass knobs of the bed by which he was seated.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, Frank,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;what the world is
coming to, or me either; here is twice in one night I have been called a coward
by you, and by that little what-d&rsquo;-you-call-&rsquo;m. I beg your pardon,
Florac. I don&rsquo;t know whether it is very brave in you to hit a chap when
he is down: hit again, I have no friends. I have acted like a blackguard, I own
that; I did break my promise; you had that safe enough, Frank, my boy; but I
did not think it would hurt her to see me,&rdquo; says he, with a dreadful sob
in his voice. &ldquo;By&mdash;I would have given ten years of my life to look
at her. I was going mad without her. I tried every place, everything; went to
Ems, to Wiesbaden, to Hombourg, and played like hell. It used to excite me
once, and now I don&rsquo;t care for it. I won no end of money,&mdash;no end
for a poor beggar like me, that is; but I couldn&rsquo;t keep away. I
couldn&rsquo;t, and if she had been at the North Pole, by Heavens I would have
followed her.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And so just to look at her, just to give your confounded stupid eyes two
minutes&rsquo; pleasure, you must bring about all this pain, you great
baby,&rdquo; cries Kew, who was very soft-hearted, and in truth quite torn
himself by the sight of poor Jack&rsquo;s agony.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Get me to see her for five minutes, Kew,&rdquo; cries the other, griping
his comrade&rsquo;s hand in his; &ldquo;but for five minutes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;For shame,&rdquo; cries Lord Kew, shaking away his hand, &ldquo;be a
man, Jack, and have no more of this puling. It&rsquo;s not a baby, that must
have its toy, and cries because it can&rsquo;t get it. Spare the poor girl this
pain, for her own sake, and balk yourself of the pleasure of bullying and
making her unhappy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Belsize started up with looks that were by no means pleasant.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s enough of this chaff I have been called names, and
blackguarded quite sufficiently for one sitting. I shall act as I please. I
choose to take my own way, and if any gentleman stops me he has full
warning.&rdquo; And he fell to tugging his mustachios, which were of a dark
tawny hue, and looked as warlike as he had ever done on any field-day.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I take the warning!&rdquo; said Lord Kew. &ldquo;And if I know the way
you are going, as I think I do, I will do my best to stop you, madman as you
are! You can hardly propose to follow her to her own doorway and pose yourself
before your mistress as the murderer of her father, like Rodrigue in the French
play. If Rooster were here it would be his business to defend his sister; In
his absence I will take the duty on myself, and I say to you, Charles Belsize,
in the presence of these gentlemen, that any man who iusults this young lady,
who persecutes her with his presence, knowing it can but pain her, who persists
in following her when he has given his word of honour to avoid her, that such a
man is&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What, my Lord Kew?&rdquo; cries Belsize, whose chest began to heave.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You know what,&rdquo; answers the other. &ldquo;You know what a man is
who insults a poor woman, and breaks his word of honour. Consider the word
said, and act upon it as you think fit.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I owe you four thousand pounds, Kew,&rdquo; says Belsize, &ldquo;and I
have got four thousand on the bills, besides four hundred when I came out of
that place.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You insult me the more,&rdquo; cries Kew, flashing out, &ldquo;by
alluding to the money. If you will leave this place to-morrow, well and good;
if not, you will please to give me a meeting. Mr. Newcome will you be so kind
as to act as my friend? We are connexions, you know, and this gentleman chooses
to insult a lady who is about to become one of our family.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;C&rsquo;est bien, milord. Ma foi! c&rsquo;est d&rsquo;agir en vrai
gentilhomme,&rdquo; says Florac, delighted. &ldquo;Touchez-là, mon petit Kiou.
Tu as du cœur. Godam! you are a brave! A brave fellow!&rdquo; and the Viscount
reached out his hand cordially to Lord Kew.
</p>

<p>
His purpose was evidently pacific. From Kew he turned to the great guardsman,
and taking him by the coat began to apostrophise him. &ldquo;And you, mon
gros,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;is there no way of calming this hot blood without
a saignée? Have you a penny to the world? Can you hope to carry off your
Chiméne, O Rodrigue, and live by robbing afterwards on the great way? Suppose
you kill ze Fazér, you kill Kiou, you kill Roostere, your Chiméne will have a
pretty moon of honey.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What the devil do you mean about your Chiméne and your Rodrigue? Do you
mean, Viscount&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo; says Belsize, &ldquo;Jack Belsize once
more, and he dashed his hand across his eyes. Kew has riled me, and he drove me
half wild. I ain&rsquo;t much of a Frenchman, but I know enough of what you
said, to say it&rsquo;s true, by Jove, and that Frank Kew&rsquo;s a trump.
That&rsquo;s what you mean. Give us your hand, Frank. God bless you, old boy;
don&rsquo;t be too hard upon me, you know I&rsquo;m d&mdash;&mdash;d miserable,
that I am. Hullo! What&rsquo;s this?&rdquo; Jack&rsquo;s pathetic speech was
interrupted at this instant, for the Vicomte de Florac in his enthusiasm rushed
into his arms, and jumped up towards his face and proceeded to kiss Jack. A
roar of immense laughter, as he shook the little Viscount off, cleared the air
and ended this quarrel.
</p>

<p>
Everybody joined in this chorus, the Frenchman with the rest, who said,
&ldquo;he loved to laugh meme when he did not know why.&rdquo; And now came the
moment of the evening, when Clive, according to Lord Kew&rsquo;s saying,
behaved so well and prevented Barnes from incurring a great danger. In truth,
what Mr. Clive did or said amounted exactly to nothing. What moments can we not
all remember in our lives when it would have been so much wittier and wiser to
say and do nothing?
</p>

<p>
Florac, a very sober drinker like most of his nation, was blessed with a very
fine appetite, which, as he said, renewed itself thrice a day at least. He now
proposed supper, and poor Jack was for supper too, and especially more drink,
champagne and seltzer-water; &ldquo;bring champagne and seltzer-water, there is
nothing like it.&rdquo; Clive could not object to this entertainment, which was
ordered forthwith, and the four young men sat down to share it.
</p>

<p>
Whilst Florac was partaking of his favourite écrévisses, giving not only his
palate but his hands, his beard, his mustachios and cheeks a full enjoyment of
the sauce which he found so delicious, he chose to revert now and again to the
occurrences which had just passed, and which had better perhaps have been
forgotten, and gaily rallied Belsize upon his warlike humour. &ldquo;If ze
petit pretendu was here, what would you have done wiz him, Jac? You would
croquer im, like zis ecrevisse, hein? You would mache his bones, hein?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Jack, who had forgotten to put the seltzer-water into his champagne, writhed at
the idea of having Barnes Newcome before him, and swore, could he but see
Barnes, he would take the little villain&rsquo;s life.
</p>

<p>
And but for Clive, Jack might actually have beheld his enemy. Young Clive after
the meal went to the window with his eternal cigar, and of course began to look
at That Other window. Here, as he looked, a carriage had at the moment driven
up. He saw two servants descend, then two gentlemen, and then he heard a
well-known voice swearing at the couriers. To his credit be it said, he checked
the exclamation which was on his lips, and when he came back to the table did
not announce to Kew or his right-hand neighbour Belsize, that his uncle and
Barnes had arrived. Belsize, by this time, had had quite too much wine: when
the viscount went away, poor Jack&rsquo;s head was nodding; he had been awake
all the night before; sleepless for how many nights previous. He scarce took
any notice of the Frenchman&rsquo;s departure.
</p>

<p>
Lord Kew remained. He was for taking Jack to walk, and for reasoning with him
further, and for entering more at large than perhaps he chose to do before the
two others upon this family dispute. Clive took a moment to whisper to Lord
Kew, &ldquo;My uncle and Barnes are arrived, don&rsquo;t let Belsize go out;
for goodness&rsquo; sake let us get him to bed.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And lest the poor fellow should take a fancy to visit his mistress by
moonlight, when he was safe in his room Lord Kew softly turned the key in Mr.
Jack&rsquo;s door.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030"></a>
CHAPTER XXX.<br/>
A Retreat</h2>

<p>
As Clive lay awake revolving the strange incidents of the day, and speculating
upon the tragedy in which he had been suddenly called to take a certain part, a
sure presentiment told him that his own happy holiday was come to an end, and
that the clouds and storm which he had always somehow foreboded, were about to
break and obscure this brief pleasant period of sunshine. He rose at a very
early hour, flung his windows open, looked out no doubt towards those other
windows in the neighbouring hotel, where he may have fancied he saw a curtain
stirring, drawn by a hand that every hour now he longed more to press. He
turned back into his chamber with a sort of groan, and surveyed some of the
relics of the last night&rsquo;s little feast, which still remained on the
table. There were the champagne-flasks which poor Jack Belsize had emptied, the
tall seltzer-water bottle, from which the gases had issued and mingled with the
hot air of the previous night&rsquo;s talk; glasses with dregs of liquor, ashes
of cigars, or their black stumps, strewing the cloth; the dead men, the burst
guns of yesterday&rsquo;s battle. Early as it was, his neighbour J. J had been
up before him. Clive could hear him singing as was his wont when the pencil
went well, and the colours arranged themselves to his satisfaction over his
peaceful and happy work.
</p>

<p>
He pulled his own drawing-table to the window, set out his board and
colour-box, filled a great glass from the seltzer-water bottle, drank some of
the vapid liquor, and plunged his brushes in the rest, with which he began to
paint. The work all went wrong. There was no song for him over his labour; he
dashed brush and board aside after a while, opened his drawers, pulled out his
portmanteaus from under the bed, and fell to packing mechanically. J. J. heard
the noise from the next room, and came in smiling, with a great painting-brush
in his mouth.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Have the bills in, J. J.,&rdquo; says Clive. &ldquo;Leave your cards on
your friends, old boy; say good-bye to that pretty little strawberry-girl whose
picture you have been doing; polish it off to-day, and dry the little
thing&rsquo;s tears. I read P.P.C. in the stars last night, and my familiar
spirit came to me in a vision, and said, &lsquo;Clive, son of Thomas, put thy
travelling-boots on.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lest any premature moralist should prepare to cry fie against the good,
pure-minded little J. J., I hereby state that his strawberry-girl was a little
village maiden of seven years old, whose sweet little picture a bishop
purchased at the next year&rsquo;s Exhibition.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Are you going already?&rdquo; cries J. J., removing the bit out of his
mouth. &ldquo;I thought you had arranged parties for a week to come, and that
the princesses and the duchesses had positively forbidden the departure of your
lordship!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We have dallied at Capua long enough,&rdquo; says Clive; &ldquo;and the
legions have the route for Rome. So wills Hannibal, the son of
Hasdrubal.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The son of Hasdrubal is quite right,&rdquo; his companion answered;
&ldquo;the sooner we march the better. I have always said it; I will get all
the accounts in. Hannibal has been living like a voluptuous Carthaginian
prince. One, two, three champagne-bottles! There will be a deuce of a bill to
pay.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ah! there <i>will</i> be a deuce of a bill to pay,&rdquo; says Clive,
with a groan whereof J. J. knew the portent; for the young men had the
confidence of youth one in another. Clive was accustomed to pour out his full
heart to any crony who was near him; and indeed had he spoken never a word, his
growing attachment to his cousin was not hard to see. A hundred times, and with
the glowing language and feelings of youth, with the fire of his twenty years,
with the ardour of a painter, he had spoken of her and described her. Her
magnanimous simplicity, her courage and lofty scorn, her kindness towards her
little family, her form, her glorious colour of rich carnation and dazzling
white, her queenly grace when quiescent and in motion, had constantly formed
the subjects of this young gentleman&rsquo;s ardent eulogies. As he looked at a
great picture or statue, as the Venus of Milo, calm and deep, unfathomably
beautiful as the sea from which she sprung; as he looked at the rushing Aurora
of the Rospigliosi, or the Assumption of Titian, more bright and glorious than
sunshine, or that divine Madonna and divine Infant, of Dresden, whose sweet
faces must have shone upon Raphael out of heaven; his heart sang hymns, as it
were, before these gracious altars; and, somewhat as he worshipped these
masterpieces of his art, he admired the beauty of Ethel.
</p>

<p>
J. J. felt these things exquisitely after his manner, and enjoyed honest
Clive&rsquo;s mode of celebration and rapturous fioriture of song; but
Ridley&rsquo;s natural note was much gentler, and he sang his hymns in
plaintive minors. Ethel was all that was bright and beautiful but&mdash;but she
was engaged to Lord Kew. The shrewd kind confidant used gently to hint the sad
fact to the impetuous hero of this piece. The impetuous hero knew this quite
well. As he was sitting over his painting-board he would break forth
frequently, after his manner, in which laughter and sentiment were mingled, and
roar out with all the force of his healthy young lungs&mdash;
</p>

<p class="poem">
&ldquo;But her heart it is another&rsquo;s, she
never&mdash;can&mdash;be&mdash;mine;&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="noindent">
and then hero and confidant would laugh each at his drawing-table. Miss Ethel
went between the two gentlemen by the name of Alice Grey.
</p>

<p>
Very likely, Night, the Grey Mentor, had given Clive Newcome the benefit of his
sad counsel. Poor Belsize&rsquo;s agony, and the wretchedness of the young lady
who shared in the desperate passion, may have set our young man a-thinking; and
Lord Kew&rsquo;s frankness and courage, and honour, whereof Clive had been a
witness during the night, touched his heart with a generous admiration, and
manned him for a trial which he felt was indeed severe. He thought of the dear
old father ploughing the seas on the way to his duty, and was determined, by
Heaven&rsquo;s help, to do his own. Only three weeks since, when strolling
careless about Bonn he had lighted upon Ethel and the laughing group of little
cousins, he was a boy as they were, thinking but of the enjoyment of the day
and the sunshine, as careless as those children. And now the thoughts and
passions which had sprung up in a week or two, had given him an experience such
as years do not always furnish; and our friend was to show, not only that he
could feel love in his heart, but that he could give proof of courage, and
self-denial, and honour.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you remember, J. J.,&rdquo; says he, as boots and breeches went
plunging into the portmanteau, and with immense energy, he pummels down one
upon the other, &ldquo;do you remember&rdquo; (a dig into the snowy bosom of a
dress cambric shirt) &ldquo;my dear old father&rsquo;s only campaign story of
his running away&rdquo; (a frightful blow into the ribs of a waistcoat),
&ldquo;running away at Asseer-Ghur?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Asseer-What?&rdquo; says J. J. wondering.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The siege of Asseer-Ghur!&rdquo; says Clive, &ldquo;fought in the
eventful year 1803: Lieutenant Newcome, who has very neat legs, let me tell
you, which also he has imparted to his descendants, had put on a new pair of
leather breeches, for he likes to go handsomely dressed into action. His horse
was shot, the enemy were upon him, and the governor had to choose between death
and retreat. I have heard his brother-officers say that my dear old father was
the bravest man they ever knew, the coolest hand, sir. What do you think it was
Lieutenant Newcome&rsquo;s duty to do under these circumstances? To remain
alone as he was, his troop having turned about, and to be cut down by the
Mahratta horsemen&mdash;to perish or to run, sir?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know which I should have done,&rdquo; says Ridley.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Exactly. Lieutenant Newcome adopted that course. His bran-new leather
breeches were exceedingly tight, and greatly incommoded the rapidity of his
retreating movement, but he ran away, sir, and afterwards begot your obedient
servant. That is the history of the battle of Asseer-Ghur.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And now for the moral,&rdquo; says J. J., not a little amused.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;J. J., old boy, this is my battle of Asseer-Ghur. I am off. Dip into the
money-bag: pay the people: be generous, J. J., but not too prodigal. The
chambermaid is ugly, yet let her not want for a crown to console her at our
departure. The waiters have been brisk and servile; reward the slaves for their
labours. Forget not the humble boots, so shall he bless us when we depart. For
artists are gentlemen, though Ethel does not think so. De&mdash;No&mdash;God
bless her, God bless her,&rdquo; groans out Clive, cramming his two fists into
his eyes. If Ridley admired him before, he thought none the worse of him now.
And if any generous young fellow in life reads the Fable, which may possibly
concern him, let him take a senior&rsquo;s counsel and remember that there are
perils in our battle, God help us, from which the bravest had best run away.
</p>

<p>
Early as the morning yet was, Clive had a visitor, and the door opened to let
in Lord Kew&rsquo;s honest face. Ridley retreated before it into his own den;
the appearance of earls scared the modest painter, though he was proud and
pleased that his Clive should have their company. Lord Kew indeed lived in more
splendid apartments on the first floor of the hotel, Clive and his friend
occupying a couple of spacious chambers on the second story. &ldquo;You are an
early bird,&rdquo; says Kew. &ldquo;I got up myself in a panic before daylight
almost; Jack was making a deuce of a row in his room, and fit to blow the door
out. I have been coaxing him for this hour; I wish we had thought of giving him
a dose of laudanum last night; if it finished him, poor old boy, it would do
him no harm.&rdquo; And then, laughing, he gave Clive an account of his
interview with Barnes on the previous night. &ldquo;You seem to be packing up
to go, too,&rdquo; says Lord Kew, with a momentary glance of humour darting
from his keen eyes. &ldquo;The weather is breaking up here, and if you are
going to cross the St. Gothard, as the Newcomes told me, the sooner the better.
It&rsquo;s bitter cold over the mountains in October.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Very cold,&rdquo; says Clive, biting his nails.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Post or Vett.?&rdquo; asks my lord.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I bought a carriage at Frankfort,&rdquo; says Clive, in an offhand
manner.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hulloh!&rdquo; cries the other, who was perfectly kind, and entirely
frank and pleasant, and showed no difference in his conversation with men of
any degree, except perhaps that to his inferiors in station he was a little
more polite than to his equals; but who would as soon have thought of a young
artist leaving Baden in a carriage of his own as of his riding away on a
dragon.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I only gave twenty pounds for the carriage; it&rsquo;s a little light
thing, we are two, a couple of horses carry us and our traps, you know, and we
can stop where we like. I don&rsquo;t depend upon my profession,&rdquo; Clive
added, with a blush. &ldquo;I made three guineas once, and that is the only
money I ever gained in my life.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course, my dear fellow, have not I been to your father&rsquo;s house?
At that pretty ball, and seen no end of fine people there? We are young swells.
I know that very well. We only paint for pleasure.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We are artists, and we intend to paint for money, my lord,&rdquo; says
Clive. &ldquo;Will your lordship give me an order?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My lordship serves me right,&rdquo; the other said. &ldquo;I think,
Newcome, as you are going, I think you might do some folks here a good turn,
though the service is rather a disagreeable one. Jack Belsize is not fit to be
left alone. I can&rsquo;t go away from here just now for reasons of state. Do
be a good fellow and take him with you. Put the Alps between him and this
confounded business, and if I can serve you in any way I shall be delighted, if
you will furnish me with the occasion. Jack does not know yet that our amiable
Barnes is here. I know how fond you are of him. I have heard the
story&mdash;glass of claret and all. We all love Barnes. How that poor Lady
Clara can have accepted him the Lord knows. We are fearfully and wonderfully
made, especially women.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Good heavens,&rdquo; Clive broke out, &ldquo;can it be possible that a
young creature can have been brought to like such a selfish, insolent coxcomb
as that, such a cocktail as Barnes Newcome? You know very well, Lord Kew, what
his life is. There was a poor girl whom he brought out of a Newcome factory
when he was a boy himself, and might have had a heart one would have thought,
whom he ill-treated, whom he deserted, and flung out of doors without a penny,
upon some pretence of her infidelity towards him; who came and actually sat
down on the steps of Park Lane with a child on each side of her, and not their
cries and their hunger, but the fear of his own shame and a dread of a
police-court, forced him to give her a maintenance. I never see the fellow but
I loathe him, and long to kick him out of window and this man is to marry a
noble young lady because forsooth he is a partner in a bank, and heir to seven
or eight thousand a year. Oh, it is a shame, it is a shame! It makes me sick
when I think of the lot which the poor thing is to endure.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is not a nice story,&rdquo; said Lord Kew, rolling a cigarette;
&ldquo;Barnes is not a nice man. I give you that in. You have not heard it
talked about in the family, have you?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Good heavens! you don&rsquo;t suppose that I would speak to Ethel, to
Miss Newcome, about such a foul subject as that?&rdquo; cries Clive. &ldquo;I
never mentioned it to my own father. He would have turned Barnes out of his
doors if he had known it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It was the talk about town, I know,&rdquo; Kew said dryly.
&ldquo;Everything is told in those confounded clubs. I told you I give up
Barnes. I like him no more than you do. He may have treated the woman ill, I
suspect he has not an angelical temper: but in this matter he has not been so
bad, so very bad as it would seem. The first step is wrong, of
course&mdash;those factory towns&mdash;that sort of thing, you know&mdash;well,
well, the commencement of the business is a sad one. But he is not the only
sinner in London. He has declared on his honour to me when the matter was
talked about, and he was coming on for election at Bays&rsquo;s, and was as
nearly as any man I ever knew in my life,&mdash;he declared on his word that he
only parted from poor Mrs. Delacy, (Mrs. Delacy, the devil used to call
herself) because he found that she had served him&mdash;as such women will
serve men. He offered to send his children to school in Yorkshire&mdash;rather
a cheap school&mdash;but she would not part with them. She made a scandal in
order to get good terms, and she succeeded. He was anxious to break the
connexion: he owned it had hung like a millstone round his neck and caused him
a great deal of remorse&mdash;annoyance you may call it. He was immensely cut
up about it. I remember, when that fellow was hanged for murdering a woman,
Barnes said he did not wonder at his having done it. Young men make those
connexions in their early lives and rue them all their days after. He was
heartily sorry, that we may take for granted. He wished to lead a proper life.
My grandmother managed this business with the Dorkings. Lady Kew still pulls
stroke oar in our boat, you know, and the old woman will not give up her place.
They know everything, the elders do. He is a clever fellow. He is witty in his
way. When he likes he can make himself quite agreeable to some people. There
has been no sort of force. You don&rsquo;t suppose young ladies are confined in
dungeons and subject to tortures, do you? But there is a brood of Pulleyns at
Chanticlere, and old Dorking has nothing to give them. His daughter accepted
Barnes of her own free will, he knowing perfectly well of that previous affair
with Jack. The poor devil bursts into the place yesterday and the girl drops
down in a faint. She will see Belsize this very day if he likes. I took a note
from Lady Dorking to him at five o&rsquo;clock this morning. If he fancies that
there is any constraint put upon Lady Clara&rsquo;s actions she will tell him
with her own lips that she has acted of her own free will. She will marry the
husband she has chosen and do her duty by him. You are quite a young un who
boil and froth up with indignation at the idea that a girl hardly off with an
old love should take on with a new&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am not indignant with her,&rdquo; says Clive, &ldquo;for breaking with
Belsize, but for marrying Barnes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You hate him, and you know he is your enemy; and, indeed, young fellow,
he does not compliment you in talking about you. A pretty young scapegrace he
has made you out to be, and very likely thinks you to be. It depends on the
colours in which a fellow is painted. Our friends and our enemies draw
us,&mdash;and I often think both pictures are like,&rdquo; continued the easy
world-philosopher. &ldquo;You hate Barnes, and cannot see any good in him. He
sees none in you. There have been tremendous shindies in Park Lane <i>à
propos</i> of your worship, and of a subject which I don&rsquo;t care to
mention,&rdquo; said Lord Kew, with some dignity; &ldquo;and what is the upshot
of all this malevolence? I like you; I like your father, I think he is a noble
old boy; there are those who represented him as a sordid schemer. Give Mr.
Barnes the benefit of common charity at any rate; and let others like him, if
you do not.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And as for this romance of love,&rdquo; the young nobleman went on,
kindling as he spoke, and forgetting the slang and colloquialisms with which we
garnish all our conversation&mdash;&ldquo;this fine picture of Jenny and
Jessamy falling in love at first sight, billing and cooing in an arbour, and
retiring to a cottage afterwards to go on cooing and billing&mdash;Psha! what
folly is this! It is good for romances, and for misses to sigh about; but any
man who walks through the world with his eyes open, knows how senseless is all
this rubbish. I don&rsquo;t say that a young man and woman are not to meet, and
to fall in love that instant, and to marry that day year, and love each other
till they are a hundred; that is the supreme lot&mdash;but that is the lot
which the gods only grant to Baucis and Philemon, and a very, very few besides.
As for the rest, they must compromise; make themselves as comfortable as they
can, and take the good and the bad together. And as for Jenny and Jessamy, by
Jove! look round among your friends, count up the love matches, and see what
has been the end of most of them! Love in a cottage! Who is to pay the landlord
for the cottage? Who is to pay for Jenny&rsquo;s tea and cream, and
Jessamy&rsquo;s mutton-chops? If he has cold mutton, he will quarrel with her.
If there is nothing in the cupboard, a pretty meal they make. No, you cry out
against people in our world making money marriages. Why, kings and queens marry
on the same understanding. My butcher has saved a stockingful of money, and
marries his daughter to a young salesman; Mr. and Mrs. Salesman prosper in
life, and get an alderman&rsquo;s daughter for their son. My attorney looks out
amongst his clients for an eligible husband for Miss Deeds; sends his son to
the bar, into Parliament, where he cuts a figure and becomes attorney-general,
makes a fortune, has a house in Belgrave Square, and marries Miss Deeds of the
second generation to a peer. Do not accuse us of being more sordid than our
neighbours. We do but as the world does; and a girl in our society accepts the
best <i>parti</i> which offers itself, just as Miss Chummey, when entreated by
two young gentlemen of the order of costermongers, inclines to the one who
rides from market on a moke, rather than to the gentleman who sells his greens
from a handbasket.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
This tirade, which his lordship delivered with considerable spirit, was
intended no doubt to carry a moral for Clive&rsquo;s private hearing; and
which, to do him justice, the youth was not slow to comprehend. The point was,
&ldquo;Young man, if certain persons of rank choose to receive you very kindly,
who have but a comely face, good manners, and three or four hundred pounds a
year, do not presume upon their good-nature, or indulge in certain ambitious
hopes which your vanity may induce you to form. Sail down the stream with the
brass-pots, Master Earthen-pot, but beware of coming too near! You are a nice
young man, but there are prizes which are some too good for you, and are meant
for your betters. And you might as well ask the prime minister for the next
vacant garter as expect to wear on your breast such a star as Ethel
Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Before Clive made his accustomed visit to his friends at the hotel opposite,
the last great potentiary had arrived who was to take part in the family
Congress of Baden. In place of Ethel&rsquo;s flushing cheeks and bright eyes,
Clive found, on entering Lady Anne Newcome&rsquo;s sitting-room, the
parchment-covered features and the well-known hooked beak of the old Countess
of Kew. To support the glances from beneath the bushy black eyebrows on each
side of that promontory was no pleasant matter. The whole family cowered under
Lady Kew&rsquo;s eyes and nose, and she ruled by force of them. It was only
Ethel whom these awful features did not utterly subdue and dismay.
</p>

<p>
Besides Lady Kew, Clive had the pleasure of finding his lordship, her grandson,
Lady Anne and children of various sizes, and Mr. Barnes; not one of whom was
the person whom Clive desired to behold.
</p>

<p>
The queer glance in Kew&rsquo;s eye directed towards Clive, who was himself not
by any means deficient in perception, informed him that there had just been a
conversation in which his own name had figured. Having been abusing Clive
extravagantly as he did whenever he mentioned his cousin&rsquo;s name, Barnes
must needs hang his head when the young fellow came in. His hand was yet on the
chamber-door, and Barnes was calling his miscreant and scoundrel within; so no
wonder Barnes had a hangdog look. But as for Lady Kew, that veteran diplomatist
allowed no signs of discomfiture, or any other emotion, to display themselves
on her ancient countenance. Her bushy eyebrows were groves of mystery, her
unfathomable eyes were wells of gloom.
</p>

<p>
She gratified Clive by a momentary loan of two knuckly old fingers, which he
was at liberty to hold or to drop; and then he went on to enjoy the felicity of
shaking hands with Mr. Barnes, who, observing and enjoying his confusion over
Lady Kew&rsquo;s reception, determined to try Clive in the same way, and he
gave Clive at the same time a supercilious &ldquo;How de dah,&rdquo; which the
other would have liked to drive down his throat. A constant desire to throttle
Mr. Barnes&mdash;to beat him on the nose&mdash;to send him flying out of
window, was a sentiment with which this singular young man inspired many
persons whom he accosted. A biographer ought to be impartial, yet I own, in a
modified degree, to have partaken of this sentiment. He looked very much
younger than his actual time of life, and was not of commanding stature; but
patronised his equals, nay, let us say, his betters, so insufferably, that a
common wish for his suppression existed amongst many persons in society.
</p>

<p>
Clive told me of this little circumstance, and I am sorry to say of his own
subsequent ill behaviour. &ldquo;We were standing apart from the ladies,&rdquo;
so Clive narrated, &ldquo;when Barnes and I had our little passage-of-arms. He
had tried the finger business upon me before, and I had before told him, either
to shake hands or to leave it alone. You know the way in which the impudent
little beggar stands astride, and sticks his little feet out. I brought my heel
well down on his confounded little varnished toe, and gave it a scrunch which
made Mr. Barnes shriek out one of his loudest oaths.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;D&mdash;&mdash; clumsy &mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo; screamed out Barnes.
</p>

<p>
Clive said, in a low voice, &ldquo;I thought you only swore at women,
Barnes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is you that say things before women, Clive,&rdquo; cries his cousin,
looking very furious.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Clive lost all patience. &ldquo;In what company, Barnes, would you like me
to say, that I think you are a snob? Will you have it on the Parade? Come out
and I will speak to you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Barnes can&rsquo;t go out on the Parade,&rdquo; cries Lord Kew, bursting
out laughing: &ldquo;there&rsquo;s another gentleman there wanting him.&rdquo;
And two of the three young men enjoyed this joke exceedingly. I doubt whether
Barnes Newcome Newcome, Esq., of Newcome, was one of the persons amused.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What wickedness are you three boys laughing at?&rdquo; cries Lady Anne,
perfectly innocent and good-natured; &ldquo;no good, I will be bound. Come
here, Clive.&rdquo; Our young friend, it must be premised, had no sooner
received the thrust of Lady Kew&rsquo;s two fingers on entering, than it had
been intimated to him that his interview with that gracious lady was at an end.
For she had instantly called her daughter to her, with whom her ladyship fell
a-whispering; and then it was that Clive retreated from Lady Kew&rsquo;s hand,
to fall into Barnes&rsquo;s.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive trod on Barnes&rsquo;s toe,&rdquo; cries out cheery Lord Kew,
&ldquo;and has hurt Barnes&rsquo;s favourite corn, so that he cannot go out,
and is actually obliged to keep the room. That&rsquo;s what we were laughing
at.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hem!&rdquo; growled Lady Kew. She knew to what her grandson alluded.
Lord Kew had represented Jack Belsize, and his thundering big stick, in the
most terrific colours to the family council. The joke was too good a one not to
serve twice.
</p>

<p>
Lady Anne, in her whispered conversation with the old Countess, had possibly
deprecated her mother&rsquo;s anger towards poor Clive, for when he came up to
the two ladies, the younger took his hand with great kindness, and said,
&ldquo;My dear Clive, we are very sorry you are going. You were of the greatest
use to us on the journey. I am sure you have been uncommonly good-natured and
obliging, and we shall all miss you very much.&rdquo; Her gentleness smote the
generous young fellow, and an emotion of gratitude towards her for being so
compassionate to him in his misery, caused his cheeks to blush and his eyes
perhaps to moisten. &ldquo;Thank you, dear aunt,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;you
have been very good and kind to me. It is I that shall feel lonely;
but&mdash;but it is quite time that I should go to my work.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Quite time!&rdquo; said the severe possessor of the eagle beak.
&ldquo;Baden is a bad place for young men. They make acquaintances here of
which very little good can come. They frequent the gambling-tables, and live
with the most disreputable French Viscounts. We have heard of your goings-on,
sir. It is a great pity that Colonel Newcome did not take you with him to
India.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear mamma,&rdquo; cries Lady Anne, &ldquo;I am sure Clive has been a
very good boy indeed.&rdquo; The old lady&rsquo;s morality put a stop to
Clive&rsquo;s pathetic mood, and he replied with a great deal of spirit,
&ldquo;Dear Lady Anne, you have been always very good, and kindness is nothing
surprising from you; but Lady Kew&rsquo;s advice, which I should not have
ventured to ask, is an unexpected favour; my father knows the extent of the
gambling transactions to which your ladyship was pleased to allude, and
introduced me to the gentleman whose acquaintance you don&rsquo;t seem to think
eligible.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My good young man, I think it is time you were off,&rdquo; Lady Kew
said, this time with great good-humour; she liked Clive&rsquo;s spirit, and as
long as he interfered with none of her plans, was quite disposed to be friendly
with him. &ldquo;Go to Rome, go to Florence, go wherever you like, and study
very hard, and make very good pictures, and come back again, and we shall all
be very glad to see you. You have very great talents&mdash;these sketches are
really capital.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is not he very clever, mamma?&rdquo; said kind Lady Anne, eagerly. Clive
felt the pathetic mood coming on again, and an immense desire to hug Lady Anne
in his arms, and to kiss her. How grateful are we&mdash;how touched a frank and
generous heart is for a kind word extended to us in our pain! The pressure of a
tender hand nerves a man for an operation, and cheers him for the dreadful
interview with the surgeon.
</p>

<p>
That cool old operator, who had taken Mr. Clive&rsquo;s case in hand, now
produced her shining knife, and executed the first cut with perfect neatness
and precision. &ldquo;We are come here, as I suppose you know, Mr. Newcome,
upon family matters, and I frankly tell you that I think, for your own sake,
you would be much better away. I wrote my daughter a great scolding when I
heard that you were in this place.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But it was by the merest chance, mamma, indeed it was,&rdquo; cries Lady
Anne.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course, by the merest chance, and by the merest chance I heard of it
too. A little bird came and told me at Kissingen. You have no more sense, Anne,
than a goose. I have told you so a hundred times. Lady Anne requested you to
stay, and I, my good young friend, request you to go away.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I needed no request,&rdquo; said Clive. &ldquo;My going, Lady Kew, is my
own act. I was going without requiring any guide to show me to the door.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No doubt you were, and my arrival is the signal for Mr. Newcome&rsquo;s
<i>bon jour</i>. I am Bogey, and I frighten everybody away. By the scene which
you witnessed yesterday, my good young friend, and all that painful
<i>esclandre</i> on the promenade, you must see how absurd, and dangerous, and
wicked&mdash;yes, wicked it is for parents to allow intimacies to spring up
between young people, which can only lead to disgrace and unhappiness. Lady
Dorking was another good-natured goose. I had not arrived yesterday ten
minutes, when my maid came running in to tell me of what had occurred on the
promenade; and, tired as I was, I went that instant to Jane Dorking and passed
the evening with her, and that poor little creature to whom Captain Belsize
behaved so cruelly. She does not care a fig for him&mdash;not one fig. Her
childish inclination is passed away these two years, whilst Mr. Jack was
performing his feats in prison; and if the wretch flatters himself that it was
on his account she was agitated yesterday, he is perfectly mistaken, and you
may tell him Lady Kew said so. She is subject to fainting fits. Dr. Finck has
been attending her ever since she has been here. She fainted only last Tuesday
at the sight of a rat walking about their lodgings (they have dreadful
lodgings, the Dorkings), and no wonder she was frightened at the sight of that
great coarse tipsy wretch! She is engaged, as you know, to your connexion, my
grandson, Barnes:&mdash;in all respects a most eligible union. The rank of life
of the parties suits them to one another. She is a good young woman, and Barnes
has experienced from persons of another sort such horrors, that he will know
the blessing of domestic virtue. It was high time he should. I say all this in
perfect frankness to you.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Go back again and play in the garden, little brats&rdquo; (this to the
innocents who came frisking in from the lawn in front of the windows).
&ldquo;You have been? And Barnes sent you in here? Go up to Miss Quigley. No,
stop. Go and tell Ethel to come down; bring her down with you. Do you
understand?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The unconscious infants toddle upstairs to their sister; and Lady Kew blandly
says, &ldquo;Ethel&rsquo;s engagement to my grandson, Lord Kew, has long been
settled in our family, though these things are best not talked about until they
are quite determined, you know, my dear Mr. Newcome. When we saw you and your
father in London, we heard that you too-that you too were engaged to a young
lady in your own rank of life, a Miss&mdash;what was her name?&mdash;Miss
MacPherson, Miss Mackenzie. Your aunt, Mrs. Hobson Newcome, who I must say is a
most blundering silly person, had set about this story. It appears there is no
truth in it. Do not look surprised that I know about your affairs. I am an old
witch, and know numbers of things.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And, indeed, how Lady Kew came to know this fact, whether her maid corresponded
with Lady Anne&rsquo;s maid, what her ladyship&rsquo;s means of information
were, avowed or occult, this biographer has never been able to ascertain. Very
likely Ethel, who in these last three weeks had been made aware of that
interesting circumstance, had announced it to Lady Kew in the course of a
cross-examination, and there may have been a battle between the granddaughter
and the grandmother, of which the family chronicler of the Newcomes has had no
precise knowledge. That there were many such I know&mdash;skirmishes, sieges,
and general engagements. When we hear the guns, and see the wounded, we know
there has been a fight. Who knows had there been a battle-royal, and was Miss
Newcome having her wounds dressed upstairs?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You will like to say good-bye to your cousin, I know,&rdquo; Lady Kew
continued, with imperturbable placidity. &ldquo;Ethel, my dear, here is Mr.
Clive Newcome, who has come to bid us all good-bye.&rdquo; The little girls
came trotting down at this moment, each holding a skirt of their elder sister.
She looked rather pale, but her expression was haughty&mdash;almost fierce.
</p>

<p>
Clive rose up as she entered, from the sofa by the old Countess&rsquo;s side,
which place she had pointed him to take during the amputation. He rose up and
put his hair back off his face, and said very calmly, &ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;m
come to say good-bye. My holidays are over, and Ridley and I are off for Rome;
good-bye, and God bless you, Ethel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
She gave him her hand and said, &ldquo;Good-bye, Clive,&rdquo; but her hand did
not return his pressure, and dropped to her side, when he let it go.
</p>

<p>
Hearing the words good-bye, little Alice burst into a howl, and little Maude,
who was an impetuous little thing, stamped her little red shoes and said,
&ldquo;It san&rsquo;t be good-bye. Tlive san&rsquo;t go.&rdquo; Alice, roaring,
clung hold of Clive&rsquo;s trousers. He took them up gaily, each on an arm, as
he had done a hundred times, and tossed the children on to his shoulders, where
they used to like to pull his yellow mustachios. He kissed the little hands and
faces, and a moment after was gone.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Qu&rsquo;as-tu?&rdquo; says M. de Florac, meeting him going over the
bridge to his own hotel. &ldquo;Qu&rsquo;as-tu, mon petit Claive? Est-ce
qu&rsquo;on vient de t&rsquo;arracher une dent?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;C&rsquo;est ça,&rdquo; says Clive, and walked into the Hôtel de France.
&ldquo;Hulloh! J. J.! Ridley!&rdquo; he sang out. &ldquo;Order the trap out and
let&rsquo;s be off.&rdquo; &ldquo;I thought we were not to march till
to-morrow,&rdquo; says J. J., divining perhaps that some catastrophe had
occurred. Indeed, Mr. Clive was going a day sooner than he had intended. He
woke at Fribourg the next morning. It was the grand old cathedral he looked at,
not Baden of the pine-clad hills, of the pretty walks and the lime-tree
avenues. Not Baden, the prettiest booth of all Vanity Fair. The crowds and the
music, the gambling-tables and the cadaverous croupiers and chinking gold, were
far out of sight and hearing. There was one window in the Hôtel de Hollande
that he thought of, how a fair arm used to open it in the early morning, how
the muslin curtain in the morning air swayed to and fro. He would have given
how much to see it once more! Walking about at Fribourg in the night, away from
his companions, he had thought of ordering horses, galloping back to Baden, and
once again under that window, calling Ethel, Ethel. But he came back to his
room and the quiet J. J., and to poor Jack Belsize, who had had his tooth taken
out too.
</p>

<p>
We had almost forgotten Jack, who took a back seat in Clive&rsquo;s carriage,
as befits a secondary personage in this history, and Clive in truth had almost
forgotten him too. But Jack having his own cares and business, and having
rammed his own carpet-bag, brought it down without a word, and Clive found him
environed in smoke when he came down to take his place in the little britzska.
I wonder whether the window at the Hôtel de Hollande saw him go? There are some
curtains behind which no historian, however prying, is allowed to peep.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Tiens, le petit part,&rdquo; says Florac of the cigar, who was always
sauntering. &ldquo;Yes, we go,&rdquo; says Clive. &ldquo;There is a fourth
place, Viscount; will you come too?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I would love it well,&rdquo; replies Florac, &ldquo;but I am here in
faction. My cousin and seigneur M. le Duc d&rsquo;Ivry is coming all the way
from Bagneres de Bigorre. He says he counts on me:&mdash;affaires mon cher,
affaires d&rsquo;etat.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How pleased the duchess will be! Easy with that bag!&rdquo; shouts
Clive. &ldquo;How pleased the princess will be!&rdquo; In truth he hardly knew
what he was saying.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Vous croyez; vous croyez,&rdquo; says M. de Florac. &ldquo;As you have a
fourth place, I know who had best take it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And who is that?&rdquo; asked the young traveller.
</p>

<p>
Lord Kew and Barnes, Esq., of Newcome, came out of the Hotel de Hollande at
this moment. Barnes slunk back, seeing Jack Belsize&rsquo;s hairy face. Kew ran
over the bridge. &ldquo;Good-bye, Clive. Good-bye, Jack.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Good-bye, Kew.&rdquo; It was a great handshake. Away goes the postillion
blowing his horn, and young Hannibal has left Capua behind him.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0031" id="link2HCH0031"></a>
CHAPTER XXXI.<br/>
Madame la Duchesse</h2>

<p>
In one of Clive Newcome&rsquo;s letters from Baden, the young man described to
me, with considerable humour and numerous illustrations as his wont was, a
great lady to whom he was presented at that watering-place by his friend Lord
Kew. Lord Kew had travelled in the East with Monsieur le Duc and Madame la
Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry&mdash;the prince being an old friend of his
lordship&rsquo;s family. He is the &ldquo;Q&rdquo; of Madame
d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s book of travels, Footprints of the Gazelles, by a daughter
of the Crusaders, in which she prays so fervently for Lord Kew&rsquo;s
conversion. He is the &ldquo;Q&rdquo; who rescued the princess from the Arabs,
and performed many a feat which lives in her glowing pages. He persists in
saying that he never rescued Madame la Princesse from any Arabs at all, except
from one beggar who was bawling out for bucksheesh, and whom Kew drove away
with a stick. They made pilgrimages to all the holy places, and a piteous sight
it was, said Lord Kew, to see the old prince in the Jerusalem processions at
Easter pacing with bare feet and a candle. Here Lord Kew separated from the
prince&rsquo;s party. His name does not occur in the last part of the
Footprints; which, in truth, are filled full of strange rhapsodies, adventures
which nobody was but the princess, and mystic disquisitions. She hesitates at
nothing, like other poets of her nation: not profoundly learned, she invents
where she has not acquired: mingles together religion and the opera; and
performs Parisian <i>pas-de-ballet</i> before the gates of monasteries and the
cells of anchorites. She describes, as if she had herself witnessed the
catastrophe, the passage of the Red Sea: and, as if there were no doubt of the
transaction, an unhappy love-affair between Pharaoh&rsquo;s eldest son and
Moses&rsquo;s daughter. At Cairo, <i>à propos</i> of Joseph&rsquo;s granaries,
she enters into a furious tirade against Putiphar, whom she paints as an old
savage, suspicious and a tyrant. They generally have a copy of the Footprints
of the Gazelles at the Circulating Library at Baden, as Madame d&rsquo;Ivry
constantly visits that watering-place. M. le Duc was not pleased with the book,
which was published entirely without his concurrence, and which he described as
one of the ten thousand follies of Madame la Duchesse.
</p>

<p>
This nobleman was five-and-forty years older than his duchess. France is the
country where that sweet Christian institution of <i>mariages de convenance</i>
(which so many folks of the family about which this story treats are engaged in
arranging) is most in vogue. There the newspapers daily announce that M. de Foy
has a bureau de confiance, where families may arrange marriages for their sons
and daughters in perfect comfort and security. It is but a question of money on
one side and the other. Mademoiselle has so many francs of dot; Monsieur has
such and such <i>rentes</i> or lands in possession or reversion, an <i>étude
d&rsquo;avoué</i>, a shop with a certain <i>clientèle</i> bringing him such and
such an income, which may be doubled by the judicious addition of so much
capital, and the pretty little matrimonial arrangement is concluded (the agent
touching his percentage), or broken off, and nobody unhappy, and the world none
the wiser. The consequences of the system I do not pretend personally to know;
but if the light literature of a country is a reflex of its manners, and French
novels are a picture of French life, a pretty society must that be into the
midst of which the London reader may walk in twelve hours from this time of
perusal, and from which only twenty miles of sea separate us.
</p>

<p>
When the old Duke d&rsquo;Ivry, of the ancient ancient nobility of France, an
emigrant with Artois, a warrior with Conde, an exile during the reign of the
Corsican usurper, a grand prince, a great nobleman afterwards, though shorn of
nineteen-twentieths of his wealth by the Revolution,&mdash;when the Duke
d&rsquo;Ivry lost his two sons, and his son&rsquo;s son likewise died, as if
fate had determined to end the direct line of that noble house, which had
furnished queens to Europe, and renowned chiefs to the Crusaders&mdash;being of
an intrepid spirit, the Duke was ill disposed to yield to his redoubtable
energy, in spite of the cruel blows which the latter had inflicted upon him,
and when he was more than sixty years of age, three months before the July
Revolution broke out, a young lady of a sufficient nobility, a virgin of
sixteen, was brought out of the convent of the Sacré Cœur at Paris, and married
with immense splendour and ceremony to this princely widower. The most august
names signed the book of the civil marriage. Madame la Dauphine and Madame la
Duchesse de Berri complimented the young bride with royal favours. Her portrait
by Dubufe was in the Exhibition next year, a charming young duchess indeed,
with black eyes, and black ringlets, pearls on her neck, and diamonds in her
hair, as beautiful as a princess of a fairy tale. M. d&rsquo;Ivry, whose early
life may have been rather oragious, was yet a gentleman perfectly well
conserved. Resolute against fate his enemy (one would fancy fate was of an
aristocratic turn, and took especial delight in combats with princely houses;
the Atridae, the Borbonidae, the Ivrys,&mdash;the Browns and Joneses being of
no account), the prince seemed to be determined not only to secure a progeny,
but to defy age. At sixty he was still young, or seemed to be so. His hair was
as black as the princess&rsquo;s own, his teeth as white. If you saw him on the
Boulevard de Gand, sunning among the youthful exquisites there, or riding <i>au
Bois</i>, with a grace worthy of old Franconi himself, you would take him for
one of the young men, of whom indeed up to his marriage he retained a number of
the graceful follies and amusements, though his manners had a dignity acquired
in old days of Versailles and the Trianon, which the moderns cannot hope to
imitate. He was as assiduous behind the scenes of the opera as any journalist,
or any young dandy of twenty years. He &ldquo;ranged himself,&rdquo; as the
French phrase is, shortly before his marriage, just like any other young
bachelor: took leave of Phryne and Aspasie in the coulisses, and proposed to
devote himself henceforth to his charming young wife.
</p>

<p>
The affreux catastrophe of July arrived. The ancient Bourbons were once more on
the road to exile (save one wily old remnant of the race, who rode grinning
over the barricades, and distributing poignees de main to the stout fists that
had pummelled his family out of France). M. le Duc d&rsquo;Ivry, who lost his
place at court, his appointments which helped his income very much, and his
peerage would no more acknowledge the usurper of Neuilly, than him of Elba. The
ex-peer retired to his <i>terres</i>. He barricaded his house in Paris against
all supporters of the citizen king; his nearest kinsman, M. de Florac, among
the rest, who for his part cheerfully took his oath of fidelity, and his seat
in Louis Philippe&rsquo;s house of peers, having indeed been accustomed to
swear to all dynasties for some years past.
</p>

<p>
In due time Madame la Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry gave birth to a child, a daughter,
whom her noble father received with but small pleasure. What the Duke desired,
was an heir to his name, a Prince of Moncontour, to fill the place of the sons
and grandsons gone before him, to join their ancestors in the tomb. No more
children, however, blessed the old Duke&rsquo;s union. Madame d&rsquo;Ivry went
the round of all the watering-places: pilgrimages were tried: vows and gifts to
all saints supposed to be favourable to the d&rsquo;Ivry family, or to families
in general:&mdash;but the saints turned a deaf ear; they were inexorable since
the true religion and the elder Bourbons were banished from France.
</p>

<p>
Living by themselves in their ancient castles, or their dreary mansion of the
Faubourg St. Germain, I suppose the Duke and Duchess grew tried of one another,
as persons who enter into a <i>mariage de convenance</i> sometimes, nay, as
those who light a flaming love-match, and run away with one another, will be
found to do. A lady of one-and-twenty, and a gentleman of sixty-six, alone in a
great castle, have not unfrequently a third guest at their table, who comes
without a card, and whom they cannot shut out, though they keep their doors
closed ever so. His name is Ennui, and many a long hour and weary night must
such folks pass in the unbidden society of this Old Man of the Sea; this daily
guest at the board; this watchful attendant at the fireside; this assiduous
companion who <i>will</i> walk out with you; this sleepless restless bedfellow.
</p>

<p>
At first, M. d&rsquo;Ivry, that well-conserved nobleman who never would allow
that he was not young, exhibited no sign of doubt regarding his own youth
except an extreme jealousy and avoidance of all other young fellows. Very
likely Madame la Duchesse may have thought men in general dyed their hair, wore
stays, and had the rheumatism. Coming out of the convent of the Sacré Cœur, how
was the innocent young lady to know better? You see, in these <i>mariages de
convenance</i>, though a coronet may be convenient to a beautiful young
creature, and a beautiful young creature may be convenient to an old gentleman,
there are articles which the marriage-monger cannot make to convene at all:
tempers over which M. de Foy and his like have no control; and tastes which
cannot be put into the marriage settlements. So this couple were unhappy, and
the Duke and Duchess quarrelled with one another like the most vulgar pair who
ever fought across a table.
</p>

<p>
In this unhappy state of home affairs, madame took to literature, monsieur to
politics. She discovered that she was a great unappreciated soul, and when a
woman finds that treasure in her bosom of course she sets her own price on the
article. Did you ever see the first poems of Madame la Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry,
Les Cris de l&rsquo;Ame? She used to read them to her very intimate friends, in
white, with her hair a good deal down her back. They had some success. Dubufe
having painted her as a Duchess, Scheffer depicted her as a Muse. That was in
the third year of her marriage, when she rebelled against the Duke her husband,
insisted on opening her saloons to art and literature, and, a fervent devotee
still, proposed to unite genius and religion. Poets had interviews with her.
Musicians came and twanged guitars to her.
</p>

<p>
Her husband, entering her room, would fall over the sabre and spurs of Count
Almaviva from the boulevard, or Don Basilio with his great sombrero and
shoe-buckles. The old gentleman was breathless and bewildered in following her
through all her vagaries. He was of old France, she of new. What did he know of
the Ecole Romantique, and these <i>jeunes gens</i> with their Marie Tudors and
Tours de Nesle, and sanguineous histories of queens who sewed their lovers into
sacks, emperors who had interviews with robber captains in Charlemagne&rsquo;s
tomb, Buridans and Hernanis, and stuff? Monsieur le Vicomte de Chateaubriand
was a man of genius as a writer, certainly immortal; and M. de Lamartine was a
young man extremely <i>bien pensant</i>, but, <i>ma foi</i>, give him
<i>Crébillon fils</i>, or a bonne farce of M. Vade to make laugh; for the great
sentiments, for the beautiful style, give him M. de Lormian (although
Bonapartist) or the Abbé de Lille. And for the new school! bah! these little
Dumass, and Hugos, and Mussets, what is all that? &ldquo;M. de Lormian shall be
immortal, monsieur,&rdquo; he would say, &ldquo;when all these
<i>freluquets</i> are forgotten.&rdquo; After his marriage he frequented the
coulisses of the opera no more; but he was a pretty constant attendant at the
Théatre Français, where you might hear him snoring over the
<i>chefs-d&rsquo;œuvres</i> of French tragedy.
</p>

<p>
For some little time after 1830, the Duchesse was as great a Carlist as her
husband could wish; and they conspired together very comfortably at first. Of
an adventurous turn, eager for excitement of all kinds, nothing would have
better pleased the Duchesse than to follow M<small>ADAME</small> in her
adventurous courses in La Vendee, disguised as a boy above all. She was
persuaded to stay at home, however, and aid the good cause at Paris; while
Monsieur le Duc went off to Brittany to offer his old sword to the mother of
his king. But M<small>ADAME</small> was discovered up the chimney at Rennes,
and all sorts of things were discovered afterwards. The world said that our
silly little Duchess of Paris was partly the cause of the discovery. Spies were
put upon her, and to some people she would tell anything. M. le Duc, on paying
his annual visit to august exiles at Goritz, was very badly received: Madame la
Dauphine gave him a sermon. He had an awful quarrel with Madame la Duchesse on
returning to Paris. He provoked Monsieur le Comte Tiercelin, le beau Tiercelin,
an officer of ordonnance of the Duke of Orleans, into a duel, <i>à propos</i>
of a cup of coffee in a salon; he actually wounded the beau Tiercelin&mdash;he
sixty-five years of age! his nephew, M. de Florac, was loud in praise of his
kinsman&rsquo;s bravery.
</p>

<p>
That pretty figure and complexion which still appear so captivating in M.
Dubufe&rsquo;s portrait of Madame la Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, have long
existed&mdash;it must be owned only in paint. &ldquo;<i>Je la préfère à
l&rsquo;huile</i>,&rdquo; the Vicomte de Florac said of his cousin. &ldquo;She
should get her blushes from Monsieur Dubufe&mdash;those of her present
furnishers are not near so natural.&rdquo; Sometimes the Duchess appeared with
these postiches roses, sometimes of a mortal paleness. Sometimes she looked
plump, on other occasions wofully thin. &ldquo;When she goes into the
world,&rdquo; said the same chronicler, &ldquo;ma cousine surrounds herself
with <i>jupons</i>&mdash;c&rsquo;est pour défendre sa vertu: when she is in a
devotional mood, she gives up rouge, roast meat, and crinoline, and <i>fait
maigre absolument</i>.&rdquo; To spite the Duke her husband, she took up with
the Vicomte de Florac, and to please herself she cast him away. She took his
brother, the Abbé de Florac, for a director, and presently parted from him.
&ldquo;Mon frère, ce saint homme ne parle jamais de Madame la Duchesse,
maintenant,&rdquo; said the Vicomte. &ldquo;She must have confessed to him des
choses affreuses&mdash;oh, oui!&mdash;affreuses ma parole
d&rsquo;honneur!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Duke d&rsquo;Ivry being archiroyaliste, Madame la Duchesse must make
herself ultra-Philippiste. &ldquo;Oh, oui! tout ce qu&rsquo;il y a de plus
Madame Adélaide au monde!&rdquo; cried Florac. &ldquo;She raffoles of M. le
Régent. She used to keep a fast of the day of the supplice of Philippe Egalité,
Saint and Martyr. I say used, for to make to enrage her husband, and to recall
the Abbé my brother, did she not advise herself to consult M. le Pasteur
Grigou, and to attend the preach at his Temple? When this sheep had brought her
shepherd back, she dismissed the Pasteur Grigou. Then she tired of M.
l&rsquo;Abbé again, and my brother is come out from her, shaking his good head.
Ah! she must have put things into it which astonished the good Abbé! You know
he has since taken the Dominican robe? My word of honour! I believe it was
terror of her that drove him into a convent. You shall see him at Rome, Clive.
Give him news of his elder, and tell him this gross prodigal is repenting
amongst the swine. My word of honour! I desire but the death of Madame la
Vicomtesse de Florac, to marry and range myself!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;After being Royalist, Philippist, Catholic, Huguenot, Madame
d&rsquo;Ivry must take to Pantheism, to bearded philosophers who believe in
nothing, not even in clean linen, eclecticism, republicanism, what know I? All
her changes have been chronicled by books of her composition. Les Démons, poem
Catholic; Charles IX. is the hero and the demons are shot for the most part at
the catastrophe of St. Bartholomew. My good mother, all good Catholic as she
is, was startled by the boldness of this doctrine. Then there came Une
Dragonnade, par Mme. la Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, which is all on your side. That
was of the time of the Pastor Grigou, that one. The last was Les Dieux déchus,
poème en 20 chants, par Mme. la D&mdash;&mdash; d&rsquo;I. Guard yourself well
from this Muse! If she takes a fancy to you she will never leave you alone. If
you see her often, she will fancy you are in love with her, and tell her
husband. She always tells my uncle&mdash;afterwards&mdash;after she has
quarrelled with you and grown tired of you! Eh, being in London once, she had
the idea to make herself a <i>Quakre;</i> wore the costume, consulted a
minister of that culte, and quarrelled with him as of rule. It appears the
Quakers do not beat themselves, otherwise my poor uncle must have paid of his
person.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The turn of the philosophers then came, the chemists, the natural
historians, what know I? She made a laboratory in her hotel, and rehearsed
poisons like Madame de Brinvilliers&mdash;she spent hours in the Jardin des
Plantes. Since she has grown <i>affreusement maigre</i> and wears mounting
robes, she has taken more than ever to the idea that she resembles Mary Queen
of Scots. She wears a little frill and a little cap. Every man she loves, she
says, has come to misfortune. She calls her lodgings Lochleven. Eh! I pity the
landlord of Lochleven! She calls ce gros Blackball, vous savez, that pillar of
estaminets, that prince of mauvais-ton, her Bothwell; little Mijaud, the poor
little pianist, she named her Rizzio; young Lord Greenhorn who was here with
governor, a Monsieur of Oxfort, she christened her Darnley, and the Minister
Anglican, her John Knox! The poor man was quite enchanted! Beware of this
haggard siren, my little Clive!&mdash;mistrust her dangerous song! Her cave is
<i>jonchée</i> with the bones of her victims. Be you not one!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Far from causing Clive to avoid Madame la Duchesse, these cautions very likely
would have made him only the more eager to make her acquaintance, but that a
much nobler attraction drew him elsewhere. At first, being introduced to Madame
d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s salon, he was pleased and flattered, and behaved himself
there merrily and agreeably enough. He had not studied Horace Vernet for
nothing; he drew a fine picture of Kew rescuing her from the Arabs, with a
plenty of sabres, pistols, burnouses, and dromedaries. He made a pretty sketch
of her little girl Antoinette, and a wonderful likeness of Miss O&rsquo;Grady,
the little girl&rsquo;s governess, the mother&rsquo;s dame de
compagnie;&mdash;Miss O&rsquo;Grady, with the richest Milesian brogue, who had
been engaged to give Antoinette the pure English accent. But the French
lady&rsquo;s great eyes and painted smiles would not bear comparison with
Ethel&rsquo;s natural brightness and beauty. Clive, who had been appointed
painter in ordinary to the Queen of Scots, neglected his business, and went
over to the English faction; so did one or two more of the Princess&rsquo;s
followers, leaving her Majesty by no means well pleased at their desertion.
</p>

<p class="p2">
There had been many quarrels between M. d&rsquo;Ivry and his next-of-kin.
Political differences, private differences&mdash;a long story. The Duke, who
had been wild himself, could not pardon the Vicomte de Florac for being wild.
Efforts at reconciliation had been made which ended unsuccessfully. The Vicomte
de Florac had been allowed for a brief space to be intimate with the chief of
his family, and then had been dismissed for being too intimate. Right or wrong,
the Duke was jealous of all young men who approached the Duchesse. &ldquo;He is
suspicious,&rdquo; Madame de Florac indignantly said, &ldquo;because he
remembers: and he thinks other men are like himself.&rdquo; The Vicomte
discreetly said, &ldquo;My cousin has paid me the compliment to be jealous of
me,&rdquo; and acquiesced in his banishment with a shrug.
</p>

<p>
During the emigration the old Lord Kew had been very kind to exiles, M.
d&rsquo;Ivry amongst the number; and that nobleman was anxious to return to all
Lord Kew&rsquo;s family when they came to France the hospitality which he had
received himself in England. He still remembered or professed to remember Lady
Kew&rsquo;s beauty. How many women are there, awful of aspect, at present, of
whom the same pleasing legend is not narrated! It must be true, for do not they
themselves confess it? I know of few things more remarkable or suggestive of
philosophic contemplation than those physical changes.
</p>

<p>
When the old Duke and the old Countess met together and talked confidentially,
their conversation bloomed into a jargon wonderful to hear. Old scandals woke
up, old naughtinesses rose out of their graves, and danced, and smirked, and
gibbered again, like those wicked nuns whom Bertram and Robert le Diable evoke
from their sepulchres whilst the bassoon performs a diabolical incantation. The
Brighton Pavilion was tenanted; Ranelagh and the Pantheon swarmed with dancers
and masks; Perdita was found again, and walked a minuet with the Prince of
Wales. Mrs. Clarke and the Duke of York danced together&mdash;a pretty dance.
The old Duke wore a <i>jabot</i> and <i>ailes-de-pigeon</i>, the old Countess a
hoop, and a cushion on her head. If haply the young folks came in, the elders
modified their recollections, and Lady Kew brought honest old King George and
good old ugly Queen Charlotte to the rescue. Her ladyship was sister of the
Marquis of Steyne: and in some respects resembled that lamented nobleman. Their
family had relations in France (Lady Kew had always a pied-a-terre at Paris, a
bitter little scandal-shop, where <i>les bien-pensants</i> assembled and
retailed the most awful stories against the reigning dynasty). It was she who
handed over le petit Kiou, when quite a boy, to Monsieur and Madame
d&rsquo;Ivry, to be <i>lancé</i> into Parisian society. He was treated as a son
of the family by the Duke, one of whose many Christian names, his lordship,
Francis George Xavier, Earl of Kew and Viscount Walham, bears. If Lady Kew
hated any one (and she could hate very considerably) she hated her
daughter-in-law, Walham&rsquo;s widow, and the Methodists who surrounded her.
Kew remain among a pack of psalm-singing old women and parsons with his mother!
Fi donc! Frank was Lady Kew&rsquo;s boy; she would form him, marry him, leave
him her money if he married to her liking, and show him life. And so she showed
it to him.
</p>

<p>
Have you taken your children to the National Gallery in London, and shown them
the &ldquo;Marriage a la Mode?&rdquo; Was the artist exceeding the privilege of
his calling in painting the catastrophe in which those guilty people all
suffer? If this fable were not true, if many and many of your young men of
pleasure had not acted it, and rued the moral, I would tear the page. You know
that in our Nursery Tales there is commonly a good fairy to counsel, and a bad
one to mislead the young prince. You perhaps feel that in your own life there
is a Good Principle imploring you to come into its kind bosom, and a Bad
Passion which tempts you into its arms. Be of easy minds good-natured people!
Let us disdain surprises and <i>coups-de-théâtre</i> for once; and tell those
good souls who are interested about him, that there is a Good Spirit coming to
the rescue of our young Lord Kew.
</p>

<p>
Surrounded by her court and royal attendants, La Reine Marie used graciously to
attend the play-table, where luck occasionally declared itself for and against
her Majesty. Her appearance used to create not a little excitement in the
Saloon of Roulette, the game which she patronised, it being more &ldquo;fertile
of emotions&rdquo; than the slower trente-et-quarante. She dreamed of numbers,
had favourite incantations by which to conjure them: noted the figures made by
peels of peaches and so forth, the numbers of houses, on
hackney-coaches&mdash;was superstitious <i>comme toutes les rimes
poétiques</i>. She commonly brought a beautiful agate bonbonniere full of gold
pieces, when she played. It was wonderful to see her grimaces: to watch her
behaviour: her appeals to heaven, her delight and despair. Madame la Baronne de
la Cruchecassée played on one side of her, Madame la Comtesse de Schlangenbad
on the other. When she had lost all her money her Majesty would condescend to
borrow&mdash;not from those ladies:&mdash;knowing the royal peculiarity, they
never had any money; they always lost; they swiftly pocketed their winnings and
never left a mass on the table, or quitted it, as courtiers will, when they saw
luck was going against their sovereign. The officers of her household were
Count Punter, a Hanoverian, the Cavaliere Spada, Captain Blackball of a
mysterious English regiment, which might be any one of the hundred and twenty
in the Army List, and other noblemen and gentlemen, Greeks, Russians, and
Spaniards. Mr. and Mrs. Jones (of England), who had made the princess&rsquo;s
acquaintance at Bagneres (where her lord still remained in the gout) and
perseveringly followed her all the way to Baden, were dazzled by the splendour
of the company in which they found themselves. Miss Jones wrote such letters to
her dearest friend Miss Thompson, Cambridge Square, London, as caused that
young person to crever with envy. Bob Jones, who had grown a pair of mustachios
since he left home, began to think slightingly of poor little Fanny Thompson,
now he had got into &ldquo;the best Continental society.&rdquo; Might not he
quarter a countess&rsquo;s coat on his brougham along with the Jones arms, or,
more slap-up still, have the two shields painted on the panels with the coronet
over? &ldquo;Do you know the princess calls herself the Queen of Scots, and she
calls me Julian Avenel?&rdquo; says Jones delighted, to Clive, who wrote me
about the transmogrification of our schoolfellow, an attorney&rsquo;s son, whom
I recollected a snivelling little boy at Grey Friars. &ldquo;I say, Newcome,
the princess is going to establish an order,&rdquo; cried Bob in ecstasy. Every
one of her aides-de-camp had a bunch of orders at his button, excepting, of
course, poor Jones.
</p>

<p>
Like all persons who beheld her, when Miss Newcome and her party made their
appearance at Baden, Monsieur de Florac was enraptured with her beauty.
&ldquo;I speak of it constantly before the Duchesse. I know it pleases
her,&rdquo; so the Vicomte said. &ldquo;You should have seen her looks when
your friend M. Jones praised Miss Newcome! She ground her teeth with fury.
Tiens ce petit sournois de Kiou! He always spoke of her as a mere sac
d&rsquo;argent that he was about to marry&mdash;an ingot of the cité&mdash;une
fille de Lord Maire. Have all English bankers such pearls of daughters? If the
Vicomtesse de Florac had but quitted the earth, dont elle fait
l&rsquo;ornement&mdash;I would present myself to the charmante meess and ride a
steeple-chase with Kiou!&rdquo; That he should win it the Viscount never
doubted.
</p>

<p>
When Lady Anne Newcome first appeared in the ballroom at Baden, Madame la
Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry begged the Earl of Kew (<i>notre filleul</i>, she called
him) to present her to his aunt miladi and her charming daughter. &ldquo;My
<i>filleul</i> had not prepared me for so much grace,&rdquo; she said, turning
a look towards Lord Kew, which caused his lordship some embarrassment. Her
kindness and graciousness were extreme. Her caresses and compliments never
ceased all the evening. She told the mother and the daughter too that she had
never seen any one so lovely as Ethel. Whenever she saw Lady Anne&rsquo;s
children in the walks she ran to them (so that Captain Blackball and Count
Punter, A.D.C., were amazed at her tenderness), she <i>étouffé&rsquo;d</i> them
with kisses. What lilies and roses! What lovely little creatures! What
companions for her own Antoinette. &ldquo;This is your governess, Miss Quigli;
mademoiselle, you must let me present you to Miss O&rsquo;Gredi, your
compatriot, and I hope your children will be always together.&rdquo; The Irish
Protestant governess scowled at the Irish Catholic&mdash;there was a Boyne
Water between them.
</p>

<p>
Little Antoinette; a lonely little girl, was glad to find any companions.
&ldquo;Mamma kisses me on the promenade,&rdquo; she told them in her artless
way. &ldquo;She never kisses me at home!&rdquo; One day when Lord Kew with
Florac and Clive were playing with the children, Antoinette said,
&ldquo;Pourquoi ne venez-vous plus chez nous, M. de Kew? And why does mamma say
you are a <i>lâche?</i> She said so yesterday to ces messieurs. And why does
mamma say thou art only a vaurien, mon cousin? Thou art always very good for
me. I love thee better than all those messieurs. Ma tante Florac a été bonne
pour moi à Paris aussi&mdash;Ah! qu&rsquo;elle a été bonne!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;C&rsquo;est que les anges aiment bien les petits chérubins, and my
mother is an angel, seest thou,&rdquo; cries Florac, kissing her.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Thy mother is not dead,&rdquo; said little Antoinette, &ldquo;then why
dost thou cry, my cousin?&rdquo; And the three spectators were touched by this
little scene and speech.
</p>

<p>
Lady Anne Newcome received the caresses and compliments of Madame la Duchesse
with marked coldness on the part of one commonly so very good-natured.
Ethel&rsquo;s instinct told her that there was something wrong in this woman,
and she shrank from her with haughty reserve. The girl&rsquo;s conduct was not
likely to please the French lady, but she never relaxed in her smiles and her
compliments, her caresses, and her professions of admiration. She was present
when Clara Pulleyn fell; and, prodigal of <i>câlineries</i> and consolation,
and shawls and scent-bottles, to the unhappy young lady, she would accompany
her home. She inquired perpetually after the health of <i>cette pauvre petite
Miss Clara</i>. Oh, how she railed against <i>ces Anglaises</i> and their
prudery! Can you fancy her and her circle, the tea-table set in the twilight
that evening, the court assembled, Madame de la Cruchecassée and Madame de
Schlangenbad; and their whiskered humble servants, Baron Punter and Count
Spada, and Marquis Iago, and Prince Iachimo, and worthy Captain Blackball? Can
you fancy a moonlight conclave, and ghouls feasting on the fresh corpse of a
reputation:&mdash;the gibes and sarcasms, the laughing and the gnashing of
teeth? How they tear the dainty limbs, and relish the tender morsels!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The air of this place is not good for you, believe me, my little Kew; it
is dangerous. Have pressing affairs in England; let your château burn down; or
your intendant run away, and pursue him. Partez, mon petit Kiou; partez, or
evil will come of it.&rdquo; Such was the advice which a friend of Lord Kew
gave the young nobleman.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0032" id="link2HCH0032"></a>
CHAPTER XXXII.<br/>
Barnes&rsquo;s Courtship</h2>

<p>
Ethel had made various attempts to become intimate with her future
sister-in-law; had walked, and ridden, and talked with Lady Clara before
Barnes&rsquo;s arrival. She had come away not very much impressed with respect
for Lady Clara&rsquo;s mental powers; indeed, we have said that Miss Ethel was
rather more prone to attack women than to admire them, and was a little hard
upon the fashionable young persons of her acquaintance and sex. In after life,
care and thought subdued her pride, and she learned to look at society more
good-naturedly; but at this time, and for some years after, she was impatient
of commonplace people, and did not choose to conceal her scorn. Lady Clara was
very much afraid of her. Those timid little thoughts, which would come out, and
frisk and gambol with pretty graceful antics, and advance confidingly at the
sound of Jack Belsize&rsquo;s jolly voice, and nibble crumbs out of his hand,
shrank away before Ethel, severe nymph with the bright eyes, and hid themselves
under the thickets and in the shade. Who has not overheard a simple couple of
girls, or of lovers possibly, pouring out their little hearts, laughing at
their own little jokes, prattling and prattling away unceasingly, until mamma
appears with her awful didactic countenance, or the governess with her dry
moralities, and the colloquy straightway ceases, the laughter stops, the chirp
of the harmless little birds is hushed. Lady Clara being of a timid nature,
stood in as much awe of Ethel as of her father and mother; whereas her next
sister, a brisk young creature of seventeen, who was of the order of romps or
tomboys, was by no means afraid of Miss Newcome, and indeed a much greater
favourite with her than her placid elder sister.
</p>

<p>
Young ladies may have been crossed in love, and have had their sufferings,
their frantic moments of grief and tears, their wakeful nights, and so forth;
but it is only in very sentimental novels that people occupy themselves
perpetually with that passion: and, I believe, what are called broken hearts
are very rare articles indeed. Tom is jilted&mdash;is for a while in a dreadful
state&mdash;bores all his male acquaintance with his groans and his
frenzy&mdash;rallies from the complaint&mdash;eats his dinner very
kindly&mdash;takes an interest in the next turf event, and is found at
Newmarket, as usual, bawling out the odds which he will give or take. Miss has
her paroxysm and recovery&mdash;Madame Crinoline&rsquo;s new importations from
Paris interest the young creature&mdash;she deigns to consider whether pink or
blue will become her most&mdash;she conspires with her maid to make the spring
morning dresses answer for the autumn&mdash;she resumes her books, piano, and
music (giving up certain songs perhaps that she used to sing)&mdash;she waltzes
with the Captain&mdash;gets a colour&mdash;waltzes longer, better, and ten
times quicker than Lucy, who is dancing with the Major&mdash;replies in an
animated manner to the Captain&rsquo;s delightful remarks&mdash;takes a little
supper&mdash;and looks quite kindly at him before she pulls up the carriage
windows.
</p>

<p>
Clive may not like his cousin Barnes Newcome, and many other men share in that
antipathy, but all ladies do not. It is a fact that Barnes, when he likes, can
make himself a very pleasant fellow. He is dreadfully satirical, that is
certain; but many persons are amused by those dreadful satirical young men: and
to hear fun made of our neighbours, even of some of our friends, does not make
us very angry. Barnes is one of the very best waltzers in all society, that is
the truth; whereas it must be confessed Some One Else was very heavy and slow,
his great foot always crushing you, and he always begging your pardon. Barnes
whirls a partner round a room ages after she is ready to faint. What wicked fun
he makes of other people when he stops! He is not handsome, but in his face
there is something odd-looking and distinguished. It is certain he has
beautiful small feet and hands.
</p>

<p>
He comes every day from the City, drops in, in his quiet unobtrusive way, and
drinks tea at five o&rsquo;clock; always brings a budget of the funniest
stories with him, makes mamma laugh, Clara laugh, Henrietta, who is in the
schoolroom still, die of laughing. Papa has the highest opinion of Mr. Newcome
as a man of business: if he had had such a friend in early life his affairs
would not be where they now are, poor dear kind papa! Do they want to go
anywhere, is not Mr. Newcome always ready? Did he not procure that delightful
room for them to witness the Lord Mayor&rsquo;s show; and make Clara die of
laughing at those odd City people at the Mansion House ball? He is at every
party, and never tired though he gets up so early: he waltzes with nobody else:
he is always there to put Lady Clara in the carriage: at the drawing-room he
looked quite handsome in his uniform of the Newcome Hussars, bottle-green and
silver lace: he speaks Politics so <i>exceedingly</i> well with papa and
gentlemen after dinner: he is a sound conservative, full of practical good
sense and information, with no dangerous new-fangled ideas, such as young men
have. When poor dear Sir Brian Newcome&rsquo;s health gives way quite, Mr.
Newcome will go into Parliament, and then he will resume the old barony which
has been in abeyance in the family since the reign of Richard the Third. They
had fallen quite, quite low. Mr. Newcome&rsquo;s grandfather came to London
with a satchel on his back, like Whittington. Isn&rsquo;t it romantic?
</p>

<p>
This process has been going on for months. It is not in one day that poor Lady
Clara has been made to forget the past, and to lay aside her mourning. Day
after day, very likely, the undeniable faults and many peccadilloes of&mdash;of
that other person, have been exposed to her. People around the young lady may
desire to spare her feelings, but can have no interest in screening Poor Jack
from condign reprobation. A wild prodigal&mdash;a disgrace to his order&mdash;a
son of old Highgate&rsquo;s leading such a life, and making such a scandal!
Lord Dorking believes Mr. Belsize to be an abandoned monster and fiend in human
shape; gathers and relates all the stories that ever have been told to the
young man&rsquo;s disadvantage, and of these be sure there are enough, and
speaks of him with transports of indignation. At the end of months of unwearied
courtship, Mr. Barnes Newcome is honestly accepted, and Lady Clara is waiting
for him at Baden, not unhappy to receive him; when walking on the promenade
with her father, the ghost of her dead love suddenly rises before her, and the
young lady faints to the ground.
</p>

<p>
When Barnes Newcome thinks fit he can be perfectly placable in his demeanour
and delicate in his conduct. What he said upon this painful subject was
delivered with the greatest propriety. He did not for one moment consider that
Lady Clara&rsquo;s agitation arose from any present feeling in Mr.
Belsize&rsquo;s favour, but that she was naturally moved by the remembrance of
the past, and the sudden appearance which recalled it. &ldquo;And but that a
lady&rsquo;s name should never be made the subject of dispute between
men,&rdquo; Newcome said to Lord Dorking, with great dignity, &ldquo;and that
Captain Belsize has opportunely quitted the place, I should certainly have
chastised him. He and another adventurer, against whom I have had to warn my
own family, have quitted Baden this afternoon. I am glad that both are gone,
Captain Belsize especially; for my temper, my lord, is hot, and I do not think
I should have commanded it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lord Kew, when the elder lord informed him of this admirable speech of Barnes
Newcome&rsquo;s, upon whose character, prudence, and dignity the Earl of
Dorking pronounced a fervent eulogium, shook his head gravely, and said,
&ldquo;Yes, Barnes was a dead shot, and a most determined fellow:&rdquo; and
did not burst out laughing until he and Lord Dorking had parted. Then to be
sure he took his fill of laughter, he told the story to Ethel, he complimented
Barnes on his heroic self-denial; the joke of the thundering big stick was
nothing to it. Barnes Newcome laughed too; he had plenty of humour, Barnes.
&ldquo;I think you might have whopped Jack when he came out from his interview
with the Dorkings,&rdquo; Kew said: &ldquo;the poor devil was so bewildered and
weak, that Alfred might have thrashed him. At other times you would find it
more difficult, Barnes my man.&rdquo; Mr. B. Newcome resumed his dignity; said
a joke was a joke, and there was quite enough of this one; which assertion we
may be sure he conscientiously made.
</p>

<p>
That meeting and parting between the old lovers passed with a great deal of
calm and propriety on both sides. Miss&rsquo;s parents of course were present
when Jack at their summons waited upon them and their daughter, and made his
hang-dog bow. My Lord Dorking said (poor Jack in the anguish of his heart had
poured out the story to Clive Newcome afterwards), &ldquo;Mr. Belsize, I have
to apologise for words which I used in my heat yesterday, and which I recall
and regret, as I am sure you do that there should have been any occasion for
them.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Belsize looking at the carpet said he was very sorry.
</p>

<p>
Lady Dorking here remarked, that as Captain Belsize was now at Baden, he might
wish to hear from Lady Clara Pulleyn&rsquo;s own lips that the engagement into
which she had entered was formed by herself, certainly with the consent and
advice of her family. &ldquo;Is it not so, my dear?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lady Clara said, &ldquo;Yes, mamma,&rdquo; with a low curtsey.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We have now to wish you good-bye, Charles Belsize,&rdquo; said my lord,
with some feeling. &ldquo;As your relative, and your father&rsquo;s old friend,
I wish you well. I hope your future course in life may not be so unfortunate as
the past year. I request that we may part friends. Good-bye, Charles. Clara,
shake hands with Captain Belsize. My Lady Dorking, you will please to give
Charles your hand. You have known him since he was a child;
and&mdash;and&mdash;we are sorry to be obliged to part in this way.&rdquo; In
this wise Mr. Jack Belsize&rsquo;s tooth was finally extracted; and for the
moment we wish him and his brother-patient a good journey.
</p>

<p>
Little lynx-eyed Dr. Von Finck, who attends most of the polite company at
Baden, drove ceaselessly about the place that day, with the <i>real</i> version
of the fainting-fit story, about which we may be sure the wicked and malicious,
and the uninitiated, had a hundred absurd details. Lady Clara ever engaged to
Captain Belsize? Fiddle-de-dee! Everybody knew the Captain&rsquo;s affairs, and
that he could no more think of marrying than flying. Lady Clara faint at seeing
him! she fainted before he came up; she was always fainting, and had done so
thrice in the last week to his knowledge. Lord Dorking had a nervous affection
of his right arm, and was always shaking his stick. He did not say Villain, he
said William; Captain Belsize&rsquo;s name is William. It is not so in the
Peerage? Is he called Jack in the Peerage? Those Peerages are always wrong.
These candid explanations of course had their effect. Wicked tongues were of
course instantaneously silent. People were entirely satisfied; they always are.
The next night being Assembly night, Lady Clara appeared at the rooms and
danced with Lord Kew and Mr. Barnes Newcome. All the society was as gracious
and good-humoured as possible, and there was no more question of fainting than
of burning down the Conversation-house. But Madame de Cruchecassée, and Madame
de Schlangenbad, and those horrid people whom the men speak to, but whom the
women salute with silent curtseys, persisted in declaring that there was no
prude like an English prude; and to Dr. Finck&rsquo;s oaths, assertions,
explanations, only replied, with a shrug of their bold shoulders,
&ldquo;Taisez-vous, Docteur, vous n&rsquo;êtes qu&rsquo;une vieille
bête.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lady Kew was at the rooms, uncommonly gracious. Miss Ethel took a few turns of
the waltz with Lord Kew, but this nymph looked more <i>farouche</i> than upon
ordinary days. Bob Jones, who admired her hugely, asked leave to waltz with
her, and entertained her with recollections of Clive Newcome at school. He
remembered a fight in which Clive had been engaged, and recounted that action
to Miss Newcome, who seemed to be interested. He was pleased to deplore
Clive&rsquo;s fancy for turning artist, and that Miss Newcome recommended him
to have his likeness taken, for she said his appearance was exceedingly
picturesque. He was going on with further prattle, but she suddenly cut Mr.
Jones short, making him a bow, and going to sit down by Lady Kew. &ldquo;And
the next day, sir,&rdquo; said Bob, with whom the present writer had the
happiness of dining at a mess dinner at the Upper Temple, &ldquo;when I met her
on the walk, sir, she cut me as dead as a stone. The airs those swells give
themselves is enough to make any man turn republican.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Miss Ethel indeed was haughty, very haughty, and of a difficult temper. She
spared none of her party except her kind mother, to whom Ethel always was kind,
and her father, whom, since his illnesses, she tended with much benevolence and
care. But she did battle with Lady Kew repeatedly, coming to her Aunt
Julia&rsquo;s rescue, on whom her mother as usual exercised her powers of
torturing. She made Barnes quail before her by the shafts of contempt which she
flashed at him; and she did not spare Lord Kew, whose good-nature was no shield
against her scorn. The old queen-mother was fairly afraid of her; she even left
off beating Lady Julia when Ethel came in, of course taking her revenge in the
young girl&rsquo;s absence, but trying in her presence to soothe and please
her. Against Lord Kew the young girl&rsquo;s anger was most unjust, and the
more cruel because the kindly young nobleman never spoke a hard word of any one
mortal soul, and, carrying no arms, should have been assaulted by none. But his
very good-nature seemed to make his young opponent only the more wrathful; she
shot because his honest breast was bare; it bled at the wounds which she
inflicted. Her relatives looked at her surprised at her cruelty, and the young
man himself was shocked in his dignity and best feelings by his cousin&rsquo;s
wanton ill-humour.
</p>

<p>
Lady Kew fancied she understood the cause of this peevishness, and remonstrated
with Miss Ethel. &ldquo;Shall we write a letter to Lucerne, and order Dick
Tinto back again?&rdquo; said her ladyship. &ldquo;Are you such a fool, Ethel,
as to be hankering after that young scapegrace, and his yellow beard? His
drawings are very pretty. Why, I think he might earn a couple of hundred a year
as a teacher, and nothing would be easier than to break your engagement with
Kew, and whistle the drawing-master back again.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Ethel took up the whole heap of Clive&rsquo;s drawings, lighted a taper,
carried the drawings to the fireplace, and set them in a blaze. &ldquo;A very
pretty piece of work,&rdquo; says Lady Kew, &ldquo;and which proves
satisfactorily that you don&rsquo;t care for the young Clive at all. Have we
arranged a correspondence? We are cousins, you know; we may write pretty
cousinly letters to one another.&rdquo; A month before the old lady would have
attacked her with other arms than sarcasm, but she was scared now, and dared to
use no coarser weapons. &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; cried Ethel in a transport,
&ldquo;what a life ours is, and how you buy and sell, and haggle over your
children! It is not Clive I care about, poor boy. Our ways of life are
separate. I cannot break from my own family, and I know very well how yon would
receive him in it. Had he money, it would be different. You would receive him,
and welcome him, and hold out your hands to him; but he is only a poor painter,
and we forsooth are bankers in the City; and he comes among us on sufferance,
like those concert-singers whom mamma treats with so much politeness, and who
go down and have supper by themselves. Why should they not be as good as we
are?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;M. de C&mdash;&mdash;, my dear, is of a noble family,&rdquo; interposed
Lady Kew; &ldquo;when he has given up singing and made his fortune, no doubt he
can go back into the world again.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Made his fortune, yes,&rdquo; Ethel continued, &ldquo;that is the cry.
There never were, since the world began, people so unblushingly sordid! We own
it, and are proud of it. We barter rank against money, and money against rank,
day after day. Why did you marry my father to my mother? Was it for his wit?
You know he might have been an angel and you would have scorned him. Your
daughter was bought with papa&rsquo;s money as surely as ever Newcome was. Will
there be no day when this mammon-worship will cease among us?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not in my time or yours, Ethel,&rdquo; the elder said, not unkindly;
perhaps she thought of a day long ago before she was old herself.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We are sold,&rdquo; the young girl went on, &ldquo;we are as much sold
as Turkish women; the only difference being that our masters may have but one
Circassian at a time. No, there is no freedom for us. I wear my green ticket,
and wait till my master comes. But every day as I think of our slavery, I
revolt against it more. That poor wretch, that poor girl whom my brother is to
marry, why did she not revolt and fly? I would, if I loved a man sufficiently,
loved him better than the world, than wealth, than rank, than fine houses and
titles,&mdash;and I feel I love these best,&mdash;I would give up all to follow
him. But what can I be with my name and my parents? I belong to the world like
all the rest of my family. It is you who have bred us up; you who are
answerable for us. Why are there no convents to which we can fly? You make a
fine marriage for me; you provide me with a good husband, a kind soul, not very
wise, but very kind; you make me what you call happy, and I would rather be at
the plough like the women here.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, you wouldn&rsquo;t, Ethel,&rdquo; replies the grandmother, drily.
&ldquo;These are the fine speeches of schoolgirls. The showers of rain would
spoil your complexion&mdash;you would be perfectly tired in an hour, and come
back to luncheon&mdash;you belong to your belongings, my dear, and are not
better than the rest of the world:&mdash;very good-looking, as you know
perfectly well, and not very good-tempered. It is lucky that Kew is. Calm your
temper, at least before marriage; such a prize does not fall to a pretty
girl&rsquo;s lot every day. Why, you sent him away quite seared by your
cruelty; and if he is not playing at roulette, or at billiards, I dare say he
is thinking what a little termagant you are, and that he had beat pause while
it is yet time. Before I was married, your poor grandfather never knew I had a
temper; of after-days I say nothing; but trials are good for all of us, and he
bore his like an angel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lady Kew, too, on this occasion at least, was admirably good-humoured. She also
when it was necessary could put a restraint on her temper, and, having this
match very much at heart, chose to coax and to soothe her granddaughter rather
than to endeavour to scold and frighten her.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why do you desire this marriage so much, grandmamma,&rdquo; the girl
asked. &ldquo;My cousin is not very much in love,&mdash;at least I should fancy
not,&rdquo; she added, blushing. &ldquo;I am bound to own Lord Kew is not in
the least eager, and I think if you were to tell him to wait for five years he
would be quite willing. Why should you be so very anxious?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why, my dear? Because I think young ladies who want to go and work in
the fields, should make hay while the sun shines; because I think it is high
time that Kew should ranger himself; because I am sure he will make the best
husband, and Ethel the prettiest Countess in England.&rdquo; And the old lady,
seldom exhibiting any signs of affection, looked at her granddaughter very
fondly. From her Ethel looked up into the glass, which very likely repeated on
its shining face the truth her elder had just uttered. Shall we quarrel with
the girl for that dazzling reflection; for owning that charming truth, and
submitting to the conscious triumph? Give her her part of vanity, of youth, of
desire to rule and be admired. Meanwhile Mr. Clive&rsquo;s drawings have been
crackling in the fireplace at her feet, and the last spark of that combustion
is twinkling out unheeded.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0033" id="link2HCH0033"></a>
CHAPTER XXXIII.<br/>
Lady Kew at the Congress</h2>

<p>
When Lady Kew heard that Madame d&rsquo;Ivry was at Baden, and was informed at
once of the French lady&rsquo;s graciousness towards the Newcome family, and of
her fury against Lord Kew, the old Countess gave a loose to that energetic
temper with which nature had gifted her; a temper which she tied up sometimes
and kept from barking and biting; but which when unmuzzled was an animal of
whom all her ladyship&rsquo;s family had a just apprehension. Not one of them
but in his or her time had been wounded, lacerated, tumbled over, otherwise
frightened or injured by this unruly brute. The cowards brought it sops and
patted it; the prudent gave it a clear berth, and walked round so as not to
meet it; but woe be to those of the family who had to bring the meal, and
prepare the litter, and (to speak respectfully) share the kennel with Lady
Kew&rsquo;s &ldquo;Black Dog!&rdquo; Surely a fine furious temper, if
accompanied with a certain magnanimity and bravery which often go together with
it, is one of the most precious and fortunate gifts with which a gentleman or
lady can be endowed. A person always ready to fight is certain of the greatest
consideration amongst his or her family circle. The lazy grow tired of
contending with him; the timid coax and flatter him; and as almost every one is
timid or lazy, a bad-tempered man is sure to have his own way. It is he who
commands, and all the others obey. If he is a gourmand, he has&rsquo; what he
likes for dinner; and the tastes of all the rest are subservient to him. She
(we playfully transfer the gender, as a bad temper is of both sexes) has the
place which she likes best in the drawing-room; nor do her parents, nor her
brothers and sisters, venture to take her favourite chair. If she wants to go
to a party, mamma will dress herself in spite of her headache; and papa, who
hates those dreadful soirées, will go upstairs after dinner and put on his poor
old white neckcloth, though he has been toiling at chambers all day, and must
be there early in the morning&mdash;he will go out with her, we say, and stay
for the cotillon. If the family are taking their tour in the summer, it is she
who ordains whither they shall go, and when they shall stop. If he comes home
late, the dinner is kept for him, and not one dares to say a word though ever
so hungry. If he is in a good humour, how every one frisks about and is happy!
How the servants jump up at his bell and run to wait upon him! How they sit up
patiently, and how eagerly they rush out to fetch cabs in the rain! Whereas for
you and me, who have the tempers of angels, and never were known to be angry or
to complain, nobody cares whether we are pleased or not. Our wives go to the
milliners and send us the bill, and we pay it; our John finishes reading the
newspaper before he answers our bell, and brings it to us; our sons loll in the
arm-chair which we should like; fill the house with their young men, and smoke
in the dining-room; our tailors fit us badly; our butchers give us the youngest
mutton; our tradesmen dun us much more quickly than other people&rsquo;s,
because they know we are good-natured; and our servants go out whenever they
like, and openly have their friends to supper in the kitchen. When Lady Kew
said <i>Sic volo, sic jubeo</i>, I promise you few persons of her
ladyship&rsquo;s belongings stopped, before they did her biddings, to ask her
reasons.
</p>

<p>
If, which very seldom happens, there are two such imperious and domineering
spirits in a family, unpleasantries of course will arise from their
contentions; or, if out of doors the family Bajazet meets with some other
violent Turk, dreadful battles ensue, all the allies on either side are brought
in, and the surrounding neighbours perforce engaged in the quarrel. This was
unluckily the case in the present instance. Lady Kew, unaccustomed to have her
will questioned at home, liked to impose it abroad. She judged the persons
around her with great freedom of speech. Her opinions were quoted, as
people&rsquo;s sayings will be; and if she made bitter speeches, depend on it
they lost nothing in the carrying. She was furious against Madame la Duchesse
d&rsquo;Ivry, and exploded in various companies whenever that lady&rsquo;s name
was mentioned. &ldquo;Why was she not with her husband? Why was the poor old
Duke left to his gout, and this woman trailing through the country with her
vagabond court of billiard-markers at her heels? She to call herself Mary Queen
of Scots, forsooth!&mdash;well, she merited the title in some respects, though
she had not murdered her husband as yet. Ah! I should like to be Queen
Elizabeth if the Duchess is Queen of Scots!&rdquo; said the old lady, shaking
her old fist. And these sentiments being uttered in public, upon the promenade,
to mutual friends, of course the Duchess had the benefit of Lady Kew&rsquo;s
remarks a few minutes after they were uttered; and her grace, and the
distinguished princes, counts, and noblemen in her court, designated as
billiard-markers by the old Countess, returned the latter&rsquo;s compliments
with pretty speeches of their own. Scandals were dug up respecting her
ladyship, so old that one would have thought them forgotten these forty
years,&mdash;so old that they happened before most of the Newcomes now extant
were born, and surely therefore are out of the province of this contemporary
biography. Lady Kew was indignant with her daughter (there were some moments
when any conduct of her friends did not meet her ladyship&rsquo;s approbation)
even for the scant civility with which Lady Anne had received the
Duchess&rsquo;s advances. &ldquo;Leave a card upon her!&mdash;yes, send a card
by one of your footmen; but go in to see her&mdash;because she was at the
window and saw you drive up.&mdash;Are you mad, Anne? That was the very reason
you should not have come out of your carriage. But you are so weak and
good-natured, that if a highwayman stopped you, you would say, &lsquo;Thank
you, sir,&rsquo; as you gave him your purse: yes, and if Mrs. Macheath called
on you afterwards you would return the visit!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Even had these speeches been made <i>about</i> the Duchess, and some of them
not addressed to her, things might have gone on pretty well. If we quarrelled
with all the people who abuse us behind our backs, and began to tear their eyes
out as soon as we set ours on them, what a life it would be, and when should we
have any quiet? Backbiting is all fair in society. Abuse me, and I will abuse
you; but let us be friends when we meet. Have not we all entered a dozen rooms,
and been sure, from the countenances of the amiable persons present, that they
had been discussing our little peculiarities, perhaps as we were on the stairs?
Was our visit, therefore, the less agreeable? Did we quarrel and say hard words
to one another&rsquo;s faces? No&mdash;we wait until some of our dear friends
take their leave, and then comes our turn. My back is at my neighbour&rsquo;s
service; as soon as that is turned let him make what faces he thinks proper:
but when we meet we grin and shake hands like well-bred folk, to whom clean
linen is not more necessary than a clean sweet-looking countenance, and a
nicely got-up smile, for company.
</p>

<p>
Here was Lady Kew&rsquo;s mistake. She wanted, for some reason, to drive Madame
d&rsquo;Ivry out of Baden; and thought there were no better means of effecting
this object than by using the high hand, and practising those frowns upon the
Duchess which had scared away so many other persons. But the Queen of Scots was
resolute, too, and her band of courtiers fought stoutly round about her. Some
of them could not pay their bills, and could not retreat: others had courage,
and did not choose to fly. Instead of coaxing and soothing Madame d&rsquo;Ivry,
Madame de Kew thought by a brisk attack to rout and dislodge her. She began on
almost the very first occasion when the ladies met. &ldquo;I was so sorry to
hear that Monsieur le Duc was ill at Bagneres, Madame la Duchesse,&rdquo; the
old lady began on their very first meeting, after the usual salutations had
taken place.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Madame la Comtesse is very kind to interest herself in Monsieur
d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s health. Monsieur le Duc at his age is not disposed to
travel. You, dear miladi, are more happy in being always able to retain the
<i>goût des voyages!</i>&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I come to my family! my dear Duchess.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How charmed they must be to possess you! Miladi Anne, you must be
inexpressibly consoled by the presence of a mother so tender! Permit me to
present Madame la Comtesse de la Cruchecassée to Madame la Comtesse de Kew.
Miladi is sister to that amiable Marquis of Steyne, whom you have known,
Ambrosine! Madame la Baronne de Schlangenbad, Miladi Kew. Do you not see the
resemblance to milor? These ladies have enjoyed the hospitalities&mdash;the
splendours of Gaunt House. They were of those famous routs of which the
charming Mistress Crawley, <i>la semillante Becki</i>, made part! How sad the
Hôtel de Gaunt must be under the present circumstances! Have you heard, miladi,
of the charming Mistress Becki? Monsieur le Duc describes her as the most
<i>spirituelle</i> Englishwoman he ever met.&rdquo; The Queen of Scots turns
and whispers her lady of honour, and shrugs and taps her forehead. Lady Kew
knows that Madame d&rsquo;Ivry speaks of her nephew, the present Lord Steyne,
who is not in his right mind. The Duchess looks round, and sees a friend in the
distance whom she beckons. &ldquo;Comtesse, you know already monsieur the
Captain Blackball? He makes the delight of our society!&rdquo; A dreadful man
with a large cigar, a florid waistcoat, and billiards written on his
countenance, swaggers forward at the Duchess&rsquo;s summons. The Countess of
Kew has not gained much by her attack. She has been presented to Cruchecassée
and Schlangenbad. She sees herself on the eve of becoming the acquaintance of
Captain Blackball.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Permit me, Duchess, to choose my <i>English</i> friends at least for
myself,&rdquo; says Lady Kew, drumming her foot.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But, madam, assuredly! You do not love this good Monsieur de Blackball?
Eh! the English manners are droll, pardon me for saying so. It is wonderful how
proud you are as a nation, and how ashamed you are of your compatriots!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There are some persons who are ashamed of nothing, Madame la
Duchesse,&rdquo; cries Lady Kew; losing her temper.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is that <i>gracieuseté</i> for me? How much goodness! This good Monsieur
de Blackball is not very well bred; but, for an Englishman, he is not too bad.
I have met with people who are more ill-bred than Englishmen in my
travels.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And they are?&rdquo; said Lady Anne, who had been in vain endeavouring
to put an end to this colloquy.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Englishwomen, madam! I speak not for you. You are kind; you&mdash;you
are too soft, dear Lady Anne, for a persecutor.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The counsels of the worldly woman who governed and directed that branch of the
Newcome family of whom it is our business to speak now for a little while, bore
other results than those which the elderly lady desired and foresaw. Who can
foresee everything and always? Not the wisest among us. When his Majesty Louis
XIV., jockeyed his grandson on to the throne of Spain (founding thereby the
present revered dynasty of that country), did he expect to peril his own, and
bring all Europe about his royal ears? Could a late King of France, eager for
the advantageous establishment of one of his darling sons, and anxious to
procure a beautiful Spanish princess, with a crown and kingdom in reversion,
for the simple and obedient youth, ever suppose that the welfare of his whole
august race and reign would be upset by that smart speculation? We take only
the most noble examples to illustrate the conduct of such a noble old personage
as her ladyship of Kew, who brought a prodigious deal of trouble upon some of
the innocent members of her family, whom no doubt she thought to better in life
by her experienced guidance and undoubted worldly wisdom. We may be as deep as
Jesuits, know the world ever so well, lay the best-ordered plans, and the
profoundest combinations, and by a certain not unnatural turn of fate, we, and
our plans and combinations, are sent flying before the wind. We may be as wise
as Louis Philippe, that many-counselled Ulysses whom the respectable world
admired so; and after years of patient scheming, and prodigies of skill, after
coaxing, wheedling, doubling, bullying, wisdom, behold yet stronger powers
interpose: and schemes, and skill and violence, are nought.
</p>

<p>
Frank and Ethel, Lady Kew&rsquo;s grandchildren, were both the obedient
subjects of this ancient despot: this imperious old Louis XIV. in a black front
and a cap and ribbon, this scheming old Louis Philippe in tabinet; but their
blood was good and their tempers high; and for all her bitting and driving, and
the training of her <i>manége</i>, the generous young colts were hard to break.
Ethel, at this time, was especially stubborn in training, rebellious to the
whip, and wild under harness; and the way in which Lady Kew managed her won the
admiration of her family: for it was a maxim among these folks that no one
could manage Ethel but Lady Kew. Barnes said no one could manage his sister but
his grandmother. He couldn&rsquo;t, that was certain. Mamma never tried, and
indeed was so good-natured, that rather than ride the filly, she would put the
saddle on her own back and let the filly ride her; no, there was no one but her
ladyship capable of managing that girl, Barnes owned, who held Lady Kew in much
respect and awe. &ldquo;If the tightest hand were not kept on her,
there&rsquo;s no knowing what she mightn&rsquo;t do,&rdquo; said her brother.
&ldquo;Ethel Newcome, by Jove, is capable of running away with the
writing-master.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
After poor Jack Belsize&rsquo;s mishap and departure, Barnes&rsquo;s own bride
showed no spirit at all, save one of placid contentment. She came at call and
instantly, and went through whatever paces her owner demanded of her. She
laughed whenever need was, simpered and smiled when spoken to, danced whenever
she was asked; drove out at Barnes&rsquo;s side in Kew&rsquo;s phaeton, and
received him certainly not with warmth, but with politeness and welcome. It is
difficult to describe the scorn with which her sister-in-law regarded her. The
sight of the patient timid little thing chafed Ethel, who was always more
haughty and flighty and bold when in Clara&rsquo;s presence than at any other
time. Her ladyship&rsquo;s brother, Captain Lord Viscount Rooster, before
mentioned, joined the family party at this interesting juncture. My Lord
Rooster found himself surprised, delighted, subjugated by Miss Newcome, her wit
and spirit. &ldquo;By Jove, she is a plucky one,&rdquo; his lordship exclaimed.
&ldquo;To dance with her is the best fun in life. How she pulls all the other
girls to pieces, by Jove, and how splendidly she chaffs everybody! But,&rdquo;
he added with the shrewdness and sense of humour which distinguished the young
officer, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather dance with her than marry her&mdash;by a
doosid long score&mdash;I don&rsquo;t envy you that part of the business, Kew,
my boy.&rdquo; Lord Kew did not set himself up as a person to be envied. He
thought his cousin beautiful: and with his grandmother, that she would make a
very handsome Countess; and he thought the money which Lady Kew would give or
leave to the young couple a very welcome addition to his means.
</p>

<p>
On the next night, when there was a ball at the room, Miss Ethel chose to
appear in a toilette the very grandest and finest which she had ever assumed,
who was ordinarily exceedingly simple in her attire, and dressed below the mark
of the rest of the world. Her clustering ringlets, her shining white shoulders,
her splendid raiment (I believe indeed it was her court-dress which the young
lady assumed) astonished all beholders. She <i>écrasé&rsquo;d</i> all other
beauties by her appearance; so much so that Madame d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s court
could not but look, the men in admiration, the women in dislike, at this
dazzling young creature. None of the countesses, duchesses, princesses, Russ,
Spanish, Italian, were so fine or so handsome. There were some New York ladies
at Baden as there are everywhere else in Europe now. Not even these were more
magnificent than Miss Ethel. General Jeremiah J. Bung&rsquo;s lady owned that
Miss Newcome was fit to appear in any party in Fourth Avenue. She was the only
well-dressed English girl Mrs. Bung had seen in Europe. A young German
Durchlaucht deigned to explain to his aide-de-camp how very handsome he thought
Miss Newcome. All our acquaintances were of one mind. Mr. Jones of England
pronounced her stunning; the admirable Captain Blackball examined her points
with the skill of an amateur, and described them with agreeable frankness. Lord
Rooster was charmed as he surveyed her, and complimented his late
companion-in-arms on the possession of such a paragon. Only Lord Kew was not
delighted&mdash;nor did Miss Ethel mean that he should be. She looked as
splendid as Cinderella in the prince&rsquo;s palace. But what need for all this
splendour? this wonderful toilette? this dazzling neck and shoulders, whereof
the brightness and beauty blinded the eyes of lookers-on? She was dressed as
gaudily as an actress of the Varietes going to a supper at Trois Frères.
&ldquo;It was Mademoiselle Mabille en habit de cœur,&rdquo; Madame d&rsquo;Ivry
remarked to Madame Schlangenbad. Barnes, who with his bride-elect for a partner
made a vis-a-vis for his sister and the admiring Lord Rooster, was puzzled
likewise by Ethel&rsquo;s countenance and appearance. Little Lady Clara looked
like a little schoolgirl dancing before her.
</p>

<p>
One, two, three, of the attendants of her Majesty the Queen of Scots were
carried off in the course of the evening by the victorious young beauty, whose
triumph had the effect, which the headstrong girl perhaps herself anticipated,
of mortifying the Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, of exasperating old Lady Kew, and of
annoying the young nobleman to whom Miss Ethel was engaged. The girl seemed to
take a pleasure in defying all three, a something embittered her, alike against
her friends and her enemies. The old dowager chaffed and vented her wrath upon
Lady Anne and Barnes. Ethel kept the ball alive by herself almost. She refused
to go home, declining hints and commands alike. She was engaged for ever so
many dances more. Not dance with Count Punter? it would be rude to leave him
after promising him. Not waltz with Captain Blackball? He was not a proper
partner for her? Why then did Kew know him? Lord Kew walked and talked with
Captain Blackball every day. Was she to be so proud as not to know Lord
Kew&rsquo;s friends? She greeted the Captain with a most fascinating smile as
he came up whilst the controversy was pending, and ended it by whirling round
the room in his arms.
</p>

<p>
Madame d&rsquo;Ivry viewed with such pleasure as might be expected the
defection of her adherents, and the triumph of her youthful rival, who seemed
to grow more beautiful with each waltz, so that the other dancers paused to
look at her, the men breaking out in enthusiasm, the reluctant women being
forced to join in the applause. Angry as she was, and knowing how Ethel&rsquo;s
conduct angered her grandson, old Lady Kew could not help admiring the
rebellious beauty, whose girlish spirit was more than a match for the imperious
dowager&rsquo;s tough old resolution. As for Mr. Barnes&rsquo;s displeasure,
the girl tossed her saucy head, shrugged her fair shoulders, and passed on with
a scornful laugh. In a word, Miss Ethel conducted herself as a most reckless
and intrepid young flirt, using her eyes with the most consummate effect,
chattering with astounding gaiety, prodigal of smiles, gracious thanks and
killing glances. What wicked spirit moved her? Perhaps had she known the
mischief she was doing, she would have continued it still.
</p>

<p>
The sight of this wilfulness and levity smote poor Lord Kew&rsquo;s honest
heart with cruel pangs of mortification. The easy young nobleman had passed
many a year of his life in all sorts of wild company. The <i>chaumière</i> knew
him, and the balls of Parisian actresses, the coulisses of the opera at home
and abroad. Those pretty heads of ladies whom nobody knows, used to nod their
shining ringlets at Kew, from private boxes at theatres, or dubious Park
broughams. He had run the career of young men of pleasure, and laughed and
feasted with jolly prodigals and their company. He was tired of it: perhaps he
remembered an earlier and purer life, and was sighing to return to it. Living
as he had done amongst the outcasts, his ideal of domestic virtue was high and
pure. He chose to believe that good women were entirely good. Duplicity he
could not understand; ill-temper shocked him: wilfulness he seemed to fancy
belonged only to the profane and wicked; not to good girls, with good mothers,
in honest homes. Their nature was to love their families; to obey their
parents; to tend their poor; to honour their husbands; to cherish their
children. Ethel&rsquo;s laugh woke him up from one of these simple reveries
very likely, and then she swept round the ballroom rapidly, to the brazen notes
of the orchestra. He never offered to dance with her more than once in the
evening; went away to play, and returned to find her still whirling to the
music. Madame d&rsquo;Ivry remarked his tribulation and gloomy face, though she
took no pleasure at his discomfiture, knowing that Ethel&rsquo;s behaviour
caused it.
</p>

<p>
In plays and novels, and I dare say in real life too sometimes, when the wanton
heroine chooses to exert her powers of fascination, and to flirt with Sir Harry
or the Captain, the hero, in a pique, goes off and makes love to somebody else:
both acknowledge their folly after a while, shake hands, and are reconciled,
and the curtain drops, or the volume ends. But there are some people too noble
and simple for these amorous scenes and smirking artifices. When Kew was
pleased he laughed, when he was grieved he was silent. He did not deign to hide
his grief or pleasure under disguises. His error, perhaps, was in forgetting
that Ethel was very young; that her conduct was not design so much as girlish
mischief and high spirits; and that if young men have their frolics, sow their
wild oats, and enjoy their pleasure, young women may be permitted sometimes
their more harmless vagaries of gaiety, and sportive outbreaks of wilful
humour.
</p>

<p>
When she consented to go home at length, Lord Kew brought Miss Newcome&rsquo;s
little white cloak for her (under the hood of which her glossy curls, her
blushing cheeks, and bright eyes looked provokingly handsome), and encased her
in this pretty garment without uttering one single word. She made him a saucy
curtsey in return for this act of politeness, which salutation he received with
a grave bow; and then he proceeded to cover up old Lady Kew, and to conduct her
ladyship to her chariot. Miss Ethel chose to be displeased at her
cousin&rsquo;s displeasure. What were balls made for but that people should
dance? She a flirt? She displease Lord Kew? If she chose to dance, she would
dance; she had no idea of his giving himself airs; besides it was such fun
taking away the gentlemen of Mary Queen of Scots&rsquo; court from her; such
capital fun! So she went to bed, singing and performing wonderful roulades as
she lighted her candle and retired to her room. She had had such a jolly
evening!! such famous fun, and, I dare say (but how shall a novelist penetrate
these mysteries?), when her chamber door was closed, she scolded her maid and
was as cross as two sticks. You see there come moments of sorrow after the most
brilliant victories; and you conquer and rout the enemy utterly, and then
regret that you fought.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0034" id="link2HCH0034"></a>
CHAPTER XXXIV.<br/>
The End of the Congress of Baden</h2>

<p>
Mention has been made of an elderly young person from Ireland, engaged by
Madame la Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, as companion and teacher of English for her
little daughter. When Miss O&rsquo;Grady, as she did some time afterwards,
quitted Madame d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s family, she spoke with great freedom
regarding the behaviour of that duchess, and recounted horrors which she, the
latter, had committed. A number of the most terrific anecdotes issued from the
lips of the indignant Miss, whose volubility Lord Kew was obliged to check, not
choosing that his countess, with whom he was paying a bridal visit to Paris,
should hear such dreadful legends. It was there that Miss O&rsquo;Grady,
finding herself in misfortune, and reading of Lord Kew&rsquo;s arrival at the
Hôtel Bristol, waited upon his lordship and the Countess of Kew, begging them
to take tickets in a raffle for an invaluable ivory writing-desk, sole relic of
her former prosperity, which she proposed to give her friends the chance of
acquiring: in fact, Miss O&rsquo;Grady lived for some years on the produce of
repeated raffles for this beautiful desk: many religious ladies of the Faubourg
St. Germain taking an interest in her misfortunes, and alleviating them by the
simple lottery system. Protestants as well as Catholics were permitted to take
shares in Miss O&rsquo;Grady&rsquo;s raffles; and Lord Kew, good-natured then
as always, purchased so many tickets, that the contrite O&rsquo;Grady informed
him of a transaction which had nearly affected his happiness, and in which she
took a not very creditable share. &ldquo;Had I known your lordship&rsquo;s real
character,&rdquo; Miss O&rsquo;G was pleased to say, &ldquo;no tortures would
have induced me to do an act for which I have undergone penance. It was that
black-hearted woman, my lord, who maligned your lordship to me: that woman whom
I called friend once, but who is the most false, depraved, and dangerous of her
sex.&rdquo; In this way do ladies&rsquo; companions sometimes speak of ladies
when quarrels separate them, when confidential attendants are dismissed,
bearing away family secrets in their minds, and revenge in their hearts.
</p>

<p>
The day after Miss Ethel&rsquo;s feats at the assembly, old Lady Kew went over
to advise her granddaughter, and to give her a little timely warning about the
impropriety of flirtations; above all, with such men as are to be found at
watering-places, persons who are never seen elsewhere in society. &ldquo;Remark
the peculiarities of Kew&rsquo;s temper, who never flies into a passion like
you and me, my dear,&rdquo; said the old lady (being determined to be
particularly gracious and cautious); &ldquo;when once angry he remains so, and
is so obstinate that it is almost impossible to coax him into good-humour. It
is much better, my love, to be like us,&rdquo; continued the old lady,
&ldquo;to fly out in a rage and have it over; but que voulez-vous? such is
Frank&rsquo;s temper, and we must manage him.&rdquo; So she went on, backing
her advice by a crowd of examples drawn from the family history; showing how
Kew was like his grandfather, her own poor husband; still more like his late
father, Lord Walham; between whom and his mother there had been differences,
chiefly brought on by my Lady Walham, of course, which had ended in the almost
total estrangement of mother and son. Lady Kew then administered her advice,
and told her stories with Ethel alone for a listener; and in a most edifying
manner, she besought Miss Newcome to <i>ménager</i> Lord Kew&rsquo;s
susceptibilities, as she valued her own future comfort in life, as well as the
happiness of a most amiable man, of whom, if properly managed, Ethel might make
what she pleased. We have said Lady Kew managed everybody, and that most of the
members of her family allowed themselves to be managed by her ladyship.
</p>

<p>
Ethel, who had permitted her grandmother to continue her sententious advice,
while she herself sat tapping her feet on the floor, and performing the most
rapid variations of that air which is called the Devil&rsquo;s Tattoo, burst
out, at length, to the elder lady&rsquo;s surprise, with an outbreak of
indignation, a flushing face, and a voice quivering with anger.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This most amiable man,&rdquo; she cried out, &ldquo;that you design for
me, I know everything about this most amiable man, and thank you and my family
for the present you make me! For the past year, what have you been doing? Every
one of you! my father, my brother, and you yourself, have been filling my ears
wit cruel reports against a poor boy, whom you chose to depict as everything
that was dissolute and wicked, when there was nothing against him; nothing, but
that he was poor. Yes, you yourself, grandmamma, have told me many and many a
time, that Clive Newcome was not a fit companion for us; warned me against his
bad courses, and painted him as extravagant, unprincipled, I don&rsquo;t know
how bad. How bad! I know how good he is; how upright, generous, and
truth-telling: though there was not a day until lately, that Barnes did not
make some wicked story against him,&mdash;Barnes, who, I believe, is bad
himself, like&mdash;like other young men. Yes, I am sure there was something
about Barnes in that newspaper which my father took away from me. And you come,
and you lift up your hands, and shake your head, because I dance with one
gentleman or another. You tell me I am wrong; mamma has told me so this
morning. Barnes, of course, has told me so, and you bring me Frank as a
pattern, and tell me to love and honour and obey <i>him!</i> Look here,&rdquo;
and she drew out a paper and put it into Lady Kew&rsquo;s hands. &ldquo;Here is
Kew&rsquo;s history, and I believe it is true; yes, I am sure it is
true.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The old dowager lifted her eyeglass to her black eyebrow, and read a paper
written in English, and bearing no signature, in which many circumstances of
Lord Kew&rsquo;s life were narrated for poor Ethel&rsquo;s benefit. It was not
a worse life than that of a thousand young men of pleasure, but there were
Kew&rsquo;s many misdeeds set down in order: such a catalogue as we laugh at
when Leporello trolls it, and sings his master&rsquo;s victories in France,
Italy, and Spain. Madame d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s name was not mentioned in this
list, and Lady Kew felt sure that the outrage came from her.
</p>

<p>
With real ardour Lady Kew sought to defend her grandson from some of the
attacks here made against him; and showed Ethel that the person who could use
such means of calumniating him, would not scruple to resort to falsehood in
order to effect her purpose.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Her purpose!&rdquo; cries Ethel. &ldquo;How do you know it is a
woman?&rdquo; Lady Kew lapsed into generalities. She thought the handwriting
was a woman&rsquo;s&mdash;at least it was not likely that a man should think of
addressing an anonymous letter to a young lady, and so wreaking his hatred upon
Lord Kew. &ldquo;Besides, Frank has had no rivals&mdash;except&mdash;except one
young gentleman who has carried his paint-boxes to Italy,&rdquo; says Lady Kew.
&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t think your dear Colonel&rsquo;s son would leave such a
piece of mischief behind him? You must act, my dear,&rdquo; continued her
ladyship, &ldquo;as if this letter had never been written at all; the person
who wrote it no doubt will watch you. Of course we are too proud to allow him
to see that we are wounded; and pray, pray do not think of letting poor Frank
know a word about this horrid transaction.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Then the letter is true?&rdquo; burst out Ethel. &ldquo;You know it is
true, grandmamma, and that is why you would have me keep it a secret from my
cousin; besides,&rdquo; she added, with a little hesitation, &ldquo;your
caution comes too late, Lord Kew has seen the letter.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You fool!&rdquo; screamed the old lady, &ldquo;you were not so mad as to
show it to him?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am sure the letter is true,&rdquo; Ethel said, rising up very
haughtily. &ldquo;It is not by calling me bad names that your ladyship will
disprove it. Keep them, if you please, for my Aunt Julia; she is sick and weak,
and can&rsquo;t defend herself. I do not choose to bear abuse from you, or
lectures from Lord Kew. He happened to be here a short while since, when the
letter arrived. He had been good enough to come to preach me a sermon on his
own account. He to find fault with my actions!&rdquo; cried Miss Ethel,
quivering with wrath and clenching the luckless paper in her hand. &ldquo;He to
accuse me of levity, and to warn me against making improper acquaintances! He
began his lectures too soon. I am not a lawful slave yet, and prefer to remain
unmolested, at least as long as I am free.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And you told Frank all this, Miss Newcome, and you showed him that
letter?&rdquo; said the old lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The letter was actually brought to me whilst his lordship was in the
midst of his sermon,&rdquo; Ethel replied. &ldquo;I read it as he was making
his speech,&rdquo; she continued, gathering anger and scorn as she recalled the
circumstances of the interview. &ldquo;He was perfectly polite in his language.
He did not call me a fool or use a single other bad name. He was good enough to
advise me and to make such virtuous pretty speeches, that if he had been a
bishop he could not have spoken better; and as I thought the letter was a nice
commentary on his lordship&rsquo;s sermon, I gave it to him. I gave it to
him,&rdquo; cried the young woman, &ldquo;and much good may it do him. I
don&rsquo;t think my Lord Kew will preach to me again for some time.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he will indeed,&rdquo; said Lady Kew, in a hard dry
voice. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know what you may have done. Will you be pleased
to ring the bell and order my carriage? I congratulate you on having performed
a most charming morning&rsquo;s work.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Ethel made her grandmother a very stately curtsey. I pity Lady Julia&rsquo;s
condition when her mother reached home.
</p>

<p>
All who know Lord Kew may be pretty sure that in that unlucky interview with
Ethel, to which the young lady has alluded, he just said no single word to her
that was not kind, and just, and gentle. Considering the relation between them,
he thought himself justified in remonstrating with her as to the conduct which
she chose to pursue, and in warning her against acquaintances of whom his own
experience had taught him the dangerous character. He knew Madame d&rsquo;Ivry
and her friends so well that he would not have his wife-elect a member of their
circle. He could not tell Ethel what he knew of those women and their history.
She chose not to understand his hints&mdash;did not, very likely, comprehend
them. She was quite young, and the stories of such lives as theirs had never
been told before her. She was indignant at the surveillance which Lord Kew
exerted over her, and the authority which he began to assume. At another moment
and in a better frame of mind she would have been thankful for his care, and
very soon and ever after she did justice to his many admirable
qualities&mdash;his frankness, honesty, and sweet temper. Only her high spirit
was in perpetual revolt at this time against the bondage in which her family
strove to keep her. The very worldly advantages of the position which they
offered her served but to chafe her the more. Had her proposed husband been a
young prince with a crown to lay at her feet, she had been yet more indignant
very likely, and more rebellious. Had Kew&rsquo;s younger brother been her
suitor, or Kew in his place, she had been not unwilling to follow her
parents&rsquo; wishes. Hence the revolt in which she was engaged&mdash;the
wayward freaks and outbreaks her haughty temper indulged in. No doubt she saw
the justice of Lord Kew&rsquo;s reproofs. That self-consciousness was not
likely to add to her good-humour. No doubt she was sorry for having shown Lord
Kew the letter the moment after she had done that act, of which the poor young
lady could not calculate the consequences that were now to ensue.
</p>

<p>
Lord Kew, on glancing over the letter, at once divined the quarter whence it
came. The portrait drawn of him was not unlike, as our characters described by
those who hate us are not unlike. He had passed a reckless youth; indeed he was
sad and ashamed of that past life, longed like the poor prodigal to return to
better courses, and had embraced eagerly the chance afforded him of a union
with a woman young, virtuous, and beautiful, against whom and against heaven he
hoped to sin no more. If we have told or hinted at more of his story than will
please the ear of modern conventionalism, I beseech the reader to believe that
the writer&rsquo;s purpose at least is not dishonest, nor unkindly. The young
gentleman hung his head with sorrow over that sad detail of his life and its
follies. What would he have given to be able to say to Ethel, &ldquo;This is
not true.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
His reproaches to Miss Newcome of course were at once stopped by this terrible
assault on himself. The letter had been put in the Baden post-box, and so had
come to its destination. It was in a disguised handwriting. Lord Kew could form
no idea even of the sex of the scribe. He put the envelope in his pocket, when
Ethel&rsquo;s back was turned. He examined the paper when he left her. He could
make little of the superscription or of the wafer which had served to close the
note. He did not choose to caution Ethel as to whether she should burn the
letter or divulge it to her friends. He took his share of the pain, as a boy at
school takes his flogging, stoutly and in silence.
</p>

<p>
When he saw Ethel again, which he did in an hour&rsquo;s time, the generous
young gentleman held his hand out to her. &ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; he said,
&ldquo;if you had loved me you never would have shown me that letter.&rdquo; It
was his only reproof. After that he never again reproved or advised her.
</p>

<p>
Ethel blushed. &ldquo;You are very brave and generous, Frank,&rdquo; said,
bending her head, &ldquo;and I am captious and wicked.&rdquo; He felt the hot
tear blotting on his hand from his cousin&rsquo;s downcast eyes.
</p>

<p>
He kissed her little hand. Lady Anne, who was in the room with her children
when these few words passed between the two in a very low tone, thought it was
a reconciliation. Ethel knew it was a renunciation on Kew&rsquo;s
part&mdash;she never liked him so much as at that moment. The young man was too
modest and simple to guess himself what the girl&rsquo;s feelings were. Could
he have told them, his fate and hers might have been changed.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You must not allow our kind letter-writing friend,&rdquo; Lord Kew
continued, &ldquo;to fancy we are hurt. We must walk out this afternoon, and we
must appear very good friends.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, always, Kew,&rdquo; said Ethel, holding out her hand again. The
next minute her cousin was at the table carving roast-fowls, and distributing
the portions to the hungry children.
</p>

<p>
The assembly of the previous evening had been one of those which the <i>fermier
des jeux</i> at Baden beneficently provides for the frequenters of the place,
and now was to come off a much more brilliant entertainment, in which poor
Clive, who is far into Switzerland by this time, was to have taken a share. The
Bachelors had agreed to give a ball, one of the last entertainments of the
season: a dozen or more of them had subscribed the funds, and we may be sure
Lord Kew&rsquo;s name was at the head of the list, as it was of any list, of
any scheme, whether of charity or fun. The English were invited, and the
Russians were invited; the Spaniards and Italians, Poles, Prussians, and
Hebrews; all the motley frequenters of the place, and the warriors in the Duke
of Baden&rsquo;s army. Unlimited supper was set in the restaurant. The
dancing-room glittered with extra lights, and a profusion of cut-paper flowers
decorated the festive scene. Everybody was present, those crowds with whom our
story has nothing to do, and those two or three groups of persons who enact
minor or greater parts in it. Madame d&rsquo;Ivry came in a dress of stupendous
splendour, even more brilliant than that in which Miss Ethel had figured at the
last assembly. If the Duchess intended to <i>écraser</i> Miss Newcome by the
superior magnificence of her toilet, she was disappointed. Miss Newcome wore a
plain white frock on the occasion, and resumed, Madame d&rsquo;Ivry said, her
<i>rôle</i> of <i>ingenue</i> for that night.
</p>

<p>
During the brief season in which gentlemen enjoyed the favour of Mary Queen of
Scots, that wandering sovereign led them through all the paces and vagaries of
a regular passion. As in a fair, where time is short and pleasures numerous,
the master of the theatrical booth shows you a tragedy, a farce, and a
pantomime, all in a quarter of an hour, having a dozen new audiences to witness
his entertainments in the course of the forenoon; so this lady with her
platonic lovers went through the complete dramatic course,&mdash;tragedies of
jealousy, pantomimes of rapture, and farces of parting. There were billets on
one side and the other; hints of a fatal destiny, and a ruthless, lynx-eyed
tyrant, who held a demoniac grasp over the Duchess by means of certain secrets
which he knew: there were regrets that we had not known each other sooner: why
were we brought out of our convent and sacrificed to Monsieur le Duc? There
were frolic interchanges of fancy and poesy: pretty <i>bouderies;</i> sweet
reconciliations; yawns finally&mdash;and separation. Adolphe went out and
Alphonse came in. It was the new audience; for which the bell rang, the band
played, and the curtain rose; and the tragedy, comedy, and farce were repeated.
</p>

<p>
Those Greenwich performers who appear in the theatrical pieces above-mentioned,
make a great deal more noise than your stationary tragedians; and if they have
to denounce a villain, to declare a passion, or to threaten an enemy, they
roar, stamp, shake their fists, and brandish their sabres, so that every man
who sees the play has surely a full pennyworth for his penny. Thus Madame la
Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry perhaps a little exaggerated her heroines&rsquo; parts
liking to strike her audiences quickly, and also to change them often. Like
good performers, she flung herself heart and soul into the business of the
stage, and was what she acted. She was Phedre, and if in the first part of the
play she was uncommonly tender to Hippolyte, in the second she hated him
furiously. She was Medea, and if Jason was <i>volage</i>, woe to Creusa!
Perhaps our poor Lord Kew had taken the first character in a performance with
Madame d&rsquo;Ivry; for his behaviour in which part it was difficult enough to
forgive him; but when he appeared at Baden the affianced husband of one of the
most beautiful young creatures in Europe,&mdash;when his relatives scorned
Madame d&rsquo;Ivry,&mdash;no wonder she was maddened and enraged, and would
have recourse to revenge, steel, poison.
</p>

<p>
There was in the Duchess&rsquo;s court a young fellow from the South of France,
whose friends had sent him to <i>faire son droit</i> at Paris, where he had
gone through the usual course of pleasure and studies of the young inhabitants
of the Latin Quarter. He had at one time exalted republican opinions, and had
fired his shot with distinction at St. Méri. He was a poet of some little
note&mdash;a book of his lyrics, Les Râles d&rsquo;un Asphyxié, having made a
sensation at the time of their appearance. He drank great quantities of
absinthe of a morning; smoked incessantly; played roulette whenever he could
get a few pieces; contributed to a small journal, and was especially great in
his hatred of <i>l&rsquo;infame Angleterre. Delenda est Carthago</i> was
tattooed beneath his shirt-sleeves. Fifine and Clarisse, young milliners of the
students&rsquo; district, had punctured this terrible motto on his manly right
arm. <i>Le léopard</i>, emblem of England, was his aversion; he shook his fist
at the caged monster in the Garden of Plants. He desired to have &ldquo;Here
lies an enemy of England&rdquo; engraved upon his early tomb. He was skilled at
billiards and dominoes, adroit in the use of arms, of unquestionable courage
and fierceness. Mr. Jones of England was afraid of M. de Castillonnes, and
cowered before his scowls and sarcasms. Captain Blackball, the other English
aide-de-camp of the Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, a warrior of undoubted courage, who
had been &ldquo;on the ground&rdquo; more than once, gave him a wide berth, and
wondered what the little beggar meant when he used to say, &ldquo;Since the
days of the Prince Noir, monsieur, my family has been at feud with
l&rsquo;Angleterre!&rdquo; His family were grocers at Bordeaux, and his
father&rsquo;s name was M. Cabasse. He had married a noble in the revolutionary
times; and the son at Paris called himself Victor Cabasse de Castillonnes;
then Victor C. de Castillonnes; then M. de Castillonnes. One of the followers
of the Black Prince had insulted a lady of the house of Castillonnes, when the
English were lords of Guienne; hence our friend&rsquo;s wrath against the
Leopard. He had written, and afterwards dramatised a terrific legend describing
the circumstances, and the punishment of the Briton by a knight of the
Castillonnes family. A more awful coward never existed in a melodrama than that
felon English knight. His <i>blanche-fille</i>, of course, died of hopeless
love for the conquering Frenchman, her father&rsquo;s murderer. The paper in
which the feuilleton appeared died at the sixth number of the story. The
theatre of the Boulevard refused the drama; so the author&rsquo;s rage against
<i>l&rsquo;infame Albion</i> was yet unappeased. On beholding Miss Newcome,
Victor had fancied a resemblance between her and Agnes de Calverley, the
blanche Miss of his novel and drama, and cast an eye of favour upon the young
creature. He even composed verses in her honour (for I presume that the
&ldquo;Miss Betti&rdquo; and the Princess Crimhilde of the poems which he
subsequently published, were no other than Miss Newcome, and the Duchess, her
rival). He had been one of the lucky gentlemen who had danced with Ethel on the
previous evening. On the occasion of the ball, he came to her with a highflown
compliment, and a request to be once more allowed to waltz with her&mdash;a
request to which he expected a favourable answer, thinking, no doubt, that his
wit, his powers of conversation, and the <i>amour qui flambait dans son
regard</i>, had had their effect upon the charming Meess. Perhaps he had a copy
of the very verses in his breast-pocket, with which he intended to complete his
work of fascination. For her sake alone, he had been heard to say that he would
enter into a truce with England, and forget the hereditary wrongs of his race.
</p>

<p>
But the blanche Miss on this evening declined to waltz with him. His
compliments were not of the least avail. He retired with them and his unuttered
verses in his crumpled bosom. Miss Newcome only danced in one quadrille with
Lord Kew, and left the party quite early, to the despair of many of the
bachelors, who lost the fairest ornament of their ball.
</p>

<p>
Lord Kew, however, had been seen walking with her in public, and particularly
attentive to her during her brief appearance in the ballroom; and the old
Dowager, who regularly attended all places of amusement, and was at twenty
parties and six dinners the week before she died, thought fit to be
particularly gracious to Madame d&rsquo;Ivry upon this evening, and, far from
shunning the Duchesse&rsquo;s presence or being rude to her, as on former
occasions, was entirely smiling and good-humoured. Lady Kew, too, thought there
had been a reconciliation between Ethel and her cousin. Lady Anne had given her
mother some account of the handshaking. Kew&rsquo;s walk with Ethel, the
quadrille which she had danced with him alone, induced the elder lady to
believe that matters had been made up between the young people.
</p>

<p>
So, by way of showing the Duchesse that her little shot of the morning had
failed in its effect, as Frank left the room with his cousin, Lady Kew gaily
hinted, &ldquo;that the young earl was aux petits soins with Miss Ethel; that
she was sure her old friend, the Duc d&rsquo;Ivry, would be glad to hear that
his godson was about to range himself. He would settle down on his estates. He
would attend to his duties as an English peer and a country gentleman. We shall
go home,&rdquo; says the benevolent Countess, &ldquo;and kill the veau gras,
and you shall see our dear prodigal will become a very quiet gentleman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Duchesse said, &ldquo;my Lady Kew&rsquo;s plan was most edifying. She was
charmed to hear that Lady Kew loved veal; there were some who thought that meat
rather insipid.&rdquo; A waltzer came to claim her hand at this moment; and as
she twirled round the room upon that gentleman&rsquo;s arm, wafting odours as
she moved, her pink silks, pink feathers, pink ribands, making a mighty
rustling, the Countess of Kew had the satisfaction of thinking that she had
planted an arrow in that shrivelled little waist, which Count Punter&rsquo;s
arms embraced, and had returned the stab which Madame d&rsquo;Ivry had
delivered in the morning.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Barnes, and his elect bride, had also appeared, danced, and disappeared.
Lady Kew soon followed her young ones; and the ball went on very gaily, in
spite of the absence of these respectable personages.
</p>

<p>
Being one of the managers of the entertainment, Lord Kew returned to it after
conducting Lady Anne and her daughter to their carriage, and now danced with
great vigour, and with his usual kindness, selecting those ladies whom other
waltzers rejected because they were too old, or too plain, or too stout, or
what not. But he did not ask Madame d&rsquo;Ivry to dance. He could condescend
to dissemble so far as to hide the pain which he felt; but did not care to
engage in that more advanced hypocrisy of friendship, which for her part, his
old grandmother had not shown the least scruple in assuming.
</p>

<p>
Amongst other partners, my lord selected that intrepid waltzer, the Gräfinn von
Gumpelheim, who, in spite of her age, size, and large family, never lost a
chance of enjoying her favourite recreation. &ldquo;Look with what a camel my
lord waltzes,&rdquo; said M. Victor to Madame d&rsquo;Ivry, whose slim waist he
had the honour of embracing to the same music. &ldquo;What man but an
Englishman would ever select such a dromedary?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Avant de se marier,&rdquo; said Madame d&rsquo;Ivry, &ldquo;il faut
avouer que my lord se permet d&rsquo;enormes distractions.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My lord marries himself! And when and whom?&rdquo; cried the
Duchesse&rsquo;s partner.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Miss Newcome. Do not you approve of his choice? I thought the eyes of
Stenio&rdquo; (the Duchess called M. Victor, Stenio) &ldquo;looked with some
favour upon that little person. She is handsome, even very handsome. Is it not
so often in life, Stenio? Are not youth and innocence (I give Miss Ethel the
compliment of her innocence, now surtout that the little painter is
dismissed)&mdash;are we not cast into the arms of jaded roues? Tender young
flowers, are we not torn from our convent gardens, and flung into a world of
which the air poisons our pure life, and withers the sainted buds of hope and
love and faith? Faith! The mocking world tramples on it, n&rsquo;est-ce pas?
Love! The brutal world strangles the heaven-born infant at its birth. Hope! It
smiled at me in my little convent chamber, played among the flowers which I
cherished, warbled with the birds that I loved. But it quitted me at the door
of the world, Stenio. It folded its white wings and veiled its radiant face! In
return for my young love, they gave me&mdash;sixty years, the dregs of a
selfish heart, egotism cowering over its fire, and cold for all its mantle of
ermine! In place of the sweet flowers of my young years, they gave me these,
Stenio!&rdquo; and she pointed to her feathers and her artificial roses.
&ldquo;Oh, I should like to crush them under my feet!&rdquo; and she put out
the neatest little slipper. The Duchesse was great upon her wrongs, and paraded
her blighted innocence to every one who would feel interested by that piteous
spectacle. The music here burst out more swiftly and melodiously than before;
the pretty little feet forgot their desire to trample upon the world. She
shrugged the lean little shoulders&mdash;&ldquo;Eh!&rdquo; said the Queen of
Scots, &ldquo;dansons et oublions;&rdquo; and Stenio&rsquo;s arm once more
surrounded her fairy waist (she called herself a fairy; other ladies called her
a skeleton); and they whirled away in the waltz again and presently she and
Stenio came bumping up against the stalwart Lord Kew and the ponderous Madame
de Gumpelheim, as a wherry dashes against the oaken ribs of a steamer.
</p>

<p>
The little couple did not fall; they were struck on to a neighbouring bench,
luckily: but there was a laugh at the expense of Stenio and the Queen of
Scots&mdash;and Lord Kew, settling his panting partner on to a seat, came up to
make excuses for his awkwardness to the lady who had been its victim. At the
laugh produced by the catastrophe, the Duchesse&rsquo;s eyes gleamed with
anger.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;M. de Castillonnes,&rdquo; she said to her partner, &ldquo;have you had
any quarrel with that Englishman?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;With ce milor? But no,&rdquo; said Stenio.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He did it on purpose. There has been no day but his family has insulted
me!&rdquo; hissed out the Duchesse, and at this moment Lord Kew came up to make
his apologies. He asked a thousand pardons of Madame la Duchesse for being so
maladroit.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Maladroit! et tres maladroit, monsieur,&rdquo; says Stenio, curling his
moustache; &ldquo;c&rsquo;est bien le mot, monsieur!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Also, I make my excuses to Madame la Duchesse, which I hope she will
receive,&rdquo; said Lord Kew. The Duchesse shrugged her shoulders and sunk her
head.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When one does not know how to dance, one ought not to dance,&rdquo;
continued the Duchesse&rsquo;s knight.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Monsieur is very good to give me lessons in dancing,&rdquo; said Lord
Kew.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Any lessons which you please, milor!&rdquo; cries Stenio; &ldquo;and
everywhere where you will them.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lord Kew looked at the little man with surprise. He could not understand so
much anger for so trifling an accident, which happens a dozen times in every
crowded ball. He again bowed to the Duchesse, and walked away.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This is your Englishman&mdash;your Kew, whom you vaunt
everywhere,&rdquo; said Stenio to M. de Florac, who was standing by and
witnessed the scene. &ldquo;Is he simply bête, or is he poltroon as well? I
believe him to be both.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Silence, Victor!&rdquo; cried Florac, seizing his arm, and drawing him
away. &ldquo;You know me, and that I am neither one or the other. Believe my
word, that my Lord Kew wants neither courage nor wit!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Will you be my witness, Florac?&rdquo; continues the other.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;To take him your excuses? yes. It is you who have insulted&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, parbleu, I have insulted!&rdquo; says the Gascon.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&mdash;A man who never willingly offended soul alive. A man full of
heart: the most frank: the most loyal. I have seen him put to the proof, and
believe me he is all I say.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Eh! so much the better for me!&rdquo; cried the Southron. &ldquo;I shall
have the honour of meeting a gallant man: and there will be two on the
field.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;They are making a tool of you, my poor Gascon,&rdquo; said M. de Florac,
who saw Madame d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s eyes watching the couple. She presently
took the arm of the noble Count de Punter, and went for fresh air into the
adjoining apartment, where play was going on as usual; and Lord Kew and his
friend Lord Rooster were pacing the room apart from the gamblers.
</p>

<p>
My Lord Rooster, at something which Kew said, looked puzzled, and said,
&ldquo;Pooh, stuff, damned little Frenchman! Confounded nonsense!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I was searching you, milor!&rdquo; said Madame d&rsquo;Ivry, in a most
winning tone, tripping behind him with her noiseless little feet. &ldquo;Allow
me a little word. Your arm! You used to give it me once, mon filleul! I hope
you think nothing of the rudeness of M. de Castillonnes; he is a foolish
Gascon: he must have been too often to the buffet this evening.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lord Kew said, No, indeed, he thought nothing of de Castillonnes&rsquo;
rudeness.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am so glad! These heroes of the salle-d&rsquo;armes have not the
commonest manners. These Gascons are always flamberge au vent. What would the
charming Miss Ethel say, if she heard of the dispute?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed there is no reason why she should hear of it,&rdquo; said Lord
Kew, &ldquo;unless some obliging friend should communicate it to her.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Communicate it to her&mdash;the poor dear! who would be so cruel as to
give her pain?&rdquo; asked the innocent Duchesse. &ldquo;Why do you look at me
so, Frank?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Because I admire you,&rdquo; said her interlocutor, with a bow. &ldquo;I
have never seen Madame la Duchesse to such advantage as to-day.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You speak in enigmas! Come back with me to the ballroom. Come and dance
with me once more. You used to dance with me. Let us have one waltz more, Kew.
And then, and then, in a day or two I shall go back to Monsieur le Duc, and
tell him that his filleul is going to marry the fairest of all Englishwomen and
to turn hermit in the country, and orator in the Chamber of Peers. You have
wit! ah si&mdash;you have wit!&rdquo; And she led back Lord Kew, rather amazed
himself at what he was doing, into the ballroom; so that the good-natured
people who were there, and who beheld them dancing, could not refrain from
clapping their hands at the sight of this couple.
</p>

<p>
The Duchess danced as if she was bitten by that Neapolitan spider which,
according to the legend, is such a wonderful dance-incentor. She would have the
music quicker and quicker. She sank on Kew&rsquo;s arm, and clung on his
support. She poured out all the light of her languishing eyes into his face.
Their glances rather confused than charmed him. But the bystanders were
pleased; they thought it so good-hearted of the Duchesse, after the little
quarrel, to make a public avowal of reconciliation!
</p>

<p>
Lord Rooster looking on, at the entrance of the dancing-room, over Monsieur de
Florac&rsquo;s shoulder, said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right! She&rsquo;s a
clipper to dance, the little Duchess.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The viper!&rdquo; said Florac, &ldquo;how she writhes!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I suppose that business with the Frenchman is all over,&rdquo; says Lord
Rooster. &ldquo;Confounded piece of nonsense.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You believe it finished? We shall see!&rdquo; said Florac, who perhaps
knew his fair cousin better. When the waltz was over, Kew led his partner to a
seat, and bowed to her; but though she made room for him at her side, pointing
to it, and gathering up her rustling robes so that he might sit down, he moved
away, his face full of gloom. He never wished to be near her again. There was
something more odious to him in her friendship than her hatred. He knew hers
was the hand that had dealt that stab at him and Ethel in the morning. He went
back and talked with his two friends in the doorway. &ldquo;Couch yourself, my
little Kiou,&rdquo; said Florac. &ldquo;You are all pale. You were best in bed,
mon garçon!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She has made me promise to take her in to supper,&rdquo; Kew said, with
a sigh.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She will poison you,&rdquo; said the other. &ldquo;Why have they
abolished the roue chez nous? My word of honour they should retabliche it for
this woman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There is one in the next room,&rdquo; said Kew, with a laugh,
&ldquo;Come, Vicomte, let us try our fortune,&rdquo; and he walked back into
the play-room.
</p>

<p>
That was the last night on which Lord Kew ever played a gambling game. He won
constantly. The double zero seemed to obey him; so that the croupiers wondered
at his fortune. Florac backed it; saying with the superstition of a gambler,
&ldquo;I am sure something goes to arrive to this boy.&rdquo; From time to time
M. de Florac went back to the dancing-room, leaving his mise under Kew&rsquo;s
charge. He always found his heaps increased; indeed the worthy Vicomte wanted a
turn of luck in his favour. On one occasion he returned with a grave face,
saying to Lord Rooster, &ldquo;She has the other one in hand. We are going to
see.&rdquo; &ldquo;Trente-six encor! et rouge gagne,&rdquo; cried the croupier
with his nasal tone, Monsieur de Florac&rsquo;s pockets overflowed with double
Napoleons, and he stopped his play, luckily, for Kew putting down his winnings,
once, twice, thrice, lost them all.
</p>

<p>
When Lord Kew had left the dancing-room, Madame d&rsquo;Ivry saw Stenio
following him with fierce looks, and called back that bearded bard. &ldquo;You
were going to pursue M. de Kew,&rdquo; she said: &ldquo;I knew you were. Sit
down here, sir,&rdquo; and she patted him down on her seat with her fan.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you wish that I should call him back, madame?&rdquo; said the poet,
with the deepest tragic accents.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I can bring him when I want him, Victor,&rdquo; said the lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Let us hope others will be equally fortunate,&rdquo; the Gascon said,
with one hand in his breast, the other stroking his moustache.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Fi, monsieur, que vous sentez le tabac! je vous le défends,
entendez-vous, monsieur?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pourtant, I have seen the day when Madame la Duchesse did not disdain a
cigar,&rdquo; said Victor. &ldquo;If the odour incommodes, permit that I
retire.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And you also would quit me, Stenio? Do you think I did not mark your
eyes towards Miss Newcome? your anger when she refused you to dance? Ah! we see
all. A woman does not deceive herself, do you see? You send me beautiful
verses, Poet. You can write as well of a statue or a picture, of a rose or a
sunset, as of the heart of a woman. You were angry just now because I danced
with M. de Kew. Do you think in a woman&rsquo;s eyes jealousy is
unpardonable?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You know how to provoke it, madame,&rdquo; continued the tragedian.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Monsieur,&rdquo; replied the lady, with dignity, &ldquo;am I to render
you an account of all my actions, and ask your permission for a walk?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;In fact, I am but the slave, madame,&rdquo; groaned the Gascon, &ldquo;I
am not the master.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You are a very rebellious slave, monsieur,&rdquo; continues the lady,
with a pretty moue, and a glance of the large eyes artfully brightened by her
rouge. &ldquo;Suppose&mdash;suppose I danced with M. de Kew, not for his
sake&mdash;Heaven knows to dance with him is not a pleasure&mdash;but for
yours. Suppose I do not want a foolish quarrel to proceed. Suppose I know that
he is ni sot ni poltron as you pretend. I overheard you, sir, talking with one
of the basest of men, my good cousin, M. de Florac: but it is not of him I
speak. Suppose I know the Comte de Kew to be a man, cold and insolent,
ill-bred, and grossier, as the men of his nation are&mdash;but one who lacks no
courage&mdash;one who is terrible when roused; might I have no occasion to
fear, not for him, but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But for me! Ah, Marie! Ah, madame! Believe you that a man of my blood
will yield a foot to any Englishman? Do you know the story of my race? do you
know that since my childhood I have vowed hatred to that nation? Tenez, madame,
this M. Jones who frequents your salon, it was but respect for you that has
enabled me to keep my patience with this stupid islander. This Captain
Blackball, whom you distinguish, who certainly shoots well, who mounts well to
horse, I have always thought his manners were those of the marker of a
billiard. But I respect him because he has made war with Don Carlos against the
English. But this young M. de Kew, his laugh crisps me the nerves; his insolent
air makes me bound; in beholding him I said to myself, I hate you; think
whether I love him better after having seen him as I did but now,
madame!&rdquo; Also, but this Victor did not say, he thought Kew had laughed at
him at the beginning of the evening, when the blanche Miss had refused to dance
with him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ah, Victor, it is not him, but you that I would save,&rdquo; said the
Duchess. And the people round about, and the Duchess herself, afterwards said,
yes, certainly, she had a good heart. She entreated Lord Kew; she implored M.
Victor; she did everything in her power to appease the quarrel between him and
the Frenchman.
</p>

<p>
After the ball came the supper, which was laid at separate little tables, where
parties of half a dozen enjoyed themselves. Lord Kew was of the Duchess&rsquo;s
party, where our Gascon friend had not a seat. But being one of the managers of
the entertainment, his lordship went about from table to table, seeing that the
guests at each lacked nothing. He supposed too that the dispute with the Gascon
had possibly come to an end; at any rate, disagreeable as the other&rsquo;s
speech had been, he had resolved to put up with it, not having the least
inclination to drink the Frenchman&rsquo;s blood, or to part with his own on so
absurd a quarrel. He asked people in his good-natured way to drink wine with
him; and catching M. Victor&rsquo;s eye scowling at him from a distant table,
he sent a waiter with a champagne-bottle to his late opponent, and lifted his
glass as a friendly challenge. The waiter carried the message to M. Victor,
who, when he heard it, turned up his glass, and folded his arms in a stately
manner. &ldquo;M. de Castillonnes dit qu&rsquo;il refuse, milor,&rdquo; said
the waiter, rather scared. &ldquo;He charged me to bring that message to
milor.&rdquo; Florac ran across to the angry Gascon. It was not while at Madame
d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s table that Lord Kew sent his challenge and received his
reply; his duties as steward had carried him away from that pretty early.
</p>

<p>
Meanwhile the glimmering dawn peered into the windows of the refreshment-room,
and behold, the sun broke in and scared all the revellers. The ladies scurried
away like so many ghosts at cock-crow, some of them not caring to face that
detective luminary. Cigars had been lighted ere this; the men remained smoking
them with those sleepless German waiters still bringing fresh supplies of
drink. Lord Kew gave the Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry his arm, and was leading her
out; M. de Castillonnes stood scowling directly in their way, upon which, with
rather an abrupt turn of the shoulder, and a &ldquo;Pardon, monsieur,&rdquo;
Lord Kew pushed by, and conducted the Duchesse to her carriage. She did not in
the least see what had happened between the two gentlemen in the passage; she
ogled, and nodded, and kissed her hands quite affectionately to Kew as the fly
drove away.
</p>

<p>
Florac in the meanwhile had seized his compatriot, who had drunk champagne
copiously with others, if not with Kew, and was in vain endeavouring to make
him hear reason. The Gascon was furious; he vowed that Lord Kew had struck him.
&ldquo;By the tomb of my mother,&rdquo; he bellowed, &ldquo;I swear I will have
his blood!&rdquo; Lord Rooster was bawling out, &ldquo;D&mdash;&mdash; him,
carry him to bed, and shut him up;&rdquo; which remarks Victor did not
understand, or two victims would doubtless have been sacrificed on his
mamma&rsquo;s mausoleum.
</p>

<p>
When Kew came back (as he was only too sure to do), the little Gascon rushed
forward with a glove in his hand, and having an audience of smokers round about
him, made a furious speech about England, leopards, cowardice, insolent
islanders, and Napoleon at St. Helena; and demanded reason for Kew&rsquo;s
conduct during the night. As he spoke, he advanced towards Lord Kew, glove in
hand, and lifted it as if he was actually going to strike.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There is no need for further words,&rdquo; said Lord Kew, taking his
cigar out of his mouth. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t drop that glove, upon my word
I will pitch you out of the window. Ha!&mdash;Pick the man up, somebody.
You&rsquo;ll bear witness, gentlemen, I couldn&rsquo;t help myself. If he wants
me in the morning, he knows where to find me.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I declare that my Lord Kew has acted with great forbearance, and under
the most brutal provocation&mdash;the most brutal provocation, entendez-vows,
M. Cabasse?&rdquo; cried out M. de Florac, rushing forward to the Gascon, who
had now risen; &ldquo;monsieur&rsquo;s conduct has been unworthy of a Frenchman
and a gallant homme.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;D&mdash;&mdash; it, he has had it on his nob, though,&rdquo; said Lord
Viscount Rooster, laconically.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ah, Roosterre! ceci n&rsquo;est pas pour rire,&rdquo; Florac cried
sadly, as they both walked away with Lord Kew; &ldquo;I wish that first blood
was all that was to be shed in this quarrel&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Gaw! how he did go down!&rdquo; cried Rooster, convulsed with laughter.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am very sorry for it,&rdquo; said Kew, quite seriously; &ldquo;I
couldn&rsquo;t help it. God forgive me.&rdquo; And he hung down his head. He
thought of the past, and its levities, and punishment coming after him <i>pede
claudo</i>. It was with all his heart the contrite young man said &ldquo;God
forgive me.&rdquo; He would take what was to follow as the penalty of what had
gone before.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pallas te hoc vulnere, Pallas immolat, mon pauvre Kiou,&rdquo; said his
French friend. And Lord Rooster, whose classical education had been much
neglected, turned round and said, &ldquo;Hullo, mate, what ship&rsquo;s
that?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Viscount Rooster had not been two hours in bed, when the Count de Punter
(formerly of the Black Jägers) waited upon him upon the part of M. de
Castillonnes and the Earl of Kew, who had referred him to the Viscount to
arrange matters for a meeting between them. As the meeting must take place out
of the Baden territory, and they ought to move before the police prevented
them, the Count proposed that they should at once make for France; where, as it
was an affair of honneur, they would assuredly be let to enter without
passports.
</p>

<p>
Lady Anne and Lady Kew heard that the gentlemen after the ball had all gone out
on a hunting-party, and were not alarmed for four-and-twenty hours at least. On
the next day none of them returned; and on the day after, the family heard that
Lord Kew had met with rather a dangerous accident; but all the town knew he had
been shot by M. de Castillonnes on one of the islands on the Rhine, opposite
Kehl, where he was now lying.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0035" id="link2HCH0035"></a>
CHAPTER XXXV.<br/>
Across the Alps</h2>

<p>
Our discursive muse must now take her place in the little britzska in which
Clive Newcome and his companions are travelling, and cross the Alps in that
vehicle, beholding the snows on St. Gothard, and the beautiful region through
which the Ticino rushes on its way to the Lombard lakes, and the corn-covered
great plains of the Milanese; and that royal city, with the cathedral for its
glittering crown, only less magnificent than the imperial dome of Rome. I have
some long letters from Mr. Clive, written during this youthful tour, every step
of which, from the departure at Baden, to the gate of Milan, he describes as
beautiful; and doubtless, the delightful scenes through which the young man
went, had their effect in soothing any private annoyances with which his
journey commenced. The aspect of nature, in that fortunate route which he took,
is so noble and cheering, that our private affairs and troubles shrink away
abashed before that serene splendour. O sweet peaceful scene of azure lake, and
snow-crowned mountain, so wonderfully lovely is your aspect, that it seems like
heaven almost, and as if grief and care could not enter it! What young
Clive&rsquo;s private cares were I knew not as yet in those days; and he kept
them out of his letters; it was only in the intimacy of future life that some
of these pains were revealed to me.
</p>

<p>
Some three months after taking leave of Miss Ethel, our young gentleman found
himself at Rome, with his friend Ridley still for a companion. Many of us,
young or middle-aged, have felt that delightful shock which the first sight of
the great city inspires. There is one other place of which the view strikes one
with an emotion even greater than that with which we look at Rome, where
Augustus was reigning when He saw the day, whose birthplace is separated but by
a hill or two from the awful gates of Jerusalem. Who that has beheld both can
forget that first aspect of either? At the end of years the emotion occasioned
by the sight still thrills in your memory, and it smites you as at the moment
when you first viewed it.
</p>

<p>
The business of the present novel, however, lies neither with priest nor pagan,
but with Mr. Clive Newcome, and his affairs and his companions at this period
of his life. Nor, if the gracious reader expects to hear of cardinals in
scarlet, and noble Roman princes and princesses, will he find such in this
history. The only noble Roman into whose mansion our friend got admission was
the Prince Polonia, whose footmen wear the liveries of the English royal
family, who gives gentlemen and even painters cash upon good letters of credit;
and, once or twice in a season, opens his transtiberine palace and treats his
customers to a ball. Our friend Clive used jocularly to say, he believed there
were no Romans. There were priests in portentous hats; there were friars with
shaven crowns; there were the sham peasantry, who dressed themselves out in
masquerade costumes, with bagpipe and goatskin, with crossed leggings and
scarlet petticoats, who let themselves out to artists at so many pauls per
sitting; but he never passed a Roman&rsquo;s door except to buy a cigar or to
purchase a handkerchief. Thither, as elsewhere, we carry our insular habits
with us. We have a little England at Paris, a little England at Munich,
Dresden, everywhere. Our friend is an Englishman, and did at Rome as the
English do.
</p>

<p>
There was the polite English society, the society that flocks to see the
Colosseum lighted up with blue fire, that flocks to the Vatican to behold the
statues by torchlight, that hustles into the churches on public festivals in
black veils and deputy-lieutenants&rsquo; uniforms, and stares, and talks, and
uses opera-glasses while the pontiffs of the Roman Church are performing its
ancient rites, and the crowds of faithful are kneeling round the altars; the
society which gives its balls and dinners, has its scandal and bickerings, its
aristocrats, parvenus, toadies imported from Belgravia; has its club, its hunt,
and its Hyde Park on the Pincio: and there is the other little English world,
the broad-hatted, long-bearded, velvet-jacketed, jovial colony of the artists,
who have their own feasts, haunts, and amusements by the side of their
aristocratic compatriots, with whom but few of them have the honour to mingle.
</p>

<p>
J. J. and Clive engaged pleasant lofty apartments in the Via Gregoriana.
Generations of painters had occupied these chambers and gone their way. The
windows of their painting-room looked into a quaint old garden, where there
were ancient statues of the Imperial time, a babbling fountain and noble
orange-trees with broad clustering leaves and golden balls of fruit, glorious
to look upon. Their walks abroad were endlessly pleasant and delightful. In
every street there were scores of pictures of the graceful characteristic
Italian life, which our painters seem one and all to reject, preferring to
depict their quack brigands, contadini, pifferari, and the like, because
Thompson painted them before Jones, and Jones before Thompson, and so on,
backwards into time. There were the children at play, the women huddled round
the steps of the open doorways, in the kindly Roman winter; grim, portentous
old hags, such as Michael Angelo painted, draped in majestic raggery; mothers
and swarming bambins; slouching countrymen, dark of beard and noble of
countenance, posed in superb attitudes, lazy, tattered, and majestic. There
came the red troops, the black troops, the blue troops of the army of priests;
the snuffy regiments of Capuchins, grave and grotesque; the trim French abbés;
my lord the bishop, with his footman (those wonderful footmen); my lord the
cardinal, in his ramshackle coach and his two, nay three, footmen behind
him;&mdash;flunkeys, that look as if they had been dressed by the costumier of
a British pantomime; coach with prodigious emblazonments of hats and
coats-of-arms, that seems as if it came out of the pantomime too, and was about
to turn into something else. So it is, that what is grand to some
persons&rsquo; eyes appears grotesque to others; and for certain sceptical
persons, that step, which we have heard of, between the sublime and the
ridiculous, is not visible.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish it were not so,&rdquo; writes Clive, in one of the letters
wherein he used to pour his full heart out in those days. &ldquo;I see these
people at their devotions, and envy them their rapture. A friend, who belongs
to the old religion, took me, last week, into a church where the Virgin lately
appeared in person to a Jewish gentleman, flashed down upon him from heaven in
light and splendour celestial, and, of course, straightway converted him. My
friend bade me look at the picture, and, kneeling down beside me, I know prayed
with all his honest heart that the truth might shine down upon me too; but I
saw no glimpse of heaven at all. I saw but a poor picture, an altar with
blinking candles, a church hung with tawdry strips of red and white calico. The
good, kind W&mdash;&mdash; went away, humbly saying &lsquo;that such might have
happened again if heaven so willed it.&rsquo; I could not but feel a kindness
and admiration for the good man. I know his works are made to square with his
faith, that he dines on a crust, lives as chaste as a hermit, and gives his all
to the poor.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Our friend J. J., very different to myself in so many respects, so
superior in all, is immensely touched by these ceremonies. They seem to answer
to some spiritual want of his nature, and he comes away satisfied as from a
feast, where I have only found vacancy. Of course our first pilgrimage was to
St. Peter&rsquo;s. What a walk! Under what noble shadows does one pass; how
great and liberal the houses are, with generous casements and courts, and great
grey portals which giants might get through and keep their turbans on. Why, the
houses are twice as tall as Lamb Court itself; and over them hangs a noble
dinge, a venerable mouldy splendour. Over the solemn portals are ancient mystic
escutcheons&mdash;vast shields of princes and cardinals, such as
Ariosto&rsquo;s knights might take down; and every figure about them is a
picture by himself. At every turn there is a temple: in every court a brawling
fountain. Besides the people of the streets and houses, and the army of priests
black and brown, there&rsquo;s a great silent population of marble. There are
battered gods tumbled out of Olympus and broken in the fall, and set up under
niches and over fountains; there are senators namelessly, noselessly,
noiselessly seated under archways, or lurking in courts and gardens. And then,
besides these defunct ones, of whom these old figures may be said to be the
corpses, there is the reigning family, a countless carved hierarchy of angels,
saints, confessors of the latter dynasty which has conquered the court of Jove.
I say, Pen, I wish Warrington would write the history of the Last of the
Pagans. Did you never have a sympathy for them as the monks came rushing into
their temples, kicking down their poor altars, smashing the fair calm faces of
their gods, and sending their vestals a-flying? They are always preaching here
about the persecution of the Christians. Are not the churches full of martyrs
with choppers in their meek heads; virgins on gridirons; riddled St.
Sebastians, and the like? But have they never persecuted in their turn? O me!
You and I know better, who were bred up near to the pens of Smithfield, where
Protestants and Catholics have taken their turn to be roasted.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You pass through an avenue of angels and saints on the bridge across
Tiber, all in action; their great wings seem clanking, their marble garments
clapping; St. Michael, descending upon the Fiend, has been caught and
bronzified just as he lighted on the Castle of St. Angelo: his enemy doubtless
fell crushing through the roof and so downwards. He is as natural as blank
verse&mdash;that bronze angel-set, rhythmic, grandiose. You&rsquo;ll see, some
day or other, he&rsquo;s a great sonnet, sir, I&rsquo;m sure of that. Milton
wrote in bronze; I am sure Virgil polished off his Georgics in
marble&mdash;sweet calm shapes! exquisite harmonies of line! As for the Aeneid;
that, sir, I consider to be so many bas-reliefs, mural ornaments which affect
me not much.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think I have lost sight of St. Peter&rsquo;s, haven&rsquo;t I? Yet it
is big enough. How it makes your heart beat when you first see it! Ours did as
we came in at night from Civita Vecchia, and saw a great ghostly darkling dome
rising solemnly up into the grey night, and keeping us company ever so long as
we drove, as if it had been an orb fallen out of heaven with its light put out.
As you look at it from the Pincio, and the sun sets behind it, surely that
aspect of earth and sky is one of the grandest in the world. I don&rsquo;t like
to say that the facade of the church is ugly and obtrusive. As long as the dome
overawes, that facade is supportable. You advance towards it&mdash;through, oh,
such a noble court! with fountains flashing up to meet the sunbeams; and right
and left of you two sweeping half-crescents of great columns; but you pass by
the courtiers and up to the steps of the throne, and the dome seems to
disappear behind it. It is as if the throne was upset, and the king had toppled
over.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There must be moments, in Rome especially, when every man of friendly
heart, who writes himself English and Protestant, must feel a pang at thinking
that he and his countrymen are insulated from European Christendom. An ocean
separates us. From one shore or the other one can see the neighbour cliffs on
clear days: one must wish sometimes that there were no stormy gulf between us;
and from Canterbury to Rome a pilgrim could pass, and not drown beyond Dover.
Of the beautiful parts of the great Mother Church I believe among us many
people have no idea; we think of lazy friars, of pining cloistered virgins, of
ignorant peasants worshipping wood and stones, bought and sold indulgences,
absolutions, and the like commonplaces of Protestant satire. Lo! yonder
inscription, which blazes round the dome of the temple, so great and glorious
it looks like heaven almost, and as if the words were written in stars, it
proclaims to all the world, this is that Peter, and on this rock the Church
shall be built, against which Hell shall not prevail. Under the bronze canopy
his throne is lit with lights that have been burning before it for ages. Round
this stupendous chamber are ranged the grandees of his court. Faith seems to be
realised in their marble figures. Some of them were alive but yesterday;
others, to be as blessed as they, walk the world even now doubtless; and the
commissioners of heaven, here holding their court a hundred years hence, shall
authoritatively announce their beatification. The signs of their power shall
not be wanting. They heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, cause the lame
to walk to-day as they did eighteen centuries ago. Are there not crowds ready
to bear witness to their wonders? Isn&rsquo;t there a tribunal appointed to try
their claims; advocates to plead for and against; prelates and clergy and
multitudes of faithful to back and believe them? Thus you shall kiss the hand
of a priest to-day, who has given his to a friar whose bones are already
beginning to work miracles, who has been the disciple of another whom the
Church has just proclaimed a saint,&mdash;hand in hand they hold by one another
till the line is lost up in heaven. Come, friend, let us acknowledge this, and
go and kiss the toe of St. Peter. Alas! there&rsquo;s the Channel always
between us; and we no more believe in the miracles of St. Thomas of Canterbury,
than that the bones of His Grace John Bird, who sits in St. Thomas&rsquo;s
chair presently, will work wondrous cures in the year 2000: that his statue
will speak, or his portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence will wink.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;So, you see, at those grand ceremonies which the Roman Church exhibits
at Christmas, I looked on as a Protestant. Holy Father on his throne or in his
palanquin, cardinals with their tails and their train-bearers, mitred bishops
and abbots, regiments of friars and clergy, relics exposed for adoration,
columns draped, altars illuminated, incense smoking, organs pealing, and boxes
of piping soprani, Swiss guards with slashed breeches and fringed
halberts;&mdash;between us and all this splendour of old-world ceremony,
there&rsquo;s an ocean flowing: and yonder old statue of Peter might have been
Jupiter again, surrounded by a procession of flamens and augurs, and Augustus
as Pontifex Maximus, to inspect the sacrifices,&mdash;and my feelings at the
spectacle had been, doubtless, pretty much the same.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Shall I utter any more heresies? I am an unbeliever in Raphael&rsquo;s
&lsquo;Transfiguration&rsquo;&mdash;the scream of that devil-possessed boy, in
the lower part of the figure of eight (a stolen boy too), jars the whole music
of the composition. On Michael Angelo&rsquo;s great wall, the grotesque and
terrible are not out of place. What an awful achievement! Fancy the state of
mind of the man who worked it&mdash;as alone, day after day, he devised and
drew those dreadful figures! Suppose in the days of the Olympian dynasty, the
subdued Titan rebels had been set to ornament a palace for Jove, they would
have brought in some such tremendous work: or suppose that Michael descended to
the Shades, and brought up this picture out of the halls of Limbo. I like a
thousand and a thousand times better to think of Raphael&rsquo;s loving spirit.
As he looked at women and children, his beautiful face must have shone like
sunshine: his kind hand must have caressed the sweet figures as he formed them.
If I protest against the &lsquo;Transfiguration,&rsquo; and refuse to worship
at that altar before which so many generations have knelt, there are hundreds
of others which I salute thankfully. It is not so much in the set harangues (to
take another metaphor), as in the daily tones and talk that his voice is so
delicious. Sweet poetry, and music, and tender hymns drop from him: he lifts
his pencil, and something gracious falls from it on the paper. How noble his
mind must have been! it seems but to receive, and his eye seems only to rest
on, what is great, and generous, and lovely. You walk through crowded
galleries, where are pictures ever so large and pretentious; and come upon a
grey paper, or a little fresco, bearing his mark-and over all the brawl and the
throng recognise his sweet presence. &lsquo;I would like to have you been
Giulio Romano,&rsquo; J. J. says (who does not care for Giulio&rsquo;s
pictures), &lsquo;because then I would have been Raphael&rsquo;s favourite
pupil.&rsquo; We agreed that we would rather have seen him and William
Shakspeare, than all the men we ever read of. Fancy poisoning a fellow out of
envy&mdash;as Spagnoletto did! There are some men whose admiration takes that
bilious shape. There&rsquo;s a fellow in our mess at the Lepre, a clever enough
fellow too&mdash;and not a bad fellow to the poor. He was a Gandishite. He is a
genre and portrait painter, by the name of Haggard. He hates J. J. because Lord
Fareham, who is here, has given J. J. an order; and he hates me, because I wear
a clean shirt, and ride a cock-horse.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish you could come to our mess at the Lepre. It&rsquo;s such a
dinner: such a tablecloth: such a waiter: such a company! Every man has a beard
and a sombrero: and you would fancy we were a band of brigands. We are regaled
with woodcocks, snipes, wild swans, ducks, robins, and owls and
&#959;&#7984;&#969;&#957;&#959;&#8150;&#963;&#953; &#964;&#949;
&#960;&#8118;&#963;&#953; for dinner; and with three pauls&rsquo; worth of
wines and victuals the hungriest has enough, even Claypole the sculptor. Did
you ever know him? He used to come to the Haunt. He looks like the
Saracen&rsquo;s head with his beard now. There is a French table still more
hairy than ours, a German table, an American table. After dinner we go and have
coffee and mezzo-caldo at the Café Greco over the way. Mezzo-caldo is not a bad
drink&mdash;a little rum&mdash;a slice of fresh citron&mdash;lots of pounded
sugar, and boiling water for the rest. Here in various parts of the cavern (it
is a vaulted low place) the various nations have their assigned quarters, and
we drink our coffee and strong waters, and abuse Guido, or Rubens, or Bernini
<i>selon les goûts</i>, and blow such a cloud of smoke as would make
Warrington&rsquo;s lungs dilate with pleasure. We get very good cigars for a
bajoccho and half&mdash;that is very good for us, cheap tobaccanalians; and
capital when you have got no others. M&rsquo;Collop is here: he made a great
figure at a cardinal&rsquo;s reception in the tartan of the M&rsquo;Collop. He
is splendid at the tomb of the Stuarts, and wanted to cleave Haggard down to
the chine with his claymore for saying that Charles Edward was often drunk.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Some of us have our breakfasts at the Café Greco at dawn. The birds are
very early birds here; and you&rsquo;ll see the great sculptors&mdash;the old
Dons, you know, who look down on us young fellows&mdash;at their coffee here
when it is yet twilight. As I am a swell, and have a servant, J. J. and I
breakfast at our lodgings. I wish you could see Terribile our attendant, and
Ottavia our old woman! You will see both of them on the canvas one day. When he
<i>hasn&rsquo;t</i> blacked our boots and has got our breakfast, Terribile the
valet-de-chambre becomes Terribile the model. He has figured on a hundred
canvases ere this, and almost ever since he was born. All his family were
models. His mother having been a Venus, is now a Witch of Endor. His father is
in the patriarchal line: he has himself done the cherubs, the shepherd-boys,
and now is a grown man, and ready as a warrior, a pifferaro, a capuchin, or
what you will.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;After the coffee and the Café Greco we all go to the Life Academy. After
the Life Academy, those who belong to the world dress and go out to tea-parties
just as if we were in London. Those who are not in society have plenty of fun
of their own&mdash;and better fun than the tea-party fun too. Jack Screwby has
a night once a week, sardines and ham for supper, and a cask of Marsala in the
corner. Your humble servant entertains on Thursdays: which is Lady
Fitch&rsquo;s night too; and I flatter myself some of the London dandies who
are passing the winter here, prefer the cigars and humble liquors which we
dispense, to tea and Miss Fitch&rsquo;s performance on the pianoforte.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What is that I read in <i>Galignani</i> about Lord K&mdash; and an
affair of honour at Baden? Is it my dear kind jolly Kew with whom some one has
quarrelled? I know those who will be even more grieved than I am, should
anything happen to the best of good fellows. A great friend of Lord
Kew&rsquo;s, Jack Belsize commonly called, came with us from Baden through
Switzerland, and we left him at Milan. I see by the paper that his elder
brother is dead and so poor Jack will be a great man some day. I wish the
chance had happened sooner if it was to befall at all. So my amiable cousin,
Barnes Newcome Newcome, Esq., has married my Lady Clara Pulleyn; I wish her joy
of her bridegroom. All I have heard of that family is from the newspaper. If
you meet them, tell me anything about them.&mdash;We had a very pleasant time
altogether at Baden. I suppose the accident to Kew will put off his marriage
with Miss Newcome. They have been engaged, you know, ever so
long.&mdash;And&mdash;do, do write to me and tell me something about London.
It&rsquo;s best I should&mdash;should stay here and work this winter and the
next. J. J. has done a famous picture, and if I send a couple home,
you&rsquo;ll give them a notice in the <i>Pall Mall
Gazette</i>&mdash;won&rsquo;t you?&mdash;for the sake of old times and yours
affectionately, Clive Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0036" id="link2HCH0036"></a>
CHAPTER XXXVI.<br/>
In which M. de Florac is promoted</h2>

<p>
However much Madame la Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry was disposed to admire and praise
her own conduct in the affair which ended so unfortunately for poor Lord Kew,
between whom and the Gascon her grace vowed that she had done everything in her
power to prevent a battle, the old Duke, her lord, was, it appeared, by no
means delighted with his wife&rsquo;s behaviour, nay, visited her with his very
sternest displeasure. Miss O&rsquo;Grady, the Duchesse&rsquo;s companion, and
her little girl&rsquo;s instructress, at this time resigned her functions in
the Ivry family; it is possible that in the recriminations consequent upon the
governess&rsquo;s dismissal, the Miss Irlandaise, in whom the family had put so
much confidence, divulged stories unfavourable to her patroness, and caused the
indignation of the Duke, her husband. Between Florac and the Duchesse there was
also open war and rupture. He had been one of Kew&rsquo;s seconds in the
latter&rsquo;s affair with the Vicomte&rsquo;s countryman. He had even cried
out for fresh pistols, and proposed to engage Castillonnes, when his gallant
principal fell; and though a second duel was luckily averted as murderous and
needless, M. de Florac never hesitated afterwards, and in all companies, to
denounce with the utmost virulence the instigator and the champion of the
odious original quarrel. He vowed that the Duchesse had shot <i>le petit
Kiou</i> as effectually as if she had herself fired the pistol at his breast.
Murderer, poisoner, Brinvilliers, a hundred more such epithets he used against
his kinswoman, regretting that the good old times were past&mdash;that there
was no Chambre Ardente to try her, and no rack and wheel to give her her due.
</p>

<p>
The biographer of the Newcomes has no need (although he possesses the fullest
information) to touch upon the Duchesse&rsquo;s doings, further than as they
relate to that most respectable English family. When the Duke took his wife
into the country, Florac never hesitated to say that to live with her was
dangerous for the old man, and to cry out to his friends of the Boulevards or
the Jockey Club, &ldquo;Ma parole d&rsquo;honneur, cette femme le tuera!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Do you know, O gentle and unsuspicious readers, or have you ever reckoned as
you have made your calculation of society, how many most respectable husbands
help to kill their wives&mdash;how many respectable wives aid in sending their
husbands to Hades? The wife of a chimney-sweep or a journeyman butcher comes
shuddering before a police magistrate&mdash;her head bound up&mdash;her body
scarred and bleeding with wounds, which the drunken ruffian, her lord, has
administered: a poor shopkeeper or mechanic is driven out of his home by the
furious ill-temper of the shrill virago his wife&mdash;takes to the
public-house&mdash;to evil courses&mdash;to neglecting his business&mdash;to
the gin-bottle&mdash;to <i>delirium tremens</i>&mdash;to perdition. Bow Street,
and policemen, and the newspaper reporters, have cognisance and a certain
jurisdiction over these vulgar matrimonial crimes; but in politer company how
many murderous assaults are there by husband or wife&mdash;where the woman is
not felled by the actual fist, though she staggers and sinks under blows quite
as cruel and effectual; where, with old wounds yet unhealed, which she strives
to hide under a smiling face from the world, she has to bear up and to be
stricken down and to rise to her feet again, under fresh daily strokes of
torture; where the husband, fond and faithful, has to suffer slights, coldness,
insult, desertion, his children sneered away from their love for him, his
friends driven from his door by jealousy, his happiness strangled, his whole
life embittered, poisoned, destroyed! If you were acquainted with the history
of every family in your street, don&rsquo;t you know that in two or three of
the houses there such tragedies have been playing? Is not the young mistress of
Number 20 already pining at her husband&rsquo;s desertion? The kind master of
Number 30 racking his fevered brains and toiling through sleepless nights to
pay for the jewels on his wife&rsquo;s neck, and the carriage out of which she
ogles Lothario in the Park? The fate under which man or woman falls, blow of
brutal tyranny, heartless desertion, weight of domestic care too heavy to
bear&mdash;are not blows such as these constantly striking people down? In this
long parenthesis we are wandering ever so far away from M. le Duc and Madame la
Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, and from the vivacious Florac&rsquo;s statement
regarding his kinsman, that that woman will kill him.
</p>

<p>
There is this at least to be said, that if the Duc d&rsquo;Ivry did die he was
a very old gentleman, and had been a great viveur for at least threescore years
of his life. As Prince de Moncontour in his father&rsquo;s time before the
Revolution, during the Emigration, even after the Restoration, M. le Duc had
vecu with an extraordinary vitality. He had gone through good and bad fortune:
extreme poverty, display and splendour, affairs of love&mdash;affairs of
honour,&mdash;and of one disease or another a man must die at the end. After
the Baden business&mdash;and he had dragged off his wife to Champagne&mdash;the
Duke became greatly broken; he brought his little daughter to a convent at
Paris, putting the child under the special guardianship of Madame de Florac,
with whom and with whose family in these latter days the old chief of the house
effected a complete reconciliation. The Duke was now for ever coming to Madame
de Florac; he poured all his wrongs and griefs into her ear with garrulous
senile eagerness. &ldquo;That little Duchesse is a monstre, a femme
d&rsquo;Eugene Sue,&rdquo; the Vicomte used to say; &ldquo;the poor old Duke he
cry&mdash;ma parole d&rsquo;honneur, he cry and I cry too when he comes to
recount to my poor mother, whose sainted heart is the <i>asile</i> of all
griefs, a real Hotel Dieu, my word the most sacred, with beds for all the
afflicted, with sweet words, like Sisters of Charity, to minister to
them:&mdash;I cry, mon bon Pendennis, when this <i>vieillard</i> tells his
stories about his wife and tears his white hairs to the feet of my
mother.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
When the little Antoinette was separated by her father from her mother, the
Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, it might have been expected that that poetess would have
dashed off a few more <i>cris de l&rsquo;âme</i>, shrieking according to her
wont, and baring and beating that shrivelled maternal bosom of hers, from which
her child had been just torn. The child skipped and laughed to go away to the
convent. It was only when she left Madame de Florac that she used to cry; and
when urged by that good lady to exhibit a little decorous sentiment in writing
to her mamma, Antoinette would ask, in her artless way, &ldquo;Pourquoi? Mamma
used never to speak to me except sometimes before the world, before ladies,
that understands itself. When her gentleman came, she put me to the door; then
she gave me tapes, <i>oh oui</i>, she gave me tapes! I cry no more; she has so
much made to cry M. le Duc, that it is quite enough of one in a family.&rdquo;
So Madame la Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry did not weep, even in print, for the loss of
her pretty little Antoinette; besides, she was engaged, at that time, by other
sentimental occupations. A young grazier of their neighbouring town, of an
aspiring mind and remarkable poetic talents, engrossed the Duchesse&rsquo;s
platonic affections at this juncture. When he had sold his beasts at market, he
would ride over and read Rousseau and Schiller with Madame la Duchesse, who
formed him. His pretty young wife was rendered miserable by all these readings,
but what could the poor little ignorant countrywoman know of Platonism? Faugh!
there is more than one woman we see in society smiling about from house to
house, pleasant and sentimental and formosa superne enough; but I fancy a
fish&rsquo;s tail is flapping under her fine flounces, and a forked fin at the
end of it!
</p>

<p class="p2">
Finer flounces, finer bonnets, more lovely wreaths, more beautiful lace,
smarter carriages, bigger white bows, larger footmen, were not seen, during all
the season of 18&mdash;, than appeared round about St. George&rsquo;s, Hanover
Square, in the beautiful month of June succeeding that September when so many
of our friends the Newcomes were assembled at Baden. Those flaunting carriages,
powdered and favoured footmen, were in attendance upon members of the Newcome
family and their connexions, who were celebrating what is called a marriage in
high life in the temple within. Shall we set down a catalogue of the dukes,
marquises, earls, who were present; cousins of the lovely bride? Are they not
already in the <i>Morning Herald</i> and <i>Court Journal</i>, as well as in
the <i>Newcome Sentinel</i> and <i>Independent</i>, and the <i>Dorking
Intelligence</i> and <i>Chanticlere Weekly Gazette?</i> There they are, all
printed at full length sure enough; the name of the bride, Lady Clara Pulleyn,
the lovely and accomplished daughter of the Earl and Countess of Dorking; of
the beautiful bridesmaids, the Ladies Henrietta, Belinda, Adelaide Pulleyn,
Miss Newcome, Miss Alice Newcome, Miss Maude Newcome, Miss Anna Maria (Hobson)
Newcome; and all the other persons engaged in the ceremony. It was performed by
the Right Honourable Viscount Gallowglass, Bishop of Ballyshannon,
brother-in-law to the bride, assisted by the Honourable and Reverend Hercules
O&rsquo;Grady, his lordship&rsquo;s chaplain, and the Reverend John Bulders,
Rector of St. Mary&rsquo;s, Newcome. Then follow the names of all the nobility
who were present, and of the noble and distinguished personages who signed the
book. Then comes an account of the principal dresses, chefs-d&rsquo;œuvre of
Madame Crinoline; of the bride&rsquo;s coronal of brilliants, supplied by
Messrs. Morr and Stortimer;&mdash;of the veil of priceless Chantilly lace, the
gift of the Dowager Countess of Kew. Then there is a description of the
wedding-breakfast at the house of the bride&rsquo;s noble parents, and of the
cake, decorated by Messrs. Gunter with the most delicious taste and the
sweetest hymeneal allusions.
</p>

<p>
No mention was made by the fashionable chronicler of a slight disturbance which
occurred at St. George&rsquo;s, and which was indeed out of the province of
such a genteel purveyor of news. Before the marriage service began, a woman of
vulgar appearance and disorderly aspect, accompanied by two scared children who
took no part in the disorder occasioned by their mother&rsquo;s proceeding,
except by their tears and outcries to augment the disquiet, made her appearance
in one of the pews of the church, was noted there by persons in the vestry, was
requested to retire by a beadle, and was finally induced to quit the sacred
precincts of the building by the very strongest persuasion of a couple of
policemen; X and Y laughed at one another, and nodded their heads knowingly as
the poor wretch with her whimpering boys was led away. They understood very
well who the personage was who had come to disturb the matrimonial ceremony; it
did not commence until Mrs. De Lacy (as this lady chose to be called) had
quitted this temple of Hymen. She slunk through the throng of emblazoned
carriages, and the press of footmen arrayed as splendidly as Solomon in his
glory. John jeered at Thomas, William turned his powdered head, and signalled
Jeames, who answered with a corresponding grin, as the woman with sobs, and
wild imprecations, and frantic appeals, made her way through the splendid crowd
escorted by her aides-de-camp in blue. I dare say her little history was
discussed at many a dinner-table that day in the basement story of several
fashionable houses. I know that at clubs in St. James&rsquo;s the facetious
little anecdote was narrated. A young fellow came to Bays&rsquo;s after the
marriage breakfast and mentioned the circumstance with funny comments; although
the <i>Morning Post</i>, in describing this affair in high life, naturally
omitted all mention of such low people as Mrs. De Lacy and her children.
</p>

<p>
Those people who knew the noble families whose union had been celebrated by
such a profusion of grandees, fine equipages, and footmen, brass bands,
brilliant toilets, and wedding favours, asked how it was that Lord Kew did not
assist at Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s marriage; other persons in society inquired
waggishly why Jack Belsize was not present to give Lady Clara away.
</p>

<p>
As for Jack Belsize, his clubs had not been ornamented by his presence for a
year past. It was said he had broken the bank at Hombourg last autumn; had been
heard of during the winter at Milan, Venice, and Vienna; and when, a few months
after the marriage of Barnes Newcome and Lady Clara, Jack&rsquo;s elder brother
died, and he himself became the next in succession to the title and estates of
Highgate, many folks said it was a pity little Barney&rsquo;s marriage had
taken place so soon. Lord Kew was not present, because Kew was still abroad; he
had had a gambling duel with a Frenchman, and a narrow squeak for his life. He
had turned Roman Catholic, some men said; others vowed that he had joined the
Methodist persuasion. At all events Kew had given up his wild courses, broken
with the turf, and sold his stud off; he was delicate yet, and his mother was
taking care of him; between whom and the old dowager of Kew, who had made up
Barney&rsquo;s marriage, as everybody knew, there was no love lost.
</p>

<p>
Then who was the Prince de Moncontour, who, with his princess, figured at this
noble marriage? There was a Moncontour, the Duc d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s son, but
he died at Paris before the revolution of &rsquo;30: one or two of the oldsters
at Bays&rsquo;s, Major Pendennis, General Tufto, old Cackleby&mdash;the old
fogies, in a word&mdash;remembered the Duke of Ivry when he was here during the
Emigration, and when he was called Prince de Moncontour, the title of the
eldest son of the family. Ivry was dead, having buried his son before him, and
having left only a daughter by that young woman whom he married, and who led
him such a life. Who was this present Moncontour?
</p>

<p>
He was a gentleman to whom the reader has already been presented, though when
we lately saw him at Baden he did not enjoy so magnificent a title. Early in
the year of Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s marriage, there came to England, and to our
modest apartment in the Temple, a gentleman bringing a letter of recommendation
from our dear young Clive, who said that the bearer, the Vicomte de Florac, was
a great friend of his, and of the Colonel&rsquo;s, who had known his family
from boyhood. A friend of our Clive and our Colonel was sure of a welcome in
Lamb Court; we gave him the hand of hospitality, the best cigar in the box, the
easy-chair with only one broken leg; the dinner in chambers and at the club,
the banquet at Greenwich (where, <i>ma foi</i>, the little <i>whites baites</i>
elicited his profound satisfaction); in a word, did our best to honour that
bill which our young Clive had drawn upon us. We considered the young one in
the light of a nephew of our own; we took a pride in him, and were fond of him;
and as for the Colonel, did we not love and honour him; would we not do our
utmost in behalf of any stranger who came recommended to us by Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s good word? So Florac was straightway admitted to our
companionship. We showed him the town, and some of the modest pleasures
thereof; we introduced him to the Haunt, and astonished him by the company
which he met there. Between Brent&rsquo;s &ldquo;Deserter&rdquo; and Mark
Wilder&rsquo;s &ldquo;Garryowen,&rdquo; Florac sang&mdash;
</p>

<p class="poem">
Tiens voici ma pipe, voilà mon bri&mdash;quet;<br/>
Et quand la Tulipe fait le noir tra&mdash;jet<br/>
Que tu sois la seule dans le régi&mdash;ment<br/>
Avec la brûle-gueule de ton cher z&rsquo;a&mdash;mant;
</p>

<p class="noindent">
to the delight of Tom Sarjent, who, though he only partially comprehended the
words of the song, pronounced the singer to be a rare gentleman, full of most
excellent differences. We took our Florac to the Derby; we presented him in
Fitzroy Square, whither we still occasionally went, for Clive&rsquo;s and our
dear Colonel&rsquo;s sake.
</p>

<p>
The Vicomte pronounced himself strongly in favour of the blanche misse little
Rosey Mackenzie, of whom we have lost sight for some few chapters. Mrs. Mac he
considered, my faith, to be a woman superb. He used to kiss the tips of his own
fingers, in token of his admiration for the lovely widow; he pronounced her
again more pretty than her daughter; and paid her a thousand compliments, which
she received with exceeding good-humour. If the Vicomte gave us to understand
presently that Rosey and her mother were both in love with him, but that for
all the world he would not meddle with the happiness of his dear little Clive,
nothing unfavourable to the character or constancy of the before-mentioned
ladies must be inferred from M. de Florac&rsquo;s speech; his firm conviction
being, that no woman could pass many hours in his society without danger to her
subsequent peace of mind.
</p>

<p>
For some little time we had no reason to suspect that our French friend was not
particularly well furnished with the current coin of the realm. Without making
any show of wealth, he would, at first, cheerfully engage in our little
parties: his lodgings in the neighbourhood of Leicester Square, though dingy,
were such as many noble foreign exiles have inhabited. It was not until he
refused to join some pleasure-trip which we of Lamb Court proposed, honestly
confessing his poverty, that we were made aware of the Vicomte&rsquo;s little
temporary calamity; and, as we became more intimate with him, he acquainted us,
with great openness, with the history of all his fortunes. He described
energetically that splendid run of luck which had set in at Baden with
Clive&rsquo;s loan: his winnings, at that fortunate period, had carried him
through the winter with considerable brilliancy, but bouillotte and
Mademoiselle Atala, of the Variétés (<i>une ogresse, mon cher!</i> who devours
thirty of our young men every year in her cavern, in the Rue de Bréda), had
declared against him, and the poor Vicomte&rsquo;s pockets were almost empty
when he came to London.
</p>

<p>
He was amiably communicative regarding himself, and told us his virtues and his
faults (if indeed a passion for play and for women could be considered as
faults in a gay young fellow of two or three and forty), with a like engaging
frankness. He would weep in describing his angel mother: he would fly off again
into tirades respecting the wickedness, the wit, the extravagance, the charms
of the young lady of the Variétés. He would then (in conversation) introduce us
to Madame de Florac, <i>née</i> Higg, of Manchesterre. His prattle was
incessant, and to my friend Mr. Warrington especially he was an object of
endless delight and amusement and wonder. He would roll and smoke countless
paper cigars, talking unrestrainedly when we were not busy, silent when we were
engaged; he would only rarely partake of our meals, and altogether refused all
offers of pecuniary aid. He disappeared at dinner-time into the mysterious
purlieus of Leicester Square, and dark ordinaries only frequented by Frenchmen.
As we walked with him in the Regent Street precincts, he would exchange marks
of recognition with many dusky personages, smoking bravos; and whiskered
refugees of his nation.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That gentleman,&rdquo; he would say, &ldquo;who has done me the honour
to salute me, is a coiffeur of the most celebrated; he forms the <i>delices</i>
of our table-d&rsquo;hôte. &lsquo;Bon jour, mon cher monsieur!&rsquo; We are
friends, though not of the same opinion. Monsieur is a republican of the most
distinguished; conspirator of profession, and at this time engaged in
constructing an infernal machine to the address of His Majesty, Louis Philippe,
King of the French.&rdquo; &ldquo;Who is my friend with the scarlet beard and
the white paletot? My good Warrington! you do not move in the world; you make
yourself a hermit, my dear! Not know monsieur!&mdash;monsieur is secretary to
Mademoiselle Caracoline, the lovely rider at the circus of Astley; I shall be
charmed to introduce you to this amiable society some day at our
table-d&rsquo;hôte.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Warrington vowed that the company of Florac&rsquo;s friends would be infinitely
more amusing than the noblest society ever chronicled in the <i>Morning
Post;</i> but we were neither sufficiently familiar with the French language to
make conversation in that tongue as pleasant to us as talking in our own; and
so were content with Florac&rsquo;s description of his compatriots, which the
Vicomte delivered in that charming French-English of which he was a master.
</p>

<p>
However threadbare in his garments, poor in purse, and eccentric in morals our
friend was, his manners were always perfectly gentlemanlike, and he draped
himself in his poverty with the grace of a Spanish grandee. It must be
confessed, that the grandee loved the estaminet where he could play billiards
with the first comer; that he had a passion for the gambling-house; that he was
a loose and disorderly nobleman: but, in whatever company he found himself, a
certain kindness, simplicity, and politeness distinguished him always. He bowed
to the damsel who sold him a penny cigar, as graciously as to a duchess; he
crushed a <i>manant&rsquo;s</i> impertinence or familiarity as haughtily as his
noble ancestors ever did at the Louvre, at Marli, or Versailles. He declined to
<i>obtempérer</i> to his landlady&rsquo;s request to pay his rent, but he
refused with a dignity which struck the woman with awe; and King Alfred, over
the celebrated muffin (on which Gandish and other painters have exercised their
genius), could not have looked more noble than Florac in a robe-de-chambre,
once gorgeous, but shady now as became its owner&rsquo;s clouded fortunes;
toasting his bit of bacon at his lodgings, when the fare even of his
table-d&rsquo;hôte had grown too dear for him.
</p>

<p>
As we know from Gandish&rsquo;s work, that better times were in store for the
wandering monarch, and that the officers came acquainting him that his people
demanded his presence <i>à grands cris</i>, when of course King Alfred laid
down the toast and resumed the sceptre; so in the case of Florac, two humble
gentlemen, inhabitants of Lamb Court, and members of the Upper temple, had the
good luck to be the heralds as it were, nay indeed, the occasion, of the rising
fortunes of the Prince de Moncontour. Florac had informed us of the death of
his cousin the Duc d&rsquo;Ivry, by whose demise the Vicomte&rsquo;s father,
the old Count de Florac, became the representative of the house of Ivry, and
possessor, through his relative&rsquo;s bequest, of an old château still more
gloomy and spacious than the count&rsquo;s own house in the Faubourg St.
Germain&mdash;a château, of which the woods, domains, and appurtenances had
been lopped off by the Revolution. &ldquo;Monsieur le Comte,&rdquo; Florac
says, &ldquo;has not wished to change his name at his age; he has shrugged his
old shoulder, and said it was not the trouble to make to engrave a new card;
and for me,&rdquo; the philosophical Vicomte added, &ldquo;of what good shall
be a title of prince in the position where I find myself?&rdquo; It is
wonderful for us who inhabit a country where rank is worshipped with so
admirable a reverence, to think that there are many gentlemen in France who
actually have authentic titles and do not choose to bear them.
</p>

<p>
Mr. George Warrington was hugely amused with this notion of Florac&rsquo;s
ranks and dignities. The idea of the Prince purchasing penny cigars; of the
Prince mildly expostulating with his landlady regarding the rent; of his
punting for half-crowns at a neighbouring hall in Air Street, whither the poor
gentleman desperately ran when he had money in his pocket, tickled
George&rsquo;s sense of humour. It was Warrington who gravely saluted the
Vicomte, and compared him to King Alfred, on that afternoon when we happened to
call upon him and found him engaged in cooking his modest dinner.
</p>

<p>
We were bent upon an excursion to Greenwich, and on having our friend&rsquo;s
company on that voyage, and we induced the Vicomte to forgo his bacon, and be
our guest for once. George Warrington chose to indulge in a great deal of
ironical pleasantry in the course of the afternoon&rsquo;s excursion. As we
went down the river, he pointed out to Florac the very window in the Tower
where the captive Duke of Orleans used to sit when he was an inhabitant of that
fortress. At Greenwich, which palace Florac informed us was built by Queen
Elizabeth, George showed the very spot where Raleigh laid his cloak down to
enable Her Majesty to step over a puddle. In a word, he mystified M. de Florac;
such was Mr. Warrington&rsquo;s reprehensible spirit.
</p>

<p>
It happened that Mr. Barnes Newcome came to dine at Greenwich on the same day
when our little party took place. He had come down to meet Rooster and one or
two other noble friends whose names he took care to give us, cursing them at
the same time for having thrown him over. Having missed his own company, Mr.
Barnes condescended to join ours, Warrington gravely thanking him for the great
honour which he conferred upon us by volunteering to take a place at our table.
Barnes drank freely, and was good enough to resume his acquaintance with
Monsieur de Florac, whom he perfectly well recollected at Baden, but had
thought proper to forget on the one or two occasions when they had met in
public since the Vicomte&rsquo;s arrival in this country. There are few men who
can drop and resume an acquaintance with such admirable self-possession as
Barnes Newcome. When, over our dessert, by which time all tongues were unloosed
and each man talked gaily, George Warrington feelingly thanked Barnes in a
little mock speech, for his great kindness in noticing us, presenting him at
the same time to Florac as the ornament of the City, the greatest banker of his
age, the beloved kinsman of their friend Clive, who was always writing about
him; Barnes said, with one of his accustomed curses, he did not know whether
Mr. Warrington was &ldquo;chaffing&rdquo; him or not, and indeed could never
make him out. Warrington replied that he never could make himself out: and if
ever Mr. Barnes could, George would thank him for information on that subject.
</p>

<p>
Florac, like most Frenchmen very sober in his potations, left us for a while
over ours, which were conducted after the more liberal English manner, and
retired to smoke his cigar on the terrace. Barnes then freely uttered his
sentiments regarding him, which were not more favourable than those which the
young gentleman generally emitted respecting gentlemen whose backs were turned.
He had known a little of Florac the year before at Baden: he had been mixed up
with Kew in that confounded row in which Kew was hit; he was an adventurer, a
pauper, a blackleg, a regular Greek; he had heard Florac was of old family,
that was true; but what of that? He was only one of those d&mdash;&mdash;
French counts; everybody was a count in France confound &rsquo;em! The claret
was beastly&mdash;not fit for a gentleman to drink!&mdash;He swigged off a
great bumper as he was making the remark: for Barnes Newcome abuses the men and
things which he uses, and perhaps is better served than more grateful persons.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Count!&rdquo; cries Warrington, &ldquo;what do you mean by talking about
beggarly counts? Florac&rsquo;s family is one of the noblest and most ancient
in Europe. It is more ancient than your illustrious friend, the barber-surgeon;
it was illustrious before the house, ay, or the pagoda of Kew was in
existence.&rdquo; And he went on to describe how Florac by the demise of his
kinsman, was now actually Prince de Moncontour, though he did not choose to
assume that title. Very likely the noble Gascon drink in which George had been
indulging, imparted a certain warmth and eloquence to his descriptions of
Florac&rsquo;s good qualities, high birth, and considerable patrimony; Barnes
looked quite amazed and scared at these announcements, then laughed and
declared once more that Warrington was chaffing him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;As sure as the Black Prince was lord of Acquitaine&mdash;as sure as the
English were masters of Bordeaux&mdash;and why did we ever lose the
country?&rdquo; cries George, filling himself a bumper,&mdash;&ldquo;every word
I have said about Florac is true;&rdquo; and Florac coming in at this juncture
havin just finished his cigar, George turned round and made him a fine speech
in the French language, in which he lauded his constancy and good-humour under
evil fortune, paid him two or three more cordial compliments, and finished by
drinking another great bumper to his good health.
</p>

<p>
Florac took a little wine, replied &ldquo;with effusion&rdquo; to the toast
which his excellent, his noble friend had just carried. We rapped our glasses
at the end of the speech. The landlord himself seemed deeply touched by it as
he stood by with a fresh bottle. &ldquo;It is good wine&mdash;it is honest
wine&mdash;it is capital wine&rdquo; says George, &ldquo;and honni soit qui mal
y pence! What business have you, you little beggar, to abuse it? My ancestor
drank the wine and wore the motto round his leg long before a Newcome ever
showed his pale face in Lombard Street.&rdquo; George Warrington never bragged
about his pedigree except under certain influences. I am inclined to think that
on this occasion he really did find the claret very good.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean to say,&rdquo; says Barnes, addressing Florac in
French, on which he piqued himself, &ldquo;que vous avez un tel manche à votre
nom, et que vous ne l&rsquo;usez pas?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Florac shrugged his shoulders; he at first did not understand that familiar
figure of English speech, or what was meant by &ldquo;having a handle to your
name.&rdquo; &ldquo;Moncontour cannot dine better than Florac,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;Florac has two louis in his pocket, and Moncontour exactly forty
shillings. Florac&rsquo;s proprietor will ask Moncontour to-morrow for five
weeks&rsquo; rent; and as for Florac&rsquo;s friends, my dear, they will burst
out laughing to Moncontour&rsquo;s nose!&rdquo; &ldquo;How droll you English
are!&rdquo; this acute French observer afterwards said, laughing, and recalling
the incident. Did you not see how that little Barnes, as soon as he knew my
title of Prince, changed his manner and became all respect towards me? This,
indeed, Monsieur de Florac&rsquo;s two friends remarked with no little
amusement. Barnes began quite well to remember their pleasant days at Baden,
and talked of their acquaintance there: Barnes offered the Prince the vacant
seat in his brougham, and was ready to set him down anywhere that he wished in
town.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Bah!&rdquo; says Florac; &ldquo;we came by the steamer, and I prefer the
<i>péniboat</i>.&rdquo; But the hospitable Barnes, nevertheless, called upon
Florac the next day. And now having partially explained how the Prince de
Moncontour was present at Mr. Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s wedding, let us show how
it was that Barnes&rsquo;s first-cousin, the Earl of Kew, did not attend that
ceremony.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0037" id="link2HCH0037"></a>
CHAPTER XXXVII.<br/>
Returns to Lord Kew</h2>

<p>
We do not propose to describe at length or with precision the circumstances of
the duel which ended so unfortunately for young Lord Kew. The meeting was
inevitable: after the public acts and insult of the morning, the maddened
Frenchman went to it convinced that his antagonist had wilfully outraged him,
eager to show his bravery upon the body of an Englishman, and as proud as if he
had been going into actual war. That commandment, the sixth in our decalogue,
which forbids the doing of murder, and the injunction which directly follows on
the same table, have been repealed by a very great number of Frenchmen for many
years past; and to take the neighbour&rsquo;s wife, and his life subsequently,
has not been an uncommon practice with the politest people in the world.
Castillonnes had no idea but that he was going to the field of honour; stood
with an undaunted scowl before his enemy&rsquo;s pistol; and discharged his own
and brought down his opponent with a grim satisfaction, and a comfortable
conviction afterwards that he had acted <i>en galant homme</i>. &ldquo;It was
well for this milor that he fell at the first shot, my dear,&rdquo; the
exemplary young Frenchman remarked; &ldquo;a second might have been yet more
fatal to him; ordinarily I am sure of my <i>coup</i>, and you conceive that in
an affair so grave it was absolutely necessary that one or other should remain
on the ground.&rdquo; Nay, should M. de Kew recover from his wound, it was M.
de Castillonnes&rsquo; intention to propose a second encounter between himself
and that nobleman. It had been Lord Kew&rsquo;s determination never to fire
upon his opponent, a confession which he made not to his second, poor scared
Lord Rooster, who bore the young Earl to Kehl, but to some of his nearest
relatives, who happened fortunately to be not far from him when he received his
wound, and who came with all the eagerness of love to watch by his bedside.
</p>

<p>
We have said that Lord Kew&rsquo;s mother, Lady Walham, and her second son were
staying at Hombourg, when the Earl&rsquo;s disaster occurred. They had proposed
to come to Baden to see Kew&rsquo;s new bride, and to welcome her; but the
presence of her mother-in-law deterred Lady Walham, who gave up her
heart&rsquo;s wish in bitterness of spirit, knowing very well that a meeting
between the old Countess and herself could only produce the wrath, pain, and
humiliation which their coming together always occasioned. It was Lord Kew who
bade Rooster send for his mother, and not for Lady Kew; and as soon as she
received those sad tidings, you may be sure the poor lady hastened to the bed
where her wounded boy lay.
</p>

<p>
The fever had declared itself, and the young man had been delirious more than
once. His wan face lighted up with joy when he saw his mother; he put his
little feverish hand out of the bed to her&mdash;&ldquo;I knew you would come,
dear,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and you know I never would have fired upon the
poor Frenchman.&rdquo; The fond mother allowed no sign of terror or grief to
appear upon her face, so as to disturb her first-born and darling; but no doubt
she prayed by his side as such loving hearts know how to pray, for the
forgiveness of his trespass, who had forgiven those who sinned against him.
&ldquo;I knew I should be hit, George,&rdquo; said Kew to his brother when they
were alone; &ldquo;I always expected some such end as this. My life has been
very wild and reckless; and you, George, have always been faithful to our
mother. You will make a better Lord Kew than I have been, George. God bless
you.&rdquo; George flung himself down with sobs by his brother&rsquo;s bedside,
and swore Frank had always been the best fellow, the best brother, the kindest
heart, the warmest friend in the world. Love&mdash;prayer&mdash;repentance,
thus met over the young man&rsquo;s bed. Anxious and humble hearts, his own the
least anxious and the most humble, awaited the dread award of life or death;
and the world, and its ambition and vanities, were shut out from the darkened
chamber where the awful issue was being tried.
</p>

<p>
Our history has had little to do with characters resembling this lady. It is of
the world, and things pertaining to it. Things beyond it, as the writer
imagines, scarcely belong to the novelist&rsquo;s province. Who is he, that he
should assume the divine&rsquo;s office; or turn his desk into a
preacher&rsquo;s pulpit? In that career of pleasure, of idleness, of crime we
might call it (but that the chronicler of worldly matters had best be chary of
applying hard names to acts which young men are doing in the world every day),
the gentle widowed lady, mother of Lord Kew, could but keep aloof, deploring
the course upon which her dear young prodigal had entered; and praying with
that saintly love, those pure supplications, with which good mothers follow
their children, for her boy&rsquo;s repentance and return. Very likely her mind
was narrow; very likely the precautions which she had used in the lad&rsquo;s
early days, the tutors and directors she had set about him, the religious
studies and practices to which she would have subjected him, had served only to
vex and weary the young pupil, and to drive his high spirit into revolt. It is
hard to convince a woman perfectly pure in her life and intentions, ready to
die if need were for her own faith, having absolute confidence in the
instruction of her teachers, that she and they (with all their sermons) may be
doing harm. When the young catechist yawns over his reverence&rsquo;s
discourse, who knows but it is the doctor&rsquo;s vanity which is enraged, and
not Heaven which is offended? It may have been, in the differences which took
place between her son and her, the good Lady Walham never could comprehend the
lad&rsquo;s side of the argument; or how his Protestantism against her
doctrines should exhibit itself on the turf, the gaming-table, or the stage of
the opera-house; and thus but for the misfortune under which poor Kew now lay
bleeding, these two loving hearts might have remained through life asunder. But
by the boy&rsquo;s bedside; in the paroxysms of his fever; in the wild talk of
his delirium; in the sweet patience and kindness with which he received his
dear nurse&rsquo;s attentions; the gratefulness with which he thanked the
servants who waited on him; the fortitude with which he suffered the
surgeon&rsquo;s dealings with his wounds;&mdash;the widowed woman had an
opportunity to admire with an exquisite thankfulness the generous goodness of
her son; and in those hours, those sacred hours passed in her own chamber, of
prayers, fears, hopes, recollections, and passionate maternal love, wrestling
with fate for her darling&rsquo;s life;&mdash;no doubt the humbled creature
came to acknowledge that her own course regarding him had been wrong; and, even
more for herself than for him, implored forgiveness.
</p>

<p>
For some time George Barnes had to send but doubtful and melancholy bulletins
to Lady Kew and the Newcome family at Baden, who were all greatly moved and
affected by the accident which had befallen poor Kew. Lady Kew broke out in
wrath, and indignation. We may be sure the Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry offered to
condole with her upon Kew&rsquo;s mishap the day after the news arrived at
Baden; and, indeed, came to visit her. The old lady had just received other
disquieting intelligence. She was just going out, but she bade her servant to
inform the Duchess that she was never more at home to the Duchesse
d&rsquo;Ivry. The message was not delivered properly, or the person for whom it
was intended did not choose to understand it, for presently, as the Countess
was hobbling across the walk on her way to her daughter&rsquo;s residence, she
met the Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, who saluted her with a demure curtsey and a
commonplace expression of condolence. The Queen of Scots was surrounded by the
chief part of her court, saving of course MM. Castillonnes and Punter absent on
service. &ldquo;We were speaking of this deplorable affair,&rdquo; said Madame
d&rsquo;Ivry (which indeed was the truth, although she said it). &ldquo;How we
pity you, madame!&rdquo; Blackball and Loder, Cruchecassée and Schlangenbad,
assumed sympathetic countenances.
</p>

<p>
Trembling on her cane, the old Countess glared out upon Madame d&rsquo;Ivry.
&ldquo;I pray you, madame,&rdquo; she said in French, &ldquo;never again to
address me the word. If I had, like you, assassins in my pay, I would have you
killed; do you hear me?&rdquo; and she hobbled on her way. The household to
which she went was in terrible agitation; the kind Lady Anne frightened beyond
measure, poor Ethel full of dread, and feeling guilty almost as if she had been
the cause, as indeed she was the occasion, of Kew&rsquo;s misfortune. And the
family had further cause of alarm from the shock which the news had given to
Sir Brian. It has been said that he had had illnesses of late which caused his
friends much anxiety. He had passed two months at Aix-la-Chapelle, his
physicians dreading a paralytic attack; and Madame d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s party
still sauntering on the walk, the men smoking their cigars, the women breathing
their scandal, now beheld Dr. Finck issuing from Lady Anne&rsquo;s apartments,
and wearing such a face of anxiety, that the Duchesse asked with some emotion,
&ldquo;Had there been a fresh bulletin from Kehl?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, there had been no fresh bulletin from Kehl; but two hours since Sir
Brian Newcome had had a paralytic seizure.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is he very bad?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No,&rdquo; says Dr. Finck, &ldquo;he is not very bad.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How inconsolable M. Barnes will be!&rdquo; said the Duchesse, shrugging
her haggard shoulders. Whereas the fact was that Mr. Barnes retained perfect
presence of mind under both of the misfortunes which had befallen his family.
Two days afterwards the Duchesse&rsquo;s husband arrived himself, when we may
presume that exemplary woman was too much engaged with her own affairs to be
able to be interested about the doings of other people. With the Duke&rsquo;s
arrival the court of Mary Queen of Scots was broken up. Her Majesty was
conducted to Lochleven, where her tyrant soon dismissed her very last
lady-in-waiting, the confidential Irish secretary, whose performance had
produced such a fine effect amongst the Newcomes.
</p>

<p>
Had poor Sir Brian Newcome&rsquo;s seizure occurred at an earlier period of the
autumn, his illness no doubt would have kept him for some months confined at
Baden; but as he was pretty nearly the last of Dr. Von Finck&rsquo;s bath
patients, and that eminent physician longed to be off to the Residenz, he was
pronounced in a fit condition for easy travelling in rather a brief period
after his attack, and it was determined to transport him to Mannheim, and
thence by water to London and Newcome.
</p>

<p>
During all this period of their father&rsquo;s misfortune no sister of charity
could have been more tender, active, cheerful, and watchful than Miss Ethel.
She had to wear a kind face, and exhibit no anxiety when occasionally the
feeble invalid made inquiries regarding poor Kew at Baden; to catch the phrases
as they came from him; to acquiesce, or not to deny, when Sir Brian talked of
the marriages&mdash;both marriages&mdash;taking place at Christmas. Sir Brian
was especially eager for his daughter&rsquo;s, and repeatedly, with his broken
words, and smiles, and caresses, which were now quite senile, declared that his
Ethel would make the prettiest countess in England. There came a letter or two
from Clive, no doubt, to the young nurse in her sick-room. Manly and generous,
full of tenderness and affection, as those letters surely were, they could give
but little pleasure to the young lady&mdash;indeed, only add to her doubts and
pain.
</p>

<p>
She had told none of her friends as yet of those last words of Kew&rsquo;s,
which she interpreted as a farewell on the young nobleman&rsquo;s part. Had she
told them they were likely would not have understood Kew&rsquo;s meaning as she
did, and persisted in thinking that the two were reconciled. At any rate,
whilst he and her father were still lying stricken by the blows which had
prostrated them both, all questions of love and marriage had been put aside.
Did she love him? She felt such a kind pity for his misfortune, such an
admiration for his generous gallantry, such a remorse for her own wayward
conduct and cruel behaviour towards this most honest, and kindly, and
affectionate gentleman, that the sum of regard which she could bestow upon him
might surely be said to amount to love. For such a union as that contemplated
between them, perhaps for any marriage, no greater degree of attachment was
necessary as the common cement. Warm friendship and thorough esteem and
confidence (I do not say that our young lady calculated in this matter-of-fact
way) are safe properties invested in the prudent marriage stock, multiplying
and bearing an increasing value with every year. Many a young couple of
spendthrifts get through their capital of passion in the first twelve months,
and have no love left for the daily demands of after life. O me! for the day
when the bank account is closed, and the cupboard is empty, and the firm of
Damon and Phyllis insolvent!
</p>

<p>
Miss Newcome, we say, without doubt, did not make her calculations in this
debtor and creditor fashion; it was only the gentlemen of that family who went
to Lombard Street. But suppose she thought that regard, and esteem, and,
affection being sufficient, she could joyfully, and with almost all her heart
bring such a portion to Lord Kew; that her harshness towards him as contrasted
with his own generosity, and above all with his present pain, infinitely
touched her; and suppose she fancied that there was another person in the world
to whom, did fates permit, she could offer not esteem, affection, pity only,
but something ten thousand times more precious? We are not in the young
lady&rsquo;s secrets, but if she has some as she sits by her father&rsquo;s
chair and bed, who day or night will have no other attendant; and, as she
busies herself to interpret his wants, silently moves on his errands,
administers his potions, and watches his sleep, thinks of Clive absent and
unhappy, of Kew wounded and in danger, she must have subject enough of thought
and pain. Little wonder that her cheeks are pale and her eyes look red; she has
her cares to endure now in the world, and her burden to bear in it, and somehow
she feels she is alone, since that day when poor Clive&rsquo;s carriage drove
away.
</p>

<p>
In a mood of more than ordinary depression and weakness Lady Kew must have
found her granddaughter, upon one of the few occasions after the double mishap
when Ethel and her elder were together. Sir Brian&rsquo;s illness, as it may be
imagined, affected a lady very slightly, who was of an age when these
calamities occasion but small disquiet, and who, having survived her own
father, her husband, her son, and witnessed their lordships&rsquo; respective
demises with perfect composure, could not reasonably be called upon to feel any
particular dismay at the probable departure from this life of a Lombard Street
banker, who happened to be her daughter&rsquo;s husband. In fact, not Barnes
Newcome himself could await that event more philosophically. So, finding Ethel
in this melancholy mood, Lady Kew thought a drive in the fresh air would be of
service to her, and Sir Brian happening to be asleep, carried the young girl
away in her barouche.
</p>

<p>
They talked about Lord Kew, of whom the accounts were encouraging, and who is
mending in spite of his silly mother and her medicines, &ldquo;and as soon as
he is able to move we must go and fetch him, my dear,&rdquo; Lady Kew
graciously said, &ldquo;before that foolish woman has made a methodist of him.
He is always led by the woman who is nearest him, and I know one who will make
of him just the best little husband in England.&rdquo; Before they had come to
this delicate point the lady and her grandchild had talked Kew&rsquo;s
character over, the girl, you may be sure, having spoken feelingly and
eloquently about his kindness and courage, and many admirable qualities. She
kindled when she heard the report of his behaviour at the commencement of the
fracas with M. de Castillonnes, his great forbearance and good-nature, and his
resolution and magnanimity when the moment of collision came.
</p>

<p>
But when Lady Kew arrived at that period of her discourse in which she stated
that Kew would make the best little husband in England, poor Ethel&rsquo;s eyes
filled with tears; we must remember that her high spirit was worn down by
watching and much varied anxiety, and then she confessed that there had been no
reconciliation, as all the family fancied, between Frank and herself&mdash;on
the contrary, a parting, which she understood to be final; and she owned that
her conduct towards her cousin had been most captious and cruel, and that she
could not expect they should ever again come together. Lady Kew, who hated
sick-beds and surgeons except for herself, who hated her daughter-in-law above
all, was greatly annoyed at the news which Ethel gave her; made light of if,
however, and was quite confident that a very few words from her would place
matters on their old footing, and determined on forthwith setting out for Kehl.
She would have carried Ethel with her, but that the poor Baronet with cries and
moans insisted on retaining his nurse, and Ethel&rsquo;s grandmother was left
to undertake this mission by herself, the girl remaining behind acquiescent,
not unwilling, owning openly a great regard and esteem for Kew, and the wrong
which she had done him, feeling secretly a sentiment which she had best
smother. She had received a letter from that other person, and answered it with
her mother&rsquo;s cognisance, but about this little affair neither Lady Anne
nor her daughter happened to say a word to the manager of the whole family.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0038" id="link2HCH0038"></a>
CHAPTER XXXVIII.<br/>
In which Lady Kew leaves his Lordship quite convalescent</h2>

<p>
Immediately after Lord Kew&rsquo;s wound, and as it was necessary to apprise
the Newcome family of the accident which had occurred, the good-natured young
Kew had himself written a brief note to acquaint his relatives with his mishap,
and had even taken the precaution to antedate a couple of billets to be
despatched on future days; kindly forgeries, which told the Newcome family and
the Countess of Kew, that Lord Kew was progressing very favourably, and that
his hurt was trifling. The fever had set in, and the young patient was lying in
great danger, as most of the laggards at Baden knew, when his friends there
were set at ease by this fallacious bulletin. On the third day after the
accident, Lady Walham arrived with her younger son, to find Lord Kew in the
fever which ensued after the wound. As the terrible anxiety during the illness
had been Lady Walham&rsquo;s, so was hers the delight of the recovery. The
commander-in-chief of the family, the old lady at Baden, showed her sympathy by
sending couriers, and repeatedly issuing orders to have news of Kew. Sick-beds
scared her away invariably. When illness befell a member of her family she
hastily retreated from before the sufferer, showing her agitation of mind,
however, by excessive ill-humour to all the others within her reach.
</p>

<p>
A fortnight passed, a ball had been found and extracted, the fever was over,
the wound was progressing favourably, the patient advancing towards
convalescence, and the mother, with her child once more under her wing, happier
than she had been for seven years past, during which her young prodigal had
been running the thoughtless career of which he himself was weary, and which
had occasioned the fond lady such anguish. Those doubts which perplex many a
thinking man, and, when formed and uttered, give many a fond and faithful woman
pain so exquisite, had most fortunately never crossed Kew&rsquo;s mind. His
early impressions were such as his mother had left them, and he came back to
her, as she would have him, as a little child; owning his faults with a hearty
humble repentance, and with a thousand simple confessions, lamenting the errors
of his past days. We have seen him tired and ashamed of the pleasures which he
was pursuing, of the companions who surrounded him, of the brawls and
dissipations which amused him no more; in those hours of danger and doubt, when
he had lain, with death perhaps before him, making up his account of the vain
life which probably he would be called upon to surrender, no wonder this
simple, kindly, modest, and courageous soul thought seriously of the past and
of the future; and prayed, and resolved, if a future were awarded to him, it
should make amends for the days gone by; and surely as the mother and son read
together the beloved assurance of the divine forgiveness, and of that joy which
angels feel in heaven for a sinner repentant, we may fancy in the happy
mother&rsquo;s breast a feeling somewhat akin to that angelic felicity, a
gratitude and joy of all others the loftiest, the purest, the keenest. Lady
Walham might shrink with terror at the Frenchman&rsquo;s name, but her son
could forgive him, with all his heart, and kiss his mother&rsquo;s hand, and
thank him as the best friend of his life.
</p>

<p>
During all the days of his illness, Kew had never once mentioned Ethel&rsquo;s
name, and once or twice as his recovery progressed, when with doubt and tremor
his mother alluded to it, he turned from the subject as one that was
disagreeable and painful. Had she thought seriously on certain things? Lady
Walham asked. Kew thought not, &ldquo;but those who are bred up as you would
have them, mother, are often none the better,&rdquo; the humble young fellow
said. &ldquo;I believe she is a very good girl. She is very clever, she is
exceedingly handsome, she is very good to her parents and her brothers and
sisters; but&mdash;&rdquo; he did not finish the sentence. Perhaps he thought,
as he told Ethel afterwards, that she would have agreed with Lady Walham even
worse than with her imperious old grandmother.
</p>

<p>
Lady Walham then fell to deplore Sir Brian&rsquo;s condition, accounts of whose
seizure of course had been despatched to the Kehl party, and to lament that a
worldly man as he was should have such an affliction, so near the grave and so
little prepared for it. Here honest Kew, however, held out. &ldquo;Every man
for himself, mother,&rdquo; says he. &ldquo;Sir Brian was bred up very
strictly, perhaps too strictly as a young man. Don&rsquo;t you know that that
good Colonel, his elder brother, who seems to me about the most honest and good
old gentleman I ever met in my life, was driven into rebellion and all sorts of
wild courses by old Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s tyranny over him? As for Sir Brian, he
goes to church every Sunday: has prayers in the family every day: I&rsquo;m
sure has led a hundred times better life than I have, poor old Sir Brian. I
often have thought, mother, that though our side was wrong, you could not be
altogether right, because I remember how my tutor, and Mr. Bonner, and Dr.
Laud, when they used to come down to us at Kewbury, used to make themselves so
unhappy about other people.&rdquo; So the widow withdrew her unhappiness about
Sir Brian; she was quite glad to hope for the best regarding that invalid.
</p>

<p>
With some fears yet regarding her son,&mdash;for many of the books with which
the good lady travelled could not be got to interest him; at some he would
laugh outright,&mdash;with fear mixed with the maternal joy that he was
returned to her, and had quitted his old ways; with keen feminine triumph,
perhaps, that she had won him back, and happiness at his daily mending health,
all Lady Walham&rsquo;s hours were passed in thankful and delighted occupation.
George Barnes kept the Newcomes acquainted with the state of his
brother&rsquo;s health. The skilful surgeon from Strasbourg reported daily
better and better of him, and the little family were living in great peace and
contentment, with one subject of dread, however, hanging over the mother of the
two young men, the arrival of Lady Kew, as she was foreboding, the fierce old
mother-in-law who had worsted Lady Walham in many a previous battle.
</p>

<p>
It was what they call the summer of St. Martin, and the weather was luckily
very fine; Kew could presently be wheeled into the garden of the hotel, whence
he could see the broad turbid current of the swollen Rhine: the French bank
fringed with alders, the vast yellow fields behind them, the great avenue of
poplars stretching away to the Alsatian city, and its purple minster yonder.
Good Lady Walham was for improving the shining hour by reading amusing extracts
from her favourite volumes, gentle anecdotes of Chinese and Hottentot converts,
and incidents from missionary travel. George Barnes, a wily young diplomatist,
insinuated <i>Galignani</i>, and hinted that Kew might like a novel; and a
profane work called Oliver Twist having appeared about this time, which George
read out to his family with admirable emphasis, it is a fact that Lady Walham
became so interested in the parish boy&rsquo;s progress, that she took his
history into her bedroom (where it was discovered, under Blatherwick&rsquo;s
Voice from Mesopotamia, by her ladyship&rsquo;s maid), and that Kew laughed so
immensely at Mr. Bumble, the Beadle, as to endanger the reopening of his wound.
</p>

<p>
While, one day, they were so harmlessly and pleasantly occupied, a great
whacking of whips, blowing of horns, and whirring of wheels was heard in the
street without. The wheels stopped at their hotel gate; Lady Walham started up;
ran through the garden door, closing it behind her; and divined justly who had
arrived. The landlord was bowing; the courier pushing about; waiters in
attendance; one of them, coming up to pale-faced Lady Walham; said, &ldquo;Her
Excellency the Frau Gräfinn von Kew is even now absteiging.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Will you be good enough to walk into our salon, Lady Kew?&rdquo; said
the daughter-in-law, stepping forward and opening the door of that apartment.
The Countess, leaning on her staff, entered that darkened chamber. She ran up
towards an easy-chair, where she supposed Lord Kew was. &ldquo;My dear
Frank!&rdquo; cries the old lady; &ldquo;my dear boy, what a pretty fright you
have given us all! They don&rsquo;t keep you in this horrid noisy room facing
that&mdash;&mdash;Ho&mdash;what is this?&rdquo; cries the Countess, closing her
sentence abruptly.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is not Frank. It is only a bolster, Lady Kew, and I don&rsquo;t keep
him in a noisy room towards the street,&rdquo; said Lady Walham.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ho! how do you do? This is the way to him, I suppose;&rdquo; and she
went to another door&mdash;it was a cupboard full of the relics of
Frank&rsquo;s illness, from which Lady Walham&rsquo;s mother-in-law shrunk back
aghast. &ldquo;Will you please to see that I have a comfortable room, Maria;
and one for my maid, next me? I will thank you to see yourself,&rdquo; the
Empress of Kew said, pointing with her stick, before which many a time the
younger lady had trembled.
</p>

<p>
This time Lady Walham only rang the bell. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t speak German;
and have never been on any floor of the house but this. Your servant had better
see to your room, Lady Kew. That next is mine; and I keep the door, which you
are trying, locked on other side.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I suppose Frank is locked up there!&rdquo; cried the old lady,
&ldquo;with a basin of gruel and a book of Watts&rsquo;s hymns.&rdquo; A
servant entered at this moment, answering Lady Walham&rsquo;s summons.
&ldquo;Peacock, the Countess of Kew says that she proposes to stay here this
evening. Please to ask the landlord to show her ladyship rooms,&rdquo; said
Lady Walham; and by this time she had thought of a reply to Lady Kew&rsquo;s
last kind speech.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If my son were locked up in my room, madam, his mother is surely the
best nurse for him. Why did you not come to him three weeks sooner, when there
was nobody with him?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lady Kew said nothing, but glared and showed her teeth&mdash;those pearls set
in gold.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And my company may not amuse Lord Kew&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He-e-e!&rdquo; grinned the elder, savagely.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&mdash;But at least it is better than some to which you introduced my
son,&rdquo; continued Lady Kew&rsquo;s daughter-in-law, gathering force and
wrath as she spoke. &ldquo;Your ladyship may think lightly of me, but you can
hardly think so ill of me as of the Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry, I should suppose, to
whom you sent my boy, to form him, you said; about whom, when I
remonstrated&mdash;for though I live out of the world I hear of it
sometimes&mdash;you were pleased to tell me that I was a prude and a fool. It
is you I thank for separating my child from me&mdash;yes, you&mdash;for so many
years of my life; and for bringing me to him when he was bleeding and almost a
corpse, but that God preserved him to the widow&rsquo;s prayers;&mdash;and you,
you were by, and never came near him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I&mdash;I did not come to see you&mdash;or&mdash;or&mdash;for this kind
of scene, Lady Walham,&rdquo; muttered the other. Lady Kew was accustomed to
triumph, by attacking in masses, like Napoleon. Those who faced her routed her.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No; you did not come for me, I know very well,&rdquo; the daughter went
on. &ldquo;You loved me no better than you loved your son, whose life, as long
as you meddled with it, you made wretched. You came here for my boy.
Haven&rsquo;t you done him evil enough? And now God has mercifully preserved
him, you want to lead him back again into ruin and crime. It shall not be so,
wicked woman! bad mother! cruel, heartless parent!&mdash;George!&rdquo; (Here
her younger son entered the room, and she ran towards him with fluttering robes
and seized his hands.) &ldquo;Here is your grandmother; here is the Countess of
Kew, come from Baden at last; and she wants&mdash;she wants to take Frank from
us, my dear, and to&mdash;give&mdash;him&mdash;back to the&mdash;Frenchwoman
again. No, no! Oh, my God! Never! never!&rdquo; And she flung herself into
George Barnes&rsquo;s arms, fainting with an hysteric burst of tears.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You had best get a strait-waistcoat for your mother, George
Barnes,&rdquo; Lady Kew said, scorn and hatred in her face. (If she had been
Iago&rsquo;s daughter, with a strong likeness to her sire, Lord Steyne&rsquo;s
sister could not have looked more diabolical.) &ldquo;Have you had advice for
her? Has nursing poor Kew turned her head? I came to see <i>him</i>. Why have I
been left alone for half an hour with this madwoman? You ought not to trust her
to give Frank medicine. It is positively&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Excuse me,&rdquo; said George, with a bow; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think
the complaint has as yet exhibited itself in my mother&rsquo;s branch of the
family. (She always hated me,&rdquo; thought George; &ldquo;but if she had by
chance left me a legacy, there it goes.) You would like, ma&rsquo;am, to see
the rooms upstairs? Here is the landlord to conduct your ladyship. Frank will
be quite ready to receive you when you come down. I am sure I need not beg of
your kindness that nothing may be said to agitate him. It is barely three weeks
since M. de Castillonnes&rsquo;s ball was extracted; and the doctors wish he
should be kept as quiet as possible.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Be sure that the landlord, the courier, and the persons engaged in showing the
Countess of Kew the apartments above spent an agreeable time with Her
Excellency the Frau Gräfinn von Kew. She must have had better luck in her
encounter with these than in her previous passages with her grandson and his
mother; for when she issued from her apartment in a new dress and fresh cap,
Lady Kew&rsquo;s face wore an expression of perfect serenity. Her attendant may
have shook her fist behind her, and her man&rsquo;s eyes and face looked Blitz
and Donnerwetter; but their mistress&rsquo;s features wore that pleased look
which they assumed when she had been satisfactorily punishing somebody. Lord
Kew had by this time got back from the garden to his own room, where he awaited
grandmamma. If the mother and her two sons had in the interval of Lady
Kew&rsquo;s toilette tried to resume the history of Bumble the Beadle, I fear
they could not have found it very comical.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Bless me, my dear child! How well you look! Many a girl would give the
world to have such a complexion. There is nothing like a mother for a nurse!
Ah, no! Maria, you deserve to be the Mother Superior of a House of Sisters of
Charity, you do. The landlord has given me a delightful apartment, thank you.
He is an extortionate wretch; but I have no doubt I shall be very comfortable.
The Dodsburys stopped here, I see by the travellers&rsquo; book-quite right,
instead of sleeping at that odious buggy Strasbourg. We have had a sad, sad
time, my dears, at Baden. Between anxiety about poor Sir Brian, and about you,
you naughty boy, I am sure I wonder how I have got through it all. Doctor Finck
would not let me come away to-day; would I would come.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am sure it was uncommonly kind, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; says poor Kew,
with a rueful face.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That horrible woman against whom I always warned but you&mdash;but young
men will not take the advice of old grandmammas&mdash;has gone away these ten
days. Monsieur le Duc fetched her; and if he locked her up at Moncontour, and
kept her on bread-and-water; for the rest of her life, I am sure he would serve
her right. When a woman once forgets religious principles, Kew, she is sure to
go wrong. The Conversation-room is shut up. The Dorkings go on Tuesday. Clara
is really a dear little artless creature; one that you will like,
Maria&mdash;and as for Ethel, I really think she is an angel. To see her
nursing her poor father is the most beautiful sight; night after night she has
sate up with him. I know where she would like to be, the dear child. And if
Frank falls ill again, Maria, he won&rsquo;t need a mother or useless old
grandmother to nurse him. I have got some pretty messages to deliver from her;
but they are for your private ears, my lord; not even mammas and brothers may
hear them.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do not go, mother! Pray stay, George!&rdquo; cried the sick man (and
again Lord Steyne&rsquo;s sister looked uncommonly like that lamented marquis).
&ldquo;My cousin is a noble young creature,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;She has
admirable good qualities, which I appreciate with all my heart; and her beauty,
you know how I admire it. I have thought of her a great deal as I was lying on
the bed yonder&rdquo; (the family look was not so visible in Lady Kew&rsquo;s
face), &ldquo;and&mdash;and&mdash;I wrote to her this very morning; she will
have the letter by this time, probably.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Bien! Frank!&rdquo; Lady Kew smiled (in her supernatural way) almost as
much as her portrait, by Harlowe, as you may see it at Kewbury to this very
day. She is represented seated before an easel, painting a miniature of her
son, Lord Walham.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wrote to her on the subject of the last conversation we had
together,&rdquo; Frank resumed, in rather a timid voice, &ldquo;the day before
my accident. Perhaps she did not tell you, ma&rsquo;am, of what passed between
us. We had had a quarrel; one of many. Some cowardly hand, which we both of us
can guess at, had written to her an account of my past life, and she showed me
the letter. Then I told her, that if she loved me she never would have showed
it me: without any other words of reproof. I bade her farewell. It was not
much, the showing that letter; but it was enough. In twenty differences we have
had together, she had been unjust and captious, cruel towards me, and too
eager, as I thought, for other people&rsquo;s admiration. Had she loved me, it
seemed to me Ethel would have shown less vanity and better temper. What was I
to expect in life afterwards from a girl who before her marriage used me so?
Neither she nor I could be happy. She could be gentle enough, and kind, and
anxious to please any man whom she loves, God bless her! As for me, I suppose,
I&rsquo;m not worthy of so much talent and beauty, so we both understood that
that was a friendly farewell; and as I have been lying on my bed yonder,
thinking, perhaps, I never might leave it, or if I did, that I should like to
lead a different sort of life to that which ended in sending me there, my
resolve of last month was only confirmed. God forbid that she and I should lead
the lives of some folks we know; that Ethel should marry without love, perhaps
to fall into it afterwards; and that I, after this awful warning I have had,
should be tempted to back into that dreary life I was leading. It was wicked,
ma&rsquo;am, I knew it was; many and many a day I used to say so to myself, and
longed to get rid of it. I am a poor weak devil, I know, I am only too easily
led into temptation, and I should only make matters worse if I married a woman
who cares for the world more than for me, and would not make me happy at
home.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ethel care for the world!&rdquo; gasped out Lady Kew; &ldquo;a most
artless, simple, affectionate creature; my dear Frank, she&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
He interrupted her, as a blush came rushing over his pale face.
&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;if I had been the painter, and young Clive
had been Lord Kew, which of us do you think she would have chosen? And she was
right. He is a brave, handsome, honest young fellow, and is a thousand times
cleverer and better than I am.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not better, dear, thank God,&rdquo; cried his mother, coming round to
the other side of his sofa, and seizing her son&rsquo;s hand.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think he is better, Frank,&rdquo; said the
diplomatist, walking away to the window. And as for grandmamma at the end of
this little speech and scene, her ladyship&rsquo;s likeness to her brother, the
late revered Lord Steyne, was more frightful than ever.
</p>

<p>
After a minute&rsquo;s pause, she rose up on her crooked stick, and said,
&ldquo;I really feel I am unworthy to keep company with so much exquisite
virtue. It will be enhanced, my lord, by the thought of the pecuniary sacrifice
which you are making, for I suppose you know that I have been
hoarding&mdash;yes, and saving, and pinching,&mdash;denying myself the
necessities of life, in order that my grandson might one day have enough to
support his rank. Go and live and starve in your dreary old house, and marry a
parson&rsquo;s daughter, and sing psalms with your precious mother; and I have
no doubt you and she&mdash;she who has thwarted me all through life, and whom I
hated,&mdash;yes, I hated from the moment she took my son from me, and brought
misery into my family, will be all the happier when she thinks that she has
made a poor, fond, lonely old woman more lonely and miserable. If you please,
George Barnes, be good enough to tell my people that I shall go back to
Baden,&rdquo; and waving her children away from her, the old woman tottered out
of the room on her crutch.
</p>

<p class="p2">
So the wicked fairy drove away disappointed in the chariot with the very
dragons which had brought her away in the morning, and just had time to get
their feed of black bread. I wonder whether they were the horses Clive and J.
J. and Jack Belsize had used when they passed on their road to Switzerland?
Black Care sits behind all sorts of horses, and gives a trinkgelt to
postillions all over the map. A thrill of triumph may be permitted to Lady
Walham after her victory over her mother-in-law. What Christian woman does not
like to conquer another? and if that other were a mother-in-law, would the
victory be less sweet? Husbands and wives both will be pleased that Lady Walham
has had the better of this bout: and you, young boys and virgins, when your
turn comes to be married, you will understand the hidden meaning of this
passage. George Barnes got Oliver Twist out, and began to read therein. Miss
Nancy and Fanny again were summoned before this little company to frighten and
delight them. I dare say even Fagin and Miss Nancy failed with the widow, so
absorbed was she with the thoughts of the victory which she had just won. For
the evening service, in which her sons rejoiced her fond heart by joining, she
lighted on a psalm which was as a <i>Te Deum</i> after the battle&mdash;the
battle of Kehl by Rhine, where Kew&rsquo;s soul, as his mother thought, was the
object of contention between the enemies. I have said, this book is all about
the world and a respectable family dwelling in it. It is not a sermon, except
where it cannot help itself, and the speaker pursuing the destiny of his
narrative finds such a homily before him. O friend, in your life and mine,
don&rsquo;t we light upon such sermons daily?&mdash;don&rsquo;t we see at home
as well as amongst our neighbours that battle betwixt Evil and Good? Here on
one side is Self and Ambition and Advancement; and Right and Love on the other.
Which shall we let to triumph for ourselves&mdash;which for our children?
</p>

<p>
The young men were sitting smoking the vesper cigar. (Frank would do it, and
his mother actually lighted his cigar for him now, enjoining him straightway
after to go to bed.) Kew smoked and looked at a star&mdash;shining above in the
heaven. &ldquo;Which is that star?&rdquo; he asked: and the accomplished young
diplomatist answered it was Jupiter.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What a lot of things you know, George!&rdquo; cries the senior,
delighted; &ldquo;you ought to have been the elder, you ought, by Jupiter! But
you have lost your chance this time.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, thank God!&rdquo; says George.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I am going to be all right&mdash;and to turn over a new leaf, old
boy&mdash;and paste down the old ones, eh? I wrote to Martins this morning to
have all my horses sold; and I&rsquo;ll never beg&mdash;so help me&mdash;so
help me, Jupiter. I made a vow&mdash;a promise to myself, you see, that I
wouldn&rsquo;t if I recovered. And I wrote to Cousin Ethel this
morning.&mdash;As I thought over the matter yonder, I felt quite certain I was
right, and that we could never, never pull together. Now the Countess is gone,
I wonder whether I was right&mdash;to give up sixty thousand pounds, and the
prettiest girl in London?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Shall I take horses and go after her? My mother&rsquo;s gone to bed, she
won&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; asked George. &ldquo;Sixty thousand is a lot of money
to lose.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Kew laughed. &ldquo;If you were to go and tell our grandmother that I could not
live the night through, and that you would be Lord Kew in the morning, and your
son Viscount Walham, I think the Countess would make up a match between you and
the sixty thousand pounds, and the prettiest girl in England: she would,
by&mdash;by Jupiter. I intend only to swear by the heathen gods now,
Georgy.&mdash;No, I am not sorry I wrote to Ethel. What a fine girl she
is!&mdash;I don&rsquo;t mean her beauty merely, but such a noble-bred one! And
to think that there she is in the market to be knocked down to&mdash;I say, I
was going to call that three-year-old, Ethelinda.&mdash;We must christen her
over again for Tattersall&rsquo;s, Georgy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
A knock is heard through an adjoining door, and a maternal voice cries,
&ldquo;It is time to go to bed.&rdquo; So the brothers part, and, let us hope,
sleep soundly.
</p>

<p class="p2">
The Countess of Kew, meanwhile, has returned to Baden; where, though it is
midnight when she arrives, and the old lady has had two long bootless journeys,
you will be grieved to hear, that she does not sleep a single wink. In the
morning she hobbles over to the Newcome quarters; and Ethel comes down to her
pale and calm. How is her father? He has had a good night: he is a little
better, speaks more clearly, has a little more the use of his limbs.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish <i>I</i> had had a good night!&rdquo; groans out the Countess.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I thought you were going to Lord Kew, at Kehl,&rdquo; remarked her
granddaughter.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I did go, and returned with wretches who would not bring me more than
five miles an hour! I dismissed that brutal grinning courier; and I have given
warning to that fiend of a maid.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And Frank is pretty well, grandmamma?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well! He looks as pink as a girl in her first season! I found him, and
his brother George, and their mamma. I think Maria was hearing them their
catechism,&rdquo; cries the old lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;N. and M. together! Very pretty,&rdquo; says Ethel, gravely.
&ldquo;George has always been a good boy, and it is quite time for my Lord Kew
to begin.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The elder lady looked at her descendant, but Miss Ethel&rsquo;s glance was
impenetrable. &ldquo;I suppose you can fancy, my dear, why I came back?&rdquo;
said Lady Kew.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Because you quarrelled with Lady Walham, grandmamma. I think I have
heard that there used to be differences between you.&rdquo; Miss Newcome was
armed for defence and attack; in which cases we have said Lady Kew did not care
to assault her. &ldquo;My grandson told me that he had written to you,&rdquo;
the Countess said.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes: and had you waited but half an hour yesterday, you might have
spared me the humiliation of that journey.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>You</i>&mdash;the humiliation&mdash;Ethel!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, <i>me</i>,&rdquo; Ethel flashed out. &ldquo;Do you suppose it is
none to have me bandied about from bidder to bidder, and offered for sale to a
gentleman who will not buy me? Why have you and all my family been so eager to
get rid of me? Why should you suppose or desire that Lord Kew should like me?
Hasn&rsquo;t he the Opera; and such friends as Madame la Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry,
to whom your ladyship introduced him in early life? He told me so: and she was
good enough to inform me of the rest. What attractions have I in comparison
with such women? And to this man from whom I am parted by good fortune; to this
man who writes to remind me that we are separated&mdash;your ladyship must
absolutely go and entreat him to give me another trial! It is too much,
grandmamma. Do please to let me stay where I am; and worry me with no more
schemes for my establishment in life. Be contented with the happiness which you
have secured for Clara Pulleyn and Barnes; and leave me to take care of my poor
father. Here I know I am doing right. Here, at least, there is no such sorrow,
and doubt, and shame, for me, as my friends have tried to make me endure. There
is my father&rsquo;s bell. He likes me to be with him at breakfast and to read
his paper to him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Stay a little, Ethel,&rdquo; cried the Countess, with a trembling voice.
&ldquo;I am older than your father, and you owe me a little
obedience&mdash;that is, if children do owe any obedience to their parents
nowadays. I don&rsquo;t know. I am an old woman&mdash;the world perhaps has
changed since my time; and it is you who ought to command, I dare say, and we
to follow. Perhaps I have been wrong all through life, and in trying to teach
my children to do as I was made to do. God knows I have had very little comfort
from them: whether they did or whether they didn&rsquo;t. You and Frank I had
set my heart on; I loved you out of all my grandchildren&mdash;was it very
unnatural that I should wish to see you together? For that boy I have been
saving money these years past. He flies back to the arms of his mother, who has
been pleased to hate me as only such virtuous people can; who took away my own
son from me; and now his son&mdash;towards whom the only fault I ever committed
was to spoil him and be too fond of him. Don&rsquo;t leave me too, my child.
Let me have something that I can like at my years. And I like your pride,
Ethel, and your beauty, my dear; and I am not angry with your hard words; and
if I wish to see you in the place in life which becomes you&mdash;do I do
wrong? No. Silly girl! There&mdash;give me the little hand. How hot it is! Mine
is as cold as a stone&mdash;and shakes, doesn&rsquo;t it?&mdash;Eh! it was a
pretty hand once! What did Anne&mdash;what did your mother say to Frank&rsquo;s
letter.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I did not show it to her,&rdquo; Ethel answered.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Let me see it, my dear,&rdquo; whispered Lady Kew, in a coaxing way.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There it is,&rdquo; said Ethel pointing to the fireplace, where there
lay some torn fragments and ashes of paper. It was the same fireplace at which
Clive&rsquo;s sketches had been burned.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0039" id="link2HCH0039"></a>
CHAPTER XXXIX.<br/>
Amongst the Painters</h2>

<p>
When Clive Newcome comes to be old, no doubt he will remember his Roman days as
amongst the happiest which fate ever awarded him. The simplicity of the
student&rsquo;s life there, the greatness and friendly splendour of the scenes
surrounding him, the delightful nature of the occupation in which he is
engaged, the pleasant company of comrades, inspired by a like pleasure over a
similar calling, the labour, the meditation, the holiday and the kindly feast
afterwards, should make the Art-students the happiest of youth, did they but
know their good fortune. Their work is for the most part delightfully easy. It
does not exercise the brain too much, but gently occupies it, and with a
subject most agreeable to the scholar. The mere poetic flame, or jet of
invention, needs to be lighted up but very seldom, namely, when the young
painter is devising his subject, or settling the composition thereof. The
posing of figures and drapery; the dexterous copying of the line; the artful
processes of cross-hatching, of stumping, of laying on lights, and what not;
the arrangement of colour, and the pleasing operations of glazing and the like,
are labours for the most part merely manual. These, with the smoking of a
proper number of pipes, carry the student through his day&rsquo;s work. If you
pass his door you will very probably hear him singing at his easel. I should
like to know what young lawyer, mathematician, or divinity scholar can sing
over his volumes, and at the same time advance with his labour? In every city
where Art is practised there are old gentlemen who never touched a pencil in
their lives, but find the occupation and company of artists so agreeable that
they are never out of the studios; follow one generation of painters after
another; sit by with perfect contentment while Jack is drawing his pifferaro,
or Tom designing his cartoon, and years afterwards when Jack is established in
Newman Street, and Tom a Royal Academician, shall still be found in their
rooms, occupied now by fresh painters and pictures, telling the youngsters,
their successors, what glorious fellows Jack and Tom were. A poet must retire
to privy places and meditate his rhymes in secret; a painter can practise his
trade in the company of friends. Your splendid <i>chef d&rsquo;école</i>, a
Rubens or a Horace Vernet, may sit with a secretary reading to him; a troop of
admiring scholars watching the master&rsquo;s hand; or a company of court
ladies and gentlemen (to whom he addresses a few kind words now and again)
looking on admiringly; whilst the humblest painter, be he ever so poor, may
have a friend watching at his easel, or a gentle wife sitting by with her work
in her lap, and with fond smiles or talk or silence cheering his labour.
</p>

<p>
Amongst all ranks and degrees of painters assembled at Rome, Mr. Clive found
companions and friends. The cleverest man was not the best artist very often:
the ablest artist not the best critic nor the best companion. Many a man could
give no account of the faculty within him, but achieved success because he
could not help it; and did, in an hour and without effort, that which another
could not effect with half a life&rsquo;s labour. There were young sculptors
who had never read a line of Homer, who took on themselves nevertheless to
interpret and continue the heroic Greek art. There were young painters with the
strongest natural taste for low humour, comic singing, and Cyder-Cellar
jollifications, who would imitate nothing under Michael Angelo, and whose
canvases teemed with tremendous allegories of fates, furies, genii of death and
battle. There were long-haired lads who fancied the sublime lay in the
Peruginesque manner, and depicted saintly personages with crisp draperies,
crude colours, and haloes of gold-leaf. Our friend marked all these
practitioners of Art with their various oddities and tastes, and was welcomed
in the ateliers of all of them, from the grave dons and seniors, the senators
of the French and English Academy, down to the jovial students who railed at
the elders over their cheap cups at the Lepre. What a gallant, starving,
generous, kindly life, many of them led! What fun in their grotesque airs, what
friendship and gentleness in their poverty! How splendidly Carlo talked of the
marquis his cousin, and the duke his intimate friend! How great Federigo was on
the subject of his wrongs, from the Academy at home, a pack of tradesmen who
could not understand high art, and who had never seen a good picture! With what
haughtiness Augusto swaggered about at Sir John&rsquo;s soirées, though he was
known to have borrowed Fernando&rsquo;s coat, and Luigi&rsquo;s dress-boots! If
one or the other was ill, how nobly and generously his companions flocked to
comfort him, took turns to nurse the sick man through nights of fever,
contributed out of their slender means to help him through his difficulty. Max,
who loves fine dresses and the carnival so, gave up a costume and a carriage so
as to help Paul, when he sold his picture (through the agency of Pietro, with
whom he had quarrelled, and who recommended him to a patron), gave a third of
the money back to Max, and took another third portion to Lazaro, with his poor
wife and children, who had not got a single order all that winter&mdash;and so
the story went on. I have heard Clive tell of two noble young Americans who
came to Europe to study their art; of whom the one fell sick, whilst the other
supported his penniless comrade, and out of sixpence a day absolutely kept but
a penny for himself, giving the rest to his sick companion. &ldquo;I should
like to have known that good Samaritan, Sir,&rdquo; our Colonel said, twirling
his mustachios, when we saw him again, and his son told him that story.
</p>

<p>
J. J., in his steady silent way, worked on every day, and for many hours every
day. When Clive entered their studio of a morning, he found J. J. there, and
there he left him. When the Life Academy was over, at night, and Clive went out
to his soirées, J. J. lighted his lamp and continued his happy labour. He did
not care for the brawling supper-parties of his comrades; liked better to stay
at home than to go into the world, and was seldom abroad of a night except
during the illness of Luigi before mentioned, when J. J. spent constant
evenings at the other&rsquo;s bedside. J. J. was fortunate as well as skilful:
people in the world took a liking to the modest young man, and he had more than
one order for pictures. The Artists&rsquo; Club, at the Lepre, set him down as
close with his money; but a year after he left Rome, Lazaro and his wife, who
still remained there, told a different tale. Clive Newcome, when he heard of
their distress, gave them something&mdash;as much as he could spare; but J. J.
gave more, and Clive was as eager in acknowledging and admiring his
friend&rsquo;s generosity as he was in speaking of his genius. His was a
fortunate organisation indeed. Study was his chief amusement. Self-denial came
easily to him. Pleasure, or what is generally called so, had little charm for
him. His ordinary companions were pure and sweet thoughts; his out-door
enjoyment the contemplation of natural beauty; for recreation, the hundred
pleasant dexterities and manipulations of his craft were ceaselessly
interesting to him: he would draw every knot in an oak panel, or every leaf in
an orange-tree, smiling, and taking a gay delight over the simple feats of
skill: whenever you found him he seemed watchful and serene, his modest
virgin-lamp always lighted and trim. No gusts of passion extinguished it; no
hopeless wandering in the darkness afterwards led him astray. Wayfarers through
the world, we meet now and again with such purity; and salute it, and hush
whilst it passes on.
</p>

<p>
We have it under Clive Newcome&rsquo;s own signature, that he intended to pass
a couple of years in Italy, devoting himself exclusively to the study of his
profession. Other besides professional reasons were working secretly in the
young man&rsquo;s mind, causing him to think that absence from England was the
best cure for a malady under which he secretly laboured. But change of air may
cure some sick people more speedily than the sufferers ever hoped; and also it
is on record, that young men with the very best intentions respecting study, do
not fulfil them, and are led away from their scheme by accident, or pleasure,
or necessity, or some good cause. Young Clive worked sedulously two or three
months at his vocation at Rome, secretly devouring, no doubt, the pangs of
sentimental disappointment under which he laboured; and he drew from his
models, and he sketched round about everything that suited his pencil on both
sides of Tiber; and he laboured at the Life Academy of nights&mdash;a model
himself to other young students. The symptoms of his sentimental malady began
to abate. He took an interest in the affairs of Jack, and Tom, and Harry round
about him: Art exercised its great healing influence on his wounded spirit,
which to be sure had never given in. The meeting of the painters at the Café
Greco, and at their private houses, was very jovial, pleasant, and lively.
Clive smoked his pipe, drank his glass of Marsala, sang his song, and took part
in the general chorus as gaily as the jolliest of the boys. He was the cock of
the whole painting school, the favourite of all; and to be liked by the people,
you may be pretty sure that we for our parts must like them.
</p>

<p>
Then, besides the painters, he had, as he has informed us, the other society of
Rome. Every winter there is a gay and pleasant English colony in that capital,
of course more or less remarkable for rank, fashion, and agreeability with
every varying year. In Clive&rsquo;s year some very pleasant folks set up their
winter quarters in the usual foreigners&rsquo; resort round about the Piazza di
Spagna. I was amused to find, lately, looking over the travels of the
respectable M. de Poellnitz, that, a hundred and twenty years ago, the same
quarter, the same streets and palaces, scarce changed from those days, were
even then polite foreigners&rsquo; resort. Of one or two of the gentlemen Clive
had made the acquaintance in the hunting-field; others he had met during his
brief appearance in the London world. Being a youth of great personal agility,
fitted thereby to the graceful performance of polkas, etc.; having good
manners, and good looks, and good credit with Prince Poloni, or some other
banker, Mr. Newcome was thus made very welcome to the Anglo-Roman society; and
as kindly received in genteel houses, where they drank tea and danced the
galop, as in those dusky taverns and retired lodgings where his bearded
comrades, the painters held their meetings.
</p>

<p>
Thrown together every day, and night after night; flocking to the same
picture-galleries, statue-galleries, Pincian drives, and church functions, the
English colonists at Rome perforce became intimate, and in many cases friendly.
They have an English library where the various meets for the week are
placarded: on such a day the Vatican galleries are open: the next is the feast
of Saint So-and-so: on Wednesday there will be music and vespers at the Sistine
Chapel&mdash;on Thursday, the Pope will bless the animals&mdash;sheep, horses,
and what-not: and flocks of English accordingly rush to witness the benediction
of droves of donkeys. In a word, the ancient city of the Cæsars, the august
fanes of the Popes, with their splendour and ceremony, are all mapped out and
arranged for English diversion; and we run in a crowd to high mass at St.
Peter&rsquo;s, or to the illumination on Easter Day, as we run when the bell
rings to the Bosjesmen at Cremorne, or the fireworks at Vauxhall.
</p>

<p>
Running to see fireworks alone, rushing off to examine Bosjesmen by one&rsquo;s
self, is a dreary work: I should think very few men would have the courage to
do it unattended, and personally would not prefer a pipe in their own rooms.
Hence if Clive went to see all these sights, as he did, it is to be concluded
that he went in company; and if he went in company and sought it, we may
suppose that little affair which annoyed him at Baden no longer tended to hurt
his peace of mind very seriously. The truth is, our countrymen are pleasanter
abroad than at home; most hospitable, kindly, and eager to be pleased and to
please. You see a family half a dozen times in a week in the little Roman
circle, whom you shall not meet twice in a season afterwards in the enormous
London round. When Easter is over and everybody is going away at Rome, you and
your neighbour shake hands, sincerely sorry to part: in London we are obliged
to dilute our kindness so that there is hardly any smack of the original milk.
As one by one the pleasant families dropped off with whom Clive had spent his
happy winter; as Admiral Freeman&rsquo;s carriage drove away, whose pretty
girls he had caught at St. Peter&rsquo;s kissing St. Peter&rsquo;s toe; as Dick
Denby&rsquo;s family ark appeared with all Denby&rsquo;s sweet young children
kissing farewells to him out of the window; as those three charming Miss
Baliols with whom he had that glorious day in the Catacombs; as friend after
friend quitted the great city with kind greetings, warm pressures of the hand,
and hopes of meeting in a yet greater city on the banks of the Thames, young
Clive felt a depression of spirit. Rome was Rome, but it was pleasanter to see
it in company; our painters are smoking still at the Oafs Greco, but a society
all smoke and all painters did not suit him. If Mr. Clive is not a Michael
Angelo or a Beethoven, if his genius is not gloomy, solitary, gigantic, shining
alone, like a lighthouse, a storm round about him, and breakers dashing at his
feet, I cannot help myself: he is as Heaven made him, brave, honest, gay, and
friendly, and persons of a gloomy turn must not look to him as a hero.
</p>

<p>
So Clive and his companion worked away with all their hearts from November
until far into April when Easter came, and the glorious gala with which the
Roman Church celebrates that holy season. By this time Clive&rsquo;s books were
full of sketches. Ruins, imperial and mediæval; peasants and bagpipemen;
Passionists with shaven polls; Capuchins and the equally hairy frequenters of
the Café Greco; painters of all nations who resort there; Cardinals and their
queer equipages and attendants; the Holy Father himself (it was Gregory
sixteenth of the name); the dandified English on the Pincio and the wonderful
Roman members of the hunt&mdash;were not all these designed by the young man
and admired by his friends in after-days? J. J.&rsquo;s sketches were few, but
he had painted two beautiful little pictures, and sold them for so good a price
that Prince Polonia&rsquo;s people were quite civil to him. He had orders for
yet more pictures, and having worked very hard, thought himself authorised to
accompany Mr. Clive upon a pleasure-trip to Naples, which the latter deemed
necessary after his own tremendous labours. He for his part had painted no
pictures, though he had commenced a dozen and turned them to the wall; but he
had sketched, and dined, and smoked, and danced, as we have seen. So the little
britzska was put behind horses again, and our two friends set out on their
tour, having quite a crowd of brother-artists to cheer them, who had assembled
and had a breakfast for the purpose at that comfortable osteria near the
Lateran Gate. How the fellows flung their hats up, and shouted, &ldquo;Lebe
wohl,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Adieu,&rdquo; and &ldquo;God bless you, old boy,&rdquo;
in many languages! Clive was the young swell of the artists of that year, and
adored by the whole of the jolly company. His sketches were pronounced on all
hands to be admirable: it was agreed that if he chose he might do anything.
</p>

<p>
So with promises of a speedy return they left behind them the noble city, which
all love who once have seen it, and of which we think afterwards ever with the
kindness and the regard of home. They dashed across the Campagna and over the
beautiful hills of Albano, and sped through the solemn Pontine Marshes, and
stopped to roost at Terracing (which was not at all like Fra Diavolo&rsquo;s
Terracing at Covent Garden, as J. J. was distressed to remark), and so,
galloping onwards through a hundred ancient cities that crumble on the shores
of the beautiful Mediterranean, behold, on the second day as they ascended a
hill about noon. Vesuvius came in view, its great shape shimmering blue in the
distant haze, its banner of smoke in the cloudless sky. And about five
o&rsquo;clock in the evening (as everybody will who starts from Terracing early
and pays the postboy well), the travellers came to an ancient city walled and
fortified, with drawbridges over the shining moats.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Here is C<small>APUA</small>,&rdquo; says J. J., and Clive burst out
laughing: thinking of <i>his</i> Capua which he had left&mdash;how many
months&mdash;years it seemed ago! From Capua to Naples is a fine straight road,
and our travellers were landed at the latter place at suppertime; where, if
they had quarters at the Vittoria Hotel, they were as comfortable as any
gentlemen painters need wish to be in this world.
</p>

<p>
The aspect of the place was so charming and delightful to Clive:&mdash;the
beautiful sea stretched before his eyes when waking, Capri a fairy island in
the distance, in the amethyst rocks of which Sirens might be playing&mdash;that
fair line of cities skirting the shore glittering white along the purple
water&mdash;over the whole brilliant scene Vesuvius rising with cloudlets
playing round its summit, and the country bursting out into that glorious
vegetation with which sumptuous nature decorates every spring&mdash;this city
and scene of Naples were so much to Clive&rsquo;s liking that I have a letter
from him dated a couple of days after the young man&rsquo;s arrival, in which
he announces his intention of staying there for ever, and gives me an
invitation to some fine lodgings in a certain palazzo, on which he has cast his
eye. He is so enraptured with the place, that he says to die and be buried
there even would be quite a treat, so charming is the cemetery where the
Neapolitan dead repose.
</p>

<p>
The Fates did not, however, ordain that Clive Newcome should pass all his life
at Naples. His Roman banker presently forwarded a few letters to his address;
some which had arrived after his departure, others which had been lying at the
Poste Restante, with his name written in perfectly legible characters, but
which the authorities of the post, according to their custom, would not see
when Clive sent for them.
</p>

<p>
It was one of these letters which Clive clutched the most eagerly. It had been
lying since October, actually, at the Roman post, though Clive had asked for
letters there a hundred times. It was that little letter from Ethel, in reply
to his own, whereof we have made mention in a previous chapter. There was not
much in the little letter. Nothing, of course, that Virtue or Grandmamma might
not read over the young writer&rsquo;s shoulder. It was affectionate, simple,
rather melancholy; described in a few words Sir Brian&rsquo;s seizure and
present condition; spoke of Lord Kew, who was mending rapidly, as if Clive, of
course, was aware of his accident; of the children, of Clive&rsquo;s father,
and ended with a hearty &ldquo;God bless you,&rdquo; to Clive, from his sincere
Ethel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You boast of its being over. You see it is not over,&rdquo; says
Clive&rsquo;s monitor and companion. &ldquo;Else, why should you have dashed at
that letter before all the others, Clive?&rdquo; J. J. had been watching, not
without interest, Clive&rsquo;s blank face as he read the young lady&rsquo;s
note.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How do you know who wrote the letter?&rdquo; asks Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I can read the signature in your face,&rdquo; says the other; &ldquo;and
I could almost tell the contents of the note. Why have you such a tell-tale
face, Clive?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is over; but when a man has once, you know, gone through an affair
like that,&rdquo; says Clive, looking very grave, &ldquo;he&mdash;he&rsquo;s
anxious to hear of Alice Grey, and how she&rsquo;s getting on, you see, my good
friend.&rdquo; And he began to shout out as of old&mdash;
</p>

<p class="poem">
&ldquo;Her heart it is another&rsquo;s,
she&mdash;never&mdash;can&mdash;be&mdash;mine;&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="noindent">
and to laugh at the end of the song. &ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; says he;
&ldquo;it is a very kind note, a very proper little note; the expression
elegant, J. J., the sentiment is most correct. All the little t&rsquo;s most
properly crossed, and all the little i&rsquo;s have dots over their little
heads. It&rsquo;s a sort of a prize note, don&rsquo;t you see; and one such, as
in the old spelling-book story, the good boy received a plum-cake for writing.
Perhaps you weren&rsquo;t educated on the old spelling-book, J. J.? My good old
father taught me to read out of his&mdash;I say, I think it was a shame to keep
the old boy waiting whilst I have been giving an audience to this young lady.
Dear old father!&rdquo; and he apostrophised the letter. &ldquo;I beg your
pardon, sir; Miss Newcome requested five minutes&rsquo; conversation, and I was
obliged, from politeness, you know, to receive. There&rsquo;s nothing between
us; nothing but what&rsquo;s most correct, upon my honour and
conscience.&rdquo; And he kissed his father&rsquo;s letter, and calling out
again, &ldquo;Dear old father!&rdquo; proceeded to read as follows:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;&lsquo;Your letters, my dearest Clive, have been the greatest comfort to
me. I seem to hear you as I read them. I can&rsquo;t but think that this, the
<i>modern and natural style</i>, is a great progress upon the
<i>old-fashioned</i> manner of my day, when we used to begin to our fathers,
&lsquo;Honoured Father,&rsquo; or even &lsquo;Honoured Sir&rsquo; some
<i>precisians</i> used to write still from Mr. Lord&rsquo;s Academy, at
Tooting, where I went before Grey Friars&mdash;though I suspect parents were no
more <i>honoured</i> in those days than nowadays. I know one who had rather be
trusted than honoured; and you may call me what you please, so as you do that.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;It is not only to me your letters give pleasure. Last week I took
yours from Baden Baden, No. 3, September 15, into Calcutta, and could not help
showing it at Government House, where I dined. Your sketch of the old Russian
Princess and her little boy, gambling, was <i>capital</i>. Colonel Buckmaster,
Lord Bagwig&rsquo;s private secretary, knew her, and says it is to a <i>T</i>.
And I read out to some of my young fellows what you said about play, and how
you had given it over. I very much fear some of the young rogues are at dice
and brandy-pawnee before tiffin. What you say of young Ridley, I take <i>cum
grano</i>. His sketches I thought very agreeable; but to compare them to <i>a
certain gentleman&rsquo;s</i>&mdash;&mdash;Never mind, I shall not try to make
him think too well of himself. I kissed dear Ethel&rsquo;s hand in your letter.
I write her a long letter by this mail.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;If Paul de Florac in any way resembles his mother, between you
and him there ought to be a very warm regard. I knew her when I was a boy, long
before you were born or thought of; and in wandering forty years through the
world since, I have seen no woman in my eyes so good or so beautiful. Your
cousin Ethel reminded me of her; as handsome, but not so <i>lovely</i>. Yes, it
was that pale lady you saw at Paris, with eyes full of care, and hair streaked
with grey. So it will be the turn of you young folks, come eight more
<i>lustres</i>, and your heads will be bald like mine, or grey like Madame de
Florac&rsquo;s, and bending over the ground where we are lying in quiet. I
understand from you that young Paul is not in very flourishing circumstances.
If he still is in need, mind and be his banker, and <i>I will be yours</i>. Any
child of hers must never want when I have a spare guinea. I do not mind telling
you, sir, that I cared for her more than millions of guineas once; and half
broke my heart about her when I went to India, as a young chap. So, if any such
misfortunes happen to <i>you</i>, consider, my boy, you are not the <i>only</i>
one.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Binnie writes me word that he has been ailing. I hope you are a
good correspondent with him. What made me turn to him just after speaking of
unlucky love affairs? Could I be thinking about little Rosie Mackenzie? She is
a sweet little lass, and James will leave her a pretty piece of money.
<i>Verbum sap</i>. I should like you to marry; but God forbid you should marry
for a million of gold mohurs.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;And gold mohurs bring me to another subject. Do you know I
narrowly missed losing half a lakh of rupees which I had at an agent&rsquo;s
here? And who do you think warned me about him? Our friend Rummun Loll, who has
lately been in England, and with whom I made the voyage from Southampton. He is
a man of wonderful tact and observation. I used to think meanly of the honesty
of natives and treat them haughtily, as I recollect doing this very gentleman
at your Uncle Newcome&rsquo;s in Bryanstone Square. He heaped coals of fire on
my head by saving my money for me; and I have placed it with interest in his
house. If I would but listen to him, my capital might be trebled in a year, he
says, and the interest immensely increased. He enjoys the greatest esteem among
the moneyed men here; keeps a splendid establishment and house here in
Barrackpore; is princely in his benefactions. He talks to me about the
establishment of a bank, of which the profits are so enormous and the scheme so
(seemingly) clear, that I don&rsquo;t know whether I mayn&rsquo;t be tempted to
take a few shares. <i>Nous verrons</i>. Several of my friends are longing to
have a finger in it; but be sure this, I shall do nothing rashly and without
the very <i>best advice</i>.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;I have not been frightened yet by your draughts upon me. Draw as
many of these as you please. You know I don&rsquo;t half like the other kind of
drawing, except as a <i>délassement:</i> but if you chose to be a weaver, like
my grandfather, I should not say you nay. Don&rsquo;t stint yourself of money
or of honest pleasure. Of what good is money, unless we can make those we love
happy with it? There would be no need for me to save, if you were to save too.
So, and as you know as well as I what our means are, in every honest way use
them. I should like you not to pass the whole of next year in Italy, but to
come home and pay a visit to honest James Binnie. I wonder how the old barrack
in Fitzroy Square looks without me? Try and go round by Paris on your way home,
and pay your visit, and carry your father&rsquo;s fond remembrances to Madame
la Comtesse de Florac. I don&rsquo;t say remember me to my brother, as I write
Brian by this mail. Adieu, mon fils! je t&rsquo;embrasse!&mdash;and am always
my Clive&rsquo;s affectionate father, T. N.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t he a noble old trump?&rdquo; That point had been settled by
the young men any time these three years. And now Mr. J. J. remarked that when
Clive had read his father&rsquo;s letter once, then he read Ethel&rsquo;s over
again, and put it in his breast-pocket, and was very disturbed in mind that
day, pishing and pshawing at the statue-gallery which they went to see at the
Museo.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;After all,&rdquo; says Clive, &ldquo;what rubbish these second-rate
statues are! what a great hulking abortion is this brute of a Farnese Hercules!
There&rsquo;s only one bit in the whole gallery that is worth a
twopenny-piece.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
It was the beautiful fragment called Psyche. J. J. smiled as his comrade spoke
in admiration of this statue&mdash;in the slim shape, in the delicate formation
of the neck, in the haughty virginal expression, the Psyche is not unlike the
Diana of the Louvre&mdash;and the Diana of the Louvre we have said was like a
certain young lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;After all,&rdquo; continues Clive, looking up at the great knotted legs
of that clumsy caricatured porter which Glykon the Athenian sculptured in bad
times of art surely,&mdash;&ldquo;she could not write otherwise than she
did&mdash;don&rsquo;t you see? Her letter is quite kind and affectionate. You
see she says she shall always hear of me with pleasure: hopes I&rsquo;ll come
back soon, and bring some good pictures with me, since pictures I will do. She
thinks small beer of painters, J. J.&mdash;well, we don&rsquo;t think small
beer of ourselves, my noble friend. I&mdash;I suppose it must be over by this
time, and I may write to her as the Countess of Kew.&rdquo; The custode of the
apartment had seen admiration and wonder expressed by hundreds of visitors to
his marble Giant: but he had never known Hercules occasion emotion before, as
in the case of the young stranger; who, after staring a while at the statue,
dashed his hand across his forehead with a groan, and walked away from before
the graven image of the huge Strongman, who had himself been made such a fool
by women.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My father wants me to go and see James and Madame de Florac,&rdquo; says
Clive, as they stride down the street to the Toledo.
</p>

<p>
J. J. puts his arm through his companion&rsquo;s, which is deep the pocket of
his velvet paletot. &ldquo;You must not go home till you hear it is over,
Clive,&rdquo; whispers J. J.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course not, old boy,&rdquo; says the other, blowing tobacco out of
his shaking head.
</p>

<p>
Not very long after their arrival, we may be sure they went to Pompeii, of
which place, as this is not an Italian tour, but a history of Clive Newcome,
Esquire, and his most respectable family, we shall offer to give no
description. The young man had read Sir Bulwer Lytton&rsquo;s delightful story,
which has become the history of Pompeii, before they came thither, and
Pliny&rsquo;s description, <i>apud</i> the Guide-Book. Admiring the wonderful
ingenuity with which the English writer had illustrated the place by his text,
as if the houses were so many pictures to which he had appended a story, Clive,
the wag, who was always indulging his vein for caricature, was proposing that
that they should take the same place, names, people, and make a burlesque
story: &ldquo;What would be a better figure,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;than
Pliny&rsquo;s mother, whom the historian describes as exceedingly corpulent,
and walking away from the catastrophe with slaves holding cushions behind her,
to shield her plump person from the cinders! Yes, old Mrs Pliny shall be my
heroine!&rdquo; says Clive. A picture of her on a dark grey paper and touched
up with red at the extremities, exists in Clive&rsquo;s album to the present
day.
</p>

<p>
As they were laughing, rattling, wondering, mimicking, the cicerone attending
them with his nasal twaddle, anon pausing and silent, yielding to the
melancholy pity and wonder which the aspect of that strange and smiling place
inspires,&mdash;behold they come upon another party of English, two young men
accompanying a lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What, Clive!&rdquo; cries one.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear, dear Lord Kew!&rdquo; shouts the other; and as the young man
rushes up and grasps the two hands of the other, they begin to
blush&mdash;&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
Lord Kew and his family resided in a neighbouring hotel on the Chiafa at
Naples; and that very evening on returning from the Pompeian excursion, the two
painters were invited to take tea by those friendly persons. J. J. excused
himself, and sate at home drawing all night. Clive went, and passed a pleasant
evening; in which all sorts of future tours and pleasure-parties were projected
by the young men. They were to visit Pæstum, Capri, Sicily; why not Malta and
the East? asked Lord Kew.
</p>

<p>
Lady Walham was alarmed. Had not Kew been in the East already? Clive was
surprised and agitated too. Could Kew think of going to the East, and making
long journeys when he had&mdash;he had other engagements that would necessitate
his return home? No, he must not go to the East, Lord Kew&rsquo;s mother
avowed; Kew had promised to stay with her during the summer at Castellammare,
and Mr. Newcome must come and paint their portraits there&mdash;all their
portraits. She would like to have an entire picture-gallery of Kews, if her son
would remain at home during the sittings.
</p>

<p>
At an early hour Lady Walham retired to rest, exacting Clive&rsquo;s promise to
come to Castellammare; and George Barnes disappeared to array himself in an
evening costume, and to pay his round of visits as became a young diplomatist.
This part of diplomatic duty does not commence until after the opera at Naples;
and society begins when the rest of the world has gone to bed.
</p>

<p>
Kew and Clive sate till one o&rsquo;clock in the morning, when the latter
returned to his hotel. Not one of those fine parties at Pæstum, Sicily, etc.
was carried out. Clive did not go to the East at all, and it was J. J, who
painted Lord Kew&rsquo;s portrait that summer at Castellammare. The next day
Clive went for his passport to the embassy; and a steamer departing direct for
Marseilles on that very afternoon, behold Mr. Newcome was on board of her; Lord
Kew and his brother and J. J. waving their hats to him as the vessel left the
shore.
</p>

<p>
Away went the ship cleaving swiftly through the azure waters; but not swiftly
enough for Clive. J. J. went back with a sigh to his sketchbook and easels. I
suppose the other young disciple of Art had heard something which caused him to
forsake his sublime mistress for one who was much more capricious and earthly.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0040" id="link2HCH0040"></a>
CHAPTER XL.<br/>
Returns from Rome to Pall Mall</h2>

<p>
One morning in the month of July, when there was actually sunshine in Lamb
Court, and the two gentlemen who occupied the third-floor chambers there in
partnership, were engaged, as their custom was, over their pipes, and their
manuscripts, and their <i>Times</i> newspaper, behold a fresh sunshine burst
into their room in the person of a young Clive, with a bronzed face, and a
yellow beard and mustachios, and those bright cheerful eyes, the sight of which
was always so welcome to both of us. &ldquo;What, Clive! What, the young one!
What, Benjamin!&rdquo; shout Pendennis and Warrington. Clive had obtained a
very high place indeed in the latter&rsquo;s affections, so much so, that if I
could have found it in my heart to be jealous of such a generous brave fellow,
I might have grudged him his share of Warrington&rsquo;s regard. He blushed up
with pleasure to see us again. Pidgeon, our boy, introduced him with a jubilant
countenance; and Flanagan, the laundress, came smirking out of the bedroom,
eager to get a nod of recognition from him, and bestow a smile of welcome upon
everybody&rsquo;s favourite, Clive.
</p>

<p>
In two minutes an arm-chair full of magazines, slips of copy, and books for
review, was emptied over the neighbouring coal-scuttle, and Clive was in the
seat, a cigar in his mouth, as comfortable as if he had never been away. When
did he come? Last night. He was back in Charlotte Street, at his old lodgings:
he had been to breakfast in Fitzroy Square that morning; James Binnie chirped
for joy at seeing him. His father had written to him desiring him to come back
and see James Binnie; pretty Miss Rosey was very well, thank you: and Mrs.
Mack? Wasn&rsquo;t Mrs. Mackenzie delighted to behold him? &ldquo;Come, sir, on
your honour and conscience, didn&rsquo;t the widow give you a kiss on your
return?&rdquo; Clive sends an uncut number of the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>
flying across the room at the head of the inquirer; but blushes as sweetly,
that I have very little doubt some such pretty meeting had taken place.
</p>

<p>
What a pity it is he had not been here a short while since for a marriage in
high life, to give away his dear Barnes, and sign the book, along with the
other dignitaries! We described that ceremony to him, and announced the
promotion of his friend, Florac, now our friend also, Director of the Great
Anglo-Gallic Railway, the Prince de Moncontour. Then Clive told us of his deeds
during the winter; of the good fun he had had at Rome, and the jolly fellows he
had met there. Was he going to astonish the world by some grand pictures? He
was not. The more he worked, the more discontented he was with his performances
somehow: but J. J. was coming out very strong, J. J. was going to be a stunner.
We turned with pride and satisfaction to that very number of the <i>Pall Mall
Gazette</i> which the youth had flung at us, and showed him a fine article by
F. Bayham, Esq., in which the picture sent home by J. J. was enthusiastically
lauded by the great critic.
</p>

<p>
So he was back amongst us, and it seemed but yesterday he had quitted us. To
Londoners everything seems to have happened but yesterday; nobody has time to
miss his neighbour who goes away. People go to the Cape, or on a campaign, or
on a tour round the world, or to India, and return with a wife and two or three
children, and we fancy it was only the other day they left us, so engaged is
every man in his individual speculations, studies, struggles; so selfish does
our life make us:&mdash;selfish but not ill-natured. We are glad to see an old
friend, though we do not weep when he leaves us. We humbly acknowledge, if fate
calls us away likewise, that we are no more missed than any other atom.
</p>

<p>
After talking for a while, Mr. Clive must needs go into the City, whither I
accompanied him. His interview with Messrs. Jolly and Baines, at the house in
Fog Court, must have been very satisfactory; Clive came out of the parlour with
a radiant countenance. &ldquo;Do you want any money, old boy?&rdquo; says he;
&ldquo;the dear old governor has placed a jolly sum to my account, and Mr.
Baines has told me how delighted Mrs. Baines and the girls will be to see me at
dinner. He says my father has made a lucky escape out of one house in India,
and a famous investment in another. Nothing could be more civil; how uncommonly
kind and friendly everybody is in London! Everybody!&rdquo; Then bestowing
ourselves in a hansom cab, which had probably just deposited some other
capitalist in the City, we made for the West End of the town, where Mr. Clive
had some important business to transact with his tailors. He discharged his
outstanding little account with easy liberality, blushing as he pulled out of
his pocket a new chequebook, page 1 of which he bestowed on the delighted
artist. From Mr. B.&rsquo;s shop to Mr. Truefitt&rsquo;s, is but a step. Our
young friend was induced to enter the hairdresser&rsquo;s, and leave behind him
a great portion of the flowing locks and the yellow beard, which he had brought
with him from Rome. With his mustachios he could not be induced to part;
painters and cavalry officers having a right to those decorations. And why
should not this young fellow wear smart clothes, and a smart moustache, and
look handsome, and take his pleasure, and bask in his sun when it shone? Time
enough for flannel and a fire when the winter comes; and for grey hair and
cork-soled boots in the natural decline of years.
</p>

<p>
Then we went to pay a visit at a hotel in Jermyn Street to our friend Florac
who was now magnificently lodged there. A powdered giant lolling in the hall,
his buttons emblazoned with prodigious coronets, took our cards up to the
Prince. As the door of an apartment on the first floor opened, we heard a cry
as of joy; and that nobleman in a magnificent Persian dressing-gown, rushing
from the room, plunged down the stairs, and began kissing Clive, to the
respectful astonishment of the Titan in livery.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Come that I present you, my friends,&rdquo; our good little Frenchman
exclaimed &ldquo;to Madame la&mdash;to my wife!&rdquo; We entered the
drawing-room; a demure little little lady, of near sixty years of age, was
seated there, and we were presented in form to Madame Princesse de Moncontour,
nee Higg, of Manchester. She made us a stiff little curtsey, but looked not
ill-natured; indeed, few women could look at Clive Newcome&rsquo;s gallant
figure and brave smiling countenance and keep a frown on their own very long.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have &rsquo;eard of you from somebodys else besides the Prince,&rdquo;
said the lady, with rather a blush &ldquo;Your uncle has spoke to me hoften
about you, Mr. Clive, and about your good father.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;C&rsquo;est son Directeur,&rdquo; whispers Florac to me. I wondered
which of the firm of Newcome had taken that office upon him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Now you are come to England,&rdquo; the lady continued (whose Lancashire
pronunciation being once indicated, we shall henceforth, out of respect to the
Princess&rsquo;s rank generally pretermit),&mdash;&ldquo;now you are come to
England we hope to see you often. Not here in this noisy hotel, which I
can&rsquo;t bear, but in the country. Our house is only three miles from
Newcome&mdash;not such a grand place as your uncle&rsquo;s; but I hope we shall
see you there a great deal, and your friend Mr Pendennis, if he is passing that
way.&rdquo; The invitation to Mr. Pendennis, I am bound to say, was given in
terms by no means so warm as those in which the Princess&rsquo;s hospitality to
Clive were professed.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Shall we meet you at your Huncle &rsquo;Obson&rsquo;s?&rdquo; the lady
continued to Clive; &ldquo;his wife is a most charming, well-informed woman,
has been most kind and civil and we dine there to-day. Barnes and his wife is
gone to spend the honeymoon at Newcome. Lady Clara is a sweet dear thing, and
her pa and ma most affable, I am sure. What a pity Sir Brian couldn&rsquo;t
attend the marriage! There was everybody there in London, a&rsquo;most. Sir
Harvey Diggs says he is mending very slowly. In life we are in death, Mr.
Newcome! Isn&rsquo;t it sad to think of him, in the midst of all his splendour
and prosperity, and he so infirm and unable to enjoy them! But let us hope for
the best, and that his health will soon come round!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
With these and similar remarks, in which poor Florac took but a very small
share (for he seemed dumb and melancholy in the company of the Princess, his
elderly spouse), the visit sped on. Mr. Pendennis, to whom very little was
said, having leisure to make his silent observations upon the person to whom he
had been just presented.
</p>

<p>
As there lay on the table two neat little packages, addressed &ldquo;The
Princess de Moncontour&rdquo;&mdash;an envelope to the same address, with
&ldquo;The Prescription, No. 9396,&rdquo; further inscribed on the paper, and a
sheet of notepaper, bearing cabalistic characters, and the signature of that
most fashionable physician, Sir Harvey Diggs, I was led to believe that the
lady of Moncontour was, or fancied herself, in a delicate state of health. By
the side of the physic for the body was medicine for the soul&mdash;a number of
pretty little books in middle-age bindings, in antique type many of theist,
adorned with pictures of the German school, representing demure ecclesiastics,
with their heads on one side, children in long starched nightgowns, virgins
bearing lilies, and so forth, from which it was to be concluded that the owner
of the volumes was not so hostile to Rome as she had been at an earlier period
of her religious life; and that she had migrated (in spirit) from Clapham to
Knightsbridge&mdash;so many wealthy mercantile families have likewise done in
the body. A long strip of embroidery, of the Gothic pattern, furthermore
betrayed her present inclinations; and the person observing these things,
whilst nobody was taking any notice of him, was amused when the accuracy of his
conjectures was confirmed by the reappearance of the gigantic footman, calling
out &ldquo;&rsquo;Oneyman,&rdquo; in a loud voice, and preceding that divine
into the room.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;C&rsquo;est le Directeur. Venez fumer dans ma chambre, Pen,&rdquo;
growled Florac as Honeyman came sliding over the carpet, his elegant smile
changing to a blush when he beheld Clive, his nephew, seated by the
Princess&rsquo;s side. This, then, was the uncle who had spoken about Clive and
his father to Madame de Florac. Charles seemed in the best condition. He held
out two bran-new lavender-coloured kid gloves to shake hands with his dear
Clive; Florac and Mr. Pendennis vanished out of the room as he appeared, so
that no precise account can be given of this affecting interview.
</p>

<p>
When I quitted the hotel, a brown brougham, with a pair of beautiful horses,
the harness and panels emblazoned with the neatest little ducal coronets you
ever saw, and a cypher under each crown as easy to read as the arrow-headed
inscriptions on one of Mr. Layard&rsquo;s Assyrian chariots, was in waiting,
and I presumed that Madame la Princesse was about to take an airing.
</p>

<p>
Clive had passed the avuncular banking-house in the City, without caring to
face his relatives there. Mr. Newcome was now in sole command, Mr. Barnes being
absent at Newcome, the Baronet little likely ever to enter bank-parlour again.
But his bounden duty was to wait on the ladies; and of course, only from
duty&rsquo;s sake, he went the very first day and called in Park Lane.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The family was habsent ever since the marriage simminery last
week,&rdquo; the footman, who had accompanied the party to Baden, informed
Clive when he opened the door, and recognised that gentleman. &ldquo;Sir Brian
pretty well, thank you, sir. The family was at Brighting. That is Miss Newcome
is in London staying with her grandmamma in Queen Street, Mayfear, sir.&rdquo;
The varnished doors closed upon Jeames within; the brazen knockers grinned
their familiar grin at Clive, and he went down the blank steps discomfited.
Must it be owned that he went to a Club, and looked in the Directory for the
number of Lady Kew&rsquo;s house in Queen Street? Her ladyship had a furnished
house for the season. No such noble name to be found among the inhabitants of
Queen Street.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Hobson was from home; that is, Thomas had orders not to admit strangers on
certain days, or before certain hours; so that Aunt Hobson saw Clive without
being seen by the young man. I cannot say how much he regretted that mischance.
His visits of propriety were thus all paid; and he went off to dine dutifully
with James Binnie, after which meal he came to a certain rendezvous given to
him by some bachelors friends for the evening.
</p>

<p>
James Binnie&rsquo;s eyes lightened up with pleasure on beholding his young
Clive; the youth, obedient to his father&rsquo;s injunction, had hastened to
Fitzroy Square immediately after taking possession of his old
lodgings&mdash;his, during the time of his absence. The old properties and
carved cabinets, the picture of his father looking melancholy out of the
canvas, greeted Clive strangely on the afternoon of his arrival. No wonder he
was glad to get away from a solitude peopled with a number of dismal
recollections, to the near hospitality of Fitzroy Square and his guardian and
friend there.
</p>

<p>
James had not improved in health during Clive&rsquo;s ten months&rsquo;
absence. He had never been able to walk well, or take his accustomed exercise,
after his fall. He was no more used to riding than the late Mr. Gibbon, whose
person James&rsquo;s somewhat resembled, and of whose philosophy our Scottish
friend was an admiring scholar. The Colonel gone, James would have arguments
with Mr. Honeyman over their claret, bring down the famous XVth and XVIth
chapters of the Decline and Fall upon him, and quite get the better of the
clergyman. James, like many other sceptics, was very obstinate, and for his
part believed that almost all parsons had as much belief as the Roman augurs in
their ceremonies. Certainly, poor Honeyman, in their controversies, gave up one
article after another, flying from James&rsquo;s assault; but the battle over,
Charles Honeyman would pick up these accoutrements which he had flung away in
his retreat, wipe them dry, and put them on again.
</p>

<p>
Lamed by his fall, and obliged to remain much within doors, where certain
society did not always amuse him, James Binnie sought excitement in the
pleasures of the table, partaking of them the more freely now that his health
could afford them the less. Clive, the sly rogue, observed a great improvement
in the commissariat since his good father&rsquo;s time, ate his dinner with
thankfulness, and made no remarks. Nor did he confide to us for a while his
opinion that Mrs. Mack bored the good gentleman most severely; that he pined
away under her kindnesses; sneaked off to his study-chair and his nap; was only
too glad when some of the widow&rsquo;s friends came, or she went out; seeming
to breathe more freely when she was gone, and drink his wine more cheerily when
rid of the intolerable weight of her presence.
</p>

<p>
I protest the great ills of life are nothing&mdash;the loss of your fortune is
a mere flea-bite; the loss of your wife&mdash;how many men have supported it
and married comfortably afterwards? It is not what you lose, but what you have
daily to bear that is hard. I can fancy nothing more cruel, after a long easy
life of bachelorhood, than to have to sit day after day with a dull, handsome
woman opposite; to have to answer her speeches about the weather, housekeeping
and what not; to smile appropriately when she is disposed to be lively (that
laughing at the jokes is the hardest part), and to model your conversation so
as to suit her intelligence, knowing that a word used out of its downright
signification will not be understood by your fair breakfast-maker. Women go
through this simpering and smiling life, and bear it quite easily. Theirs is a
life of hypocrisy. What good woman does not laugh at her husband&rsquo;s or
father&rsquo;s jokes and stories time after time, and would not laugh at
breakfast, lunch, and dinner, if he told them? Flattery is their
nature&mdash;to coax, flatter and sweetly befool some one is every
woman&rsquo;s business. She is none if she declines this office. But men are
not provided with such powers of humbug or endurance&mdash;they perish and pine
away miserably when bored&mdash;or they shrink off to the club or public-house
for comfort. I want to say as delicately as I can, and never liking to use
rough terms regarding a handsome woman, that Mrs. Mackenzie, herself being in
the highest spirits and the best humour, extinguished her half-brother, James
Binnie, Esq.; that she was as a malaria to him, poisoning his atmosphere,
numbing his limbs, destroying his sleep&mdash;that day after day as he sate
down at breakfast, and she levelled commonplaces at her dearest James, her
dearest James became more wretched under her. And no one could see what his
complaint was. He called in the old physicians at the Club. He dosed himself
with poppy, and mandragora and blue pill&mdash;lower and lower went poor
James&rsquo;s mercury. If he wanted to move to Brighton or Cheltenham, well and
good. Whatever were her engagements, or whatever pleasures darling Rosey might
have in store, dear thing!&mdash;at her age, my dear Mrs. Newcome, would not
one do all to make a young creature happy?&mdash;under no circumstances could I
<i>think</i> of leaving my poor brother.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Mackenzie thought herself a most highly principled woman, Mrs. Newcome had
also a great opinion of her. These two ladies had formed a considerable
friendship in the past months, the captain&rsquo;s widow having an unaffected
reverence for the banker&rsquo;s lady and thinking her one of the best informed
and most superior women in the world. When she had a high opinion of a person
Mrs. Mack always wisely told it. Mrs. Newcome in her turn thought Mrs.
Mackenzie a very clever, agreeable, ladylike woman,&mdash;not accomplished, but
one could not have everything. &ldquo;No, no, my dear,&rdquo; says simple
Hobson, &ldquo;never would do to have every woman as clever as you are, Maria.
Women would have it all their own way then.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Maria, as her custom was, thanked God for being so virtuous and clever, and
graciously admitted Mrs. and Miss Mackenzie into the circle of adorers of that
supreme virtue and talent. Mr. Newcome took little Rosey and her mother to some
parties. When any took place in Bryanstone Square, they were generally allowed
to come to tea.
</p>

<p>
When on the second day of his arrival the dutiful Clive went to dine with Mr.
James, the ladies, in spite of their raptures at his return and delight at
seeing him, were going in the evening to his aunt. Their talk was about the
Princess all dinner-time. The Prince and Princess were to dine in Bryanstone
Square. The Princess had ordered such and such things at the
jeweller&rsquo;s&mdash;the Princess would take rank over an English
Earl&rsquo;s daughter&mdash;over Lady Anne Newcome, for instance. &ldquo;Oh,
dear! I wish the Prince and Princess were smothered in the Tower,&rdquo;
growled James Binnie; &ldquo;since you have got acquainted with &rsquo;em I
have never heard of anything else.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive, like a wise man, kept his counsel about the Prince and Princess, with
whom we have seen that he had had the honour of an interview that very day. But
after dinner Rosey came round and whispered to her mamma, and after
Rosey&rsquo;s whisper mamma flung her arms round Rosey&rsquo;s neck and kissed
her, and called her a thoughtful darling. &ldquo;What do you think this
creature says, Clive?&rdquo; says Mrs. Mack, still holding her darling&rsquo;s
little hand. &ldquo;I wonder I had not thought of it myself.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What is it, Mrs. Mackenzie?&rdquo; asks Clive, laughing.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She says why should not you come to your aunt&rsquo;s with us? We are
sure Mrs. Newcome would be most happy to see you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Rosey, with a little hand put to mamma&rsquo;s mouth, said, &ldquo;Why did you
tell?&mdash;you naughty mamma! Isn&rsquo;t she a naughty mamma, Uncle
James?&rdquo; More kisses follow after this sally, of which Uncle James
receives one with perfect complacency: mamma crying out as Rosey retires to
dress, &ldquo;That darling child is always thinking of
others&mdash;always!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive says, &ldquo;he will sit and smoke a cheroot with Mr. Binnie, if they
please.&rdquo; James&rsquo;s countenance falls. &ldquo;We have left off
<i>that</i> sort of thing here, my dear Clive, a long time,&rdquo; cries Mrs.
Mackenzie, departing from the dining-room.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But we have improved the claret, Clive, my boy!&rdquo; whispers Uncle
James. &ldquo;Let us have another bottle, and we will drink to the dear
Colonel&rsquo;s good health and speedy return&mdash;God bless him! I say,
Clive, Tom seems to have had a most fortunate escape out of Winter&rsquo;s
house&mdash;thanks to our friend Rummun Loll, and to have got into a capital
good thing with this Bundelcund bank. They speak famously of it at Hanover
Square, and I see the <i>Hurkara</i> quotes the shares at a premium
already.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive did not know anything about the Bundelcund bank, except a few words found
in a letter from his father, which he had in the City this morning, &ldquo;and
an uncommonly liberal remittance the governor has sent me home, sir.&rdquo;
Upon which they fill another bumper to the Colonel&rsquo;s health.
</p>

<p>
Mamma and Rosey come and show their pretty pink dresses before going to Mrs.
Newcome&rsquo;s, and Clive lights a cigar in the hall&mdash;and isn&rsquo;t
there a jubilation at the Haunt when the young fellow&rsquo;s face appears
above the smoke-clouds there?
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0041" id="link2HCH0041"></a>
CHAPTER XLI.<br/>
An Old Story</h2>

<p>
Many of Clive&rsquo;s Roman friends were by this time come to London, and the
young man renewed his acquaintance with them, and had speedily a considerable
circle of his own. He thought fit to allow himself a good horse or two, and
appeared in the Park among other young dandies. He and Monsieur de Moncontour
were sworn allies. Lord Fareham, who had purchased J. J.&rsquo;s picture, was
Clive&rsquo;s very good friend: Major Pendennis himself pronounced him to be a
young fellow of agreeable manners, and very favourably vu (as the Major
happened to know) in some very good quarters.
</p>

<p>
Ere many days Clive had been to Brighton to see Lady Anne and Sir Brian, and
good Aunt Honeyman, in whose house the Baronet was lodged: and I suppose he
found out, by some means or other, where Lady Kew lived in Mayfair.
</p>

<p>
But her ladyship was not at home, nor was she at home on the second day, nor
did there come any note from Ethel to her cousin. She did not ride in the Park
as of old. Clive, <i>bien vu</i> as he was, did not belong to that great world
as yet, in which he would be pretty sure to meet her every night at one of
those parties where everybody goes. He read her name in the paper morning after
morning, as having been present at Lady This&rsquo;s entertainment and Lady
That&rsquo;s ministerial <i>réunion</i>. At first he was too shy to tell what
the state of the case was, and took nobody into his confidence regarding his
little <i>tendre</i>.
</p>

<p>
There he was riding through Queen Street, Mayfair, attired in splendid raiment:
never missing the Park; actually going to places of worship in the
neighbourhood; and frequenting the opera&mdash;a waste of time which one would
never have expected in a youth of his nurture. At length a certain observer of
human nature remarking his state, rightly conjectured that he must be in love,
and taxed him with the soft impeachment&mdash;on which the young man, no doubt
anxious to open his heart to some one, poured out all that story which has
before been narrated; and told how he thought his passion cured, and how it was
cured; but when he heard from Kew at Naples that the engagement was over
between him and Miss Newcome, Clive found his own flame kindle again with new
ardour. He was wild to see her. He dashed off from Naples instantly on
receiving the news that she was free. He had been ten days in London without
getting a glimpse of her. &ldquo;That Mrs. Mackenzie bothers me so I hardly
know where to turn,&rdquo; said poor Clive, &ldquo;and poor little Rosey is
made to write me a note about something twice a day. She&rsquo;s a good dear
little thing&mdash;little Rosey&mdash;and I really had thought once
of&mdash;of&mdash;oh, never mind that! Oh, Pen! I&rsquo;m up another tree now!
and a poor miserable young beggar I am!&rdquo; In fact, Mr. Pendennis was
installed as confidant, <i>vice</i> J. J.&mdash;absent on leave.
</p>

<p>
This is a part, which, especially for a few days, the present biographer has
always liked well enough. For a while, at least, I think almost every man or
woman is interesting when in love. If you know of two or three such affairs
going on in any soirée to which you may be invited&mdash;is not the party
straightway amusing? Yonder goes Augustus Tomkins, working his way through the
rooms to that far corner where demure Miss Hopkins is seated, to whom the
stupid grinning Bumpkins thinks he is making himself agreeable. Yonder sits
Miss Fanny <i>distraite</i>, and yet trying to smile as the captain is talking
his folly the parson his glib compliments. And see, her face lights up all of a
sudden: her eyes beam with delight at the captain&rsquo;s stories, and at that
delightful young clergyman likewise. It is because Augustus has appeared; their
eyes only meet for one semi-second, but that is enough for Miss Fanny. Go on,
captain, with your twaddle!&mdash;Proceed, my reverend friend, with your
smirking commonplaces! In the last two minutes the world has changed for Miss
Fanny. That moment has come for which she has been fidgeting and longing and
scheming all day! How different an interest, I say, has a meeting of people for
a philosopher who knows of a few such little secrets, to that which your vulgar
looker-on feels who comes but to eat the ices, and stare at the ladies&rsquo;
dresses and beauty! There are two frames of mind under which London society is
bearable to a man&mdash;to be an actor in one of those sentimental performances
above hinted at; or to be a spectator and watch it. But as for the mere
<i>dessus de cartes</i>&mdash;would not an arm-chair and the dullest of books
be better than that dull game?
</p>

<p>
So I not only became Clive&rsquo;s confidant in this affair, but took a
pleasure in extracting the young fellow&rsquo;s secrets from him, or rather in
encouraging him to pour them forth. Thus was the great part of the previous
tale revealed to me: thus Jack Belsize&rsquo;s misadventures, of the first part
of which we had only heard in London (and whither he returned presently to be
reconciled to his father, after his elder brother&rsquo;s death). Thus my Lord
Kew&rsquo;s secret history came into my possession; let us hope for the
public&rsquo;s future delectation, and the chronicler&rsquo;s private
advantage. And many a night until daylight did appear has poor Clive stamped
his chamber or my own, pouring his story out to me, his griefs and raptures;
recalling, in his wild young way, recollections of Ethel&rsquo;s sayings and
doings; uttering descriptions of her beauty, and raging against the cruelty
which she exhibited towards him.
</p>

<p>
As soon as the new confidant heard the name of the young lover&rsquo;s charmer,
to do Mr. Pendennis justice, he endeavoured to fling as much cold water upon
Clive&rsquo;s flame as a small private engine could be brought to pour on such
a conflagration. &ldquo;Miss Newcome! my dear Clive,&rdquo; says the confidant,
&ldquo;do you know what you are aspiring to? For the last three months Miss
Newcome has been the greatest lioness in London: the reigning beauty winning
the horse: the first favourite out of the whole Belgravian harem. No young
woman of this year has come near her: those of past seasons she has distanced
and utterly put to shame. Miss Blackcap, Lady Blanch Blackcap&rsquo;s daughter,
was (as perhaps you are not aware) considered by her mamma the great beauty of
last season; and it was considered rather shabby of the young Marquis of
Farintosh to leave town without offering to change Miss Blackcap&rsquo;s name.
Heaven bless you! this year Farintosh will not look at Miss Blackcap! <i>He</i>
finds people at home when (ha! I see you wince, my suffering
innocent!)&mdash;when he calls in Queen Street; yes, and Lady Kew, who is one
of the cleverest women in England, will listen for hours to Lord
Farintosh&rsquo;s conversation; than whom the Rotten Row of Hyde Park cannot
show a greater booby. Miss Blackcap may retire, like Jephthah&rsquo;s daughter,
for all Farintosh will relieve her. Then, my dear fellow, there were, as
possibly you do not know, Lady Hermengilde and Lady Yseult, Lady
Rackstraw&rsquo;s lovely twins, whose appearance created such a sensation at
Lady Hautbois&rsquo; first&mdash;was it her first or was it her
second?&mdash;yes, it was her second&mdash;breakfast. Whom weren&rsquo;t they
going to marry? Crackthorpe as mad, they said, about both.&mdash;Bustington,
Sir John Fobsby, the young Baronet with the immense Northern property&mdash;the
Bishop of Windsor was actually said to be smitten with one of them, but did not
like to offer, as her present M&mdash;y, like Qu&mdash;n El-z-b-th of gracious
memory, is said to object to bishops, as bishops, marrying. Where is
Bustington? Where is Crackthorpe? Where is Fobsby, the young Baronet of the
North? My dear fellow, when those two girls come into a room now, they make no
more sensation than you or I. Miss Newcome has carried their admirers away from
them: Fobsby has actually, it is said, proposed for her: and the real reason of
that affair between Lord Bustington and Captain Crackthorpe of the Royal Horse
Guards Green, was a speech of Bustington&rsquo;s, hinting that Miss Newcome had
not behaved well in throwing Lord Kew over. Don&rsquo;t you know what old Lady
Kew will do with this girl, Clive? She will marry Miss Newcome to the best man.
If a richer and better <i>parti</i> than Lord Farintosh presents
himself&mdash;then it will be Farintosh&rsquo;s turn to find that Lady Kew is
not at home. Is there any young man in the Peerage unmarried and richer than
Farintosh? I forget. Why does not some one publish a list of the young male
nobility and baronetage, their names, weights, and probable fortunes? I
don&rsquo;t mean for the matrons of Mayfair&mdash;they have the list by heart
and study it in secret&mdash;but for young men in the world; so that they may
know what their chances are, and who naturally has the pull over them. Let me
see&mdash;there is young Lord Gaunt, who will have a great fortune, and is
desirable because you know his father is locked up&mdash;but he is only ten
years old&mdash;no&mdash;they can scarcely bring him forward as
Farintosh&rsquo;s rival.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You look astonished, my poor boy? You think it is wicked in me to talk
in this brutal way about bargain and sale; and say that your heart&rsquo;s
darling is, at this minute, being paced up and down the Mayfair market to be
taken away by the best bidder. Can you count purses with Sultan Farintosh? Can
you compete even with Sir John Fobsby of the North? What I say is wicked and
worldly, is it? So it is; but it is true, as true as
Tattersall&rsquo;s&mdash;as true as Circassia or Virginia. Don&rsquo;t you know
that the Circassian girls are proud of their bringing up, and take rank
according to the prices which they fetch? And you go and buy yourself some new
clothes, and a fifty-pound horse, and put a penny rose in your button-hole, and
ride past her window, and think to win this prize? Oh, you idiot! A penny
rosebud! Put money in your purse. A fifty-pound hack when a butcher rides as
good a one!&mdash;Put money in your purse. A brave young heart, all courage and
love and honour! Put money in thy purse&mdash;t&rsquo;other coin don&rsquo;t
pass in the market&mdash;at least, where old Lady Kew has the stall.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
By these remonstrances, playful though serious, Clive&rsquo;s adviser sought to
teach him wisdom about his love affair; and the advice was received as advice
upon those occasions usually is.
</p>

<p>
After calling thrice and writing to Miss Newcome, there came a little note from
that young lady, saying, &ldquo;Dear Clive,&mdash;We were so sorry we were out
when you called. We shall be at home to-morrow at lunch, when Lady Kew hopes
you will come, and see yours ever, E. N.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive went&mdash;poor Clive! He had the satisfaction of shaking Ethel&rsquo;s
hand and a finger of Lady Kew; of eating a mutton-chop in Ethel&rsquo;s
presence; of conversing about the state of art at Rome with Lady Kew, and
describing the last works of Gibson and Macdonald. The visit lasted but for
half an hour. Not for one minute was Clive allowed to see Ethel alone. At three
o&rsquo;clock Lady Kew&rsquo;s carriage was announced, and our young gentleman
rose to take his leave, and had the pleasure of seeing the most noble Peer,
Marquis of Farintosh and Earl of Rossmont, descend from his lordship&rsquo;s
brougham and enter at Lady Kew&rsquo;s door, followed by a domestic bearing a
small stack of flowers from Covent Garden.
</p>

<p>
It befell that the good-natured Lady Fareham had a ball in these days; and
meeting Clive in the Park, her lord invited him to the entertainment. Mr.
Pendennis had also the honour of a card. Accordingly Clive took me up at
Bays&rsquo;s, and we proceeded to the ball together.
</p>

<p>
The lady of the house, smiling upon all her guests, welcomed with particular
kindness her young friend from Rome. &ldquo;Are you related to <i>the</i> Miss
Newcome, Lady Anne Newcome&rsquo;s daughter? Her cousin? She will be here
to-night.&rdquo; Very likely Lady Fareham did not see Clive wince and blush at
this announcement, her ladyship having to occupy herself with a thousand other
people. Clive found a dozen of his Roman friends in the room, ladies young and
middle-aged, plain and handsome, all glad to see his kind face. The house was
splendid; the ladies magnificently dressed; the ball beautiful, though it
appeared a little dull until that event took place whereof we treated two pages
back (in the allegory of Mr. Tomkins and Miss Hopkins), and Lady Kew and her
granddaughter made their appearance.
</p>

<p>
That old woman, who began to look more and more like the wicked fairy of the
stories, who is not invited to the Princess&rsquo;s Christening Feast, had this
advantage over her likeness, that she was invited everywhere; though how she,
at her age, could fly about to so many parties, unless she was a fairy, no one
could say. Behind the fairy, up the marble stairs, came the most noble
Farintosh, with that vacuous leer which distinguishes his lordship. Ethel
seemed to be carrying the stack of flowers which the Marquis had sent to her.
The noble Bustington (Viscount Bustington, I need scarcely tell the reader, is
the heir of the house of Podbury), the Baronet of the North, the gallant
Crackthorpe, the first men in town, in a word, gathered round the young beauty,
forming her court; and little Dick Hitchin, who goes everywhere, you may be
sure was near her with a compliment and a smile. Ere this arrival, the twins
had been giving themselves great airs in the room&mdash;the poor twins! when
Ethel appeared they sank into shuddering insignificance, and had to put up with
the conversation and attentions of second-rate men, belonging to second-rate
clubs in heavy dragoon regiments. One of them actually walked with a dancing
barrister; but he was related to a duke, and it was expected the Lord
Chancellor would give him something very good.
</p>

<p>
Before he saw Ethel, Clive vowed he was aware of her. Indeed, had not Lady
Fareham told him Miss Newcome was coming? Ethel, on the contrary, not expecting
him, or not having the prescience of love, exhibited signs of surprise when she
beheld him, her eyebrows arching, her eyes darting looks of pleasure. When
grandmamma happened to be in another room, she beckoned Clive to her,
dismissing Crackthorpe and Fobsby, Farintosh and Bustington, the amorous youth
who around her bowed, and summoning Mr. Clive to an audience with the air of a
young princess.
</p>

<p>
And so she was a princess; and this the region of her special dominion. The
wittiest and handsomest, she deserved to reign in such a place, by right of
merit and by general election. Clive felt her superiority, and his own
shortcomings: he came up to her as to a superior person. Perhaps she was not
sorry to let him see how she ordered away grandees and splendid Bustingtons,
informing them, with a superb manner, that she wished to speak to her
cousin&mdash;that handsome young man with the light moustache yonder.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you know many people? This is your first appearance in society? Shall
I introduce you to some nice girls to dance with?&rdquo; What very pretty
buttons!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is that what you wanted to say?&rdquo; asked Clive, rather bewildered.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What does one say at a ball? One talks conversation suited to the place.
If I were to say to Captain Crackthorpe, &lsquo;What pretty buttons!&rsquo; he
would be delighted. But you&mdash;you have a soul above buttons, I
suppose.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Being, as you say, a stranger in this sort of society, you see I am not
accustomed to&mdash;to the exceeding brilliancy of its conversation,&rdquo;
said Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What! you want to go away, and we haven&rsquo;t seen each other for near
a year!&rdquo; cries Ethel, in quite a natural voice. &ldquo;Sir John Fobsby,
I&rsquo;m very sorry&mdash;but do let me off this dance. I have just met my
cousin, whom I have not seen for a whole year, and I want to talk to
him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It was not my fault that you did not see me sooner. I wrote to you that
I only got your letter a month ago. You never answered the second I wrote you
from Rome. Your letter lay there at the post ever so long, and was forwarded to
me at Naples.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Where?</i>&rdquo; asked Ethel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I saw Lord Kew there.&rdquo; Ethel was smiling with all her might, and
kissing her hand to the twins, who passed at that moment with their mamma.
&ldquo;Oh, indeed, you saw&mdash;how do you do?&mdash;Lord Kew.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And, having seen him, I came over to England,&rdquo; said Clive.
</p>

<p>
Ethel looked at him, gravely. &ldquo;What am I to understand by that,
Clive?&mdash;You came over because it was very hot at Naples, and because you
wanted to see your friends here, n&rsquo;est-ce pas? How glad mamma was to see
you! You know she loves you as if you were her own son.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What, as much as that angel, Barnes!&rdquo; cries Clive, bitterly;
&ldquo;impossible.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Ethel looked once more. Her present mood and desire was to treat Clive as a
chit, as a young fellow without consequence&mdash;a thirteenth younger brother.
But in his looks and behaviour there was that which seemed to say not too many
liberties were to be taken with him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why weren&rsquo;t you here a month sooner, and you might have seen the
marriage? It was a very pretty thing. Everybody was there. Clara, and so did
Barnes really, looked quite handsome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It must have been beautiful,&rdquo; continued Clive; &ldquo;quite a
touching sight, I am sure. Poor Charles Belsize could not be present because
his brother was dead; and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And what else, pray, Mr. Newcome!&rdquo; cries Miss, in great wrath, her
pink nostrils beginning to quiver. &ldquo;I did not think, really, that when we
met after so many months, I was to be insulted; yes, insulted, by the mention
of that name.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I most humbly ask pardon,&rdquo; said Clive, with a grave bow.
&ldquo;Heaven forbid that I should wound your sensibility, Ethel! It is, as you
say, my first appearance in society. I talk about things or persons that I
should not mention. I should talk about buttons, should I? which you were good
enough to tell me was the proper subject of conversation. Mayn&rsquo;t I even
speak of connexions of the family? Mr. Belsize, through this marriage, has the
honour of being connected with you; and even I, in a remote degree, may boast
of a sort of an ever&mdash;so&mdash;distant cousinship with him. What an honour
for me!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pray, what is the meaning of all this?&rdquo; cries Miss Ethel,
surprised, and perhaps alarmed. Indeed, Clive scarcely knew. He had been
chafing all the while he talked with her; smothering anger as he saw the young
men round about her; revolting against himself for the very humility of his
obedience, and angry at the eagerness and delight with which he had come at her
call.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The meaning is, Ethel&rdquo;&mdash;he broke out, seizing the
opportunity&mdash;&ldquo;that when a man comes a thousand miles to see you, and
shake your hand, you should give it him a little more cordially than you choose
to do to me; that when a kinsman knocks at your door, time after time, you
should try and admit him; and that when you meet him you should treat him like
an old friend not as you treated me when my Lady Kew vouchsafed to give me
admittance; not as you treat these fools that are fribbling round about
you,&rdquo; cries Mr. Clive, in a great rage, folding his arms, and glaring
round on a number of the most innocent young swells; and he continued looking
as if he would like to knock a dozen of their heads together. &ldquo;Am I
keeping Miss Newcome&rsquo;s admirers from her?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That is not for me to say,&rdquo; she said, quite gently. He was; but to
see him angry did not displease Miss Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That young man who came for you just now,&rdquo; Clive went
on&mdash;&ldquo;that Sir John&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Are you angry with me because I sent him away?&rdquo; said Ethel,
putting out a hand. &ldquo;Hark! there is the music. Take me in and waltz with
me. Don&rsquo;t you know it is not <i>my</i> door at which you knocked?&rdquo;
she said, looking up into his face as simply and kindly as of old. She whirled
round the dancing-room with him in triumph, the other beauties dwindling before
her: she looked more and more beautiful with each rapid move of the waltz, her
colour heightening and her eyes seeming to brighten. Not till the music stopped
did she sink down on a seat, panting, and smiling radiant&mdash;as many many
hundred years ago I remember to have seen Taglioni after a conquering <i>pas
seul</i>. She nodded a &ldquo;thank you&rdquo; to Clive. It seemed that there
was a perfect reconciliation. Lady Kew came in just at the end of the dance,
scowling when she beheld Ethel&rsquo;s partner; but in reply to her
remonstrances, Ethel shrugged her fair shoulders, with a look which seemed to
say <i>je le veux</i>, gave an arm to her grandmother, an walked off, saucily
protecting her.
</p>

<p>
Clive&rsquo;s friend had been looking on observingly and curiously as the scene
between them had taken place, and at the dance with which the reconciliation
had been celebrated. I must tell you that this arch young creature had formed
the object of my observation for some months past, and that I watched her as I
have watched a beautiful panther at the Zoological Gardens, so bright of eye,
so sleek of coat, so slim in form, so sweet and agile in her spring.
</p>

<p>
A more brilliant young coquette than Miss Newcome, in her second season, these
eyes never looked upon, that is the truth. In her first year, being engaged to
Lord Kew, she was perhaps a little more reserved and quiet. Besides, her mother
went out with her that first season, to whom Miss Newcome except for a little
occasional flightiness, was invariably obedient and ready to come to call. But
when Lady Kew appeared as her duenna, the girl&rsquo;s delight seemed to be to
plague the old lady, and she would dance with the very youngest sons merey to
put grandmamma in a passion. In this way poor young Cubley (who has two hundred
a year of allowance, besides eighty, and an annual rise of five in the
Treasury) actually thought that Ethel was in love with him, and consulted with
the young men in his room in Downing Street, whether two hundred and eighty a
year, with five pound more next year, would be enough for them to keep house
on? Young Tandy of the Temple, Lord Skibbereen&rsquo;s younger son, who sate in
the House for some time on the Irish Catholic side, was also deeply smitten,
and many a night in our walks home from the parties at the other end of the
town, would entertain me with his admiration and passion for her.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If you have such a passion for her, why not propose?&rdquo; it was asked
of Mr. Tandy.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Propose! propose to a Russian Archduchess,&rdquo; cries young Tandy.
&ldquo;She&rsquo;s beautiful, she&rsquo;s delightful, she&rsquo;s witty. I have
never seen anything like her eyes; they send me wild&mdash;wild,&rdquo; says
Tandy&mdash;(slapping his waistcoat under Temple Bar)&mdash;&ldquo;but a more
audacious little flirt never existed since the days of Cleopatra.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
With this opinion likewise in my mind, I had been looking on during
Clive&rsquo;s proceedings with Miss Ethel&mdash;not, I say, without admiration
of the young lady who was leading him such a dance. The waltz over, I
congratulated him on his own performance. His Continental practice had greatly
improved him. &ldquo;And as for your partner, it is delightful to see
her,&rdquo; I went on. &ldquo;I always like to be by when Miss Newcome dances.
I had sooner see her than anybody since Taglioni. Look at her now, with her
neck up, and her little foot out, just as she is preparing to start! Happy Lord
Bustington!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You are angry with her because she cut you,&rdquo; growls Clive.
&ldquo;You know you said she cut you, or forgot you; and your vanity&rsquo;s
wounded, that is why you are so satirical.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How can Miss Newcome remember all the men who are presented to
her?&rdquo; says the other. &ldquo;Last year she talked to me because she
wanted to know about you. This year she doesn&rsquo;t talk: because I suppose
she doesn&rsquo;t want to know about you any more.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hang it. Do&mdash;on&rsquo;t, Pen,&rdquo; cries Clive, as a schoolboy
cries out to another not to hit him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She does not pretend to observe: and is in full conversation with the
amiable Bustington. Delicious interchange of noble thoughts! But she is
observing us talking, and knows that we are talking about her. If ever you
marry her, Clive, which is absurd, I shall lose you for a friend. You will
infallibly tell her what I think of her: and she will order you to give me
up.&rdquo; Clive had gone off in a brown study, as his interlocutor continued.
&ldquo;Yes, she is a flirt. She can&rsquo;t help her nature. She tries to
vanquish every one who comes near her. She is a little out of breath from
waltzing, and so she pretends to be listening to poor Bustington, who is out of
breath too, but puffs out his best in order to make himself agreeable, with
what a pretty air she appears to listen! Her eyes actually seem to
brighten.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>What?</i>&rdquo; says Clive, with a start.
</p>

<p>
I could not comprehend the meaning of the start: nor did I care much to know:
supposing that the young man was waking up from some lover&rsquo;s reverie: and
the evening sped away, Clive not quitting the ball until Miss Newcome and the
Countess of Kew had departed. No further communication appeared to take place
between the cousins that evening. I think it was Captain Crackthorpe who gave
the young lady an arm into her carriage; Sir John Fobsby having the happiness
to conduct the old Countess, and carrying the pink bag for the shawls,
wrappers, etc., on which her ladyship&rsquo;s coronet and initials are
emblazoned. Clive may have made a movement as if to step forward, but a single
finger from Miss Newcome warned him back.
</p>

<p>
Clive and his two friends in Lamb Court had made an engagement for the next
Saturday to dine at Greenwich; but on the morning of that day there came a note
from him to say that he thought of going down to see his aunt, Miss Honeyman,
and begged to recall his promise to us. Saturday is a holiday with gentlemen of
our profession. We had invited F. Bayham, Esquire, and promised ourselves a
merry evening, and were unwilling to baulk ourselves of the pleasure on account
of the absence of our young Roman. So we three went to London Bridge Station at
an early hour, proposing to breathe the fresh air of Greenwich Park before
dinner. And, at London Bridge, by the most singular coincidence, Lady
Kew&rsquo;s carriage drove up to the Brighton entrance, and Miss Ethel and her
maid stepped out of the brougham.
</p>

<p class="p2">
When Miss Newcome and her maid entered the Brighton station, did Mr. Clive, by
another singular coincidence, happen also to be there? What more natural and
dutiful than that he should go and see his aunt, Miss Honeyman? What more
proper than that Miss Ethel should pass the Saturday and Sunday with her sick
father; and take a couple of wholesome nights&rsquo; rest after those five
weary past evenings, for each of which we may reckon a couple of soirées and a
ball? And that relations should travel together, the young lady being protected
by her <i>femme-de-chambre;</i> that surely, as every one must allow, was
perfectly right and proper.
</p>

<p>
That a biographer should profess to know everything which passes, even in a
confidential talk in a first-class carriage between two lovers, seems perfectly
absurd; not that grave historians do not pretend to the same wonderful degree
of knowledge&mdash;reporting meetings of the most occult of conspirators;
private interviews between monarchs and their ministers, even the secret
thoughts and motives of those personages, which possibly the persons themselves
did not know;&mdash;all for which the present writer will pledge his known
character for veracity is, that on a certain day certain parties had a
conversation, of which the upshot was so-and-so. He guesses, of course, at a
great deal of what took place; knowing the characters, and being informed at
some time of their meeting. You do not suppose that I bribed the
<i>femme-de-chambre</i>, or that those two City gents, who sate in the same
carriage with our young friends, and could not hear a word they said, reported
their talk to me? If Clive and Ethel had had a coupe to themselves, I would yet
boldly tell what took place, but the coupe was taken by other three young City
gents who smoked the whole way.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; the bonnet begins close up to the hat, &ldquo;tell
me, sir, is it true that you were so very much <i>épris</i> of the Miss
Freemans at Rome; and that afterwards you were so wonderfully attentive to the
third Miss Baliol? Did you draw her portrait? You know you drew her portrait.
You painters always pretend to admire girls with auburn hair, because Titian
and Raphael painted it. Has the Fornarina red hair? Why, we are at Croydon, I
declare!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Fornarina&rdquo;&mdash;the hat replies to the bonnet, &ldquo;if that
picture at the Borghese Palace be an original, or a likeness of her&mdash;is
not a handsome woman, with vulgar eyes and mouth, and altogether a most
mahogany-coloured person. She is so plain, in fact, I think that very likely it
is the real woman; for it is with their own fancies that men fall in
love,&mdash;or rather every woman is handsome to the lover. You know how old
Helen must have been.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know any such thing, or anything about her. Who was
Helen?&rdquo; asks the bonnet; and indeed she did not know.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long story, and such an old scandal now, that there is no
use in repeating it,&rdquo; says Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You only talk about Helen because you wish to turn away the conversation
from Miss Freeman,&rdquo; cries the young lady&mdash;&ldquo;from Miss Baliol, I
mean.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We will talk about whichever you please. Which shall we begin to pull to
pieces?&rdquo; says Clive. You see, to be in this carriage&mdash;to be actually
with <i>her</i>&mdash;to be looking into those wonderful lucid eyes&mdash;to
see her sweet mouth dimpling, and hear her sweet voice ringing with its
delicious laughter&mdash;to have that hour and a half his own, in spite of all
the world-dragons, grandmothers, <i>convenances</i>, the future&mdash;made the
young fellow so happy, filled his whole frame and spirit with a delight so
keen, that no wonder he was gay, and brisk, and lively.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And so you knew of my goings-on?&rdquo; he asked. O me! they were at
Reigate by this time; there was Gatton Park flying before them on the wings of
the wind.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know of a number of things,&rdquo; says the bonnet, nodding with
ambrosial curls.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And you would not answer the second letter I wrote to you?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We were in great perplexity. One cannot be always answering young
gentlemen&rsquo;s letters. I had considerable doubt about answering a note I
got from Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square,&rdquo; says the lady&rsquo;s
chapeau. &ldquo;No, Clive, we must not write to one another,&rdquo; she
continued more gravely, &ldquo;or only very, very seldom. Nay, my meeting you
here to-day is by the merest chance, I am sure; for when I mentioned at Lady
Fareham&rsquo;s the other evening that I was going to see papa at Brighton
to-day, I never for one moment thought of seeing you in the train. But as you
are here, it can&rsquo;t be helped; and I may as well tell you that there are
obstacles.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What, <i>other</i> obstacles?&rdquo; Clive gasped out.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Nonsense&mdash;you silly boy! No other obstacles but those which always
have existed, and must. When we parted&mdash;that is, when you left us at
Baden, you knew it was for the best. You had your profession to follow, and
could not go on idling about&mdash;about a family of sick people and children.
Every man has his profession, and you yours, as you would have it. We are so
nearly allied that we may&mdash;we may like each other like brother and sister
almost. I don&rsquo;t know what Barnes would say if he heard me! Wherever you
and your father are, how can I ever think of you but&mdash;but you know how? I
always shall, always. There are certain feelings we have which I hope never can
change; though, if you please, about them I intend never to speak any more.
Neither you nor I can alter our conditions, but must make the best of them. You
shall be a fine clever painter; and I,&mdash;who knows what will happen to me?
I know what is going to happen to-day; I am going to see papa and mamma, and be
as happy as I can till Monday morning.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know what I wish would happen now,&rdquo; said Clive,&mdash;they were
going screaming through a tunnel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What?&rdquo; said the bonnet in the darkness: and the engine was roaring
so loudly, that he was obliged to put his head quite close to say&mdash;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish the tunnel would fall in and close upon us, or that we might
travel on for ever and ever.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Here there was a great jar of the carriage, and the lady&rsquo;s-maid, and I
think Miss Ethel, gave a shriek. The lamp above was so dim that the carriage
was almost totally dark. No wonder the lady&rsquo;s-maid was frightened! but
the daylight came streaming in, and all poor Clive&rsquo;s wishes of rolling
and rolling on for ever were put an end to by the implacable sun in a minute.
</p>

<p>
Ah, why was it the quick train? Suppose it had been the parliamentary
train?&mdash;even that too would have come to an end. They came and said,
&ldquo;Tickets, please,&rdquo; and Clive held out the three of their
party&mdash;his, and Ethel&rsquo;s, and her maid&rsquo;s. I think for such a
ride as that he was right to give up Greenwich. Mr. Kuhn was in waiting with a
carriage for Miss Ethel. She shook hands with Clive, returning his pressure.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I may come and see you?&rdquo; he said.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You may come and see mamma&mdash;yes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And where are you staying?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Bless my soul&mdash;they were staying at Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s!&rdquo;
Clive burst into a laugh. Why, he was going there too! Of course Aunt Honeyman
had no room for him, her house being quite full with the other Newcomes.
</p>

<p>
It was a most curious coincidence their meeting; but altogether Lady Anne
thought it was best to say nothing about the circumstance to grandmamma. I
myself am puzzled to say which would have been the better course to pursue
under the circumstances; there were so many courses open. As they had gone so
far, should they go on farther together? Suppose they were going to the same
house at Brighton, oughtn&rsquo;t they to have gone in the same carriage, with
Kuhn and the maid of course? Suppose they met by chance at the station, ought
they to have travelled in separate carriages? I ask any gentleman and father of
a family, when he was immensely smitten with his present wife, Mrs. Brown, if
he had met her travelling with her maid, in the mail, when there was a vacant
place, what would he himself have done?
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0042" id="link2HCH0042"></a>
CHAPTER XLII.<br/>
Injured Innocence</h2>

<p>
From Clive Newcome, Esq., to Lieut.-Col. Newcome, C.B.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Brighton, June 12, 18&mdash;.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My Dearest Father,&mdash;As the weather was growing very hot at Naples,
and you wished I should come to England to see Mr. Binnie, I came accordingly,
and have been here three weeks, and write to you from Aunt Honeyman&rsquo;s
parlour at Brighton, where you ate your last dinner before embarking for India.
I found your splendid remittance calling in Fog Court, and have invested a part
of the sum in a good horse to ride, upon which I take my diversion with other
young dandies in the Park. Florac is in England, but he has no need of your
kindness. Only think! he is Prince de Moncontour now, the second title of the
Duc d&rsquo;Ivry&rsquo;s family; and M. le Comte de Florac is Duc d&rsquo;Ivry
in consequence of the demise of t&rsquo;other old gentleman. I believe the late
duke&rsquo;s wife shortened his life. Oh, what a woman! She caused a duel
between Lord Kew and a Frenchman, which has in its turn occasioned all sorts of
evil and division in families, as you shall hear.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;In the first place, in consequence of the duel and of incompatibility of
temper, the match between Kew and E. N. has been broken off. I met Lord Kew at
Naples with his mother and brother, nice quiet people as you would like them.
Kew&rsquo;s wound and subsequent illness have altered him a good deal. He has
become much <i>more serious</i> than he used to be; not ludicrously so at all,
but he says he thinks his past life has been useless and even criminal, and he
wishes to change it. He has sold his horses, and sown his wild oats. He has
turned quite a sober quiet gentleman.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;At our meeting he told me of what had happened between him and Ethel, of
whom he spoke <i>most kindly and generously</i>, but avowing his opinion that
they never could have been happy in married life. And now I think my dear old
father will see that there may be another reason besides my desire to see Mr.
Binnie, which has brought me tumbling back to England again. If need be to
speak, I never shall have, I hope, any secrets from you. I have not said much
about one which has given me the deuce&rsquo;s disquiet for ten months past,
because there was no good in talking about it, or vexing you needlessly with
reports of my griefs and woes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, when we were at Baden in September last, and E. and I wrote those
letters in common to you, I dare say you can fancy what my feelings might have
been towards such a beautiful young creature, who has a hundred faults, for
which I love her just as much as for the good that is in her. I became
dreadfully smitten indeed, and knowing that she was engaged to Lord Kew, I did
as you told me you did once when the enemy was too strong for you&mdash;<i>I
ran away</i>. I had a bad time of it for two or three months. At Rome, however,
I began to take matters more easily, my naturally fine appetite returned, and
at the end of the season I found myself uncommonly happy in the society of the
Miss Baliols and the Miss Freemans; but when Kew told me at Naples of what had
happened, there was straightway a <i>fresh eruption</i> in my heart, and I was
fool enough to come almost without sleep to London in order to catch a glimpse
of the bright eyes of E. N.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She is now in this very house upstairs with one aunt, whilst the other
lets lodgings to her. I have seen her but very seldom indeed since I came to
London, where Sir Brian and Lady Anne do not pass the season, and Ethel goes
about to a dozen parties every week with old Lady Kew, who neither loves you
nor me. Hearing E. say she was coming down to her parents at Brighton, I made
so bold as to waylay her at the train (though I didn&rsquo;t tell her that I
passed three hours in the waiting-room); and we made the journey together, and
she was very kind and beautiful; and though I suppose I might just as well ask
the Royal Princess to have me, I can&rsquo;t help hoping and longing and
hankering after her. And Aunt Honeyman must have found out that I am fond of
her, for the old lady has received me with a scolding. Uncle Charles seems to
be in very good condition again. I saw him in full clerical feather&mdash;at
Madame de Moncontour&rsquo;s, a good-natured body who drops her
<i>h</i>&rsquo;s, though Florac is not aware of their absence. Pendennis and
Warrington, I know, would send you their regards. Pen is conceited, but much
kinder in reality than he has the air of being. Fred Bayham is doing well, and
prospering in his mysterious way.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mr. Binnie is not looking at all well: and Mrs. Mack&mdash;well, as I
know you never attack a lady behind her lovely back, I won&rsquo;t say a word
of Mrs. Mack&mdash;but she has taken possession of Uncle James, and seems to me
to weigh upon him somehow. Rosey is as pretty and good-natured as ever, and has
learned two new songs; but you see, with my sentiments in another quarter, I
feel as it were guilty and awkward in company of Rosey and her mamma. They have
become the very greatest friends with Bryanstone Square, and Mrs. Mack is
always citing Aunt Hobson as the most superior of women, in which opinion, I
daresay, Aunt Hobson concurs.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Good-bye, my dearest father; my sheet is full; I wish I could put my arm
in yours and pace up and down the pier with you, and tell you more and more.
But you know enough now, and that I am your affectionate son always, C.
N.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
In fact, when Mr. Clive appeared at Steyne Gardens stepping out of the fly, and
handing Miss Ethel thence, Miss Honeyman of course was very glad to see her
nephew, and saluted him with a little embrace to show her sense of pleasure at
his visit. But the next day, being Sunday, when Clive, with a most engaging
smile on his countenance, walked over to breakfast from his hotel, Miss
Honeyman would scarcely speak to him during the meal, looked out at him very
haughtily from under her Sunday cap, and received his stories about Italy with
&ldquo;Oh! ah! indeed!&rdquo; in a very unkind manner. And when breakfast was
over, and she had done washing her age chins, she fluttered up to Clive with
such an agitation of plumage, redness of craw, and anger of manner, as a
maternal hen shows if she has reason to think you menace her chickens. She
fluttered up to Clive, I say, and cried out, &ldquo;Not in <i>this</i> house,
Clive,&mdash;not in this house, I beg you to understand <i>that!</i>&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive, looking amazed, said, &ldquo;Certainly not, ma&rsquo;am; I never did do
it in the house, as I know you don&rsquo;t like it. I was going into the
Square.&rdquo; The young man meaning that he was about to smoke, and
conjecturing that his aunt&rsquo;s anger applied to that practice.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>You</i> know very well what I mean, sir! Don&rsquo;t try to turn
<i>me</i> off in that highty-tighty way. My dinner to-day is at half-past one.
You can dine or not as you like,&rdquo; and the old lady flounced out of the
room.
</p>

<p>
Poor Clive stood rolling his cigar in sad perplexity of spirit, until Mrs.
Honeyman&rsquo;s servant Hannah entered, who, for her part, grinned and looked
particularly sly. &ldquo;In the name of goodness, Hannah, what is the row
about?&rdquo; cries Mr. Clive. &ldquo;What is my aunt scolding at? What are you
grinning at, you old Cheshire cat?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Git long, Master Clive,&rdquo; says Hannah, patting the cloth.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Get along! why get along, and where am I to get along to?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Did &rsquo;ee do ut really now, Master Clive?&rdquo; cries Mrs.
Honeyman&rsquo;s attendant, grinning with the utmost good-humour. &ldquo;Well,
she be as pretty a young lady as ever I saw; and as I told my missis,
&lsquo;Miss Martha,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;there&rsquo;s a pair on
&rsquo;em.&rsquo; Though missis was mortal angry to be sure. She never could
bear it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Bear <i>what?</i> you old goose!&rdquo; cries Clive, who by these
playful names had been wont to designate Hannah these twenty years past.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A young gentleman and a young lady a kissing of each other in the
railway coach,&rdquo; says Hannah, jerking up with her finger to the ceiling,
as much as to say, &ldquo;There she is! Lar, she be a pretty young creature,
that she be! and so I told Miss Martha.&rdquo; Thus differently had the news
which had come to them on the previous night affected the old lady and her
maid.
</p>

<p>
The news was, that Miss Newcome&rsquo;s maid (a giddy thing from the county,
who had not even learned as yet to hold her tongue) had announced with giggling
delight to Lady Anne&rsquo;s maid, who was taking tea with Mrs. Hicks, that Mr.
Clive had given Miss Ethel a kiss in the tunnel, and she supposed it was a
match. This intelligence Hannah Hicks took to her mistress, of whose angry
behaviour to Clive the next morning you may now understand the cause.
</p>

<p>
Clive did not know whether to laugh or to be in a rage. He swore that he was as
innocent of all intention of kissing Miss Ethel as of embracing Queen
Elizabeth. He was shocked to think of his cousin, walking above, fancy-free in
maiden meditation, whilst this conversation regarding her was carried on below.
How could he face her, or her mother, or even her maid, now he had cognisance
of this naughty calumny? &ldquo;Of course Hannah had contradicted it?&rdquo;
&ldquo;Of course I have a done no such indeed,&rdquo; replied Master
Clive&rsquo;s old friend; &ldquo;of course I have set &rsquo;em down a bit; for
when little Trimmer said it, and she supposed it was all settled between you,
seeing how it had been a going on in foreign parts last year, Mrs. Pincott
says, &lsquo;Hold your silly tongue, Trimmer,&rsquo; she says; &lsquo;Miss
Ethel marry a painter, indeed, Trimmer!&rsquo; says she, &lsquo;while she has
refused to be a Countess,&rsquo; she says; &lsquo;and can be a Marchioness any
day, and will be a Marchioness. Marry a painter, indeed!&rsquo; Mrs. Pincott
says; &lsquo;Trimmer, I&rsquo;m surprised at your impidence.&rsquo; So, my
dear, I got angry at that,&rdquo; Clive&rsquo;s champion continued, &ldquo;and
says I, if my young master ain&rsquo;t good enough for any young lady in this
world, says I, I&rsquo;d like you to show her to me: and if his dear father,
the Colonel, says I, ain&rsquo;t as good as your old gentleman upstairs, says
I, who has gruel and dines upon doctor&rsquo;s stuff, the Mrs. Pincott, says I,
my name isn&rsquo;t what it is, says I. Those were my very words, Master Clive,
my dear; and then Mrs. Pincott says, Mrs. Hicks, she says, you don&rsquo;t
understand society, she says; you don&rsquo;t understand society, he!
he!&rdquo; and the country lady, with considerable humour, gave an imitation of
the town lady&rsquo;s manner.
</p>

<p>
At this juncture Miss Honeyman re-entered the parlour, arrayed in her Sunday
bonnet, her stiff and spotless collar, her Cashmere shawl, and Agra brooch, and
carrying her Bible and Prayer-Book each stitched in its neat cover of brown
silk. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t stay chattering here, you idle woman,&rdquo; she cried
to her attendant with extreme asperity. &ldquo;And you, sir, if you wish to
smoke your cigar, you had best walk down to the cliff where the Cockneys
are!&rdquo; she added, glowering at Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Now I understand it all,&rdquo; Clive said, trying to deprecate her
anger. &ldquo;My dear good aunt, it&rsquo;s a most absurd mistake; upon my
honour, Miss Ethel is as innocent as you are.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Innocent or not, this house is not intended for assignations, Clive! As
long as Sir Brian Newcome lodges here, you will be pleased to keep away from
it, sir; and though I don&rsquo;t approve of Sunday travelling, I think the
very best thing you can do is to put yourself in the train and go back to
London.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And now, young people, who read my moral pages, you will see how highly
imprudent it is to sit with your cousins in railway carriages; and how, though
you may not mean the slightest harm in the world, a great deal may be
attributed to you; and how, when you think you are managing your little absurd
love-affairs ever so quietly, Jeames and Betsy in the servants&rsquo;-hall are
very likely talking about them, and you are putting yourself in the power of
those menials. If the perusal of these lines has rendered one single young
couple uncomfortable, surely my amiable end is answered, and I have written not
altogether in vain.
</p>

<p>
Clive was going away, innocent though he was, yet quivering under his
aunt&rsquo;s reproof, and so put out of countenance that he had not even
thought of lighting the great cigar which he stuck into his foolish mouth; when
a shout of &ldquo;Clive! Clive!&rdquo; from half a dozen little voices roused
him, and presently as many little Newcomes came toddling down the stairs, and
this one clung round his knees, and that at the skirts of his coat, and another
took his hand and said, he must come and walk with them on the beach.
</p>

<p>
So away went Clive to walk with his cousins, and then to see his old friend
Miss Cann, with whom and the elder children he walked to church, and issuing
thence greeted Lady Anne and Ethel (who had also attended the service) in the
most natural way in the world.
</p>

<p>
While engaged in talking with these, Miss Honeyman came out of the sacred
edifice, crisp and stately in the famous Agra brooch and Cashmere shawls. The
good-natured Lady Anne had a smile and a kind word for her as for everybody.
Clive went up to his maternal aunt to offer his arm. &ldquo;You must give him
up to us for dinner, Miss Honeyman, if you please to be so very kind. He was so
good-natured in escorting Ethel down,&rdquo; Lady Anne said.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hm! my lady,&rdquo; says Miss Honeyman, perking her head up in her
collar. Clive did not know whether to laugh or not, but a fine blush
illuminated his countenance. As for Ethel, she was and looked perfectly
unconscious. So, rustling in her stiff black silk, Martha Honeyman walked with
her nephew silent by the shore of the much-sounding sea. The idea of courtship,
of osculatory processes, of marrying and giving in marriage, made this elderly
virgin chafe and fume, she never having, at any period of her life, indulged in
any such ideas or practices, and being angry against them, as childless wives
will sometimes be angry and testy against matrons with their prattle about
their nurseries. Now, Miss Cann was a different sort of spinster, and loved a
bit of sentiment with all her heart from which I am led to conclude&mdash;but,
pray, is this the history of Miss Cann or of the Newcomes?
</p>

<p>
All these Newcomes then entered into Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s house, where a
number of little knives and forks were laid for them. Ethel was cold and
thoughtful; Lady Anne was perfectly good-natured as her wont was. Sir Brian
came in on the arm of his valet presently, wearing that look of extra neatness
which invalids have, who have just been shaved and combed, and made ready by
their attendants to receive company. He was voluble: though there was a
perceptible change in his voice: he talked chiefly of matters which had
occurred forty years ago, and especially of Clive&rsquo;s own father, when he
was a boy, in a manner which interested the young man and Ethel. &ldquo;He
threw me down in a chaise&mdash;sad chap&mdash;always reading Orme&rsquo;s
History of India&mdash;wanted marry Frenchwoman. He wondered Mrs. Newcome
didn&rsquo;t leave Tom anything&mdash;&rsquo;pon my word, quite
s&rsquo;prise.&rdquo; The events of to-day, the House of Commons, the City, had
little interest for him. All the children went up and shook him by the hand,
with awe in their looks, and he patted their yellow heads vacantly and kindly.
He asked Clive (several times) where he had been? and said he himself had had a
slight &rsquo;tack&mdash;vay slight&mdash;was getting well ev&rsquo;y
day&mdash;strong as a horse&mdash;go back to Parliament d&rsquo;rectly. And
then he became a little peevish with Parker, his man, about his broth. The man
retired, and came back presently, with profound bows and gravity, to tell Sir
Brian dinner was ready, and he went away quite briskly at this news, giving a
couple of fingers to Clive before he disappeared into the upper apartments.
Good-natured Lady Anne was as easy about this as about the other events of this
world. In later days, with what a strange feeling we remember that last sight
we have of the old friend; that nod of farewell, and shake of the hand, that
last look of the face and figure as the door closes on him, or the coach drives
away! So the roast mutton was ready, and all the children dined very heartily.
</p>

<p>
The infantile meal had not been long concluded, when servants announced
&ldquo;the Marquis of Farintosh;&rdquo; and that nobleman made his appearance
to pay his respects to Miss Newcome and Lady Anne. He brought the very last
news of the very last party in London, where &ldquo;Really, upon my honour,
now, it was quite a stupid party, because Miss Newcome wasn&rsquo;t there. It
was now, really.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Miss Newcome remarked, &ldquo;If he said so upon his honour, of course she was
satisfied.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;As you weren&rsquo;t there,&rdquo; the young nobleman continued,
&ldquo;the Miss Rackstraws came out quite strong; really they did now, upon my
honour. It was quite a quiet thing. Lady Merriborough hadn&rsquo;t even got a
new gown on. Lady Anne, you shirk London society this year, and we miss you: we
expected you to give us two or three things this season; we did now, really. I
said to Tufthunt, only yesterday, Why has not Lady Anne Newcome given anything?
You know Tufthunt? They say he&rsquo;s a clever fellow, and that&mdash;but
he&rsquo;s a low little beast, and I hate him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lady Anne said, &ldquo;Sir Brian&rsquo;s bad state of health prevented her from
going out this season, or receiving at home.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It don&rsquo;t prevent your mother from going out, though,&rdquo;
continued my lord. &ldquo;Upon my honour, I think unless she got two or three
things every night, I think she&rsquo;d die. Lady Kew&rsquo;s like one of those
horses, you know, that unless they go they drop.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Thank you for my mother,&rdquo; said Lady Anne.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She is, upon my honour. Last night I know she was at ever so many
places. She dined at the Bloxams&rsquo;, for I was there. Then she said she was
going to sit with old Mrs. Crackthorpe, who has broke her collar-bone (that
Crackthorpe in the Life Guards, her grandson, is a brute, and I hope she
won&rsquo;t leave him a shillin&rsquo;); and then she came on to Lady
Hawkstone&rsquo;s, where I heard her say she had been at the&mdash;at the
Flowerdales&rsquo;, too. People begin to go to those Flowerdales&rsquo;.
Hanged&mdash;if I know where they won&rsquo;t go next. Cotton-spinner,
wasn&rsquo;t he?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;So were we, my lord,&rdquo; says Miss Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, yes, I forgot! But you&rsquo;re of an old family&mdash;very old
family.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t help it,&rdquo; said Miss Ethel, archly. Indeed, she
thought she was.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you believe in the barber-surgeon?&rdquo; asked Clive. And my lord
looked at him with a noble curiosity, as much as to say, &ldquo;Who the deuce
was the barber-surgeon? and who the devil are you?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why should we disown our family?&rdquo; Miss Ethel said, simply.
&ldquo;In those early days I suppose people did&mdash;did all sorts of things,
and it was not considered at all out of the way to be surgeon to William the
Conqueror.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Edward the Confessor,&rdquo; interposed Clive. &ldquo;And it must be
true, because I have seen a picture of the barber-surgeon, a friend of mine,
M&rsquo;Collop, did the picture, and I dare say it is for sale still&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lady Anne said &ldquo;she should be delighted to see it.&rdquo; Lord Farintosh
remembered that the M&rsquo;Collop had the moor next to his in Argyleshire, but
did not choose to commit himself with the stranger, and preferred looking at
his own handsome face and admiring it in the glass until the last speaker had
concluded his remarks.
</p>

<p>
As Clive did not offer any further conversation, but went back to a table,
where he began to draw the barber-surgeon, Lord Farintosh resumed the
delightful talk. &ldquo;What infernal bad glasses these are in these Brighton
lodging-houses! They make a man look quite green, really they do&mdash;and
there&rsquo;s nothing green in me, is there, Lady Anne?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But you look very unwell, Lord Farintosh; indeed you do,&rdquo; Miss
Newcome said, gravely. &ldquo;I think late hours, and smoking, and going to
that horrid Platt&rsquo;s, where I dare say you go&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Go? Don&rsquo;t I? But don&rsquo;t call it horrid; really, now,
don&rsquo;t call it horrid!&rdquo; cried the noble Marquis.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well&mdash;something has made you look far from well. You know how very
well Lord Farintosh used to look, mamma&mdash;and to see him now, in only his
second season&mdash;oh, it is melancholy!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;God bless my soul, Miss Newcome! what do you mean? I think I look pretty
well,&rdquo; and the noble youth passed his hand through his hair. &ldquo;It is
a hard life, I know; that tearin&rsquo; about night after night, and
sittin&rsquo; up till ever so much o&rsquo;clock; and then all these races, you
know, comin&rsquo; one after another&mdash;it&rsquo;s enough to knock up any
fellow. I&rsquo;ll tell you what I&rsquo;ll do, Miss Newcome. I&rsquo;ll go
down to Codlington, to my mother; I will, upon my honour, and lie quiet all
July, and then I&rsquo;ll go to Scotland&mdash;and you shall see whether I
don&rsquo;t look better next season.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do, Lord Farintosh!&rdquo; said Ethel, greatly amused, as much, perhaps,
at the young Marquis as at her cousin Clive, who sat whilst the other was
speaking, fuming with rage, at his table.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What are you doing, Clive?&rdquo; she asks.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I was trying to draw; Lord knows who&mdash;Lord Newcome, who was killed
at the battle of Bosworth,&rdquo; said the artist, and the girl ran to look at
the picture.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why, you have made him like Punch!&rdquo; cries the young lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a shame caricaturing one&rsquo;s own flesh and blood,
isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; asked Clive, gravely.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What a droll, funny picture!&rdquo; exclaims Lady Anne.
&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it capital, Lord Farintosh?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I dare say&mdash;I confess I don&rsquo;t understand that sort of
thing,&rdquo; says his lordship. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t, upon my honour.
There&rsquo;s Odo Carton, always making those caricatures&mdash;<i>I</i>
don&rsquo;t understand &rsquo;em. You&rsquo;ll come up to town to-morrow,
won&rsquo;t you? And you&rsquo;re goin&rsquo; to Lady Hm&rsquo;s, and to Hm and
Hm&rsquo;s, ain&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; (The names of these aristocratic places of
resort were quite inaudible.) &ldquo;You mustn&rsquo;t let Miss Blackcap have
it all her own way, you know, that you mustn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She won&rsquo;t have it all her own way,&rdquo; says Miss Ethel.
&ldquo;Lord Farintosh, will you do me a favour? Lady Innishowan is your
aunt?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course she is my aunt.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Will you be so very good as to get a card for her party on Tuesday, for
my cousin, Mr. Clive Newcome? Clive, please be introduced to the Marquis of
Farintosh.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The young Marquis perfectly well recollected those mustachios and their wearer
on a former night, though he had not thought fit to make any sign of
recognition. &ldquo;Anything you wish, Miss Newcome,&rdquo; he said;
&ldquo;delighted, I&rsquo;m sure;&rdquo; and turning to Clive&mdash;In the
army, I suppose?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am an artist,&rdquo; says Clive, turning very red.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, really, I didn&rsquo;t know!&rdquo; cries the nobleman; and my lord
bursting out laughing presently as he was engaged in conversation with Miss
Ethel on the balcony, Clive thought, very likely with justice, &ldquo;He is
making fun of my mustachios. Confound him! I should like to pitch him over into
the street.&rdquo; But this was only a kind wish on Mr. Newcome&rsquo;s part;
not followed out by any immediate fulfilment.
</p>

<p>
As the Marquis of Farintosh seemed inclined to prolong his visit, and his
company was exceedingly disagreeable to Clive, the latter took his departure
for an afternoon walk, consoled to think that he should have Ethel to himself
at the evening&rsquo;s dinner, when Lady Anne would be occupied about Sir
Brian, and would be sure to be putting the children to bed, and, in a word,
would give him a quarter of an hour of delightful <i>tête-à-tête</i> with the
beautiful Ethel.
</p>

<p>
Clive&rsquo;s disgust was considerable when he came to dinner at length, and
found Lord Farintosh, likewise invited, and sprawling in the drawing-room. His
hopes of a <i>tête-à-tête</i> were over. Ethel and Lady Anne and my lord
talked, as all people will, about their mutual acquaintance: what parties were
coming off, who was going to marry whom, and so forth. And as the persons about
whom they conversed were in their own station of life, and belonged to the
fashionable world, of which Clive had but a slight knowledge, he chose to fancy
that his cousin was giving herself airs, and to feel sulky and uneasy during
their dialogue.
</p>

<p>
Miss Newcome had faults of her own, and was worldly enough as perhaps the
reader has begun to perceive; but in this instance no harm, sure, was to be
attributed to her. If two gossips in Aunt Honeyman&rsquo;s parlour had talked
over the affairs of Mr. Jones and Mr. Brown, Clive would not have been angry;
but a young man of spirit not unfrequently mistakes his vanity for
independence: and it is certain that nothing is more offensive to us of the
middle class than to hear the names of great folks constantly introduced into
conversation.
</p>

<p>
So Clive was silent and ate no dinner, to the alarm of Martha, who had put him
to bed many a time, and always had a maternal eye over him. When he actually
refused currant and raspberry tart, and custard, the <i>chef d&rsquo;œuvre</i>
of Miss Honeyman, for which she had seen him absolutely cry in his childhood,
the good Martha was alarmed.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Law, Master Clive!&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;do &rsquo;ee eat some. Missis
made it, you know she did;&rdquo; and she insisted on bringing back the tart to
him.
</p>

<p>
Lady Anne and Ethel laughed at this eagerness on the worthy old woman&rsquo;s
part. &ldquo;Do &rsquo;ee eat some, Clive,&rdquo; says Ethel, imitating honest
Mrs. Hicks, who had left the room.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s doosid good,&rdquo; remarked Lord Farintosh.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Then do &rsquo;ee eat some more,&rdquo; said Miss Newcome: on which the
young nobleman, holding out his plate, observed with much affability, that the
cook of the lodgings was really a stunner for tarts.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The cook! dear me, it&rsquo;s not the <i>cook!</i>&rdquo; cries Miss
Ethel. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you remember the princess in the Arabian Nights, who
was such a stunner for tarts, Lord Farintosh?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lord Farintosh couldn&rsquo;t say that he did.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, I thought not; but there was a princess in Arabia or China, or
somewhere, who made such delicious tarts and custards that nobody&rsquo;s could
compare with them; and there is an old lady in Brighton who has the same
wonderful talent. She is the mistress of this house.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And she is my aunt, at your lordship&rsquo;s service,&rdquo; said Mr.
Clive, with great dignity.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Upon my honour! <i>did</i> you make &rsquo;em, Lady Anne?&rdquo; asked
my lord.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Queen of Hearts made tarts!&rdquo; cried out Miss Newcome, rather
eagerly, and blushing somewhat.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My good old aunt, Miss Honeyman, made this one,&rdquo; Clive would go on
to say.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mr. Honeyman&rsquo;s sister, the preacher, you know, where we go on
Sunday,&rdquo; Miss Ethel interposed.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Honeyman pedigree is not a matter of very great importance,&rdquo;
Lady Anne remarked gently. &ldquo;Kuhn, will you have the goodness to take away
these things? When did you hear of Colonel Newcome, Clive?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
An air of deep bewilderment and perplexity had spread over Lord
Farintosh&rsquo;s fine countenance whilst this talk about pastry had been going
on. The Arabian Princess, the Queen of Hearts making tarts, Miss Honeyman? Who
the deuce were all these? Such may have been his lordship&rsquo;s doubts and
queries. Whatever his cogitations were he did not give utterance to them, but
remained in silence for some time, as did the rest of the little party. Clive
tried to think he had asserted his independence by showing that he was not
ashamed of his old aunt; but the doubt may be whether there was any necessity
for presenting her in this company, and whether Mr. Clive had not much better
have left the tart question alone.
</p>

<p>
Ethel evidently thought so: for she talked and rattled in the most lively
manner with Lord Farintosh for the rest of the evening, and scarcely chose to
say a word to her cousin. Lady Anne was absent with Sir Brian and her children
for the most part of the time: and thus Clive had the pleasure of listening to
Miss Newcome uttering all sorts of odd little paradoxes, firing the while sly
shots at Mr. Clive, and, indeed, making fun of his friends, exhibiting herself
in not the most agreeable light. Her talk only served the more to bewilder Lord
Farintosh, who did not understand a tithe of her allusions: for Heaven, which
had endowed the young Marquis with personal charms, a large estate, an ancient
title and the pride belonging to it, had not supplied his lordship with a great
quantity of brains, or a very feeling heart.
</p>

<p>
Lady Anne came back from the upper regions presently, with rather a grave face,
and saying that Sir Brian was not so well this evening, upon which the young
men rose to depart. My lord said he had &ldquo;a most delightful dinner and a
most delightful tart, &rsquo;pon his honour,&rdquo; and was the only one of the
little company who laughed at his own remark. Miss Ethel&rsquo;s eyes flashed
scorn at Mr. Clive when that unfortunate subject was introduced again.
</p>

<p>
My lord was going back to London to-morrow. Was Miss Newcome going back?
Wouldn&rsquo;t he like to go back in the train with her!&mdash;another unlucky
observation. Lady Anne said, &ldquo;it would depend on the state of Sir
Brian&rsquo;s health the next morning whether Ethel would return; and both of
you gentlemen are too young to be her escort,&rdquo; added the kind lady. Then
she shook hands with Clive, as thinking she had said something too for him.
</p>

<p>
Farintosh in the meantime was taking leave of Miss Newcome. &ldquo;Pray,
pray,&rdquo; said his lordship, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t throw me over at Lady
Innishowan&rsquo;s. You know I hate balls and never go to &rsquo;em, except
when you go. I hate dancing, I do, &rsquo;pon my honour.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Miss Newcome, with a curtsey.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Except with one person&mdash;only one person, upon my honour. I&rsquo;ll
remember and get the invitation for your friend. And if you would but try that
mare, I give you my honour I bred her at Codlington. She&rsquo;s a beauty to
look at, and as quiet as a lamb.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want a horse like a lamb,&rdquo; replied the young lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well&mdash;she&rsquo;ll go like blazes now: and over timber she&rsquo;s
splendid now. She is, upon my honour.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When I come to London perhaps you may trot her out,&rdquo; said Miss
Ethel, giving him her hand and a fine smile.
</p>

<p>
Clive came up biting his lips. &ldquo;I suppose you don&rsquo;t condescend to
ride Bhurtpore any more now?&rdquo; he said.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Poor old Bhurtpore! The children ride him now,&rdquo; said Miss
Ethel&mdash;giving Clive at the same time a dangerous look of her eyes, as
though to see if her shot had hit. Then she added, &ldquo;No&mdash;he has not
been brought up to town this year: he is at Newcome, and I like him very
much.&rdquo; Perhaps she thought the shot had struck too deep.
</p>

<p>
But if Clive was hurt he did not show his wound. &ldquo;You have had him these
four years&mdash;yes, it&rsquo;s four years since my father broke him for you.
And you still continue to like him? What a miracle of constancy! You use him
sometimes in the country&mdash;when you have no better horse&mdash;what a
compliment to Bhurtpore!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Nonsense!&rdquo; Miss Ethel here made Clive a sign in her most imperious
manner to stay a moment when Lord Farintosh had departed.
</p>

<p>
But he did not choose to obey this order. &ldquo;Good night,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;Before I go I must shake hands with my aunt downstairs.&rdquo; And he
was gone, following close upon Lord Farintosh, who I dare say thought,
&ldquo;Why the deuce can&rsquo;t he shake hands with his aunt up here?&rdquo;
and when Clive entered Miss Honeyman&rsquo;s back-parlour, making a bow to the
young nobleman, my lord went away more perplexed than ever: and the next day
told friends at White&rsquo;s what uncommonly queer people those Newcomes were.
&ldquo;I give you my honour there was a fellow at Lady Anne&rsquo;s whom they
call Clive, who is a painter by trade&mdash;his uncle is a preacher&mdash;his
father is a horse-dealer, and his aunt lets lodgings and cooks the
dinner.&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0043" id="link2HCH0043"></a>
CHAPTER XLIII.<br/>
Returns to some Old Friends</h2>

<p>
The haggard youth burst into my chambers, in the Temple, on the very next
morning, and confided to me the story which has been just here narrated. When
he had concluded it, with many ejaculations regarding the heroine of the tale,
&ldquo;I saw her, sir,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;walking with the children and
Miss Cann as I drove round in the fly to the station&mdash;and didn&rsquo;t
even bow to her.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why did you go round by the cliff?&rdquo; asked Clive&rsquo;s friend.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That is not the way from the Steyne Arms to the railroad.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hang it,&rdquo; says Clive, turning very red, &ldquo;I wanted to pass
just under her windows, and if I saw her, not to see her: and that&rsquo;s what
I did.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why did she walk on the cliff?&rdquo; mused Clive&rsquo;s friend,
&ldquo;at that early hour? Not to meet Lord Farintosh, I should think, he never
gets up before twelve. It must have been to see you. Didn&rsquo;t you tell her
you were going away in the morning?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I tell you what she does with me,&rdquo; continues Mr. Clive.
&ldquo;Sometimes she seems to like me, and then she leaves me. Sometimes she is
quite kind&mdash;kind she always is&mdash;I mean, you know,
Pen&mdash;<i>you</i> know what I mean; and then up comes the old Countess, or a
young Marquis, or some fellow with a handle to his name, and she whistles me
off till the next convenient opportunity.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Women are like that, my ingenuous youth,&rdquo; says Clive&rsquo;s
counsellor.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>I</i> won&rsquo;t stand it. <i>I</i> won&rsquo;t be made a fool
of!&rdquo; he continues. &ldquo;She seems to expect everybody to bow to her,
and moves through the world with her imperious airs. Oh, how confoundedly
handsome she is with them! I tell you what. I feel inclined to tumble down and
feel one of her pretty little feet on my neck and say, There! Trample my life
out. Make a slave of me. Let me get a silver collar and mark
&lsquo;Ethel&rsquo; on it, and go through the world with my badge.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And a blue ribbon for a footman to hold you by; and a muzzle to wear in
the dog-days. Bow! wow!&rdquo; says Mr. Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
(At this noise Mr. Warrington puts his head in from the neighbouring
bedchamber, and shows a beard just lathered for shaving. &ldquo;We are talking
sentiment! Go back till you are wanted!&rdquo; says Mr. Pendennis. Exit he of
the soap-suds.)
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t make fun of a fellow,&rdquo; Clive continues, laughing
ruefully. &ldquo;You see I must talk about it to somebody. I shall die if I
don&rsquo;t. Sometimes, sir, I rise up in my might and I defy her lightning.
The sarcastic dodge is the best: I have borrowed that from you Pen, old boy.
That puzzles her: that would beat her if I could but go on with it. But there
comes a tone of her sweet voice, a look out of those killing grey eyes, and all
my frame is in a thrill and a tremble. When she was engaged to Lord Kew I did
battle with the confounded passion&mdash;and I ran away from it like an honest
man, and the gods rewarded me with ease of mind after a while. But now the
thing rages worse than ever. Last night, I give you my honour, I heard every
one of the confounded hurs toll, except the last, when I was dreaming of my
father, and the chambermaid woke me with a hot water jug.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Did she scald you? What a cruel chambermaid! I see you have shaven the
mustachios off.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Farintosh asked me whether I was going in the army,&rdquo; said Clive,
&ldquo;and she laughed. I thought I had best dock them. Oh, I would like to cut
my head off as well as my hair!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Have you ever asked her to marry you?&rdquo; asked Clive&rsquo;s friend.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have seen her but five times since my return from abroad,&rdquo; the
lad went on; &ldquo;there has been always somebody by. Who am I? a painter with
five hundred a year for an allowance. Isn&rsquo;t she used to walk up on velvet
and dine upon silver; and hasn&rsquo;t she got marquises and barons, and all
sorts of swells, in her train? I daren&rsquo;t ask her&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Here his friend hummed Montrose&rsquo;s lines&mdash;&ldquo;He either fears his
fate too much, or his desert is small, who dares not put it to the touch, and
win or lose it all.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I own I dare not ask her. If she were to refuse me, I know I should
never ask again. This isn&rsquo;t the moment, when all Swelldom is at her feet,
for me to come forward and say, &lsquo;Maiden, I have watched thee daily, and I
think thou lovest me well.&rsquo; I read that ballad to her at Baden, sir. I
drew a picture of the Lord of Burleigh wooing the maiden, and asked what she
would have done?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, you <i>did?</i> I thought, when we were at Baden, we were so modest
that we did not even whisper our condition?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A fellow can&rsquo;t help letting it be seen and hinting it,&rdquo; says
Clive, with another blush. &ldquo;They can read it in our looks fast enough;
and what is going on in our minds, hang them! I recollect she said, in her
grave, cool way, that after all the Lord and Lady of Burleigh did not seem to
have made a very good marriage, and that the lady would have been much happier
in marrying one of her own degree.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That was a very prudent saying for a young lady of eighteen,&rdquo;
remarks Clive&rsquo;s friend.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes; but it was not an unkind one. Say Ethel thought&mdash;thought what
was the case; and being engaged herself, and knowing how friends of mine had
provided a very pretty little partner for me&mdash;she is a dear, good little
girl, little Rosey; and twice as good, Pen, when her mother is
away&mdash;knowing this and that, I say, suppose Ethel wanted to give me a hint
to keep quiet, was she not right in the counsel she gave me? She is not fit to
be a poor man&rsquo;s wife. Fancy Ethel Newcome going into the kitchen and
making pies like Aunt Honeyman!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Circassian beauties don&rsquo;t sell under so many thousand
purses,&rdquo; remarked Mr. Pendennis. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a beauty in a
well-regulated Georgian family, they fatten her; they feed her with the best
<i>Racahout des Arabes</i>. They give her silk robes, and perfumed baths; have
her taught to play on the dulcimer and dance and sing; and when she is quite
perfect, send her down to Constantinople for the Sultan&rsquo;s inspection. The
rest of the family think never of grumbling, but eat coarse meat, bathe in the
river, wear old clothes, and praise Allah for their sister&rsquo;s elevation.
Bah! Do you suppose the Turkish system doesn&rsquo;t obtain all over the world?
My poor Clive, this article in the Mayfair Market is beyond your
worship&rsquo;s price. Some things in this world are made for our betters,
young man. Let Dives say grace for his dinner, and the dogs and Lazarus be
thankful for the crumbs. Here comes Warrington, shaven and smart as if he was
going out a-courting.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Thus it will be seen, that in his communication with certain friends who
approached nearer to his own time of life, Clive was much more eloquent and
rhapsodical than in the letter which he wrote to his father, regarding his
passion for Miss Ethel. He celebrated her with pencil and pen. He was for ever
drawing the outline of her head, the solemn eyebrow, the nose (that wondrous
little nose), descending from the straight forehead, the short upper lip, and
chin sweeping in a full curve to the neck, etc. etc. A frequenter of his studio
might see a whole gallery of Ethels there represented: when Mrs. Mackenzie
visited that place, and remarked one face and figure repeated on a hundred
canvases and papers, grey, white, and brown, I believe she was told that the
original was a famous Roman model, from whom Clive had studied a great deal
during his residence in Italy; on which Mrs. Mack gave it as her opinion that
Clive was a sad wicked young fellow. The widow thought rather the better of him
for being a sad wicked young fellow; and as for Miss Rosey, she, was of course
of mamma&rsquo;s way of thinking. Rosey went through the world constantly
smiling at whatever occurred. She was good-humoured through the dreariest long
evenings at the most stupid parties; sate good-humouredly for hours at
Shoolbred&rsquo;s whilst mamma was making purchases; heard good-humouredly
those old old stories of her mother&rsquo;s day after day; bore an hour&rsquo;s
joking or an hour&rsquo;s scolding with equal good-humour; and whatever had
been the occurrences of her simple day, whether there was sunshine or cloudy
weather, or flashes of lightning and bursts of rain, I fancy Miss Mackenzie
slept after them quite undisturbedly, and was sure to greet the morrow&rsquo;s
dawn with a smile.
</p>

<p>
Had Clive become more knowing in his travels, had Love or Experience opened his
eyes, that they looked so differently now upon objects which before used well
enough to please them? It is a fact that, until he went abroad, he thought
widow Mackenzie a dashing, lively, agreeable woman: he used to receive her
stories about Cheltenham, the colonies, the balls at Government House, the
observations which the bishop made, and the peculiar attention of the Chief
Justice to Mrs. Major M&rsquo;Shane, with the Major&rsquo;s uneasy
behaviour&mdash;all these to hear at one time did Clive not ungraciously
incline. &ldquo;Our friend, Mrs. Mack,&rdquo; the good old Colonel used to say,
&ldquo;is a clever woman of the world, and has seen a great deal of
company.&rdquo; That story of Sir Thomas Sadman dropping a pocket-handkerchief
in his court at Colombo, which the Queen&rsquo;s Advocate O&rsquo;Goggarty
picked up, and on which Laura MacS. was embroidered, whilst the Major was
absolutely in the witness-box giving evidence against a native servant who had
stolen one of his cocked-hats&mdash;that story always made good Thomas Newcome
laugh, and Clive used to enjoy it too, and the widow&rsquo;s mischievous fun in
narrating it; and now, behold, one day when Mrs. Mackenzie recounted the
anecdote in her best manner to Messrs. Pendennis and Warrington, and Frederick
Bayham, who had been invited to meet Mr. Clive in Fitzroy Square&mdash;when Mr.
Binnie chuckled, when Rosey, as in duty bound, looked discomposed and said,
&ldquo;Law, mamma!&rdquo;&mdash;not one sign of good-humour, not one ghost of a
smile, made its apparition on Clive&rsquo;s dreary face. He painted imaginary
portraits with a strawberry stalk; he looked into his water-glass as though he
would plunge and drown there; and Bayham had to remind him that the claret jug
was anxious to have another embrace from its constant friend, F. B. When Mrs.
Mack went away distributing smiles, Clive groaned out, &ldquo;Good heavens! how
that story does bore me!&rdquo; and lapsed into his former moodiness, not
giving so much as a glance to Rosey, whose sweet face looked at him kindly for
a moment, as she followed in the wake of her mamma.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The mother&rsquo;s the woman for my money,&rdquo; I heard F. B. whisper
to Warrington. &ldquo;Splendid figure-head, sir&mdash;magnificent build, sir,
from bows to stern&mdash;I like &rsquo;em of that sort. Thank you, Mr. Binnie,
I <i>will</i> take a back-hander, as Clive don&rsquo;t seem to drink. The
youth, sir, has grown melancholy with his travels; I&rsquo;m inclined to think
some noble Roman has stolen the young man&rsquo;s heart. Why did you not send
us over a picture of the charmer, Clive? Young Ridley, Mr. Binnie, you will be
happy to hear, is bidding fair to take a distinguished place in the world of
arts. His picture has been greatly admired; and my good friend Mrs. Ridley
tells me that Lord Todmorden has sent him over an order to paint him a couple
of pictures at a hundred guineas apiece.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I should think so. J. J.&rsquo;s pictures will be worth five times a
hundred guineas ere five years are over,&rdquo; says Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;In that case it wouldn&rsquo;t be a bad speculation for our friend
Sherrick,&rdquo; remarked F. B., &ldquo;to purchase a few of the young
man&rsquo;s works. I would, only I haven&rsquo;t the capital to spare. Mine has
been vested in an Odessa venture, sir, in a large amount of wild oats, which up
to the present moment make me no return. But it will always be a consolation to
me to think that I have been the means&mdash;the humble means&mdash;of
furthering that deserving young man&rsquo;s prospects in life.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You, F. B.! and how?&rdquo; we asked.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By certain humble contributions of mine to the press,&rdquo; answered
Bayham, majestically. &ldquo;Mr. Warrington, the claret happens to stand with
you; and exercise does it good, sir. Yes, the articles, trifling as they may
appear, have attracted notice,&rdquo; continued F. B., sipping his wine with
great gusto. &ldquo;They are noticed, Pendennis, give me leave to say, by
parties who don&rsquo;t value so much the literary or even the political part
of the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, though both, I am told by those who read them,
are conducted with considerable&mdash;consummate ability. John Ridley sent a
hundred pounds over to his father, the other day, who funded it in his
son&rsquo;s name. And Ridley told the story to Lord Todmorden, when the
venerable nobleman congratulated him on having such a child. I wish F. B. had
one of the same sort, sir.&rdquo; In which sweet prayer we all of us joined
with a laugh.
</p>

<p>
One of us had told Mrs. Mackenzie (let the criminal blush to own that quizzing
his fellow-creatures used at one time to form part of his youthful amusement)
that F. B. was the son of a gentleman of most ancient family and vast landed
possessions, and as Bayham was particularly attentive to the widow, and
grandiloquent in his remarks, she was greatly pleased by his politeness, and
pronounced him a most <i>distingué</i> man&mdash;reminding her, indeed, of
General Hopkirk, who commanded in Canada. And she bade Rosey sing for Mr.
Bayham, who was in a rapture at the young lady&rsquo;s performances, and said
no wonder such an accomplished daughter came from such a mother, though how
such a mother could have a daughter of such an age he, F. B., was at a loss to
understand. Oh, sir! Mrs. Mackenzie was charmed and overcome at this novel
compliment. Meanwhile the little artless Rosey warbled on her pretty ditties.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It <i>is</i> a wonder,&rdquo; growled out Mr. Warrington, &ldquo;that
that sweet girl can belong to such a woman. I don&rsquo;t understand much about
women, but that one appears to me to be&mdash;hum!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What, George?&rdquo; asked Warrington&rsquo;s friend.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, an ogling, leering, scheming, artful old campaigner,&rdquo;
grumbled the misogynist. &ldquo;As for the little girl, I should like to have
her to sing to me all night long. Depend upon it she would make a much better
wife for Clive than that fashionable cousin of his he is hankering after. I
heard him bellowing about her the other day in chambers, as I was dressing.
What the deuce does the boy want with a wife at all?&rdquo; And Rosey&rsquo;s
song being by this time finished, Warrington went up with a blushing face and
absolutely paid a compliment to Miss Mackenzie&mdash;an almost unheard-of
effort on George&rsquo;s part.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wonder whether it is every young fellow&rsquo;s lot,&rdquo; quoth
George, as we trudged home together, &ldquo;to pawn his heart away to some girl
that&rsquo;s not worth the winning? Psha! it&rsquo;s all mad rubbish this
sentiment. The women ought not to be allowed to interfere with us: married if a
man must be, a suitable wife should be portioned out to him, and there an end
of it. Why doesn&rsquo;t the young man marry this girl, and get back to his
business and paint his pictures? Because his father wishes it&mdash;and the old
Nabob yonder, who seems a kindly-disposed, easy-going, old heathen philosopher.
Here&rsquo;s a pretty little girl: money I suppose in
sufficiency&mdash;everything satisfactory, except, I grant you, the campaigner.
The lad might daub his canvases, christen a child a year, and be as happy as
any young donkey that browses on this common of ours&mdash;but he must go and
heehaw after a zebra forsooth! a <i>lusus naturæ</i> is she! I never spoke to a
woman of fashion, thank my stars&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know the nature of the
beast; and since I went to our race-balls, as a boy, scarcely ever saw one; as
I don&rsquo;t frequent operas and parties in London like you young flunkeys of
the aristocracy. I heard you talking about this one; I couldn&rsquo;t help it,
as my door was open and the young one was shouting like a madman. What! does he
choose to hang on on sufferance and hope to be taken, provided Miss can get no
better? Do you mean to say that is the genteel custom, and that women in your
confounded society do such things every day? Rather than have such a creature I
would take a savage woman, who should nurse my dusky brood; and rather than
have a daughter brought up to the trade I would bring her down from the woods
and sell her in Virginia.&rdquo; With which burst of indignation our
friend&rsquo;s anger ended for that night.
</p>

<p>
Though Mr. Clive had the felicity to meet his cousin Ethel at a party or two in
the ensuing weeks of the season, every time he perused the features of Lady
Kew&rsquo;s brass knocker in Queen Street, no result came of the visit. At one
of their meetings in the world Ethel fairly told him that her grandmother would
not receive him. &ldquo;You know, Clive, I can&rsquo;t help myself: nor would
it be proper to make you signs out of the window. But you must call for all
that: grandmamma may become more good-humoured: or if you don&rsquo;t come she
may suspect I told you not to come: and to battle with her day after day is no
pleasure, sir, I assure you. Here is Lord Farintosh coming to take me to dance.
You must not speak to me all the evening, mind that, sir,&rdquo; and away goes
the young lady in a waltz with the Marquis.
</p>

<p>
On the same evening&mdash;as he was biting his nails, or cursing his fate, or
wishing to invite Lord Farintosh into the neighbouring garden of Berkeley
Square, whence the policeman might carry to the station-house the corpse of the
survivor,&mdash;Lady Kew would bow to him with perfect graciousness; on other
nights her ladyship would pass and no more recognise him than the servant who
opened the door.
</p>

<p>
If she was not to see him at her grandmother&rsquo;s house, and was not
particularly unhappy at his exclusion, why did Miss Newcome encourage Mr. Clive
so that he should try and see <i>her?</i> If Clive could not get into the
little house in Queen Street, why was Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s enormous cab-horse
looking daily into the first-floor windows of that street? Why were little
quiet dinners made for him, before the opera, before going to the play, upon a
half-dozen occasions, when some of the old old Kew port was brought out of the
cellar, where cobwebs had gathered round it ere Farintosh was born? The
dining-room was so tiny that not more than five people could sit at the little
round table: that is, not more than Lady Kew and her granddaughter, Miss
Crochet, the late vicar&rsquo;s daughter, at Kewbury, one of the Miss Toadins,
and Captain Walleye, or Tommy Henchman, Farintosh&rsquo;s kinsman, and admirer,
who were of no consequence, or old Fred Tiddler, whose wife was an invalid, and
who was always ready at a moment&rsquo;s notice? Crackthorpe once went to one
of these dinners, but that young soldier being a frank and high-spirited youth,
abused the entertainment and declined more of them. &ldquo;I tell you what I
was wanted for,&rdquo; the Captain told his mess and Clive at the
Regent&rsquo;s Park barracks afterwards, &ldquo;I was expected to go as
Farintosh&rsquo;s Groom of the Stole, don&rsquo;t you know, to stand, or if I
could sit, in the back seat of the box, whilst his Royal Highness made talk
with the Beauty; to go out and fetch the carriage, and walk downstairs with
that d&mdash;&mdash; crooked old dowager, that looks as if she usually rode on
a broomstick, by Jove, or else with that bony old painted sheep-faced
companion, who&rsquo;s raddled like an old bell-wether. I think, Newcome, you
seem rather hit by the Belle Cousine&mdash;so was I last season; so were ever
so many of the fellows. By Jove, sir! there&rsquo;s nothing I know more
comfortable or inspiritin&rsquo; than a younger son&rsquo;s position, when a
marquis cuts in with fifteen thousand a year! We fancy we&rsquo;ve been making
running, and suddenly we find ourselves nowhere. Miss Mary, or Miss Lucy, or
Miss Ethel, saving your presence, will no more look at us, than my dog will
look at a bit of bread, when I offer her this cutlet. Will you&mdash;old woman!
no, you old slut, that you won&rsquo;t!&rdquo; (to Mag, an Isle of Skye
terrier, who, in fact, prefers the cutlet, having snuffed disdainfully at the
bread)&mdash;&ldquo;that you won&rsquo;t, no more than any of your sex. Why, do
you suppose, if Jack&rsquo;s eldest brother had been dead&mdash;Barebones
Belsize they used to call him (I don&rsquo;t believe he was a bad fellow,
though he was fond of psalm-singing)&mdash;do you suppose that Lady Clara would
have looked at that cock-tail Barney Newcome? Beg your pardon, if he&rsquo;s
your cousin&mdash;but a more odious little snob I never saw.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I give you up Barnes,&rdquo; said Clive, laughing; &ldquo;anybody may
shy at him and I shan&rsquo;t interfere.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I understand, but at nobody else of the family. Well, what I mean is,
that that old woman is enough to spoil any young girl she takes in hand. She
dries &rsquo;em up, and poisons &rsquo;em, sir; and I was never more glad than
when I heard that Kew had got out of her old clutches. Frank is a fellow that
will always be led by some woman or another; and I&rsquo;m only glad it should
be a good one. They say his mother&rsquo;s serious, and that; but why
shouldn&rsquo;t she bet?&rdquo; continues honest Crackthorpe, puffing his cigar
with great energy. &ldquo;They say the old dowager doesn&rsquo;t believe in God
nor devil: but that she&rsquo;s in such a funk to be left in the dark that she
howls, and raises the doose&rsquo;s own delight if her candle goes out.
Toppleton slept next room to her at Groningham, and heard her; didn&rsquo;t
you, Top?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Heard her howling like an old cat on the tiles,&rdquo; says
Toppleton,&mdash;&ldquo;thought she was at first. My man told me that she used
to fling all sorts of things&mdash;boot-jacks and things, give you my
honour&mdash;at her maid, and that the woman was all over black and
blue.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Capital head that is Newcome has done of Jack Belsize!&rdquo; says
Crackthorpe, from out of his cigar.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And Kew&rsquo;s too&mdash;famous likeness! I say, Newcome, if you have
&rsquo;em printed the whole brigade&rsquo;ll subscribe. Make your fortune, see
if you won&rsquo;t,&rdquo; cries Toppleton.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s such a heavy swell, he don&rsquo;t want to make his
fortune,&rdquo; ejaculates Butts.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Butts, old boy, he&rsquo;ll paint you for nothing, and send you to the
Exhibition, where some widow will fall in love with you, and you shall be put
as frontispiece for the &lsquo;Book of Beauty,&rsquo; by Jove,&rdquo; cries
another military satirist&mdash;to whom Butts:
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You hold your tongue, you old Saracen&rsquo;s Head; they&rsquo;re going
to have you done on the bear&rsquo;s-grease pots. I say, I suppose Jack&rsquo;s
all right now. When did he write to you last, Cracky?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He wrote from Palermo&mdash;a most jolly letter from him and Kew. He
hasn&rsquo;t touched a card for nine months; is going to give up play. So is
Frank, too, grown quite a good boy. So will you, too, Butts, you old miscreant,
repent of your sins, pay your debts, and do something handsome for that poor
deluded milliner in Albany Street. Jack says Kew&rsquo;s mother has written
over to Lord Highgate a beautiful letter&mdash;and the old boy&rsquo;s
relenting, and they&rsquo;ll come together again&mdash;Jack&rsquo;s eldest son
now, you know. Bore for Lady Susan only having girls.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not a bore for Jack, though,&rdquo; cries another. And what a good
fellow Jack was; and what a trump Kew is; how famously he stuck by him: went to
see him in prison and paid him out! and what good fellows we all are, in
general, became the subject of the conversation, the latter part of which took
place in the smoking-room of the Regent&rsquo;s Park Barracks, then occupied by
that regiment of Life Guards of which Lord Kew and Mr. Belsize had been
members. Both were still fondly remembered by their companions; and it was
because Belsize had spoken very warmly of Clive&rsquo;s friendliness to him
that Jack&rsquo;s friend the gallant Crackthorpe had been interested in our
hero, and found an opportunity of making his acquaintance.
</p>

<p>
With these frank and pleasant young men Clive soon formed a considerable
intimacy: and if any of his older and peaceful friends chanced to take their
afternoon airing in the Park, and survey the horsemen there, we might have the
pleasure of beholding Mr. Newcome in Rotten Row, riding side by side with other
dandies who had mustachios blonde or jet, who wore flowers in their buttons
(themselves being flowers of spring), who rode magnificent thoroughbred horses,
scarcely touching their stirrups with the tips of their varnished boots, and
who kissed the most beautiful primrose-coloured kid gloves to lovely ladies
passing them in the Ride. Clive drew portraits of half the officers of the Life
Guards Green; and was appointed painter in ordinary to that distinguished
corps. His likeness of the Colonel would make you die with laughing: his
picture of the Surgeon was voted a masterpiece. He drew the men in the saddle,
in the stable, in their flannel dresses, sweeping their flashing swords about,
receiving lancers, repelling infantry,&mdash;nay, cutting&mdash;a sheep in two,
as some of the warriors are known to be able to do at one stroke. Detachments
of Life Guardsmen made their appearance in Charlotte Street, which was not very
distant from their barracks; the most splendid cabs were seen prancing before
his door; and curly-whiskered youths, of aristocratic appearance, smoking
cigars out of his painting-room window. How many times did Clive&rsquo;s
next-door neighbour, little Mr Finch, the miniature-painter, run to peep
through his parlour blinds, hoping that a sitter was coming, and &ldquo;a
carriage-party&rdquo; driving up! What wrath Mr. Scowler, A.R.A., was in,
because a young hop-o&rsquo;-my-thumb dandy, who wore gold chains and his
collars turned down, should spoil the trade and draw portraits for nothing! Why
did none of the young men come to Scowler? Scowler was obliged to own that Mr.
Newcome had considerable talent, and a good knack at catching a likeness. He
could not paint a bit, to be sure, but his heads in black-and-white were really
tolerable; his sketches of horses very vigorous and lifelike. Mr. Gandish said
if Clive would come for three or four years into his academy he could make
something of him. Mr. Smee shook his head, and said he was afraid, that kind of
loose, desultory study, that keeping of aristocratic company, was anything but
favourable to a young artist&mdash;Smee, who would walk five miles to attend an
evening party of ever so little a great man!
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0044" id="link2HCH0044"></a>
CHAPTER XLIV.<br/>
In which Mr. Charles Honeyman appears in an Amiable Light</h2>

<p>
Mr. Frederick Bayham waited at Fitzroy Square while Clive was yet talking with
his friends there, and favoured that gentleman with his company home to the
usual smoky refreshment. Clive always rejoiced in F. B.&rsquo;s society,
whether he was in a sportive mood, or, as now, in a solemn and didactic vein.
F. B. had been more than ordinarily majestic all the evening. &ldquo;I dare say
you find me a good deal altered, Clive,&rdquo; he remarked; &ldquo;I am a good
deal altered. Since that good Samaritan, your kind father, had compassion on a
poor fellow fallen among thieves (though I don&rsquo;t say, mind you, he was
much better than his company), F. B. has mended some of his ways. I am trying a
course of industry, sir. Powers, perhaps naturally great, have been neglected
over the wine-cup and the die. I am beginning to feel my way; and my chiefs
yonder, who have just walked home with their cigars in their mouths, and
without as much as saying, F. B., my boy, shall we go to the Haunt and have a
cool lobster and a glass of table-beer,&mdash;which they certainly do not
consider themselves to be,&mdash;I say, sir, the Politician and the Literary
Critic&rdquo; (there was a most sarcastic emphasis laid on these phrases,
characterising Messrs. Warrington and Pendennis) &ldquo;may find that there is
a humble contributor to the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, whose name, may be, the
amateur shall one day reckon even higher than their own. Mr. Warrington I do
not say so much&mdash;he is an able man, sir, an able man;&mdash;but there is
that about your exceedin self-satisfied friend, Mr. Arthur Pendennis,
which&mdash;well, well&mdash;let time show. You did not&mdash;get
the&mdash;hem&mdash;paper at Rome and Naples, I suppose?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Forbidden by the Inquisition,&rdquo; says Clive, delighted; &ldquo;and
at Naples the king furious against it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I <i>don&rsquo;t wonder</i> they don&rsquo;t like it at Rome, sir.
There&rsquo;s serious matter in it which may set the prelates of a certain
Church rather in a tremor. You haven&rsquo;t
read&mdash;the&mdash;ahem&mdash;the Pulpit Pencillings in the <i>P. M. G.?</i>
Slight sketches, mental and corporeal, of our chief divines now in
London&mdash;and signed Latimer?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t do much in that way,&rdquo; said Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;So much the worse for you, my young friend. Not that I mean to judge any
other fellow harshly&mdash;I mean any other fellow sinner harshly&mdash;or that
I mean that those Pulpit Pencillings would be likely to do you any great good.
But, such as they are, they have been productive of benefit.&mdash;Thank you,
Mary, and my dear, the tap is uncommonly good, and I drink to your future
husband&rsquo;s good health.&mdash;A glass of good sound beer refreshes after
all that claret. Well, sir, to return to the Pencillings, pardon my vanity in
saying, that though Mr. Pendennis laughs at them, they have been of essential
service to the paper. They give it a character, they rally round it the
respectable classes. They create correspondence. I have received many
interesting letters, chiefly from females, about the Pencillings. Some complain
that their favourite preachers are slighted; others applaud because the
clergymen they sit under are supported by F. B. <i>I</i> am Laud Latimer,
sir,&mdash;though I have heard the letters attributed to the Rev. Mr. Bunker,
and to a Member of Parliament eminent in the religious world.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;So you are the famous Laud Latimer?&rdquo; cries Clive, who had, in
fact, seen letters signed by those right reverend names in our paper.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Famous is hardly the word. One who scoffs at everything&mdash;I need not
say I allude to Mr. Arthur Pendennis&mdash;would have had the letters
signed&mdash;the Beadle, of the Parish. He calls me the Venerable Beadle
sometimes&mdash;it being, I grieve to say, his way to deride grave subjects.
You wouldn&rsquo;t suppose now, my young Clive, that the same hand which pens
the Art criticisms, occasionally, when His Highness Pendennis is lazy, takes a
minor theatre, or turns the sportive epigram, or the ephemeral paragraph,
should adopt a grave theme on a Sunday, and chronicle the sermons of British
divines? For eighteen consecutive Sunday evenings, Clive, in Mrs.
Ridley&rsquo;s front parlour, which I now occupy, vice Miss Cann promoted, I
have written the Pencillings&mdash;scarcely allowing a drop of refreshment,
except under extreme exhaustion, to pass my lips. Pendennis laughs at the
Pencillings. He wants to stop them; and says they bore the public.&mdash;I
don&rsquo;t want to <i>think</i> a man is jealous, who was himself the cause of
my engagement at the <i>P. M. G.</i>,&mdash;perhaps my powers were not
developed then.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pen thinks he writes better now than when he began,&rdquo; remarked
Clive; &ldquo;I have heard him say so.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;His opinion of his own writings is high, whatever their date. Mine, sir,
are only just coming into notice. They begin to know F. B., sir, in the sacred
edifices of his metropolitan city. I saw the Bishop of London looking at me
last Sunday week, and am sure his chaplain whispered him, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s Mr.
Bayham, my lord, nephew of your lordship&rsquo;s right reverend brother, the
Lord Bishop of Bullocksmithy.&rsquo; And last Sunday being at church&mdash;at
Saint Mungo the Martyr&rsquo;s, Rev. Sawders&mdash;by Wednesday I got in a
female hand&mdash;Mrs. Sawders&rsquo;s, no doubt&mdash;the biography of the
Incumbent of St. Mungo; an account of his early virtues; a copy of his poems;
and a hint that he was the gentleman destined for the vacant Deanery.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ridley is not the only man I have helped in this world,&rdquo; F. B.
continued. &ldquo;Perhaps I should blush to own it&mdash;I <i>do</i> blush: but
I feel the ties of early acquaintance, and I own that I have puffed your uncle,
Charles Honeyman, most tremendously. It was partly for the sake of the Ridleys
and the tick he owes &rsquo;em: partly for old times&rsquo; sake. Sir, are you
aware that things are greatly changed with Charles Honeyman, and that the poor
F. B. has very likely made his fortune?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am delighted to hear it,&rdquo; cried Clive; &ldquo;and how, F. B.,
have you wrought this miracle?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By common sense and enterprise, lad&mdash;by a knowledge of the world
and a benevolent disposition. You&rsquo;ll see Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel
bears a very different aspect now. That miscreant Sherrick owns that he owes me
a turn, and has sent me a few dozen of wine&mdash;without any stamped paper on
my part in return&mdash;as an acknowledgment of my service. It chanced, sir,
soon after your departure for Italy, that going to his private residence
respecting a little bill to which a heedless friend had put his hand, Sherrick
invited me to partake of tea in the bosom of his family. I was
thirsty&mdash;having walked in from Jack Straw&rsquo;s Castle at Hampstead,
where poor Kitely and I had been taking a chop&mdash;and accepted the proffered
entertainment. The ladies of the family gave us music after the domestic
muffin&mdash;and then, sir, a great idea occurred to me. You know how
magnificently Miss Sherrick and the mother sing? Thy sang Mozart, sir. Why, I
asked of Sherrick, should those ladies who sing Mozart to a piano, not sing
Handel to an organ?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Dash it, you don&rsquo;t mean a hurdy-gurdy?&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Sherrick,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;you are no better than a heathen
ignoramus. I mean why shouldn&rsquo;t they sing Handes Church Music, and Church
Music in general in Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel? Behind the screen up in the
organ-loft what&rsquo;s to prevent &rsquo;em? By Jingo! Your singing-boys have
gone to the Cave of Harmody; you and your choir have split&mdash;why should not
these ladies lead it?&rsquo; He caught at the idea. You never heard the chants
more finely given&mdash;and they would be better still if the congregation
would but hold their confounded tongues. It was an excellent though a harmless
dodge, sir: and drew immensely, to speak profanely. They dress the part, sir,
to admiration&mdash;a sort of nunlike costume they come in: Mrs. Sherrick has
the soul of an artist still&mdash;by Jove, sir, when they have once smelt the
lamps, the love of the trade never leaves &rsquo;em. The ladies actually
practised by moonlight in the Chapel, and came over to Honeyman&rsquo;s to an
oyster afterwards. The thing took, sir. People began to take box-seats, I mean,
again:&mdash;and Charles Honeyman, easy in his mind through your noble
father&rsquo;s generosity, perhaps inspirited by returning good fortune, has
been preaching more eloquently than ever. He took some lessons of Husler, of
the Haymarket, sir. His sermons are old, I believe; but so to speak, he has got
them up with new scenery, dresses, and effects, sir. They have flowers, sir,
about the buildin&rsquo;&mdash;pious ladies are supposed to provide &rsquo;em,
but, <i>entre nous</i>, Sherrick contracts for them with Nathan, or some one in
Covent Garden. And&mdash;don&rsquo;t tell this now, upon your honour!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Tell what, F. B.?&rdquo; asks Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I got up a persecution against your uncle for Popish practices summoned
a meetin&rsquo; at the Running Footman, in Bolingbroke Street. Billings the
butterman; Sharwood, the turner and blacking-maker; and the Honourable Phelin
O&rsquo;Curragh, Lord Scullabogue&rsquo;s son, made speeches. Two or three
respectable families (your aunt, Mrs. What-d&rsquo;-you-call-&rsquo;em Newcome,
amongst the number) quitted the Chapel in disgust&mdash;I wrote an article of
controversial biography in the <i>P. M. G.;</i> set the business going in the
daily press; and the thing was done, sir. That property is a paying one to the
Incumbent, and to Sherrick over him. Charles&rsquo;s affairs are getting all
right, sir. He never had the pluck to owe much, and if it be a sin to have
wiped his slate clean, satisfied his creditors, and made Charles
easy&mdash;upon my conscience, I must confess that F. B. has done it. I hope I
may never do anything worse in this life, Clive. It ain&rsquo;t bad to see him
doing the martyr, sir: Sebastian riddled with paper pellets; Bartholomew on a
cold gridiron. Here comes the lobster. Upon my word, Mary, a finer fish
I&rsquo;ve seldom seen.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Now surely this account of his uncle&rsquo;s affairs and prosperity was enough
to send Clive to Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel, and it was not because Miss
Ethel had said that she and Lady Kew went there that Clive was induced to go
there too? He attended punctually on the next Sunday, and in the
incumbent&rsquo;s pew, whither the pew-woman conducted him, sate Mr. Sherrick
in great gravity, with large gold pins, who handed him, at the anthem, a large,
new, gilt hymn-book.
</p>

<p>
An odour of millefleurs rustled by them as Charles Honeyman accompanied by his
ecclesiastical valet, passed the pew from the vestry, and took his place at the
desk. Formerly he used to wear a flaunting scarf over his surplice, which was
very wide and full; and Clive remembered when as a boy he entered the sacred
robing-room, how his uncle used to pat and puff out the scarf and the sleeves
of his vestment, and to arrange the natty curl on his forehead and take his
place, a fine example of florid church decoration. Now the scarf was trimmed
down to be as narrow as your neckcloth, and hung loose and straight over the
back; the ephod was cut straight and as close and short as might be,&mdash;I
believe there was a little trimming of lace to the narrow sleeves, and a slight
arabesque of tape, or other substance, round the edge of the surplice. As for
the curl on the forehead, it was no more visible than the Maypole in the
Strand, or the Cross at Charing. Honeyman&rsquo;s hair was parted down the
middle, short in front, and curling delicately round his ears and the back of
his head. He read the service in a swift manner, and with a gentle twang. When
the music began, he stood with head on one side, and two slim fingers on the
book, as composed as a statue in a mediæval niche. It was fine to hear
Sherrick, who had an uncommonly good voice, join in the musical parts of the
service. The produce of the market-gardener decorated the church here and
there; and the impresario of the establishment, having picked up a Flemish
painted window from old Moss in Wardour Street, had placed it in his chapel.
Labels of faint green and gold, with long Gothic letters painted thereon,
meandered over the organ-loft and galleries, and strove to give as mediæval a
look to Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s as the place was capable of assuming.
</p>

<p>
In the sermon Charles dropped the twang with the surplice, and the priest gave
way to the preacher. He preached short stirring discourses on the subjects of
the day. It happened that a noble young prince, the hope of a nation, and heir
of a royal house, had just then died by a sudden accident. Absalom, the son of
David, furnished Honeyman with a parallel. He drew a picture of the two deaths,
of the grief of kings, of the fate that is superior to them. It was, indeed, a
stirring discourse, and caused thrills through the crowd to whom Charles
imparted it. &ldquo;Famous, ain&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; says Sherrick, giving Clive
a hand when the rite was over. &ldquo;How he&rsquo;s come out, hasn&rsquo;t he?
Didn&rsquo;t think he had it in him.&rdquo; Sherrick seemed to have become of
late impressed with the splendour of Charles&rsquo;s talents, and spoke of
him&mdash;was it not disrespectful?&mdash;as a manager would of a successful
tragedian. Let us pardon Sherrick: he had been in the theatrical way.
&ldquo;That Irishman was no go at all,&rdquo; he whispered to Mr. Newcome,
&ldquo;got rid of him,&mdash;let&rsquo;s see, at Michaelmas.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
On account of Clive&rsquo;s tender years, and natural levity, a little
inattention may be allowed to the youth, who certainly looked about him very
eagerly during the service. The house was filled by the ornamental classes, the
bonnets of the newest Parisian fashion. Away in a darkling corner, under the
organ, sate a squad of footmen. Surely that powdered one in livery wore Lady
Kew&rsquo;s colours? So Clive looked under all the bonnets, and presently spied
old Lady Kew&rsquo;s face, as grim and yellow as her brass knocker, and by it
Ethel&rsquo;s beauteous countenance. He dashed out of church when the
congregation rose to depart. &ldquo;Stop and see Honeyman, won&rsquo;t
you?&rdquo; asked Sherrick, surprised.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, yes; come back again,&rdquo; said Clive, and was gone.
</p>

<p>
He kept his word, and returned presently. The young Marquis and an elderly lady
were in Lady Kew&rsquo;s company. Clive had passed close under Lady Kew&rsquo;s
venerable Roman nose without causing that organ to bow in ever so slight a
degree towards the ground. Ethel had recognised him with a smile and a nod. My
lord was whispering one of his noble pleasantries in her ear. She laughed at
the speech or the speaker. The steps of a fine belozenged carriage were let
down with a bang. The Yellow One had jumped up behind it, by the side of his
brother Giant Canary. Lady Kew&rsquo;s equipage had disappeared, and Mrs.
Canterton&rsquo;s was stopping the way.
</p>

<p>
Clive returned to the chapel by the little door near to the Vestiarium. All the
congregation had poured out by this time. Only two ladies were standing near
the pulpit; and Sherrick, with his hands rattling his money in his pockets, was
pacing up and down the aisle.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Capital house, Mr. Newcome, wasn&rsquo;t it? I counted no less than
fourteen nobs. The Princess of Moncontour and her husband, I suppose, that chap
with the beard, who yawns so during the sermon. I&rsquo;m blessed, if I
didn&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;d have yawned his head off. Countess of Kew, and
her daughter; Countess of Canterton, and the Honourable Miss Fetlock&mdash;no,
Lady Fetlock. A Countess&rsquo;s daughter is a lady, I&rsquo;m dashed if she
ain&rsquo;t. Lady Glenlivat and her sons; the most noble the Marquis of
Farintosh, and Lord Enry Roy; that makes seven&mdash;no, nine&mdash;with the
Prince and Princess.&mdash;Julia, my dear, you came out like a good un to-day.
Never heard you in finer voice. Remember Mr. Clive Newcome?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Clive made bows to the ladies, who acknowledged him by graceful curtsies.
Miss Sherrick was always looking to the vestry-door.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How&rsquo;s the old Colonel? The best feller&mdash;excuse my calling him
a feller&mdash;but he is, and a good one too. I went to see Mr. Binnie, my
other tenant. He looks a little yellow about the gills, Mr. Binnie. Very proud
woman that is who lives with him&mdash;uncommon haughty. When will you come
down and take your mutton in the Regent&rsquo;s Park, Mr. Clive? There&rsquo;s
some tolerable good wine down there. Our reverend gent drops in and takes a
glass, don&rsquo;t he, missis?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We shall be most &rsquo;appy to see Mr. Newcome, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo;
says the handsome and good-natured Mrs. Sherrick. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t we,
Julia?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, certainly,&rdquo; says Julia, who seems rather absent. And behold,
at this moment the reverend gent enters from the vestry. Both the ladies run
towards him, holding forth their hands.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, Mr. Honeyman! What a sermon! Me and Julia cried so up in the
organ-loft; we thought you would have heard us. Didn&rsquo;t we, Julia?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; says Julia, whose hand the pastor is now pressing.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When you described the young man, I thought of my poor boy, didn&rsquo;t
I, Julia?&rdquo; cries the mother, with tears streaming down her face.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We had a loss more than ten years ago,&rdquo; whispers Sherrick to Clive
gravely. &ldquo;And she&rsquo;s always thinking of it. Women are so.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive was touched and pleased by this exhibition of kind feeling.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You know his mother was an Absalom,&rdquo; the good wife continues,
pointing to her husband. &ldquo;Most respectable diamond merchants
in&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hold your tongue, Betsy, and leave my poor old mother alone; do
now,&rdquo; says Mr. Sherrick darkly. Clive is in his uncle&rsquo;s fond
embrace by this time, who rebukes him for not having called in Walpole Street.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Now, when will you two gents come up to my shop to &rsquo;ave a family
dinner?&rdquo; asks Sherrick.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ah, Mr. Newcome, do come,&rdquo; says Julia in her deep rich voice,
looking up to him with her great black eyes. And if Clive had been a vain
fellow like some folks, who knows but he might have thought he had made an
impression on the handsome Julia?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Thursday, now make it Thursday, if Mr. H. is disengaged. Come along,
girls, for the flies bites the ponies when they&rsquo;re a-standing still and
makes &rsquo;em mad this weather. Anything you like for dinner? Cut of salmon
and cucumber? No, pickled salmon&rsquo;s best this weather.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Whatever you give me, you know I&rsquo;m thankful!&rdquo; says Honeyman,
in a sweet sad voice, to the two ladies, who were standing looking at him, the
mother&rsquo;s hand clasped in the daughter&rsquo;s.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Should you like that Mendelssohn for the Sunday after next? Julia sings
it splendid!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t, ma.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You do, dear! She&rsquo;s a good, good <i>dear</i>, Mr. H., that&rsquo;s
what she is.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You must not call&mdash;a&mdash;him, in that way. <i>Don&rsquo;t</i> say
Mr. H., ma,&rdquo; says Julia.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Call me what you please!&rdquo; says Charles, with the most
heart-rending simplicity; and Mrs. Sherrick straightway kisses her daughter.
Sherrick meanwhile has been pointing out the improvement of the chapel to Clive
(which now has indeed a look of the Gothic Hall at Rosherville), and has
confided to him the sum for which he screwed the painted window out of old
Moss. &ldquo;When he come to see it up in this place, sir, the old man was mad,
I give you my word! His son ain&rsquo;t no good: says he knows you. He&rsquo;s
such a screw, that chap, that he&rsquo;ll overreach himself, mark my words. At
least, he&rsquo;ll never die rich. Did you ever hear of <i>me</i> screwing? No,
I spend my money like a man. How those girls are a-goin&rsquo; on about their
music with Honeyman! I don&rsquo;t let &rsquo;em sing in the evening, or him do
duty more than once a day; and you can calc&rsquo;late how the music draws,
because in the evenin&rsquo; there ain&rsquo;t half the number of people here.
Rev. Mr. Journyman does the duty now&mdash;quiet Hogford man&mdash;ill, I
suppose, this morning. H. sits in his pew, where we was; and coughs;
that&rsquo;s to say, I told him to cough. The women like a consumptive parson,
sir. Come, gals!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive went to his uncle&rsquo;s lodgings, and was received by Mr. and Mrs.
Ridley with great glee and kindness. Both of those good people had made it a
point to pay their duty to Mr. Clive immediately on his return to England, and
thank him over and over again for his kindness to John James. Never, never
would they forget his goodness, and the Colonel&rsquo;s, they were sure. A
cake, a heap of biscuits, a pyramid of jams, six frizzling mutton-chops, and
four kinds of hot wine, came bustling up to Mr. Honeyman&rsquo;s room twenty
minutes after Clive had entered it,&mdash;as a token of the Ridleys&rsquo;
affection for him.
</p>

<p>
Clive remarked, with a smile, the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> upon a side-table,
and in the chimney-glass almost as many cards as in the time of
Honeyman&rsquo;s early prosperity. That he and his uncle should be very
intimate together, was impossible, from the nature of the two men; Clive being
frank, clear-sighted, and imperious; Charles, timid, vain, and double-faced,
conscious that he was a humbug, and that most people found him out, so that he
would quiver and turn away, and be more afraid of young Clive and his direct
straightforward way, than of many older men. Then there was the sense of the
money transactions between him and the Colonel, which made Charles Honeyman
doubly uneasy. In fine, they did not like each other; but, as he is a
connection of the most respectable Newcome family, surely he is entitled to a
page or two in these their memoirs.
</p>

<p>
Thursday came, and with it Mr. Sherrick&rsquo;s entertainment, to which also
Mr. Binnie and his party had been invited to meet Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s son.
Uncle James and Rosey brought Clive in their carriage; Mrs. Mackenzie sent a
headache as an apology. She chose to treat Uncle James&rsquo;s landlord with a
great deal of hauteur, and to be angry with her brother for visiting such a
person. &ldquo;In fact, you see how fond I must be of dear little Rosey, Clive,
that I put up with all mamma&rsquo;s tantrums for her sake,&rdquo; remarks Mr.
Binnie.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, uncle!&rdquo; says little Rosey, and the old gentleman stopped her
remonstrances with a kiss.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;your mother <i>does</i> have tantrums, miss;
and though you never complain, there&rsquo;s no reason why I shouldn&rsquo;t.
You will not tell on me&rdquo; (it was &ldquo;Oh, uncle!&rdquo; again);
&ldquo;and Clive won&rsquo;t, I am sure.&mdash;This little thing, sir,&rdquo;
James went on, holding Rosey&rsquo;s pretty little hand and looking fondly in
her pretty little face, &ldquo;is her old uncle&rsquo;s only comfort in life. I
wish I had had her out to India to me, and never come back to this great dreary
town of yours. But I was tempted home by Tom Newcome; and I&rsquo;m too old to
go back, sir. Where the stick falls let it lie. Rosey would have been whisked
out of my house, in India, in a month after I had her there. Some young fellow
would have taken her away from me; and now she has promised never to leave her
old Uncle James, hasn&rsquo;t she?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, never, uncle,&rdquo; said Rosey.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>We</i> don&rsquo;t want to fall in love, do we, child? We don&rsquo;t
want to be breaking our hearts like some young folks, and dancing attendance at
balls night after night, and capering about in the Park to see if we can get a
glimpse of the beloved object, eh, Rosey?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Rosey blushed. It was evident that she and Uncle James both knew of
Clive&rsquo;s love affair. In fact, the front seat and back seat of the
carriage both blushed. And as for the secret, why Mrs. Mackenzie and Mrs.
Hobson had talked it a hundred times over.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This little Rosey, sir, has promised to take care of me on this side of
Styx,&rdquo; continued Uncle James; &ldquo;and if she could but be left alone
and to do it without mamma&mdash;there, I won&rsquo;t say a word more against
her&mdash;we should get on none the worse.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Uncle James, I must make a picture of you, for Rosey,&rdquo; said Clive,
good-humouredly. And Rosey said, &ldquo;Oh, thank you, Clive,&rdquo; and held
out that pretty little hand, and looked so sweet and kind and happy, that Clive
could not but be charmed at the sight of so much innocence and candour.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Quasty peecoly Rosiny,&rdquo; says James, in a fine Scotch Italian,
&ldquo;e la piu bella, la piu cara, ragazza ma la mawdry e il
diav&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t, uncle!&rdquo; cried Rosey, again; and Clive laughed at
Uncle James&rsquo;s wonderful outbreak in a foreign tongue.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Eh! I thought ye didn&rsquo;t know a word of the sweet language, Rosey!
It&rsquo;s just the Lenguy Toscawny in Bocky Romawny that I thought to try in
compliment to this young monkey who has seen the world.&rdquo; And by this time
Saint John&rsquo;s Wood was reached, and Mr. Sherrick&rsquo;s handsome villa,
at the door of which the three beheld the Rev. Charles Honeyman stepping out of
a neat brougham.
</p>

<p>
The drawing-room contained several pictures of Mrs. Sherrick when she was in
the theatrical line; Smee&rsquo;s portrait of her, which was never half
handsome enough&mdash;for my Betsy, Sherrick said indignantly; the print of her
in Artaxerxes, with her signature as Elizabeth Folthorpe (not in truth a fine
specimen of calligraphy) the testimonial presented to her on the conclusion of
the triumphal season of 18&mdash;, at Drury Lane, by her ever grateful friend
Adolphus Smacker, Lessee, who, of course, went to law with her next year; and
other Thespian emblems. But Clive remarked, with not a little amusement, that
the drawing-room tables were now covered with a number of those books which he
had seen at Madame de Moncontour&rsquo;s, and many French and German
ecclesiastical gimcracks, such as are familiar to numberless readers of mine.
These were the Lives of St. Botibol of Islington and St. Willibald of
Bareacres, with pictures of those confessors. Then there was the Legend of
Margery Dawe, Virgin and Martyr, with a sweet double frontispiece, representing
(1) the sainted woman selling her feather-bed for the benefit of the poor; and
(2) reclining upon straw, the leanest of invalids. There was Old Daddy
Longlegs, and how he was brought to say his Prayers; a Tale for Children, by a
Lady, with a preface dated St. Chad&rsquo;s Eve, and signed &ldquo;C. H.&rdquo;
The Rev. Charles Honeyman&rsquo;s Sermons, delivered at Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s
Chapel. Poems of Early Days, by Charles Honeyman, A.M. The Life of good Dame
Whittlesea, by do, do. Yes, Charles had come out in the literary line; and
there in a basket was a strip of Berlin work, of the very same Gothic pattern
which Madame de Moncontour was weaving; and which you afterwards saw round the
pulpit of Charles&rsquo;s chapel. Rosey was welcomed most kindly by the kind
ladies; and as the gentlemen sat over their wine after dinner in the summer
evening, Clive beheld Rosey and Julia pacing up and down the lawn, Miss
Julia&rsquo;s arm around her little friend&rsquo;s waist: he thought they would
make a pretty little picture.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My girl ain&rsquo;t a bad one to look at, is she?&rdquo; said the
pleased father. &ldquo;A fellow might look far enough, and see not prettier
than them two.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Charles sighed out that there was a German print, the &ldquo;Two
Leonoras,&rdquo; which put him in mind of their various styles of beauty.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish I could paint them,&rdquo; said Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And why not, sir?&rdquo; asks his host. &ldquo;Let me give you your
first commission now, Mr Clive; I wouldn&rsquo;t mind paying a good bit for a
picture of my Julia. I forget how much old Smee got for Betsy&rsquo;s, the old
humbug!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive said it was not the will, but the power that was deficient. He succeeded
with men, but the ladies were too much for him as yet.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Those you&rsquo;ve done up at Albany Street Barracks are famous:
I&rsquo;ve seen &rsquo;em,&rdquo; said Mr. Sherrick; and remarking that his
guest looked rather surprised at the idea of his being in such company,
Sherrick said, &ldquo;What, you think they are too great swells for me? Law
bless you, I often go there. I&rsquo;ve business with several of &rsquo;em; had
with Captain Belsize, with the Earl of Kew, who&rsquo;s every inch the
gentleman&mdash;one of nature&rsquo;s aristocracy, and paid up like a man. The
Earl and me has had many dealings together:&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Honeyman smiled faintly, and nobody complying with Mr. Sherrick&rsquo;s
boisterous entreaties to drink more, the gentlemen quitted the dinner-table,
which had been served in a style of prodigious splendour, and went to the
drawing-room for a little music.
</p>

<p>
This was all of the gravest and best kind; so grave indeed, that James Binnie
might be heard in a corner giving an accompaniment of little snores to the
singers and the piano. But Rosey was delighted with the performance, and
Sherrick remarked to Clive, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good gal, that is; I like
that gal; she ain&rsquo;t jealous of Julia cutting her out in the music, but
listens as pleased as any one. She&rsquo;s a sweet little pipe of her own, too.
Miss Mackenzie, if ever you like to go to the opera, send a word either to my
West End or my City office. I&rsquo;ve boxes every week, and you&rsquo;re
welcome to anything I can give you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So all agreed that the evening had been a very pleasant one; and they of
Fitzroy Square returned home talking in a most comfortable friendly
way&mdash;that is, two of them, for Uncle James fell asleep again, taking
possession of the back seat; and Clive and Rosey prattled together. He had
offered to try and take all the young ladies&rsquo; likenesses. &ldquo;You know
what a failure the last was, Rosey?&rdquo;&mdash;he had very nearly said
&ldquo;dear Rosey.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, but Miss Sherrick is so handsome, that you will succeed better with
her than with my round face, Mr. Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mr. <i>What?</i>&rdquo; cries Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, Clive, then,&rdquo; says Rosey, in a little voice.
</p>

<p>
He sought for a little hand which was not very far away. &ldquo;You know we are
like brother and sister, dear Rosey?&rdquo; he said this time.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said she, and gave a little pressure of the hand. And then
Uncle James woke up; and it seemed as if the whole drive didn&rsquo;t occupy a
minute, and they shook hands very very kindly at the door of Fitzroy Square.
</p>

<p>
Clive made a famous likeness of Miss Sherrick, with which Mr. Sherrick was
delighted, and so was Mr. Honeyman, who happened to call upon his nephew once
or twice when the ladies happened to be sitting. Then Clive proposed to the
Rev. Charles Honeyman to take <i>his</i> head off; and made an excellent
likeness in chalk of his uncle&mdash;that one, in fact, from which the print
was taken which you may see any day at Hogarth&rsquo;s, in the Haymarket, along
with a whole regiment of British divines. Charles became so friendly, that he
was constantly coming to Charlotte Street, once or twice a week.
</p>

<p>
Mr. and Mrs. Sherrick came to look at the drawing, were charmed with it; and
when Rosey was sitting, they came to see her portrait, which again was not
quite so successful. One Monday, the Sherricks and Honeyman too happened to
call to see the picture of Rosey, who trotted over with her uncle to
Clive&rsquo;s studio, and they all had a great laugh at a paragraph in the
<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, evidently from F. B.&rsquo;s hand, to the following
effect:&mdash;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Conversion In High Life.&mdash;A foreign nobleman of princely rank, who
has married an English lady, and has resided among us for some time, is likely,
we hear and trust, to join the English Church. The Prince de M-nc-nt-r has been
a constant attendant at Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel, of which the Rev. C.
Honeyman is the eloquent incumbent; and it is said this sound and talented
divine has been the means of awakening the prince to a sense of the erroneous
doctrines in which he has been bred. His ancestors were Protestant, and fought
by the side of Henry IV. at <i>Ivry</i>. In Louis XIV.&rsquo;s time, they
adopted the religion of that persecuting monarch. We sincerely trust that the
present heir of the house of Ivry will see fit to return to the creed which his
forefathers so unfortunately abjured.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The ladies received this news with perfect gravity; and Charles uttered a meek
wish that it might prove true. As they went away, they offered more
hospitalities to Clive and Mr. Binnie and his niece. They liked the music:
would they not come and hear it again?
</p>

<p>
When they had departed with Mr. Honeyman, Clive could not help saying to Uncle
James, &ldquo;Why are those people always coming here; praising me; and asking
me to dinner? Do you know, I can&rsquo;t help thinking that they rather want me
as a pretender for Miss Sherrick?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Binnie burst into a loud guffaw, and cried out, &ldquo;O vanitas
vanitawtum!&rdquo; Rosa laughed too.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it any joke at all,&rdquo; said Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why, you stupid lad, don&rsquo;t you see it is Charles Honeyman the
girl&rsquo;s in love with?&rdquo; cried Uncle James. &ldquo;Rosey saw it in the
very first instant we entered their drawing-room three weeks ago.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed, and how?&rdquo; asked Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By&mdash;by the way she looked at him,&rdquo; said little Rosey.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0045" id="link2HCH0045"></a>
CHAPTER XLV.<br/>
A Stag of Ten</h2>

<p>
The London season was very nearly come to an end, and Lord Farintosh had danced
I don&rsquo;t know how many times with Miss Newcome, had drunk several bottles
of the old Kew port, had been seen at numerous breakfasts, operas, races, and
public places by the young lady&rsquo;s side, and had not as yet made any such
proposal as Lady Kew expected for her granddaughter. Clive going to see his
military friends in the Regent&rsquo;s Park once, and finish Captain
Butts&rsquo;s portrait in barracks, heard two or three young men talking, and
one say to another, &ldquo;I bet you three to two Farintosh don&rsquo;t marry
her, and I bet you even that he don&rsquo;t ask her.&rdquo; Then as he entered
Mr. Butts&rsquo;s room, where these gentlemen were conversing, there was a
silence and an awkwardness. The young fellows were making an
&ldquo;event&rdquo; out of Ethel&rsquo;s marriage, and sporting their money
freely on it.
</p>

<p>
To have an old countess hunting a young marquis so resolutely that all the
world should be able to look on and speculate whether her game would be run
down by that staunch toothless old pursuer&mdash;that is an amusing sport,
isn&rsquo;t it? and affords plenty of fun and satisfaction to those who follow
the hunt. But for a heroine of a story, be she ever so clever, handsome, and
sarcastic, I don&rsquo;t think for my part, at this present stage of the tale,
Miss Ethel Newcome occupies a very dignified position. To break her heart in
silence for Tomkins who is in love with another; to suffer no end of poverty,
starvation, capture by ruffians, ill-treatment by a bullying husband, loss of
beauty by the small-pox, death even at the end of the volume; all these mishaps
a young heroine must endure (and has endured in romances over and over again),
without losing the least dignity, or suffering any diminution of the
sentimental reader&rsquo;s esteem. But a girl of great beauty, high temper, and
strong natural intellect, who submits to be dragged hither and thither in an
old grandmother&rsquo;s leash, and in pursuit of a husband who will run away
from the couple, such a person, I say, is in a very awkward position as a
heroine; and I declare if I had another ready to my hand (and unless there were
extenuating circumstances) Ethel should be deposed at this very sentence.
</p>

<p>
But a novelist must go on with his heroine, as a man with his wife, for better
or worse, and to the end. For how many years have the Spaniards borne with
their gracious queen, not because she was faultless, but because she was there?
So Chambers and grandees cried, God save her. Alabarderos turned out: drums
beat, cannons fired, and people saluted Isabella Segunda, who was no better
than the humblest washerwoman of her subjects. Are we much better than our
neighbours? Do we never yield to our peculiar temptation, our pride, or our
avarice or our vanity, or what not? Ethel is very wrong certainly. But
recollect, she is very young. She is in other people&rsquo;s hands. She has
been bred up and governed by a very worldly family, and taught their
traditions. We would hardly, for instance, the staunchest Protestant in England
would hardly be angry with poor Isabella Segunda for being a Catholic. So if
Ethel worships at a certain image which a great number of good folks in England
bow to, let us not be too angry with her idolatry, and bear with our queen a
little before we make our pronunciamiento.
</p>

<p>
No, Miss Newcome, yours is not a dignified position in life, however you may
argue that hundreds of people in the world are doing like you. O me! what a
confession it is, in the very outset of life and blushing brightness of
youth&rsquo;s morning, to own that the aim with which a young girl sets out,
and the object of her existence, is to marry a rich man; that she was endowed
with beauty so that she might buy wealth, and a title with it; that as sure as
she has a soul to be saved, her business here on earth is to try and get a rich
husband. That is the career for which many a woman is bred and trained. A young
man begins the world with some aspirations at least; he will try to be good and
follow the truth; he will strive to win honours for himself, and never do a
base action; he will pass nights over his books, and forgo ease and pleasure so
that he may achieve a name. Many a poor wretch who is worn-out now and old, and
bankrupt of fame and money too, has commenced life at any rate with noble views
and generous schemes, from which weakness, idleness, passion, or overpowering
hostile fortune have turned him away. But a girl of the world, <i>bon Dieu!</i>
the doctrine with which she begins is that she is to have a wealthy husband:
the article of faith in her catechism is, &ldquo;I believe in elder sons, and a
house in town, and a house in the country!&rdquo; They are mercenary as they
step fresh and blooming into the world out of the nursery. They have been
schooled there to keep their bright eyes to look only on the prince and the
duke, Croesus and Dives. By long cramping and careful process, their little
natural hearts have been squeezed up, like the feet of their fashionable little
sisters in China. As you see a pauper&rsquo;s child, with an awful premature
knowledge of the pawnshop, able to haggle at market with her wretched
halfpence, and battle bargains at hucksters&rsquo; stalls, you shall find a
young beauty, who was a child in the schoolroom a year since, as wise and
knowing as the old practitioners on that exchange; as economical of her smiles,
as dexterous in keeping back or producing her beautiful wares; as skilful in
setting one bidder against another; as keen as the smartest merchant in Vanity
Fair.
</p>

<p>
If the young gentlemen of the Life Guards Green who were talking about Miss
Newcome and her suitors, were silent when Clive appeared amongst them, it was
because they were aware not only of his relationship to the young lady, but his
unhappy condition regarding her. Certain men there are who never tell their
love, but let concealment, like a worm in the bud, feed on their damask cheeks;
others again must be not always thinking, but talking, about the darling
object. So it was not very long before Captain Crackthorpe was taken into
Clive&rsquo;s confidence, and through Crackthorpe very likely the whole mess
became acquainted with his passion. These young fellows, who had been early
introduced into the world, gave Clive small hopes of success, putting to him,
in their downright phraseology, the point of which he was already aware, that
Miss Newcome was intended for his superiors, and that he had best not make his
mind uneasy by sighing for those beautiful grapes which were beyond his reach.
</p>

<p>
But the good-natured Crackthorpe, who had a pity for the young painter&rsquo;s
condition, helped him so far (and gained Clive&rsquo;s warmest thanks for his
good offices), by asking admission for Clive to entertain evening parties of
the <i>beau-monde</i>, where he had the gratification of meeting his charmer.
Ethel was surprised and pleased, and Lady Kew surprised and angry, at meeting
Clive Newcome at these fashionable houses; the girl herself was touched very
likely at his pertinacity in following her. As there was no actual feud between
them, she could not refuse now and again to dance with her cousin; and thus he
picked up such small crumbs of consolation as a youth in his state can get;
lived upon six words vouchsafed to him in a quadrille, or brought home a glance
of the eyes which she had presented to him in a waltz, or the remembrance of a
squeeze of the hand on parting or meeting. How eager he was to get a card to
this party or that! how attentive to the givers of such entertainments! Some
friends of his accused him of being a tuft-hunter and flatterer of the
aristocracy, on account of his politeness to certain people; the truth was, he
wanted to go wherever Miss Ethel was; and the ball was blank to him which she
did not attend.
</p>

<p>
This business occupied not only one season, but two. By the time of the second
season, Mr. Newcome had made so many acquaintances that he needed few more
introductions into society. He was very well known as a good-natured handsome
young man, and a very good waltzer, the only son of an Indian officer of large
wealth, who chose to devote himself to painting, and who was supposed to
entertain an unhappy fondness for his cousin the beautiful Miss Newcome. Kind
folks who heard of this little <i>tendre</i>, and were sufficiently interested
in Mr. Clive, asked him to their houses in consequence. I dare say those people
who were good to him may have been themselves at one time unlucky in their own
love-affairs.
</p>

<p>
When the first season ended without a declaration from my lord, Lady Kew
carried off her young lady to Scotland, where it also so happened that Lord
Farintosh was going to shoot, and people made what surmises they chose upon
this coincidence. Surmises, why not? You who know the world, know very well
that if you see Mrs. So-and-so&rsquo;s name in the list of people at an
entertainment, on looking down the list you will presently be sure to come on
Mr. What-d&rsquo;-you-call-&rsquo;em&rsquo;s. If Lord and Lady of Suchandsuch
Castle, received a distinguished circle (including Lady Dash), for Christmas or
Easter, without reading farther the names of the guests, you may venture on any
wager that Captain Asterisk is one of the company. These coincidences happen
every day; and some people are so anxious to meet other people, and so
irresistible is the magnetic sympathy, I suppose, that they will travel
hundreds of miles in the worst of weather to see their friends, and break your
door open almost, provided the friend is inside it.
</p>

<p>
I am obliged to own the fact, that for many months Lady Kew hunted after Lord
Farintosh. This rheumatic old woman went to Scotland, where, as he was pursuing
the deer, she stalked his lordship: from Scotland she went to Paris, where he
was taking lessons in dancing at the Chaumière; from Paris to an English
country-house, for Christmas, where he was expected, but didn&rsquo;t
come&mdash;not being, his professor said, quite complete in the polka, and so
on. If Ethel were privy to these manœuvres, or anything more than an
unwittingly consenting party, I say we would depose her from her place of
heroine at once. But she was acting under her grandmother&rsquo;s orders, a
most imperious, irresistible, managing old woman, who exacted everybody&rsquo;s
obedience, and managed everybody&rsquo;s business in her family. Lady Anne
Newcome being in attendance on her sick husband, Ethel was consigned to the
Countess of Kew, her grandmother, who hinted that she should leave Ethel her
property when dead, and whilst alive expected the girl should go about with
her. She had and wrote as many letters as a Secretary of State almost. She was
accustomed to set off without taking anybody&rsquo;s advice, or announcing her
departure until within an hour or two of the event. In her train moved Ethel,
against her own will, which would have led her to stay at home with her father,
but at the special wish and order of her parents. Was such a sum as that of
which Lady Kew had the disposal (Hobson Brothers knew the amount of it quite
well) to be left out of the family? Forbid it, all ye powers! Barnes&mdash;who
would have liked the money himself, and said truly that he would live with his
grandmother anywhere she liked if he could get it,&mdash;Barnes joined most
energetically with Sir Brian and Lady Anne in ordering Ethel&rsquo;s obedience
to Lady Kew. You know how difficult it is for one young woman not to acquiesce
when the family council strongly orders. In fine, I hope there was a good
excuse for the queen of this history, and that it was her wicked domineering
old prime minister who led her wrong. Otherwise I say, we would have another
dynasty. Oh, to think of a generous nature, and the world, and nothing but the
world, to occupy it!&mdash;of a brave intellect, and the milliner&rsquo;s
bandboxes, and the scandal of the coteries, and the fiddle-faddle etiquette of
the Court for its sole exercise! of the rush and hurry from entertainment to
entertainment; of the constant smiles and cares of representation; of the
prayerless rest at night, and the awaking to a godless morrow! This was the
course of life to which Fate, and not her own fault altogether, had for awhile
handed over Ethel Newcome. Let those pity her who can feel their own weakness
and misgoing; let those punish her who are without fault themselves.
</p>

<p>
Clive did not offer to follow her to Scotland, he knew quite well that the
encouragement he had had was only of the smallest; that as a relation she
received him frankly and kindly enough; but checked him when he would have
adopted another character. But it chanced that they met in Paris, whither he
went in the Easter of the ensuing year, having worked to some good purpose
through the winter, and despatched as on a former occasion his three or four
pictures, to take their chance at the Exhibition.
</p>

<p>
Of these it is our pleasing duty to be able to corroborate to some extent, Mr.
F. Bayham&rsquo;s favourable report. Fancy sketches and historical pieces our
young man had eschewed; having convinced himself either that he had not an epic
genius, or that to draw portraits of his friends, was a much easier task than
that which he had set himself formerly. Whilst all the world was crowding round
a pair of J. J,.&rsquo;s little pictures, a couple of chalk heads were admitted
into the Exhibition (his great picture of Captain Crackthorpe on horseback, in
full uniform, I must admit was ignominiously rejected), and the friends of the
parties had the pleasure of recognising in the miniature room, No. 1246,
&ldquo;Picture of an Officer,&rdquo;&mdash;viz., Augustus Butts, Esq., of the
Life Guards Green; and &ldquo;Portrait of the Rev. Charles Honeyman,&rdquo; No.
1272. Miss Sherrick the hangers refused; Mr. Binnie, Clive had spoiled, as
usual, in the painting; the heads, however, before-named, were voted to be
faithful likenesses, and executed in a very agreeable and spirited manner. F.
Bayham&rsquo;s criticism on these performances, it need not be said, was
tremendous. &ldquo;Since the days of Michael Angelo you would have thought
there never had been such drawings.&rdquo; In fact, F. B., as some other
critics do, clapped his friends so boisterously on the back, and trumpeted
their merits with such prodigious energy, as to make his friends themselves
sometimes uneasy.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Clive, whose good father was writing home more and more wonderful accounts
of the Bundelcund Bank, in which he had engaged, and who was always pressing
his son to draw for more money, treated himself to comfortable rooms at Paris,
in the very same hotel where the young Marquis of Farintosh occupied lodgings
much more splendid, and where he lived, no doubt, so as to be near the
professor, who was still teaching his lordship the polka. Indeed, it must be
said that Lord Farintosh made great progress under this artist, and that he
danced very much better in his third season than in the first and second years
after he had come upon the town. From the same instructor the Marquis learned
the latest novelties in French conversation, the choicest oaths and phrases
(for which he was famous), so that although his French grammar was naturally
defective, he was enabled to order a dinner at Philippe&rsquo;s, and to bully a
waiter, or curse a hackney-coachman with extreme volubility. A young nobleman
of his rank was received with the distinction which was his due, by the French
sovereign of that period; and at the Tuileries, and the houses of the French
nobility, which he visited, Monsieur le Marquis de Farintosh excited
considerable remark, by the use of some of the phrases which his young
professor had taught to him. People even went so far as to say that the Marquis
was an awkward and dull young man, of the very worst manners.
</p>

<p>
Whereas the young Clive Newcome&mdash;and it comforted the poor fellow&rsquo;s
heart somewhat, and be sure pleased Ethel, who was looking on at his
triumphs&mdash;was voted the most charming young Englishman who had been seen
for a long time in our salons. Madame de Florac, who loved him as a son of her
own, actually went once or twice into the world in order to see his
<i>début</i>. Madame de Moncontour inhabited a part of the Hotel de Florac, and
received society there. The French people did not understand what bad English
she talked, though they comprehended Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s French blunders.
&ldquo;Monsieur Newcome is an artist! What a noble career!&rdquo; cries a great
French lady, the wife of a Marshal to the astonished Miss Newcome. &ldquo;This
young man is the cousin, of the charming mees? You must be proud to possess
such a nephew, madame!&rdquo; says another French lady to the Countess of Kew
(who, you may be sure, is delighted to have such a relative). And the French
lady invites Clive to her receptions expressly in order to make herself
agreeable to the old Comtesse. Before the cousins have been three minutes
together in Madame de Florac&rsquo;s salon, she sees that Clive is in love with
Ethel Newcome. She takes the boy&rsquo;s hand and says, &ldquo;<i>J&rsquo;ai
votre secret, mon ami;</i>&rdquo; and her eyes regard him for a moment as
fondly, as tenderly, as ever they looked at his father. Oh, what tears have
they shed, gentle eyes! Oh, what faith has it kept, tender heart! If love lives
through all life; and survives through all sorrow; and remains steadfast with
us through all changes; and in all darkness of spirit burns brightly; and, if
we die, deplores us for ever, and loves still equally; and exists with the very
last gasp and throb of the faithful bosom&mdash;whence it passes with the pure
soul, beyond death; surely it shall be immortal? Though we who remain are
separated from it, is it not ours in Heaven? If we love still those we lose,
can we altogether lose those we love? Forty years have passed away. Youth and
dearest memories revisit her, and Hope almost wakes up again out of its grave,
as the constant lady holds the young man&rsquo;s hand, and looks at the son of
Thomas Newcome.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0046" id="link2HCH0046"></a>
CHAPTER XLVI.<br/>
The Hotel de Florac</h2>

<p>
Since the death of the Duc d&rsquo;Ivry, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots,
the Comte de Florac, who is now the legitimate owner of the ducal title, does
not choose to bear it, but continues to be known in the world by his old name.
The old Count&rsquo;s world is very small. His doctor, and his director, who
comes daily to play his game of piquet; his daughter&rsquo;s children, who
amuse him by their laughter, and play round his chair in the garden of his
hotel; his faithful wife, and one or two friends as old as himself, form his
society. His son the Abbé is with them but seldom. The austerity of his manners
frightens his old father, who can little comprehend the religionism of the new
school. After going to hear his son preach through Lent at Notre-Dame, where
the Abbé de Florac gathered a great congregation, the old Count came away quite
puzzled at his son&rsquo;s declamations. &ldquo;I do not understand your new
priests,&rdquo; he says; &ldquo;I knew my son had become a Cordélier; I went to
hear him, and found he was a Jacobin. Let me make my salut in quiet, my good
Léonore. My director answers for me, and plays a game at trictrac into the
bargain with me.&rdquo; Our history has but little to do with this venerable
nobleman. He has his chamber looking out into the garden of his hotel; his
faithful old domestic to wait upon him; his House of Peers to attend when he is
well enough, his few acquaintances to help him to pass the evening. The rest of
the hotel he gives up to his son, the Vicomte de Florac, and Madame la
Princesse de Moncontour, his daughter-in-law.
</p>

<p>
When Florac has told his friends of the Club why it is he has assumed a new
title&mdash;as a means of reconciliation (a reconciliation all philosophical,
my friends) with his wife nee Higg of Manchester, who adores titles like all
Anglaises, and has recently made a great succession, everybody allows that the
measure was dictated by prudence, and there is no more laughter at his change
of name. The Princess takes the first floor of the hotel at the price paid for
it by the American General, who has returned to his original pigs at
Cincinnati. Had not Cincinnatus himself pigs on his farm, and was he not a
general and member of Congress too? The honest Princess has a bedchamber,
which, to her terror, she is obliged to open of reception-evenings, when
gentlemen and ladies play cards there. It is fitted up in the style of Louis
XVI. In her bed is an immense looking-glass, surmounted by stucco cupids: it is
an alcove which some powdered Venus, before the Revolution, might have reposed
in. Opposite that looking-glass, between the tall windows, at some forty feet
distance, is another huge mirror, so that when the poor Princess is in bed, in
her prim old curl-papers, she sees a vista of elderly princesses twinkling away
into the dark perspective; and is so frightened that she and Betsy, her
Lancashire maid, pin up the jonquil silk curtains over the bed-mirror after the
first night; though the Princess never can get it out of her head that her
image is still there, behind the jonquil hangings, turning as she turns, waking
as she wakes, etc. The chamber is so vast and lonely that she has a bed made
for Betsy in the room. It is, of course, whisked away into a closet on
reception-evenings. A boudoir, rose-tendre, with more cupids and nymphs by
Boucher, sporting over door-panels&mdash;nymphs who may well shock old Betsy
and her old mistress&mdash;is the Pricess&rsquo;s morning-room. &ldquo;Ah, mum,
what would Mr. Humper at Manchester, Mr. Jowls of Newcome&rdquo; (the minister
whom, in early days, Miss Higg used to sit under) &ldquo;say if they was browt
into this room?&rdquo; But there is no question of Jowls and Mr. Humper,
excellent dissenting divines, who preached to Miss Higg, being brought into the
Princesse de Moncontour&rsquo;s boudoir.
</p>

<p>
That paragraph, respecting a conversion in high life, which F. B. in his
enthusiasm inserted in the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, caused no small excitement
in the Florac family. The Florac family read the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>,
knowing that Clive&rsquo;s friends were engaged in that periodical. When Madame
de Florac, who did not often read newspapers, happened to cast her eye upon
that poetic paragraph of F. B.&rsquo;s, you may fancy, with what a panic it
filled the good and pious lady. Her son become a Protestant! After all the
grief and trouble his wildness had occasioned to her, Paul forsake his
religion! But that her husband was so ill and aged as not to be able to bear
her absence, she would have hastened to London to rescue her son out of that
perdition. She sent for her younger son, who undertook the embassy; and the
Prince and Princesse de Moncontour, in their hotel at London, were one day
surprised by the visit of the Abbé de Florac.
</p>

<p>
As Paul was quite innocent of any intention of abandoning his religion, the
mother&rsquo;s kind heart was very speedily set at rest by her envoy. Far from
Paul&rsquo;s conversion to Protestantism, the Abbé wrote home the most
encouraging accounts of his sister-in-law&rsquo;s precious dispositions. He had
communications with Madame de Moncontour&rsquo;s Anglican director, a man of
not powerful mind, wrote M. l&rsquo;Abbé, though of considerable repute for
eloquence in his Sect. The good dispositions of his sister-in-law were improved
by the French clergyman, who could be most captivating and agreeable when a
work of conversion was in hand. The visit reconciled the family to their
English relative, in whom good-nature and many other good qualities were to be
seen now that there were hopes of reclaiming her. It was agreed that Madame de
Moncontour should come and inhabit the Hôtel de Florac at Paris: perhaps the
Abbé tempted the worthy lady by pictures of the many pleasures and advantages
she would enjoy in that capital. She was presented at her own court by the
French ambassadress of that day: and was received at the Tuileries with a
cordiality which flattered and pleased her.
</p>

<p>
Having been presented herself, Madame la Princesse in turn presented to her
august sovereign Mrs. T. Higg and Miss Higg, of Manchester, Mrs. Samuel Higg,
of Newcome; the husbands of those ladies (the Princess&rsquo;s brothers) also
sporting a court-dress for the first time. Sam Higg&rsquo;s neighbour, the
member for Newcome; Sir Brian Newcome, Bart., was too ill to act as
Higg&rsquo;s sponsor before majesty; but Barnes Newcome was uncommonly civil to
the two Lancashire gentlemen; though their politics were different to his, and
Sam had voted against Sir Brian at his last election. Barnes took them to dine
at a club&mdash;recommended his tailor&mdash;and sent Lady Clara Pulleyn to
call on Mrs. Higg&mdash;who pronounced her to be a pretty young woman and most
haffable. The Countess of Dorking would have been delighted to present these
ladies had the Princess not luckily been in London to do that office. The
Hobson Newcomes were very civil to the Lancashire party, and entertained them
splendidly at dinner. I believe Mrs. and Mr. Hobson themselves went to court
this year, the latter in a deputy-lieutenant&rsquo;s uniform.
</p>

<p>
If Barnes Newcome was so very civil to the Higg family we may suppose he had
good reason. The Higgs were very strong in Newcome, and it was advisable to
conciliate them. They were very rich, and their account would not be
disagreeable at the bank. Madame de Moncontour&rsquo;s&mdash;a large easy
private account&mdash;would be more pleasant still. And, Hobson Brothers having
entered largely into the Anglo-Continental Railway, whereof mention has been
made, it was a bright thought of Barnes to place the Prince of Moncontour, etc.
etc., on the French Direction of the Railway; and to take the princely prodigal
down to Newcome with his new title, and reconcile him to his wife and the Higg
family. Barnes we may say invented the principality: rescued the Vicomte de
Florac out of his dirty lodgings in Leicester Square, and sent the Prince of
Moncontour back to his worthy middle-aged wife again. The disagreeable
dissenting days were over. A brilliant young curate of Doctor Bulders, who also
wore long hair, straight waistcoats, and no shirt-collars, had already
reconciled the Vicomtesse de Florac to the persuasion, whereof the ministers
are clad in that queer uniform. The landlord of their hotel at St.
James&rsquo;s got his wine from Sherrick, and sent his families to Lady
Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel. The Rev. Charles Honeyman&rsquo;s eloquence and
amiability were appreciated by his new disciple&mdash;thus the historian has
traced here step by step how all these people became acquainted.
</p>

<p>
Sam Higg, whose name was very good on &rsquo;Change in Manchester and London,
joined the direction of the Anglo-Continental. A brother had died lately,
leaving his money amongst them, and his wealth had added considerably to Madame
de Florac&rsquo;s means; his sister invested a portion of her capital in the
railway in her husband&rsquo;s name. The shares were at a premium, and gave a
good dividend. The Prince de Moncontour took his place with great gravity at
the Paris board, whither Barnes made frequent flying visits. The sense of
capitalism sobered and dignified Paul de Florac: at the age of five-and-forty
he was actually giving up being a young man, and was not ill pleased at having
to enlarge his waistcoats, and to show a little grey in his moustache. His
errors were forgotten: he was bien vu by the Government. He might have had the
Embassy Extraordinary to Queen Pomaré; but the health of Madame la Princesse
was delicate. He paid his wife visits every morning: appeared at her parties
and her opera box, and was seen constantly with her in public. He gave quiet
little dinners still, at which Clive was present sometimes: and had a private
door and key to his apartments, which were separated by all the dreary length
of the reception-rooms from the mirrored chamber and jonquil couch where the
Princess and Betsy reposed. When some of his London friends visited Paris he
showed us these rooms and introduced us duly to Madame la Princesse. He was as
simple and as much at home in the midst of these splendours, as in the dirty
little lodgings in Leicester Square, where he painted his own boots, and cooked
his herring over the tongs. As for Clive, he was the infant of the house:
Madame la Princesse could not resist his kind face; and Paul was as fond of him
in his way as Paul&rsquo;s mother in hers. Would he live at the Hôtel de
Florac? There was an excellent atélier in the pavilion, with a chamber for his
servant. &ldquo;No! you will be most at ease in apartments of your own. You
will have here but the society of women. I do not rise till late: and my
affairs, my board, call me away for the greater part of the day. Thou wilt but
be annuyé to play trictrac with my old father. My mother waits on him. My
sister au second is given up entirely to her children, who always have the
<i>pituite</i>. Madame la Princesse is not amusing for a young man. Come and go
when thou wilt, Clive, my garçon, my son: thy cover is laid. Wilt thou take the
portraits of all the family? Hast thou want of money? I had at thy age and
almost ever since, <i>mon ami;</i> but now we swim in gold, and when there is a
louis in my purse, there are ten francs for thee.&rdquo; To show his mother
that he did not think of the Reformed Religion, Paul did not miss going to mass
with her on Sunday. Sometimes Madame Paul went too, between whom and her
mother-in-law there could not be any liking, but there was now great civility.
They saw each other once a day: Madame Paul always paid her visit to the Comte
de Florac: and Betsy, her maid, made the old gentleman laugh by her briskness
and talk. She brought back to her mistress the most wonderful stories which the
old man told her about his doings during the emigration&mdash;before he married
Madame la Comtesse&mdash;when he gave lessons in dancing, parbleu! There was
his fiddle still, a trophy of those old times. He chirped, and coughed, and
sang, in his cracked old voice, as he talked about them. &ldquo;Lor! bless you,
mum,&rdquo; says Betsy, &ldquo;he must have been a terrible old man!&rdquo; He
remembered the times well enough, but the stories he sometimes told over twice
or thrice in an hour. I am afraid he had not repented sufficiently of those
wicked old times: else why did he laugh and giggle so when he recalled them? He
would laugh and giggle till he was choked with his old cough: and old S. Jean,
his man, came and beat M. le Comte on the back, and made M. le Comte take a
spoonful of his syrup.
</p>

<p>
Between two such women as Madame de Florac and Lady Kew, of course there could
be little liking or sympathy. Religion, love, duty, the family, were the French
lady&rsquo;s constant occupation,&mdash;duty and the family, perhaps, Lady
Kew&rsquo;s aim too,&mdash;only the notions of duty were different in either
person. Lady Kew&rsquo;s idea of duty to her relatives being to push them on in
the world: Madame de Florac&rsquo;s to soothe, to pray, to attend them with
constant watchfulness, to strive to mend them with pious counsel. I don&rsquo;t
know that one lady was happier than the other. Madame de Florac&rsquo;s eldest
son was a kindly prodigal: her second had given his whole heart to the Church:
her daughter had centred hers on her own children, and was jealous if their
grandmother laid a finger on them. So Léonore de Florac was quite alone. It
seemed as if Heaven had turned away all her children&rsquo;s hearts from her.
Her daily business in life was to nurse a selfish old man, into whose service
she had been forced in early youth, by a paternal decree which she never
questioned; giving him obedience, striving to give him
respect,&mdash;everything but her heart, which had gone out of her keeping.
Many a good woman&rsquo;s life is no more cheerful; a spring of beauty, a
little warmth and sunshine of love, a bitter disappointment, followed by pangs
and frantic tears, then a long monotonous story of submission. &ldquo;Not here,
my daughter, is to be your happiness,&rdquo; says the priest; &ldquo;whom
Heaven loves it afflicts.&rdquo; And he points out to her the agonies of
suffering saints of her sex; assures her of their present beatitudes and
glories; exhorts her to bear her pains with a faith like theirs; and is
empowered to promise her a like reward.
</p>

<p>
The other matron is not less alone. Her husband and son are dead, without a
tear for either,&mdash;to weep was not in Lady Kew&rsquo;s nature. Her
grandson, whom she had loved perhaps more than any human being, is rebellious
and estranged from her; her children, separated from her, save one whose
sickness and bodily infirmity the mother resents as disgraces to herself. Her
darling schemes fail somehow. She moves from town to town, and ball to ball,
and hall to castle, for ever uneasy and always alone. She sees people scared at
her coming; is received by sufferance and fear rather than by welcome; likes
perhaps the terror which she inspires, and to enter over the breach rather than
through the hospitable gate. She will try and command wherever she goes; and
trample over dependants and society, with a grim consciousness that it dislikes
her, a rage at its cowardice, and an unbending will to domineer. To be old,
proud, lonely, and not have a friend in the world&mdash;that is her lot in it.
As the French lady may be said to resemble the bird which the fables say feeds
her young with her blood; this one, if she has a little natural liking for her
brood, goes hunting hither and thither and robs meat for them; And so, I
suppose, to make the simile good, we must compare the Marquis of Farintosh to a
lamb for the nonce, and Miss Ethel Newcome to a young eaglet. Is it not a rare
provision of nature (or fiction of poets, who have their own natural history)
that the strong-winged bird can soar to the sun and gaze at it, and then come
down from heaven and pounce on a piece of carrion?
</p>

<p>
After she became acquainted with certain circumstances, Madame de Florac was
very interested about Ethel Newcome, and strove in her modest way to become
intimate with her. Miss Newcome and Lady Kew attended Madame de
Moncontour&rsquo;s Wednesday evenings. &ldquo;It is as well, my dear, for the
interests of the family that we should be particularly civil to these
people,&rdquo; Lady Kew said; and accordingly she came to the Hôtel de Florac,
and was perfectly insolent to Madame la Princesse every Thursday evening.
Towards Madame de Florac, even Lady Kew could not be rude. She was so gentle as
to give no excuse for assault: Lady Kew vouchsafed you to pronounce that Madame
de Florac was &ldquo;très grande dame;&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;of the sort which is
almost impossible to find nowadays,&rdquo; Lady Kew said, who thought she
possessed this dignity in her own person. When Madame de Florac, blushing,
asked Ethel to come and see her, Ethel&rsquo;s grandmother consented with the
utmost willingness. &ldquo;She is very <i>dévote</i>, I have heard, and will
try and convert you. Of course you will hold your own about that sort of thing;
and have the good sense to keep off theology. There is no Roman Catholic
<i>parti</i> in England or Scotland that is to be thought for a moment. You
will see they will marry young Lord Derwenwater to an Italian princess; but he
is only seventeen, and his directors never lose sight of him. Sir Bartholomew
Bawkes will have a fine property when Lord Campion dies, unless Lord Campion
leaves the money to the convent where his daughter is&mdash;and, of the other
families, who is there? I made every inquiry purposely&mdash;that is, of
course, one is anxious to know about the Catholics as about one&rsquo;s own
people: and little Mr. Rood, who was one of my poor brother Steyne&rsquo;s
lawyers, told me there is not one young man of that party at this moment who
can be called a desirable person. Be very civil to Madame de Florac; she sees
some of the old legitimists, and you know I am <i>brouillée</i> with that party
of late years.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There is the Marquis de Montluc, who has a large fortune for
France,&rdquo; said Ethel, gravely; &ldquo;he has a humpback, but he is very
spiritual. Monsieur de Cadillan paid me some compliments the other night, and
even asked George Barnes what my dot was, He is a widower, and has a wig and
two daughters. Which do you think would be the greatest encumbrance,
grandmamma,&mdash;a humpback, or a wig and two daughters? I like Madame de
Florac; for the sake of the borough, I must try and like poor Madame de
Moncontour, and I will go and see them whenever you please.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So Ethel went to see Madame de Florac. She was very kind to Madame de
Préville&rsquo;s children, Madame de Florac&rsquo;s grandchildren; she was gay
and gracious with Madame de Moncontour. She went again and again to the Hotel
de Florac, not caring for Lady Kew&rsquo;s own circle of statesmen and
diplomatists, Russian, and Spanish, and French, whose talk about the courts of
Europe,&mdash;who was in favour at St. Petersburg, and who was in disgrace at
Schoenbrunn,&mdash;naturally did not amuse the lively young person. The
goodness of Madame de Florac&rsquo;s life, the tranquil grace and melancholy
kindness with which the French lady received her, soothed and pleased Miss
Ethel. She came and reposed in Madame de Florac&rsquo;s quiet chamber, or sate
in the shade in the sober old garden of her hotel; away from all the trouble
and chatter of the salons, the gossip of the embassies, the fluttering
ceremonial of the Parisian ladies&rsquo; visits in their fine toilettes, the
<i>fadaises</i> of the dancing dandies, and the pompous mysteries of the old
statesmen who frequented her grandmother&rsquo;s apartment. The world began for
her at night; when she went in the train of the old Countess from hotel to
hotel, and danced waltz after waltz with Prussian and Neapolitan secretaries,
with princes&rsquo; officers of ordonnance,&mdash;with personages even more
lofty very likely,&mdash;for the court of the Citizen King was then in its
splendour; and there must surely have been a number of nimble young royal
highnesses who would like to dance with such a beauty as Miss Newcome. The
Marquis of Farintosh had a share in these polite amusements. His English
conversation was not brilliant as yet, although his French was eccentric; but
at the court balls, whether he appeared in his uniform of the Scotch Archers,
or in his native Glenlivat tartar there certainly was not in his own or the
public estimation a handsomer young nobleman in Paris that season. It has been
said that he was greatly improved in dancing; and, for a young man of his age,
his whiskers were really extraordinarily large and curly.
</p>

<p>
Miss Newcome, out of consideration for her grandmother&rsquo;s strange
antipathy to him, did not inform Lady Kew that a young gentleman by the name of
Clive occasionally came to visit the Hôtel de Florac. At first, with her French
education, Madame de Florac never would have thought of allowing the cousins to
meet in her house; but with the English it was different. Paul assured her that
in the English châteaux, <i>les Meess</i> walked for entire hours with the
young men, made parties of the fish, mounted to horse with them, the whole with
the permission of the mothers. &ldquo;When I was at Newcome, Miss Ethel rode
with me several times,&rdquo; Paul said; &ldquo;<i>à preuve</i> that we went to
visit an old relation of the family, who adores Clive and his father.&rdquo;
When Madame de Florac questioned her son about the young Marquis to whom it was
said Ethel was engaged, Florac flouted the idea. &ldquo;Engaged! This young
Marquis is engaged to the Théâtre des Variétés, my mother. He laughs at the
notion of an engagement.&rdquo; When one charged him with it of late at the
club; and asked how Mademoiselle Louqsor&mdash;she is so tall, that they call
her the Louqsor&mdash;she is an <i>Odalisque Obélisque</i>, ma mère; when one
asked how the Louqsor would pardon his pursuit of Miss Newcome, my Ecossois
permitted himself to say in full club, that it was Miss Newcome pursued
him,&mdash;that nymph, that Diane, that charming and peerless young creature!
On which, as the others laughed, and his friend Monsieur Walleye applauded, I
dared to say in my turn, &ldquo;Monsieur le Marquis, as a young man, not
familiar with our language, you have said what is not true, milor, and
therefore luckily not mischievous. I have the honour to count of my friends the
parents of the young lady of whom you have spoken. You never could have
intended to say that a young miss who lives under the guardianship of her
parents, and is obedient to them, whom you meet in society all the nights, and
at whose door your carriage is to be seen every day, is capable of that with
which you charge her so gaily. These things say themselves, monsieur, in the
<i>coulisses</i> of the theatre, of women from whom you learn our language; not
of young persons pure and chaste, Monsieur de Farintosh! Learn to respect your
compatriots; to honour youth and innocence everywhere, monsieur! and when you
forget yourself, permit one who might be your father to point where you are
wrong.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And what did he answer?&rdquo; asked the Countess.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I attended myself to a <i>soufflet</i>,&rdquo; replied Florac;
&ldquo;but his reply was much more agreeable. The young insulary, with many
blushes and a <i>gros juron</i>, as his polite way is, said he had not wished
to say a word against that person. &lsquo;Of whom the name,&rsquo; cried I,
&lsquo;ought never to be spoken in these places.&rsquo; Herewith our little
dispute ended.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So, occasionally, Mr. Clive had the good luck to meet with his cousin at the
Hôtel de Florac, where, I dare say, all the inhabitants wished he should have
his desire regarding this young lady. The Colonel had talked early to Madame de
Florac about this wish of his life, impossible then to gratify, because Ethel
was engaged to Lord Kew. Clive, in the fulness of his heart, imparted his
passion to Florac, and in answer to Paul&rsquo;s offer to himself, had shown
the Frenchman that kind letter in which his father bade him carry aid to
&ldquo;Léonore de Florac&rsquo;s son,&rdquo; in case he should need it. The
case was all clear to the lively Paul. &ldquo;Between my mother and your good
Colonel there must have been an affair of the heart in the early days during
the emigration.&rdquo; Clive owned his father had told him as much, at least
that he himself had been attached to Mademoiselle de Blois. &ldquo;It is for
that that her heart yearns towards thee, that I have felt myself
<i>entrained</i> toward thee since I saw thee&rdquo;&mdash;Clive momentarily
expected to be kissed again. &ldquo;Tell thy father that I feel&mdash;am
touched by his goodness with an eternal gratitude, and love every one that
loves my mother.&rdquo; As far as wishes went, these two were eager promoters
of Clive&rsquo;s little love-affair; and Madame la Princesse became equally not
less willing. Clive&rsquo;s good looks and good-nature had had their effects
upon that good-natured woman, and he was as great a favourite with her as with
her husband. And thus it happened that when Miss Ethel came to pay her visit,
and sate with Madame de Florac and her grandchildren in the garden, Mr. Newcome
would sometimes walk up the avenue there, and salute the ladies.
</p>

<p>
If Ethel had not wanted to see him, would she have come? Yes; she used to say
she was going to Madame de Préville&rsquo;s, not Madame de Florac&rsquo;s, and
would insist, I have no doubt, that it was Madame de Préville whom she went to
see (whose husband was a member of the Chamber of Deputies, a Conseiller
d&rsquo;etat; or other French bigwig), and that she had no idea of going to
meet Clive, or that he was more than a casual acquaintance at the Hôtel de
Florac. There was no part of her conduct in all her life, which this lady, when
it was impugned, would defend more strongly than this intimacy at the Hôtel de
Florac. It is not with this I quarrel especially. My fair young readers, who
have seen a half-dozen of seasons, can you call to mind the time when you had
such a friendship for Emma Tomkins, that you were always at the
Tomkins&rsquo;s, and notes were constantly passing between your house and hers?
When her brother, Paget Tomkins, returned to India, did not your intimacy with
Emma fall off? If your younger sister is not in the room, I know you will own
as much to me. I think you are always deceiving yourselves and other people. I
think the motive you put forward is very often not the real one; though you
will confess, neither to yourself, nor to any human being, what the real motive
is. I think that what you desire you pursue, and are as selfish in your way as
your bearded fellow-creatures are. And as for the truth being in you, of all
the women in a great acquaintance, I protest there are but&mdash;never mind. A
perfectly honest woman, a woman who never flatters, who never manages, who
never cajoles, who never conceals, who never uses her eyes, who never
speculates on the effect which she produces, who never is conscious of unspoken
admiration, what a monster, I say, would such a female be! Miss Hopkins, you
have been a coquette since you were a year old; you worked on your papa&rsquo;s
friends in the nurse&rsquo;s arms by the fascination of your lace frock and
pretty new sash and shoes; when you could just toddle, you practised your arts
upon other children in the square, poor little lambkins sporting among the
daisies; and <i>nunc in ovilia, mox in reluctantes dracones</i>, proceeding
from the lambs to reluctant dragoons, you tried your arts upon Captain Paget
Tomkins, who behaved so ill, and went to India without&mdash;without making
those proposals which of course you never expected. Your intimacy was with
Emma. It has cooled. Your sets are different. The Tomkins&rsquo;s are not
<i>quite</i> etc. etc. You believe Captain Tomkins married a Miss
O&rsquo;Grady, etc. etc. Ah, my pretty, my sprightly Miss Hopkins, be gentle in
your judgment of your neighbours!
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0047" id="link2HCH0047"></a>
CHAPTER XLVII.<br/>
Contains two or three Acts of a Little Comedy</h2>

<p>
All this story is told by one, who, if he was not actually present at the
circumstances here narrated, yet had information concerning them, and could
supply such a narrative of facts and conversations as is, indeed, not less
authentic than the details we have of other histories. How can I tell the
feelings in a young lady&rsquo;s mind; the thoughts in a young
gentleman&rsquo;s bosom?&mdash;As Professor Owen or Professor Agassiz takes a
fragment of a bone, and builds an enormous forgotten monster out of it,
wallowing in primeval quagmires, tearing down leaves and branches of plants
that flourished thousands of years ago, and perhaps may be coal by this
time&mdash;so the novelist puts this and that together: from the footprint
finds the foot; from the foot, the brute who trod on it; from the brute, the
plant he browsed on, the marsh in which he swam&mdash;and thus in his humble
way a physiologist too, depicts the habits, size, appearance of the beings
whereof he has to treat;&mdash;traces this slimy reptile through the mud, and
describes his habits filthy and rapacious; prods down this butterfly with a
pin, and depicts his beautiful coat and embroidered waistcoat; points out the
singular structure of yonder more important animal, the megatherium of his
history.
</p>

<p>
Suppose then, in the quaint old garden of the Hôtel de Florac, two young people
are walking up and down in an avenue of lime-trees, which are still permitted
to grow in that ancient place. In the centre of that avenue is a fountain,
surmounted by a Triton so grey and moss-eaten, that though he holds his conch
to his swelling lips, curling his tail in the arid basin, his instrument has
had a sinecure for at least fifty years; and did not think fit even to play
when the Bourbons, in whose time he was erected, came back from their exile. At
the end of the lime-tree avenue is a broken-nosed damp Faun, with a marble
panpipe, who pipes to the spirit ditties which I believe never had any tune.
The <i>perron</i> of the hotel is at the other end of the avenue; a couple of
Cæsars on either side of the door-window, from which the inhabitants of the
hotel issue into the garden&mdash;Caracalla frowning over his mouldy shoulder
at Nerva, on to whose clipped hair the roofs of the grey château have been
dribbling for ever so many long years. There are more statues gracing this
noble place. There is Cupid, who has been at the point of kissing Psyche this
half-century at least, though the delicious event has never come off, through
all those blazing summers and dreary winters: there is Venus and her Boy under
the damp little dome of a cracked old temple. Through the alley of this old
garden, in which their ancestors have disported in hoops and powder, Monsieur
de Florac&rsquo;s chair is wheeled by St. Jean, his attendant; Madame de
Préville&rsquo;s children trot about, and skip, and play at cache-cache. The R.
P. de Florac (when at home) paces up and down and meditates his sermons; Madame
de Florac sadly walks sometimes to look at her roses; and Clive and Ethel
Newcome are marching up and down; the children, and their bonne of course being
there, jumping to and fro; and Madame de Florac, having just been called away
to Monsieur le Comte, whose physician has come to see him.
</p>

<p>
Ethel says, &ldquo;How charming and odd this solitude is: and how pleasant to
hear the voices of the children playing in the neighbouring Convent
garden,&rdquo; of which they can see the new chapel rising over the trees.
</p>

<p>
Clive remarks that &ldquo;the neighbouring hotel has curiously changed its
destination. One of the members of the Directory had it; and, no doubt, in the
groves of its garden, Madame Tallien, and Madame Recamier, and Madame
Beauharnais have danced under the lamps. Then a Marshal of the Empire inhabited
it. Then it was restored to its legitimate owner, Monsieur le Marquis de
Bricquabracque, whose descendants, having a lawsuit about the Bricquabracque
succession, sold the hotel to the Convent.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
After some talk about nuns, Ethel says, &ldquo;There were convents in England.
She often thinks she would like to retire to one;&rdquo; and she sighs as if
her heart were in that scheme.
</p>

<p>
Clive, with a laugh, says, &ldquo;Yes. If you could retire after the season,
when you were very weary of the balls, a convent would be very nice. At Rome he
had seen San Pietro in Montorio and Sant Onofrio, that delightful old place
where Tasso died: people go and make a retreat there. In the ladies&rsquo;
convents, the ladies do the same thing&mdash;and he doubts whether they are
much more or less wicked after their retreat, than gentlemen and ladies in
England or France.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Why do you sneer at all faith? Why should not a retreat do people
good? Do you suppose the world is so satisfactory, that those who are in it
never wish for a while to leave it&rsquo;d (<i>She heaves a sigh and looks down
towards a beautiful new dress of many flounces, which Madame de Flouncival, the
great milliner, has sent her home that very day.</i>)
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. I do not know what the world is, except from afar off. I am like
the Peri who looks into Paradise and sees angels within it. I live in Charlotte
Street, Fitzroy Square: which is not within the gates of Paradise. I take the
gate to be somewhere in Davies Street, leading out of Oxford Street into
Grosvenor Square. There&rsquo;s another gate in Hay Hill: and another in Bruton
Street, Bond&mdash;&mdash;
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Don&rsquo;t be a goose.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. Why not? It is as good to be a goose, as to be a lady&mdash;no, a
gentleman of fashion. Suppose I were a Viscount, an Earl, a Marquis, a Duke,
would you say Goose? No, you would say Swan.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Unkind and unjust!&mdash;ungenerous to make taunts which common
people make: and to repeat to me those silly sarcasms which your low <i>Radical
literary</i> friends are always putting in their books! Have I ever made any
difference to you? Would I not sooner see you than the fine people? Would I
talk with you, or with the young dandies most willingly? Are we not of the same
blood, Clive; and of all the grandees I see about, can there be a grander
gentleman than your dear old father? You need not squeeze my hand
so.&mdash;Those little imps are look&mdash;that has nothing to do with the
question. Viens, Léonore! Tu connois bien, monsieur, n&rsquo;est-ce pas? qui te
fait de si jolis dessins?
</p>

<p>
<i>Léonore</i>. Ah, oui! Vous m&rsquo;en ferez toujours, n&rsquo;est-ce pas
Monsieur Clive? des chevaux, et puis des petites filles avec leurs
gouvernantes, et puis des maisons&mdash;et puis&mdash;et puis des maisons
encore&mdash;où est bonne maman?
</p>

<p class="right">
[<i>Exit little</i> LÉONORE <i>down an alley.</i>
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Do you remember when we were children, and you used to make
drawings for us? I have some now that you did&mdash;in my geography book, which
I used to read and read with Miss Quigley.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. I remember all about our youth, Ethel.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Tell me what you remember?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. I remember one of the days, when I first saw you, I had been
reading the Arabian Nights at school&mdash;and you came in in a bright dress of
shot silk, amber, and blue&mdash;and I thought you were like that
fairy-princess who came out of the crystal box&mdash;because&mdash;&mdash;
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Because why?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. Because I always thought that fairy somehow must be the most
beautiful creature in all the world&mdash;that is &ldquo;why and
because.&rdquo; Do not make me Mayfair curtsies. You know whether you are
good-looking or not: and how long I have thought you so. I remember when I
thought I would like to be Ethel&rsquo;s knight, and that if there was anything
she would have me do, I would try and achieve it in order to please her. I
remember when I was so ignorant I did not know there was any difference in rank
between us.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Ah, Clive!
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. Now it is altered. Now I know the difference between a poor
painter and a young lady of the world. Why haven&rsquo;t I a title and a great
fortune? Why did I ever see you, Ethel; or, knowing the distance which it seems
fate has placed between us, why have I seen you again?
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i> (<i>innocently</i>). Have I ever made any difference between us?
Whenever I may see you, am I not too glad? Don&rsquo;t I see you sometimes when
I should not&mdash;no&mdash;I do not say when I should not; but when others,
whom I am bound to obey, forbid me? What harm is there in my remembering old
days? Why should I be ashamed of our relationship?&mdash;no, not
ashamed&mdash;shy should I forget it? Don&rsquo;t do that, sir; we have shaken
hands twice already. Léonore! Xavier!
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. At one moment you like me: and at the next you seem to repent it.
One day you seem happy when I come; and another day you are ashamed of me. Last
Tuesday, when you came with those fine ladies to the Louvre, you seemed to
blush when you saw me copying at my picture; and that stupid young lord looked
quite alarmed because you spoke to me. My lot in life is not very brilliant;
but I would not change it against that young man&rsquo;s&mdash;no, not with all
his chances.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. What do you mean with all his chances?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. You know very well. I mean I would not be as selfish or as dull,
or as ill educated&mdash;I won&rsquo;t say worse of him&mdash;not to be as
handsome, or as wealthy, or as noble as he is. I swear I would not now change
my place against his, or give up being Clive Newcome to be my Lord Marquis of
Farintosh, with all his acres and titles of nobility.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Why are you for ever harping about Lord Farintosh and his titles?
I thought it was only women who were jealous&mdash;you gentlemen say
so.&mdash;(<i>Hurriedly</i>.) I am going to-night with grandmamma to the
Minister of the Interior, and then to the Russian ball; and to-morrow to the
Tuileries. We dine at the Embassy first; and on Sunday, I suppose, we shall go
to the Rue d&rsquo;Aguesseau. I can hardly come here before Mon&mdash;. Madam
de Florac! Little Léonore is very like you&mdash;resembles you very much. My
cousin says he longs to make a drawing of her.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de Florac</i>. My husband always likes that I should be present at
his dinner. Pardon me, young people, that I have been away from you for a
moment.
</p>

<p class="letter">
[<i>Exeunt</i> CLIVE, ETHEL, <i>and</i> Madame DE F. <i>into the house</i>.
</p>

<p class="center">
CONVERSATION II.&mdash;<i>Scene</i> I.
</p>

<p class="center">
<i>Miss Newcome arrives in Lady Kew&rsquo;s carriage, which enters the court of
the Hôtel de Florac.</i>
</p>

<p>
<i>Saint Jean</i>. Mademoiselle&mdash;Madame la Comtesse is gone out but madame
has charged me to say, that she will be at home to the dinner of M. le Comte,
as to the ordinary.
</p>

<p>
<i>Miss Newcome</i>. Madame de Préville is at home?
</p>

<p>
<i>Saint Jean</i>. Pardon me, madame is gone out with M. le Baron, and M.
Xavier, and Mademoiselle de Préville. They are gone, miss, I believe, to visit
the parents of Monsieur le Baron; of whom it is probably to-day the fête: for
Mademoiselle Léonore carried a bouquet&mdash;no doubt for her grandpapa. Will
it please mademoiselle to enter? I think Monsieur the Count sounds me. (<i>Bell
rings</i>.)
</p>

<p>
<i>Miss Newcome</i>. Madame la Prince&mdash;Madame la Vicomtesse is at home,
Monsieur St. Jean?
</p>

<p>
<i>Saint Jean</i>. I go to call the people of Madame la Vicomtesse.
</p>

<p class="letter">
[<i>Exit Old</i> SAINT JEAN <i>to the carriage: a Lackey comes presently in a
gorgeous livery, with buttons like little cheese plates</i>.
</p>

<p>
<i>The Lackey</i>. The Princess is at home, miss, and will be most appy to see
you, miss. (<i>Miss trips up the great stair: a gentleman out of livery has
come forth to the landing, and introduces her to the apartments of</i> Madame
la Princesse.)
</p>

<p>
<i>The Lackey to the Servants on the box</i>. Good morning, Thomas. How
dy&rsquo; do, old Backystopper?
</p>

<p>
<i>Backystopper</i>. How de do, Jim? I say, you couldn&rsquo;t give a feller a
drink of beer, could yer, Muncontour? It was precious wet last night, I can
tell you. &rsquo;Ad to stop for three hours at the Napolitum Embassy, when we
was a dancing. Me and some chaps went into Bob Parsom&rsquo;s and had a drain.
Old Cat came out and couldn&rsquo;t find her carriage, not by no means, could
she, Tommy? Blest if I didn&rsquo;t nearly drive her into a wegetable-cart. I
was so uncommon scruey! Who&rsquo;s this a-hentering at your pot-coshare?
Billy, my fine feller!
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive Newcome</i> (<i>by the most singular coincidence</i>). Madame la
Princesse?
</p>

<p>
<i>Lackey</i>. We, Munseer. (<i>He rings a bell: the gentleman in black appears
as before on the landing-place up the stair</i>.)
</p>

<p class="letter">
[<i>Exit</i> CLIVE.
</p>

<p>
<i>Backystopper</i>. I say, Bill: is that young chap often a-coming about here?
They&rsquo;d run pretty in a curricle, wouldn&rsquo;t they? Miss N. and Master
N. Quiet, old woman! Jest look to that mare&rsquo;s ead, will you, Billy?
He&rsquo;s a fine young feller, that is. He gave me a covering the other night.
Whenever I sor him in the Park, he was always riding an ansum hanimal. What is
he? They said in our &rsquo;all he was a hartis. I can &rsquo;ardly think that.
Why, there used to be a hartis come to our club, and painted two or three of my
&rsquo;osses, and my old woman too.
</p>

<p>
<i>Lackey</i>. There&rsquo;s hartises and hartises, Backystopper. Why,
there&rsquo;s some on &rsquo;em comes here with more stars on their coats than
Dukes has got. Have you never &rsquo;eard of Mossyer Verny, or Mossyer Gudang?
</p>

<p>
<i>Backystopper</i>. They say this young gent is sweet on Miss N.; which, I
guess, I wish he may git it.
</p>

<p>
<i>Tommy</i>. He! he! he!
</p>

<p>
<i>Backystopper</i>. Brayvo, Tommy. Tom ain&rsquo;t much of a man for
conversation, but he&rsquo;s a precious one to drink. <i>Do</i> you think the
young gent is sweet on her, Tommy? I sor him often prowling about our
&rsquo;ouse in Queen Street, when we was in London.
</p>

<p>
<i>Tommy</i>. I guess he wasn&rsquo;t let in in Queen Street. I guess hour
little Buttons was very near turned away for saying we was at home to
him&mdash;I guess a footman&rsquo;s place is to keep his mouth hopen&mdash;no,
his heyes hopen&mdash;and his mouth shut. (<i>He lapses into silence</i>.)
</p>

<p>
<i>Lackey</i>. I think Thomis is in love, Thomis is. Who was that young woman I
saw you a-dancing of at the Showmier, Thomis? How the young Marquis was
a-cuttin&rsquo; of it about there! The pleace was obliged to come up and stop
him dancing. His man told old Buzfuz upstairs, that the Marquis&rsquo;s goings
on is hawful. Up till four or five every morning; blind hookey, shampaign, the
dooce&rsquo;s own delight. That party have had I don&rsquo;t know how much in
diamonds&mdash;and they quarrel and swear at each other, and fling plates:
it&rsquo;s tremendous.
</p>

<p>
<i>Tommy</i>. Why doesn&rsquo;t the Marquis man mind his own affairs?
He&rsquo;s a supersellious beast: and will no more speak to a man, except
he&rsquo;s out-a-livery, than he would to a chimbly-swip. He! Cuss him,
I&rsquo;d fight &rsquo;im for &rsquo;alf-a-crown.
</p>

<p>
<i>Lackey</i>. And we&rsquo;d back you, Tommy. Buzfuz upstairs ain&rsquo;t
supersellious; nor is the Prince&rsquo;s walet nether. That old
Sangjang&rsquo;s a rum old guvnor. He was in England with the Count, fifty
years ago&mdash;in the hemigration&mdash;in Queen Hann&rsquo;s time, you know.
He used to support the old Count. He says he remembers a young Musseer Newcome
then, that used to take lessons from the Shevallier, the Countess&rsquo;
father&mdash;there&rsquo;s my bell.
</p>

<p class="letter">
[<i>Exit Lackey</i>.
</p>

<p>
<i>Backystopper</i>. Not a bad chap that. Sports his money very
free&mdash;sings an uncommon good song.
</p>

<p>
<i>Thomas</i>. Pretty voice, but no cultiwation.
</p>

<p>
<i>Lackey</i> (<i>who re-enters</i>). Be here at two o&rsquo;clock for Miss N.
Take anything? Come round the corner.&mdash;There&rsquo;s a capital shop round
the corner.
</p>

<p class="letter">
[<i>Exeunt Servants</i>.
</p>

<p class="center">
SCENE II.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. I can&rsquo;t think where Madame de Moncontour has gone. How very
odd it was that you should come here&mdash;that we should both come here
to-day! How surprised I was to see you at the Minister&rsquo;s! Grandmamma was
so angry! &ldquo;That boy pursues us wherever we go,&rdquo; she said. I am sure
I don&rsquo;t know why we shouldn&rsquo;t meet, Clive. It seems to be wrong
even my seeing you by chance here. Do you know, sir, what a scolding I had
about&mdash;about going to Brighton with you? My grandmother did not hear of it
till we were in Scotland, when that foolish maid of mine talked of it to her
maid; and, there was oh, such a tempest! If there were a Bastile here, she
would like to lock you into it. She says that you are always upon our
way&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know how, I am sure. She says, but for you I should
have been&mdash;you know what I should have been: but I am thankful that I
wasn&rsquo;t, and Kew has got a much nicer wife in Henrietta Pulleyn, than I
could ever have been to him. She will be happier than Clara, Clive. Kew is one
of the kindest creatures in the world&mdash;not very wise; not very strong: but
he is just such a kind, easy, generous little man, as will make a girl like
Henrietta quite happy.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. But not you, Ethel?
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. No, nor I him. My temper is difficult, Clive, and I fear few men
would bear with me. I feel, somehow, always very lonely. How old am I?
Twenty&mdash;I feel sometimes as if I was a hundred; and in the midst of all
these admirations and fêtes and flatteries, so tired, oh, so tired! And yet if
I don&rsquo;t have them, I miss them. How I wish I was religious like Madame de
Florac: there is no day that she does not go to church. She is for ever busy
with charities, clergymen, conversions; I think the Princess will be brought
over ere long&mdash;that dear old Madame de Florac! and yet she is no happier
than the rest of us. Hortense is an empty little thing, who thinks of her prosy
fat Camille with spectacles, and of her two children, and of nothing else in
the world besides. Who is happy? Clive!
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. You say Barnes&rsquo;s wife is not.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. We are like brother and sister, so I may talk to you. Barnes is
very cruel to her. At Newcome, last winter, poor Clara used to come into my
room with tears in her eyes morning after morning. He calls her a fool; and
seems to take a pride in humiliating her before company. My poor father has
luckily taken a great liking to her: and before him, for he has grown very very
hot-tempered since his illness, Barnes leaves poor Clara alone. We were in
hopes that the baby might make matters better, but as it is a little girl,
Barnes chooses to be very much disappointed. He wants papa to give up his seat
in Parliament, but he clings to that more than anything. Oh, dear me! who is
happy in the world? What a pity Lord Highgate&rsquo;s father had not died
sooner! He and Barnes have been reconciled. I wonder my brother&rsquo;s spirit
did not revolt against it. The old lord used to keep a great sum of money at
the bank, I believe: and the present one does so still: he has paid all his
debts off: and Barnes is actually friends with him. He is always abusing the
Dorkings, who want to borrow money from the bank, he says. This eagerness for
money is horrible. If I had been Barnes I would never have been reconciled with
Mr. Belsize, never, never! And yet they say he was quite right: and grandmamma
is even pleased that Lord Highgate should be asked to dine in Park Lane. Poor
papa is there: come to attend his parliamentary duties as he thinks. He went to
a division the other night; and was actually lifted out of his carriage and
wheeled into the lobby in a chair. The ministers thanked him for coming. I
believe he thinks he will have his peerage yet. Oh, what a life of vanity ours
is!
</p>

<p>
<i>Enter Madame de Moncontour</i>. What are you young folks a-talkin&rsquo;
about&mdash;balls and operas? When first I was took to the opera I did not like
it&mdash;and fell asleep. But now, oh, it&rsquo;s &rsquo;eavenly to hear Grisi
sing!
</p>

<p>
<i>The Clock</i>. Ting, ting!
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Two o&rsquo;clock already! I must run back to grandmamma.
Good-bye, Madame de Moncontour; I am so sorry I have not been able to see dear
Madame de Florac. I will try and come to her on Thursday&mdash;please tell her.
Shall we meet you at the American minister&rsquo;s to-night, or at Madame de
Brie&rsquo;s to-morrow? Friday is your own night&mdash;I hope grandmamma will
bring me. How charming your last music was! Good-bye, mon cousin! You shall not
come downstairs with me, I insist upon it, sir: and had much best remain here,
and finish your drawing of Madame de Moncontour.
</p>

<p>
<i>Princess</i>. I&rsquo;ve put on the velvet, you see, Clive&mdash;though
it&rsquo;s very &rsquo;ot in May. Good-bye, my dear.
</p>

<p class="letter">
[<i>Exit</i> ETHEL.
</p>

<p>
As far as we can judge from the above conversation, which we need not
prolong&mdash;as the talk between Madame de Moncontour and Monsieur Clive,
after a few complimentary remarks about Ethel, had nothing to do with the
history of the Newcomes&mdash;as far as we can judge, the above little colloquy
took place on Monday: and about Wednesday, Madame la Comtesse de Florac
received a little note from Clive, in which he said, that one day when she came
to the Louvre, where he was copying, she had admired a picture of a Virgin and
Child, by Sasso Ferrato, since when he had been occupied in making a
water-colour drawing after the picture, and hoped she would be pleased to
accept the copy from her affectionate and grateful servant, Clive Newcome. The
drawing would be done the next day, when he would call with it in his hand. Of
course Madame de Florac received this announcement very kindly; and sent back
by Clive&rsquo;s servant a note of thanks to that young gentleman.
</p>

<p>
Now on Thursday morning, about one o&rsquo;clock, by one of those singular
coincidences which, etc. etc., who should come to the Hotel de Florac but Miss
Ethel Newcome? Madame la Comtesse was at home, waiting to receive Clive and his
picture: but Miss Ethel&rsquo;s appearance frightened the good lady, so much so
that she felt quite guilty at seeing the girl, whose parents might
think&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know what they might not think&mdash;that Madame de
Florac was trying to make a match between the young people. Hence arose the
words uttered by the Countess, after a while, in&mdash;
</p>

<p class="center">
CONVERSATION III.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de Florac</i> (<i>at work</i>). And so you like to quit the world and
to come to our <i>triste</i> old hotel. After to-day you will find it still
more melancholy, my poor child.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. And why?
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. Some one who has been here to <i>égayer</i> our little
meetings will come no more.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Is the Abbé de Florac going to quit Paris, madam?
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. It is not of him that I speak, thou knowest it very well,
my daughter. Thou hast seen my poor Clive twice here. He will come once again,
and then no more. My conscience reproaches me that I have admitted him at all.
But he is like a son to me, and was so confided to me by his father. Five years
ago, when we met, after an absence&mdash;of how many years!&mdash;Colonel
Newcome told me what hopes he had cherished for his boy. You know well, my
daughter, with whom those hopes were connected. Then he wrote me that family
arrangements rendered his plans impossible&mdash;that the hand of Miss Newcome
was promised elsewhere. When I heard from my son Paul how these negotiations
were broken, my heart rejoiced, Ethel, for my friend&rsquo;s sake. I am an old
woman now, who have seen the world, and all sorts of men. Men more brilliant no
doubt I have known, but such a heart as his, such a faith as his, such a
generosity and simplicity as Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s&mdash;never!
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i> (<i>smiling</i>). Indeed, dear lady, I think with you.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. I understand thy smile, my daughter. I can say to thee,
that when we were children almost, I knew thy good uncle. My poor father took
the pride of his family into exile with him. Our poverty only made his pride
the greater. Even before the emigration a contract had been passed between our
family and the Count de Florac. I could not be wanting to the word given by my
father. For how many long years have I kept it? But when I see a young girl who
may be made the victim&mdash;the subject of a marriage of convenience, as I
was&mdash;my heart pities her. And if I love her, as I love you, I tell her my
thoughts. Better poverty, Ethel: better a cell in a convent: than a union
without love. Is it written eternally that men are to make slaves of us? Here
in France, above all, our fathers sell us every day. And what a society ours
is! Thou wilt know this when thou art married. There are some laws so cruel
that nature revolts against theme, and breaks them&mdash;or we die in keeping
them. You smile. I have been nearly fifty years dying&mdash;<i>n&rsquo;est-ce
pas?</i>&mdash;and am here an old woman, complaining to a young girl. It is
because our recollections of youth are always young: and because I have
suffered so, that I would spare those I love a like grief. Do you know that the
children of those who do not love in marriage seem to bear an hereditary
coldness, and do not love their parents as other children do? They witness our
differences and our indifferences, hear our recriminations, take one side or
the other in our disputes, and are partisans for father or mother. We force
ourselves to be hypocrites, and hide our wrongs from them; we speak of a bad
father with false praises; we wear feint smiles over our tears, and deceive our
children&mdash;deceive them, do we? Even from the exercise of that pious deceit
there is no woman but suffers in the estimation of her sons. They may shield
her as champions against their father&rsquo;s selfishness or cruelty. In this
case, what a war! What a home, where the son sees a tyrant in the father, and
in the mother but a trembling victim! I speak not for myself&mdash;whatever may
have been the course of our long wedded life, I have not to complain of these
ignoble storms. But when the family chief neglects his wife, or prefers another
to her, the children too, courtiers as we are, will desert her. You look
incredulous about domestic love. Tenez, my child, if I may so surmise, I think
you cannot have seen it.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i> (<i>blushing, and thinking, perhaps, how she esteems her father,
how her mother, and how much they esteem each other</i>). My father and mother
have been most kind to all their children, madame; and no one can say that
their marriage has been otherwise than happy. My mother is the kindest and most
affectionate mother, and&mdash;(<i>Here a vision of Sir Brian alone in his
room, and nobody really caring for him so much as his valet, who loves him to
the extent of fifty pounds a year and perquisites; or, perhaps, Miss Cann, who
reads to him, and plays a good deal of evenings, much to Sir Brian&rsquo;s
liking&mdash;here this vision, we say, comes, and stops Miss Ethel&rsquo;s
sentence</i>.)
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. Your father, in his infirmity&mdash;and yet he is five
years younger than Colonel Newcome&mdash;is happy to have such a wife and such
children. They comfort his age; they cheer his sickness; they confide their
griefs and pleasures to him&mdash;is it not so? His closing days are soothed by
their affection.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Oh, no, no! And yet it is not his fault or ours that he is a
stranger to us. He used to be all day at the bank, or at night in the House of
Commons, or he and mamma went to parties, and we young ones remained with the
governess. Mamma is very kind. I have never, almost, known her angry; never
with us; about us, sometimes, with the servants. As children, we used to see
papa and mamma at breakfast; and then when she was dressing to go out. Since he
has been ill, she has given up all parties. I wanted to do so too. I feel
ashamed in the world, sometimes, when I think of my poor father at home, alone.
I wanted to stay, but my mother and my grandmother forbade me. Grandmamma has a
fortune, which she says I am to have: since then they have insisted on my being
with her. She is very clever you know: she is kind too in her way; but she
cannot live out of society. And I, who pretend to revolt, I like it too; and I,
who rail and scorn flatterers&mdash;oh, I like admiration! I am pleased when
the women hate me, and the young men leave them for me. Though I despise many
of these, yet I can&rsquo;t help drawing them towards me. One or two of them I
have seen unhappy about me, and I like it; and if they are indifferent I am
angry, and never tire till they come back. I love beautiful dresses; I love
jewels; I love a great name and a fine house&mdash;oh, I despise myself, when I
think of these things! When I lie in bed and say I have been heartless and a
coquette, I cry with humiliation; and then rebel and say, Why not?&mdash;and
to-night&mdash;yes, to-night&mdash;after leaving you, I shall be wicked, I know
I shall.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. (<i>sadly</i>). One will pray for thee, my child.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i> (<i>sadly</i>). I thought I might be good once. I used to say my
own prayers then. Now I speak them but by rote, and feel ashamed&mdash;yes,
ashamed to speak them. Is it not horrid to say them, and next morning to be no
better than you were last night? Often I revolt at these as at other things,
and am dumb. The Vicar comes to see us at Newcome, and eats so much dinner, and
pays us such court, and &ldquo;Sir Brians&rdquo; papa, and &ldquo;Your
Ladyship&rsquo;s&rdquo; mamma. With grandmamma I go to hear a fashionable
preacher&mdash;Clive&rsquo;s uncle, whose sister lets lodgings at Brighton;
such a queer, bustling, pompous, honest old lady. Do you know that
Clive&rsquo;s aunt lets lodgings at Brighton?
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. My father was an usher in a school. Monsieur de Florac gave
lessons in the emigration. Do you know in what?
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Oh, the old nobility! that is different, you know. That Mr.
Honeyman is so affected that I have no patience with him!
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. (<i>with a sigh</i>). I wish you could attend the services
of a better church. And when was it you thought you might be good, Ethel?
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. When I was a girl. Before I came out. When I used to take long
rides with my dear Uncle Newcome; and he used to talk to me in his sweet simple
way; and he said I reminded him of some one he once knew.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. Who&mdash;who was that, Ethel?
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i> (<i>looking up at Gerard&rsquo;s picture of the Countess de
Florac</i>). What odd dresses you wore in the time of the Empire, Madame de
Florac! How could you ever have such high waists, and such wonderful
<i>fraises!</i> (MADAME DE FLORAC <i>kisses</i> ETHEL. <i>Tableau</i>.)
</p>

<p>
<i>Enter</i> SAINT JEAN, <i>preceding a gentleman with a drawing-board under
his arm</i>.
</p>

<p>
<i>Saint Jean</i>. Monsieur Claive! [<i>Exit</i> SAINT JEAN.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. How do you do, Madame la Comtesse? Mademoiselle, j&rsquo;ai
l&rsquo;honneur de vous souhaiter le bon jour.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. Do you come from the Louvre? Have you finished that
beautiful copy, mon ami?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. I have brought it for you. It is not very good. There are always
so many <i>petites demoiselles</i> copying that Sasso Ferrato; and they chatter
about it so, and hop from one easel to another; and the young artists are
always coming to give them advice&mdash;so that there is no getting a good look
at the picture. But I have brought you the sketch; and am so pleased that you
asked for it.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. (<i>surveying the sketch</i>). It is
charming&mdash;charming! What shall we give to our painter for his
chef-d&rsquo;œuvre?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i> (<i>kisses her hand</i>). There is my pay! And you will be glad to
hear that two of my portraits have been received at the Exhibition. My uncle,
the clergyman, and Mr. Butts, of the Life Guards.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Mr. Butts&mdash;quel nom! Je ne connois aucun M. Butts!
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. He has a famous head to draw. They refused Crackthorpe
and&mdash;and one or two other heads I sent in.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i> (<i>tossing up hers</i>). Miss Mackenzie&rsquo;s, I suppose!
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. Yes, Miss Mackenzie&rsquo;s. It is a sweet little face; too
delicate for my hand, though.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. So is a wax-doll&rsquo;s a pretty face. Pink cheeks; china-blue
eyes; and hair the colour of old Madame Hempenfeld&rsquo;s&mdash;not her last
hair&mdash;her last but one. (<i>She goes to a window that looks into the
court</i>.)
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i> (<i>to the Countess</i>). Miss Mackenzie speaks more respectfully
of other people&rsquo;s eyes and hair. She thinks there is nobody in the world
to compare to Miss Newcome.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. (<i>aside</i>). And you, mon ami? This is the last time,
entendez-vous? You must never come here again. If M. le Comte knew it he never
would pardon me. Encore? (<i>He kisses her ladyship&rsquo;s hand again</i>.)
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. A good action gains to be repeated. Miss Newcome, does the view
of the courtyard please you? The old trees and the garden are better. That dear
old Faun without a nose! I must have a sketch of him: the creepers round the
base are beautiful.
</p>

<p>
<i>Miss N</i>. I was looking to see if the carriage had come for me. It is time
that I return home.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. That is my brougham. May I carry you anywhere? I hire him by the
hour: and I will carry you to the end of the world.
</p>

<p>
<i>Miss N</i>. Where are you going, Madame de Floras?&mdash;to show that sketch
to M. le Comte? Dear me! I don&rsquo;t fancy that M. de Florac can care for
such things! I am sure I have seen many as pretty on the quays for twenty-five
sous. I wonder the carriage is not come for me.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. You can take mine without my company, as that seems not to please
you.
</p>

<p>
<i>Miss N</i>. Your company is sometimes very pleasant&mdash;when you please.
Sometimes, as last night, for instance, when you particularly lively.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. Last night, after moving heaven and earth to get an invitation to
Madame de Brie&mdash;I say, heaven and earth, that is a French phrase&mdash;I
arrive there; I find Miss Newcome engaged for almost every dance, waltzing with
M. de Klingenspohr, galloping with Count de Capri, galloping and waltzing with
the most noble the Marquis of Farintosh. She will scarce speak to me during the
evening; and when I wait till midnight, her grandmamma whisks her home, and I
am left alone for my pains. Lady Kew is in one of her high moods, and the only
words she condescends to say to me are, &ldquo;Oh, I thought you had returned
to London,&rdquo; with which she turns her venerable back upon me.
</p>

<p>
<i>Miss N</i>. A fortnight ago you said you were going to London. You said the
copies you were about here would not take you another week, and that was three
weeks since.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. It were best I had gone.
</p>

<p>
<i>Miss N</i>. If you think so, I cannot but think so.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. Why do I stay and hover about you, and follow you know&mdash;I
follow you? Can I live on a smile vouchsafed twice a week, and no brighter than
you give to all the world? What I do I get, but to hear your beauty praised,
and to see you, night after night, happy and smiling and triumphant, the
partner of other men? Does it add zest to your triumph, to think that I behold
it? I believe you would like a crowd of us to pursue you.
</p>

<p>
<i>Miss N</i>. To pursue me; and if they find me alone, by chance to compliment
me with such speeches as you make? That would be pleasure indeed! Answer me
here in return, Clive. Have I ever disguised from any of my friends the regard
I have for you? Why should I? Have not I taken your part when you were
maligned? In former days, when&mdash;when Lord Kew asked me, as he had a right
to do then&mdash;I said it was as a brother I held you; and always would. If I
have been wrong, it has been for two or three times in seeing you at
all&mdash;or seeing you thus; in letting you speak to me as you do&mdash;injure
me as you do. Do you think I have not hard enough words said to me about you,
but that you must attack me too in turn? Last night only, because you were at
the ball,&mdash;it was very, very wrong of me to tell you I was going
there,&mdash;as we went home, Lady Kew&mdash;Go, sir. I never thought you would
have seen in me this humiliation.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. Is it possible that I should have made Ethel Newcome shed tears?
Oh, dry them, dry them. Forgive me, Ethel, forgive me! I have no right to
jealousy, or to reproach you&mdash;I know that. If others admire you, surely I
ought to know that they&mdash;they do but as I do: I should be proud, not
angry, that they admire my Ethel&mdash;my sister, if you can be no more.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. I will be that always, whatever harsh things you think or say of
me. There, sir, I am not going to be so foolish as to cry again. Have you been
studying very hard? Are your pictures good at the Exhibition? I like you with
your mustachios best, and order you not to cut them off again. The young men
here wear them. I hardly knew Charles Beardmore when he arrived from Berlin the
other day, like a sapper and miner. His little sisters cried out, and were
quite frightened by his apparition. Why are you not in diplomacy? That day, at
Brighton, when Lord Farintosh asked whether you were in the army, I thought to
myself, why is he not?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. A man in the army may pretend to anything, <i>n&rsquo;est-ce
pas?</i> He wears a lovely uniform. He may be a General, a K.C.B., a Viscount,
an Earl. He may be valiant in arms, and wanting a leg, like the lover in the
song. It is peace-time, you say? so much the worse career for a soldier. My
father would not have me, he said, for ever dangling in barracks, or smoking in
country billiard-rooms. I have no taste for law: and as for diplomacy, I have
no relations in the Cabinet, and no uncles in the House of Peers. Could my
uncle, who is in Parliament, help me much, do you think? or would he, if he
could?&mdash;or Barnes, his noble son and heir, after him?
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i> (<i>musing</i>). Barnes would not, perhaps, but papa might even
still, and you have friends who are fond of you.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. No&mdash;no one can help me: and my art, Ethel, is not only my
choice and my love, but my honour too. I shall never distinguish myself in it:
I may take smart likenesses, but that is all. I am not fit to grind my friend
Ridley&rsquo;s colours for him. Nor would my father, who loves his own
profession so, make a good general probably. He always says so. I thought
better of myself when I began as a boy; and was a conceited youngster,
expecting to carry it all before me. But as I walked the Vatican, and looked at
Raphael, and at the great Michael&mdash;I knew I was but a poor little
creature; and in contemplating his genius, shrunk up till I felt myself as
small as a man looks under the dome of St. Peter&rsquo;s. Why should I wish to
have a great genius?&mdash;Yes, there is one reason why I should like to have
it.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. And that is?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. To give it you, if it pleased you, Ethel. But I might wish for
the roc&rsquo;s egg: there is no way of robbing the bird. I must take a humble
place, and you want a brilliant one. A brilliant one! Oh, Ethel, what a
standard we folks measure fame by! To have your name in the <i>Morning
Post</i>, and to go to three balls every night. To have your dress described at
the Drawing-Room; and your arrival, from a round of visits in the country, at
your town-house; and the entertainment of the Marchioness of
Farin&mdash;&mdash;
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Sir, if you please, no calling names.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. I wonder at it. For you are in the world, and you love the world,
whatever you may say. And I wonder that one of your strength of mind should so
care for it. I think my simple old father is much finer than all your grandees:
his single-mindedness more lofty than all their bowing, and haughtiness, and
scheming. What are you thinking of, as you stand in that pretty
attitude&mdash;like Mnemosyne&mdash;with your finger on your chin?
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Mnemosyne! who was she? I think I like you best when you are
quiet and gentle, and not when you are flaming out and sarcastic, sir. And so
you think you will never be a famous painter? They are quite in society here. I
was so pleased, because two of them dined at the Tuileries when grandmamma was
there; and she mistook one, who was covered all over with crosses, for an
ambassador, I believe, till the Queen call him Monsieur Delaroche. She says
there is no knowing people in this country. And do you think you will never be
able to paint as well as M. Delaroche?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. No&mdash;never.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. And&mdash;and&mdash;you will never give up painting?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. No&mdash;never. That would be like leaving your friend who was
poor; or deserting your mistress because you were disappointed about her money.
They do those things in the great world, Ethel.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i> (<i>with a sigh</i>). Yes.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. If it is so false, and base, and hollow, this great
world&mdash;if its aims are so mean, its successes so paltry, the sacrifices it
asks of you so degrading, the pleasures it gives you so wearisome, shameful
even, why does Ethel Newcome cling to it? Will you be fairer, dear, with any
other name than your own? Will you be happier, after a month, at bearing a
great title, with a man whom you can&rsquo;t esteem, tied for ever to you, to
be the father of Ethel&rsquo;s children, and the lord and master of her life
and actions? The proudest woman in the world consents to bend herself to this
ignominy, and own that a coronet is a bribe sufficient for her honour! What is
the end of a Christian life, Ethel; a girl&rsquo;s pure nurture?&mdash;it
can&rsquo;t be this! Last week, as we walked in the garden here, and heard the
nuns singing in their chapel, you said how hard it was that poor women should
be imprisoned so, and were thankful that in England we had abolished that
slavery. Then you cast your eyes to the ground, and mused as you paced the
walk; and thought, I know, that perhaps their lot was better than some others.
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. Yes, I did. I was thinking that almost all women are made slaves
one way or other, and that these poor nuns perhaps were better off than we are.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. I never will quarrel with nun or matron for following her
vocation. But for our women, who are free, why should they rebel against
Nature, shut their hearts up, sell their lives for rank and money, and forgo
the most precious right of their liberty? Look, Ethel, dear. I love you so,
that if I thought another had your heart, an honest man, a loyal gentleman,
like&mdash;like him of last year even, I think I could go back with a God bless
you, and take to my pictures again, and work on in my own humble way. You seem
like a queen to me, somehow; and I am but a poor, humble fellow, who might be
happy, I think, if you were. In those balls, where I have seen you surrounded
by those brilliant young men, noble and wealthy, admirers like me, I have often
thought, &ldquo;How could I aspire to such a creature, and ask her to forgo a
palace to share the crust of a poor painter?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
<i>Ethel</i>. You spoke quite scornfully of palaces just now, Clive. I
won&rsquo;t say a word about the&mdash;the regard which you express for me. I
think you have it. Indeed, I do. But it were best not said, Clive; best for me,
perhaps, not to own that I know it. In your speeches, my poor boy&mdash;and you
will please not to make any more, or I never can see you or speak to you again,
never&mdash;you forgot one part of a girl&rsquo;s duty: obedience to her
parents. They would never agree to my marrying any one below&mdash;any one
whose union would not be advantageous in a worldly point of view. I never would
give such pain to the poor father, or to the kind soul who never said a harsh
word to me since I was born. My grandmamma is kind, too, in her way. I came to
her of my own free will. When she said she would leave me her fortune, do you
think it was for myself alone that I was glad? My father&rsquo;s passion was to
make an estate, and all my brothers and sisters will be but slenderly
portioned. Lady Kew said she would help them if I came to
her&mdash;and&mdash;it is the welfare of those little people that depends upon
me, Clive. Now, do you see, <i>brother</i>, why you must speak to me so no
more? There is the carriage. God bless you, dear Clive.
</p>

<p>
(Clive sees the carriage drive away after Miss Newcome has entered it without
once looking up to the window where he stands. When it is gone he goes to the
opposite windows of the salon, which are open, towards the garden. The chapel
music begins to play from the Convent, next door. As he hears it he sinks down,
his head in his hands.)
</p>

<p>
<i>Enter Madame de Florac</i> (<i>She goes to him with anxious looks</i>.) What
hast thou, my child? Hast thou spoken?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i> (<i>very steadily</i>). Yes.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. And she loves thee? I know she loves thee.
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. You hear the organ of the convent?
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. Qu&rsquo;as tu?
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. I might as well hope to marry one of the sisters of yonder
convent, dear lady. (<i>He sinks down again, and she kisses him</i>.)
</p>

<p>
<i>Clive</i>. I never had a mother; but you seem like one.
</p>

<p>
<i>Madame de F</i>. Mon fils! Oh, mon fils!
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0048" id="link2HCH0048"></a>
CHAPTER XLVIII.<br/>
In which Benedick is a Married Man</h2>

<p>
We have all heard of the dying French Duchess, who viewed her coming
dissolution and subsequent fate so easily, because she said she was sure that
Heaven must deal politely with a person of her quality;&mdash;I suppose Lady
Kew had some such notions regarding people of rank: her long-suffering towards
them was extreme; in fact, there were vices which the old lady thought
pardonable, and even natural, in a young nobleman of high station, which she
never would have excused in persons of vulgar condition.
</p>

<p>
Her ladyship&rsquo;s little knot of associates and
scandal-bearers&mdash;elderly roues and ladies of the world, whose business it
was to know all sorts of noble intrigues and exalted tittle-tattle; what was
happening among the devotees of the exiled court at Frobsdorf; what among the
citizen princes of the Tuileries; who was the reigning favourite of the Queen
Mother at Aranjuez; who was smitten with whom at Vienna or Naples; and the last
particulars of the <i>chroniques scandaleuses</i> of Paris and
London;&mdash;Lady Kew, I say, must have been perfectly aware of my Lord
Farintosh&rsquo;s amusements, associates, and manner of life, and yet she
never, for one moment, exhibited any anger or dislike towards that nobleman.
Her amiable heart was so full of kindness and forgiveness towards the young
prodigal that, even without any repentance on his part, she was ready to take
him to her old arms, and give him her venerable benediction. Pathetic sweetness
of nature! Charming tenderness of disposition! With all his faults and
wickednesses, his follies and his selfishness, there was no moment when Lady
Kew would not have received the young lord, and endowed him with the hand of
her darling Ethel.
</p>

<p>
But the hopes which this fond forgiving creature had nurtured for one season,
and carried on so resolutely to the next, were destined to be disappointed yet
a second time, by a most provoking event, which occurred in the Newcome family.
Ethel was called away suddenly from Paris by her father&rsquo;s third and last
paralytic seizure. When she reached her home, Sir Brian could not recognise
her. A few hours after her arrival, all the vanities of the world were over for
him: and Sir Barnes Newcome, Baronet, reigned in his stead. The day after Sir
Brian was laid in his vault at Newcome&mdash;a letter appeared in the local
papers addressed to the Independent Electors of that Borough, in which his
orphan son, feelingly alluding to the virtue, the services, and the political
principles of the deceased, offered himself as a candidate for the seat in
Parliament now vacant. Sir Barnes announced that he should speedily pay his
respects in person to the friends and supporters of his lamented father. That
he was a staunch friend of our admirable constitution need not be said. That he
was a firm, but conscientious upholder of our Protestant religion, all who knew
Barnes Newcome must be aware. That he would do his utmost to advance the
interests of this great agricultural, this great manufacturing county and
borough, we may be sure he avowed; as that he would be (if returned to
represent Newcome in Parliament) the advocate of every rational reform, the
unhesitating opponent of every reckless innovation. In fine, Barnes
Newcome&rsquo;s manifesto to the Electors of Newcome was as authentic a
document and gave him credit for as many public virtues, as that slab over poor
Sir Brian&rsquo;s bones in the chancel of Newcome church, which commemorated
the good qualities of the defunct, and the grief of his heir.
</p>

<p>
In spite of the virtues, personal and inherited, of Barnes, his seat for
Newcome was not got without a contest. The dissenting interest and the
respectable Liberals of the borough wished to set up Samuel Higg, Esq.; against
Sir Barnes Newcome: and now it was that Barnes&rsquo;s civilities of the
previous year, aided by Madame de Moncontour&rsquo;s influence over her
brother, bore their fruit. Mr. Higg declined to stand against Sir Barnes
Newcome, although Higg&rsquo;s political principles were by no means those of
the honourable Baronet; and the candidate from London, whom the Newcome extreme
Radicals set up against Barnes, was nowhere on the poll when the day of
election came. So Barnes had the desire of his heart; and, within two months
after his father&rsquo;s demise, he sate in Parliament as Member for Newcome.
</p>

<p>
The bulk of the late Baronet&rsquo;s property descended, of course, to his
eldest son: who grumbled, nevertheless, at the provision made for his brothers
and sisters, and that the town-house should have been left to Lady Anne, who
was too poor to inhabit it. But Park Lane is the best situation in London, and
Lady Anne&rsquo;s means were greatly improved by the annual produce of the
house in Park Lane, which, as we all know, was occupied by a foreign minister
for several subsequent seasons. Strange mutations of fortune: old places; new
faces; what Londoner does not see and speculate upon them every day?
Cœlia&rsquo;s boudoir, who is dead with the daisies over her at Kensal Green,
is now the chamber where Delia is consulting Dr. Locock, or Julia&rsquo;s
children are romping: Florio&rsquo;s dining-tables have now Pollio&rsquo;s wine
upon them: Calista, being a widow, and (to the surprise of everybody who knew
Trimalchio, and enjoyed his famous dinners) left but very poorly off, lets the
house, and the rich, chaste, and appropriate planned furniture, by Dowbiggin,
and the proceeds go to keep her little boys at Eton. The next year, as Mr.
Clive Newcome rode by the once familiar mansion (whence the hatchment had been
removed, announcing that there was <i>in Cœlo Quies</i> for the late Sir Brian
Newcome, Bart.), alien faces looked from over the flowers in the balconies. He
got a card for an entertainment from the occupant of the mansion, H.E. the
Bulgarian minister; and there was the same crowd in the reception-room and on
the stairs, the same grave men from Gunter&rsquo;s distributing the
refreshments in the dining-room, the same old Smee, R. A. (always in the room
where the edibles were), cringing and flattering to the new occupants; and the
same effigy of poor Sir Brian, in his deputy-lieutenant&rsquo;s uniform,
looking blankly down from over the sideboard, at the feast which his successors
were giving. A dreamy old ghost of a picture. Have you ever looked at those
round George IV.&rsquo;s banqueting-hall at Windsor? Their frames still hold
them, but they smile ghostly smiles, and swagger in robes and velvets which are
quite faint and faded: their crimson coats have a twilight tinge: the lustre of
their stars has twinkled out: they look as if they were about to flicker off
the wall and retire to join their originals in limbo.
</p>

<p>
Nearly three years had elapsed since the good Colonel&rsquo;s departure for
India, and during this time certain changes had occurred in the lives of the
principal actors and the writer of this history. As regards the latter, it must
be stated that the dear old firm of Lamb Court had been dissolved, the junior
member having contracted another partnership. The chronicler of these memoirs
was a bachelor no longer. My wife and I had spent the winter at Rome (favourite
resort of young married couples); and had heard from the artists there
Clive&rsquo;s name affectionately repeated; and many accounts of his sayings
and doings, his merry supper-parties, and the talents of young Ridley, his
friend. When we came to London in the spring, almost our first visit was to
Clive&rsquo;s apartments in Charlotte Street, whither my wife delightedly went
to give her hand to the young painter.
</p>

<p>
But Clive no longer inhabited that quiet region. On driving to the house we
found a bright brass plate, with the name of Mr. J. J. Ridley on the door, and
it was J. J.&rsquo;s hand which I shook (his other being engaged with a great
palette, and a sheaf of painting-brushes) when we entered the well-known
quarters. Clive&rsquo;s picture hung over the mantelpiece, where his
father&rsquo;s head used to hang in our time&mdash;a careful and beautifully
executed portrait of the lad in a velvet coat and a Roman hat, with that golden
beard which was sacrificed to the exigencies of London fashion. I showed Laura
the likeness until she could become acquainted with the original. On her
expressing her delight at the picture, the painter was pleased to say, in his
modest blushing way, that he would be glad to execute my wife&rsquo;s portrait
too, nor, as I think, could any artist find a subject more pleasing.
</p>

<p>
After admiring others of Mr. Ridley&rsquo;s works, our talk naturally reverted
to his predecessor. Clive had migrated to much more splendid quarters. Had we
not heard? he had become a rich man, a man of fashion. &ldquo;I fear he is very
lazy about the arts,&rdquo; said J. J., with regret on his countenance;
&ldquo;though I begged and prayed him to be faithful to his profession. He
would have done very well in it, in portrait-painting especially. Look here,
and here, and here!&rdquo; said Ridley, producing fine vigorous sketches of
Clive&rsquo;s. &ldquo;He had the art of seizing the likeness, and of making all
his people look like gentlemen, too. He was improving every day, when this
abominable bank came in the way, and stopped him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
What bank? I did not know the new Indian bank of which the Colonel was a
director. Then, of course, I was aware that the mercantile affair in question
was the Bundelcund Bank, about which the Colonel had written to me from India
more than a year since, announcing that fortunes were to be made by it, and
that he had reserved shares for me in the company. Laura admired all
Clive&rsquo;s sketches, which his affectionate brother-artist showed to her
with the exception of one representing the reader&rsquo;s humble servant;
which, Mrs. Pendennis considered, by no means did justice to the original.
</p>

<p>
Bidding adieu to the kind J. J., and leaving him to pursue his art, in that
silent serious way in which he daily laboured at it, we drove to Fitzroy Square
hard by, where I was not displeased to show the good old hospitable James
Binnie the young lady who bore my name. But here, too, we were disappointed.
Placards wafered in the windows announced that the old house was to let. The
woman who kept it brought a card in Mrs. Mackenzie&rsquo;s frank handwriting,
announcing Mr. James Binnie&rsquo;s address was &ldquo;Poste-restante, Pau, in
the Pyrenees,&rdquo; and that his London agents were Messrs. So-and-so. The
woman said she believed the gentleman had been unwell. The house, too, looked
very pale, dismal, and disordered. We drove away from the door, grieving to
think that ill-health, or any other misfortunes, had befallen good old James.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Pendennis drove back to our lodgings, Brixham&rsquo;s, in Jermyn Street,
while I sped to the City, having business in that quarter. It has been said
that I kept a small account with Hobson Brothers, to whose bank I went, and
entered the parlour with that trepidation which most poor men feel on
presenting themselves before City magnates and capitalists. Mr. Hobson Newcome
shook hands most jovially and good-naturedly, congratulated me on my marriage,
and so forth, and presently Sir Barnes Newcome made his appearance, still
wearing his mourning for his deceased father.
</p>

<p>
Nothing could be more kind, pleasant, and cordial than Sir Barnes&rsquo;s
manner. He seemed to know well about my affairs; complimented me on every kind
of good fortune; had heard that I had canvassed the borough in which I lived;
hoped sincerely to see me in Parliament and on the right side; was most anxious
to become acquainted with Mrs. Pendennis, of whom Lady Rockminster said all
sorts of kind things; and asked for our address, in order that Lady Clara
Newcome might have the pleasure of calling on my wife. This ceremony was
performed soon afterwards; and an invitation to dinner from Sir Barnes and Lady
Clara Newcome speedily followed it.
</p>

<p>
Sir Barnes Newcome, Bart., M.P., I need not say, no longer inhabited the small
house which he had occupied immediately after his marriage: but dwelt in a much
more spacious mansion in Belgravia, where he entertained his friends. Now that
he had come into his kingdom, I must say that Barnes was by no means so
insufferable as in the days of his bachelorhood. He had sown his wild oats, and
spoke with regret and reserve of that season of his moral culture. He was
grave, sarcastic, statesmanlike; did not try to conceal his baldness (as he
used before his father&rsquo;s death, by bringing lean wisps of hair over his
forehead from the back of his head); talked a great deal about the House; was
assiduous in his attendance there and in the City; and conciliating with all
the world. It seemed as if we were all his constituents, and though his efforts
to make himself agreeable were rather apparent, the effect succeeded pretty
well. We met Mr. and Mrs. Hobson Newcome, and Clive, and Miss Ethel looking
beautiful in her black robes. It was a family party, Sir Barnes said, giving us
to understand, with a decorous solemnity in face and voice, that no
<i>large</i> parties as yet could be received in that house of mourning.
</p>

<p>
To this party was added, rather to my surprise, my Lord Highgate, who under the
sobriquet of Jack Belsize has been presented to the reader of this history.
Lord Highgate gave Lady Clara his arm to dinner, but went and took a place next
Miss Newcome, on the other side of her; that immediately by Lady Clara being
reserved for a guest who had not as yet made his appearance.
</p>

<p>
Lord Highgate&rsquo;s attentions to his neighbour, his laughing and talking,
were incessant; so much so that Clive, from his end of the table, scowled in
wrath at Jack Belsize&rsquo;s assiduities: it was evident that the youth,
though hopeless, was still jealous and in love with his charming cousin.
</p>

<p>
Barnes Newcome was most kind to all his guests: from Aunt Hobson to your humble
servant, there was not one but the of master the house had an agreeable word
for him. Even for his cousin Samuel Newcome, a gawky youth with an eruptive
countenance, Barnes had appropriate words of conversation, and talked about
King&rsquo;s College, of which the lad was an ornament, with the utmost
affability. He complimented that institution and young Samuel, and by that shot
knocked not only over Sam but his mamma too. He talked to Uncle Hobson about
his crops; to Clive about his pictures; to me about the great effect which a
certain article in the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> had produced in the House,
where the Chancellor of the Exchequer was perfectly livid with fury, and Lord
John bursting out laughing at the attack: in fact, nothing could be more
amiable than our host on this day. Lady Clara was very pretty&mdash;grown a
little stouter since her marriage; the change only became her. She was a little
silent, but then she had Uncle Hobson on her left-hand side, between whom and
her ladyship there could not be much in common, and the place at the right hand
was still vacant. The person with whom she talked most freely was Clive, who
had made a beautiful drawing of her and her little girl, for which the mother
and the father too, as it appeared, were very grateful.
</p>

<p>
What had caused this change in Barnes&rsquo;s behaviour? Our particular merits
or his own private reform? In the two years over which this narrative has had
to run in the course of as many chapters, the writer had inherited a property
so small that it could not occasion a banker&rsquo;s civility; and I put down
Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s politeness to a sheer desire to be well with me. But
with Lord Highgate and Clive the case was different, as you must now hear.
</p>

<p>
Lord Highgate, having succeeded to his father&rsquo;s title and fortune, had
paid every shilling of his debts, and had sowed his wild oats to the very last
corn. His lordship&rsquo;s account at Hobson Brothers was very large. Painful
events of three years&rsquo; date, let us hope, were forgotten&mdash;gentlemen
cannot go on being in love and despairing, and quarrelling for ever. When he
came into his funds, Highgate behaved with uncommon kindness to Rooster, who
was always straitened for money: and when the late Lord Dorking died and
Rooster succeeded to him, there was a meeting at Chanticlere between Highgate
and Barnes Newcome and his wife, which went off very comfortably. At
Chanticlere the Dowager Lady Kew and Miss Newcome were also staying, when Lord
Highgate announced his prodigious admiration for the young lady; and, it was
said, corrected Farintosh, as a low-minded, foul-tongued young cub, for daring
to speak disrespectfully of her. Nevertheless, vous concevez, when a man of the
Marquis&rsquo;s rank was supposed to look with the eyes of admiration upon a
young lady, Lord Highgate would not think of spoiling sport, and he left
Chanticlere declaring that he was always destined to be unlucky in love. When
old Lady Kew was obliged to go to Vichy for her lumbago, Highgate said to
Barnes, &ldquo;Do ask your charming sister to come to you in London; she will
bore herself to death with the old woman at Vichy, or with her mother at
Rugby&rdquo; (whither Lady Anne had gone to get her boys educated), and
accordingly Miss Newcome came on a visit to her brother and sister, at whose
house we have just had the honour of seeing her.
</p>

<p>
When Rooster took his seat in the House of Lords, he was introduced by Highgate
and Kew, as Highgate had been introduced by Kew previously. Thus these three
gentlemen all rode in gold coaches; had all got coronets on their heads; as you
will, my respected young friend, if you are the eldest son of a peer who dies
before you. And now they were rich, they were all going to be very good boys,
let us hope. Kew, we know, married one of the Dorking family, that second Lady
Henrietta Pulleyn, whom we described as frisking about at Baden, and not in the
least afraid of him. How little the reader knew, to whom we introduced the girl
in that chatty offhand way, that one day the young creature would be a
countess! But we knew it all the while&mdash;and, when she was walking about
with the governess, or romping with her sisters; and when she had dinner at one
o&rsquo;clock; and when she wore a pinafore very likely&mdash;we secretly
respected her as the future Countess of Kew, and mother of the Viscount Walham.
</p>

<p>
Lord Kew was very happy with his bride, and very good to her. He took Lady Kew
to Paris, for a marriage trip; but they lived almost altogether at Kewbury
afterwards, where his lordship sowed tame oats now after his wild ones, and
became one of the most active farmers of his county. He and the Newcomes were
not very intimate friends; for Lord Kew was heard to say that he disliked
Barnes more after his marriage than before. And the two sisters, Lady Clara and
Lady Kew, had a quarrel on one occasion, when the latter visited London just
before the dinner at which we have just assisted&mdash;nay, at which we are
just assisting, took place,&mdash;a quarrel about Highgate&rsquo;s attentions
to Ethel, very likely. Kew was dragged into it, and hot words passed between
him and Jack Belsize; and Jack did not go down to Kewbury afterwards, though
Kew&rsquo;s little boy was christened after him. All these interesting details
about people of the very highest rank, we are supposed to whisper in the
reader&rsquo;s ear as we are sitting at a Belgravian dinner-table. My dear
Barmecide friend, isn&rsquo;t it pleasant to be in such fine company?
</p>

<p>
And now we must tell how it is that Clive Newcome, Esq., whose eyes are
flashing fire across the flowers of the table at Lord Highgate, who is making
himself so agreeable to Miss Ethel&mdash;now we must tell how it is that Clive
and his cousin Barnes have grown to be friends again.
</p>

<p>
The Bundelcund Bank, which had been established for four years, had now grown
to be one of the most flourishing commercial institutions in Bengal. Founded,
as the prospectus announced, at a time when all private credit was shaken by
the failure of the great Agency Houses, of which the downfall had carried
dismay and ruin throughout the Presidency, the B. B. had been established on
the <i>only</i> sound principle of commercial prosperity&mdash;that is
association. The native capitalists, headed by the great firm of Rummun Loll
and Co., of Calcutta, had largely embarked in the B. B., and the officers of
the two services and the European mercantile body of Calcutta had been invited
to take shares in an institution which, to merchants, native and English,
civilian and military men, was alike advantageous and indispensable. How many
young men of the latter services had been crippled for life by the ruinous cost
of agencies, of which the profits to the agents themselves were so enormous!
The shareholders of the B. B. were their own agents; and the greatest
capitalist in India as well as the youngest ensign in the service might invest
at the largest and safest premium, and borrow at the smallest interest, by
becoming according to his means, a shareholder in the B. B. Their
correspondents were established in each presidency and in every chief city of
India, as well as at Sydney, Singapore, Canton, and, of course. London. With
China they did, an immense opium-trade, of which the profits were so great,
that it was only in private sittings of the B. B. managing committee that the
details and accounts of these operations could be brought forward. Otherwise
the books of the bank were open to every shareholder; and the ensign or the
young civil servant was at liberty at any time to inspect his own private
account as well as the common ledger. With New South Wales they carried on a
vast trade in wool, supplying that great colony with goods, which their London
agents enabled them to purchase in such a way as to give them the command of
the market. As if to add to their prosperity, coppermines were discovered on
lands in the occupation of the B. Banking Company, which gave the most
astonishing returns. And throughout the vast territories of British India,
through the great native firm of Rummun Loll and Co., the Bundelcund Banking
Company had possession of the native markets. The order from Birmingham for
idols alone (made with their copper and paid in their wool) was enough to make
the Low Church party in England cry out; and a debate upon this subject
actually took place in the House of Commons, of which the effect was to send up
the shares of the Bundelcund Banking Company very considerably upon the London
Exchange.
</p>

<p>
The fifth half-yearly dividend was announced at twelve and a quarter per cent
of the paid-up capital: the accounts from the copper-mine sent the dividend up
to a still greater height, and carried the shares to an extraordinary premium.
In the third year of the concern, the house of Hobson Brothers, of London,
became the agents of the Bundelcund Banking Company of India and amongst our
friends, James Binnie, who had prudently held out for some time and Clive
Newcome, Esq., became shareholders, Clive&rsquo;s good father having paid the
first instalments of the lad&rsquo;s shares up in Calcutta, and invested every
rupee he could himself command in this enterprise. When Hobson Brothers joined
it, no wonder James Binnie was convinced; Clive&rsquo;s friend, the Frenchman,
and through that connexion the house of Higg, of Newcome and Manchester,
entered into the affair; and amongst the minor contributors in England we may
mention Miss Cann, who took a little fifty-pound-note share and dear old Miss
Honeyman; and J. J., and his father, Ridley, who brought a small bag of
saving&mdash;all knowing that their Colonel, who was eager that his friends
should participate in his good fortune, would never lead them wrong. To
Clive&rsquo;s surprise Mrs. Mackenzie, between whom and himself there was a
considerable coolness, came to his chambers, and with a solemn injunction that
the matter between them should be quite private, requested him to purchase 1500
pounds worth of Bundelcund shares for her and her darling girls, which he did,
astonished to find the thrifty widow in possession of so much money. Had Mr.
Pendennis&rsquo;s mind not been bent at this moment on quite other subjects, he
might have increased his own fortune by the Bundelcund Bank speculation; but in
these two years I was engaged in matrimonial affairs (having Clive Newcome,
Esq., as my groomsman on a certain interesting occasion). When we returned from
our tour abroad the India Bank shares were so very high that I did not care to
purchase, though I found an affectionate letter from our good Colonel
(enjoining me to make my fortune) awaiting me at the agent&rsquo;s, and my wife
received a pair of beautiful Cashmere shawls from the same kind friend.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0049" id="link2HCH0049"></a>
CHAPTER XLIX.<br/>
Contains at least six more Courses and two Desserts</h2>

<p>
The banker&rsquo;s dinner-party over, we returned to our apartments, having
dropped Major Pendennis at his lodgings, and there, as the custom is amongst
most friendly married couples, talked over the company and the dinner. I
thought my wife would naturally have liked Sir Barnes Newcome, who was very
attentive to her, took her to dinner as the bride, and talked ceaselessly to
her during the whole entertainment.
</p>

<p>
Laura said No&mdash;she did not know why&mdash;could there be any better
reason? There was a tone about Sir Barnes Newcome she did not
like&mdash;especially in his manner to women.
</p>

<p>
I remarked that he spoke sharply and in a sneering manner to his wife, and
treated one or two remarks which she made as if she was an idiot.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Pendennis flung up her head as much as to say, &ldquo;and so she
is.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
<i>Mr. Pendennis</i>. What, the wife too, my dear Laura! I should have thought
such a pretty, simple, innocent young woman, with just enough good looks to
make her pass muster, who is very well bred and not brilliant at all,&mdash;I
should have thought such a one might have secured a sister&rsquo;s approbation.
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. Pendennis</i>. You fancy we are all jealous of one another. No protests
of ours can take that notion out of your heads. My dear Pen, I do not intend to
try. We are not jealous of mediocrity: we are not patient of it. I dare say we
are angry because we see men admire it so. You gentlemen, who pretend to be our
betters, give yourselves such airs of protection, and profess such a lofty
superiority over us, prove it by quitting the cleverest woman in the room for
the first pair of bright eyes and dimpled cheeks that enter. It was those
charms which attracted you in Lady Clara, sir.
</p>

<p>
<i>Pendennis</i>. I think she is very pretty, and very innocent, and artless.
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. P</i>. Not very pretty, and perhaps not so very artless.
</p>

<p>
<i>Pendennis</i>. How can you tell, you wicked woman? Are you such a profound
deceiver yourself, that you can instantly detect artifice in others? O Laura!
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. P</i>. We can detect all sorts of things. The inferior animals have
instincts, you know. (I must say my wife is always very satirical upon this
point of the relative rank of the sexes.) One thing I am sure of is, that she
is not happy; and oh, Pen! that she does not care much for her little girl.
</p>

<p>
<i>Pendennis</i>. How do you know that, my dear?
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. P</i>. We went upstairs to see the child after dinner. It was at my
wish. The mother did not offer to go. The child was awake and crying. Lady
Clara did not offer to take it. Ethel&mdash;Miss Newcome took it, rather to my
surprise, for she seems very haughty; and the nurse, who I suppose was at
supper, came running up at the noise, and then the poor little thing was quiet.
</p>

<p>
<i>Pendennis</i>. I remember we heard the music as the dining-room door was
open; and Newcome said, &ldquo;That is what you will have to expect,
Pendennis.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. P</i>. Hush, sir! If my baby cries, I think you must expect me to run
out of the room. I liked Miss Newcome after seeing her with the poor little
thing. She looked so handsome as she walked with it! I longed to have it
myself.
</p>

<p>
<i>Pendennis. Tout vient à fin, à qui sait</i>&mdash;&mdash;
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. P</i>. Don&rsquo;t be silly. What a dreadful dreadful place this great
world of yours is, Arthur; where husbands do not seem to care for their wives;
where mothers do not love their children; where children love their nurses
best; where men talk what they call gallantry!
</p>

<p>
<i>Pendennis</i>. What?
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. P</i>. Yes, such as that dreary, languid, pale, bald, cadaverous,
leering man whispered to me. Oh, how I dislike him! I am sure he is unkind to
his wife. I am sure he has a bad temper; and if there is any excuse
for&mdash;&mdash;
</p>

<p>
<i>Pendennis</i>. For what?
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. P</i>. For nothing. But you heard yourself that he had a bad temper,
and spoke sneeringly to his wife. What could make her marry him?
</p>

<p>
<i>Pendennis</i>. Money, and the desire of papa and mamma. For the same reason
Clive&rsquo;s flame, poor Miss Newcome, was brought out to-day; that vacant
seat at her side was for Lord Farintosh, who did not come. And the Marquis not
being present, the Baron took his innings. Did you not see how tender he was to
her, and how fierce poor Clive looked?
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. P</i>. Lord Highgate was very attentive to Miss Newcome, was he?
</p>

<p>
<i>Pendennis</i>. And some years ago, Lord Highgate was breaking his heart
about whom do you think? about Lady Clara Pulleyn, our hostess of last night.
He was Jack Belsize then, a younger son, plunged over head and ears in debt;
and of course there could be no marriage. Clive was present at Baden when a
terrible scene took place, and carried off poor Jack to Switzerland and Italy,
where he remained till his father died, and he came into the title in which he
rejoices. And now he is off with the old love, Laura, and on with the new. Why
do you look at me so? Are you thinking that other people have been in love two
or three times too?
</p>

<p>
<i>Mrs. P</i>. I am thinking that I should not like to live in London, Arthur.
</p>

<p>
And this was all that Mrs. Laura could be brought to say. When this young woman
chooses to be silent, there is no power that can extract a word from her. It is
true that she is generally in the right; but that is only the more aggravating.
Indeed, what can be more provoking, after a dispute with your wife, than to
find it is you, and not she, who has been in the wrong?
</p>

<p class="p2">
Sir Barnes Newcome politely caused us to understand that the entertainment of
which we had just partaken was given in honour of the bride. Clive must needs
not be outdone in hospitality; and invited us and others to a fine feast at the
Star and Garter at Richmond, where Mrs. Pendennis was placed at his right hand.
I smile as I think how much dining has been already commemorated in these
veracious pages; but the story is an everyday record; and does not dining form
a certain part of the pleasure and business of every day? It is at that
pleasant hour that our set has the privilege of meeting the other. The morning
man and woman alike devote to business; or pass mainly in the company of their
own kind. John has his office; Jane her household, her nursery, her milliner,
her daughters and their masters. In the country he has his hunting, his
fishing, his farming, his letters; she her schools, her poor, her garden, or
what not. Parted through the shining hours, and improving them, let us trust,
we come together towards sunset only, we make merry and amuse ourselves. We
chat with our pretty neighbour, or survey the young ones sporting; we make love
and are jealous; we dance, or obsequiously turn over the leaves of
Cecilia&rsquo;s music-book; we play whist, or go to sleep in the arm-chair,
according to our ages and conditions. Snooze gently in thy arm-chair, thou easy
bald-head! play your whist, or read your novel, or talk scandal over your work,
ye worthy dowagers and fogies! Meanwhile the young ones frisk about, or dance,
or sing, or laugh; or whisper behind curtains in moonlit windows; or shirk away
into the garden, and come back smelling of cigars; nature having made them so
to do.
</p>

<p>
Nature at this time irresistibly impelled Clive Newcome towards love-making. It
was pairing-season with him. Mr. Clive was now some three-and-twenty years old:
enough has been said about his good looks, which were in truth sufficient to
make him a match for the young lady on whom he had set his heart, and from
whom, during this entertainment which he gave to my wife, he could never keep
his eyes away for three minutes. Laura&rsquo;s did not need to be so keen as
they were in order to see what poor Clive&rsquo;s condition was. She did not in
the least grudge the young fellow&rsquo;s inattention to herself; or feel hurt
that he did not seem to listen when she spoke; she conversed with J. J., her
neighbour, who was very modest and agreeable; while her husband, not so well
pleased, had Mrs. Hobson Newcome for his partner during the chief part of the
entertainment. Mrs. Hobson and Lady Clara were the matrons who gave the
sanction of their presence to this bachelor-party. Neither of their husbands
could come to Clive&rsquo;s little fête; had they not the City and the House of
Commons to attend? My uncle, Major Pendennis, was another of the guests; who
for his part found the party was what you young fellows call very slow.
Dreading Mrs. Hobson and her powers of conversation, the old gentleman nimbly
skipped out of her neighbourhood, and fell by the side of Lord Highgate, to
whom the Major was inclined to make himself very pleasant. But Lord
Highgate&rsquo;s broad back was turned upon his neighbour, who was forced to
tell stories to Captain Crackthorpe, which had amused dukes and marquises in
former days, and were surely quite good enough for any baron in this realm.
&ldquo;Lord Highgate sweet upon <i>la belle</i> Newcome, is he?&rdquo; said the
testy Major afterwards. &ldquo;He seemed to me to talk to Lady Clara the whole
time. When I awoke in the garden after dinner, as Mrs. Hobson was telling one
of her confounded long stories, I found her audience was diminished to one.
Crackthorpe, Lord Highgate, and Lady Clara, we had all been sitting there when
the bankeress cut in (in the mid of a very good story I was telling them, which
entertained them very much), and never ceased talking till I fell off into a
doze. When I roused myself, begad, she was still going on. Crackthorpe was off,
smoking a cigar on the terrace: my Lord and Lady Clara were nowhere; and you
four, with the little painter, were chatting cosily in another arbour. Behaved
himself very well, the little painter. Doosid good dinner Ellis gave us. But as
for Highgate being <i>aux soins</i> with <i>la belle Banquière</i>, trust me,
my boy, he is&mdash;upon my word, my dear, it seemed to me his thoughts went
quite another way. To be sure, Lady Clara is a <i>belle Banquière</i> too now.
He, he, he! How could he say he had no carriage to go home in? He came down in
Crackthorpe&rsquo;s cab, who passed us just now, driving back young
What-dye-call the painter.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Thus did the Major discourse, as we returned towards the City. I could see in
the open carriage which followed us (Lady Clara Newcome&rsquo;s) Lord
Highgate&rsquo;s white hat, by Clive&rsquo;s on the back seat.
</p>

<p>
Laura looked at her husband. The same thought may have crossed their minds,
though neither uttered it; but although Sir Barnes and Lady Clara Newcome
offered us other civilities during our stay in London, no inducements could
induce Laura to accept the proffered friendship of that lady. When Lady Clara
called, my wife was not at home; when she invited us, Laura pleaded
engagements. At first she bestowed on Miss Newcome, too, a share of this
haughty dislike, and rejected the advances which that young lady, who professed
to like my wife very much, made towards an intimacy. When I appealed to her
(for Newcome&rsquo;s house was after all a very pleasant one, and you met the
best people there), my wife looked at me with an expression of something like
scorn, and said: &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t I like Miss Newcome? Of course because
I am jealous of her&mdash;all women, you know, Arthur, are jealous of such
beauties.&rdquo; I could get for a long while no better explanation than these
sneers, for my wife&rsquo;s antipathy towards this branch of the Newcome
family; but an event presently came which silenced my remonstrances, and showed
to me, that Laura had judged Barnes and his wife only too well.
</p>

<p>
Poor Mrs. Hobson Newcome had reason to be sulky at the neglect which all the
Richmond party showed her, for nobody, not even Major Pendennis, as we have
seen, would listen to her intellectual conversation; nobody, not even Lord
Highgate, would drive back to town in her carriage, though the vehicle was
large and empty, and Lady Clara&rsquo;s barouche, in which his lordship chose
to take a place, had already three occupants within it:&mdash;but in spite of
these rebuffs and disappointments the virtuous lady of Bryanstone Square was
bent upon being good-natured and hospitable; and I have to record, in the
present chapter, yet one more feast of which Mr. and Mrs. Pendennis partook at
the expense of the most respectable Newcome family.
</p>

<p>
Although Mrs. Laura here also appeared, and had the place of honour in her
character of bride, I am bound to own my opinion that Mrs. Hobson only made us
the pretext of her party, and that in reality it was given to persons of a much
more exalted rank. We were the first to arrive, our good old Major, the most
punctual of men, bearing us company. Our hostess was arrayed in unusual state
and splendour; her fat neck was ornamented with jewels, rich bracelets
decorated her arms, and this Bryanstone Square Cornelia had likewise her family
jewels distributed round her, priceless male and female Newcome gems, from the
King&rsquo;s College youth, with whom we have made a brief acquaintance, and
his elder sister, now entering into the world, down to the last little ornament
of the nursery, in a prodigious new sash, with ringlets hot and crisp from the
tongs of a Marylebone hairdresser, We had seen the cherub faces of some of
these darlings pressed against the drawing-room windows as our carriage drove
up to the door; when, after a few minutes&rsquo; conversation, another vehicle
arrived, away they dashed to the windows again, the innocent little dears
crying out, &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s the Marquis;&rdquo; and in sadder tones,
&ldquo;No, it isn&rsquo;t the Marquis,&rdquo; by which artless expressions they
showed how eager they were to behold an expected guest of a rank only inferior
to Dukes in this great empire.
</p>

<p>
Putting two and two together, as the saying is, it was not difficult for me to
guess who the expected Marquis was&mdash;and, indeed, the King&rsquo;s College
youth set that question at once to rest, by wagging his head at me, and winking
his eye, and saying, &ldquo;We expect Farintosh.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why, my dearest children,&rdquo; Matronly Virtue exclaimed, &ldquo;this
anxiety to behold the young Marquis of Farintosh, whom we expect at our modest
table, Mrs. Pendennis, to-day? Twice you have been at the window in your
eagerness to look for him. Louisa, you silly child, do you imagine that his
lordship will appear in his robes and coronet? Rodolf, you absurd boy, do you
think that a Marquis is other than a man? I have never admired aught but
intellect, Mrs. Pendennis; <i>that</i>, let us be thankful, is the only true
title to distinction in our country nowadays.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Begad, sir,&rdquo; whispers the old Major to me, &ldquo;intellect may be
a doosid fine thing, but in my opinion, a Marquisate and eighteen or twenty
thousand a year&mdash;I should say the Farintosh property, with the Glenlivat
estate and the Roy property in England, must be worth nineteen thousand a year
at the very lowest figure and I remember when this young man&rsquo;s father was
only Tom Roy, of the 42nd, with no hope of succeeding to the title, and
doosidly out at elbows too&mdash;I say what does the bankeress mean by
chattering about intellect? Hang me, a Marquis is a Marquis; and Mrs. Newcome
knows it as well as I do.&rdquo; My good Major was growing old, and was not
unnaturally a little testy at the manner in which his hostess received him.
Truth to tell, she hardly took any notice of him and cut down a couple of the
old gentleman&rsquo;s stories before he had been five minutes in the room.
</p>

<p>
To our party presently comes the host in a flurried countenance, with a white
waistcoat, holding in his hand an open letter, towards which his wife looks
with some alarm. &ldquo;How dy&rsquo; doo, Lady Clara, how dy&rsquo; doo,
Ethel?&rdquo; he says, saluting those ladies, whom the second carriage had
brought to us. &ldquo;Sir Barnes is not coming, that&rsquo;s one place vacant;
that, Lady Clara, you won&rsquo;t mind, you see him at home: but here&rsquo;s a
disappointment for you, Miss Newcome, Lord Farintosh can&rsquo;t come.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
At this, two of the children cry out &ldquo;Oh! oh!&rdquo; with such a
melancholy accent that Miss Newcome and Lady Clara burst out laughing.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Got a dreadful toothache,&rdquo; said Mr. Hobson; &ldquo;here&rsquo;s
his letter.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hang it, what a bore!&rdquo; cries artless young King&rsquo;s College.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why a bore, Samuel? A bore, as you call it, for Lord Farintosh, I grant;
but do you suppose that the high in station are exempt from the ills of
mortality? I know nothing more painful than a toothache,&rdquo; exclaims a
virtuous matron, using the words of philosophy, but showing the countenance of
anger.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hang it, why didn&rsquo;t he have it out?&rdquo; says Samuel.
</p>

<p>
Miss Ethel laughed. &ldquo;Lord Farintosh would not have that tooth out for the
world, Samuel,&rdquo; she cried, gaily. &ldquo;He keeps it in on purpose, and
it always aches when he does not want to go out to dinner.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know <i>one</i> humble family who will never ask him again,&rdquo;
Mrs. Hobson exclaims, rustling in all her silks, and tapping her fan and her
foot. The eclipse, however, passes off her countenance and light is restored;
when at this moment, a cab having driven up during the period of darkness, the
door is flung open, and Lord Highgate is announced by a loud-voiced butler.
</p>

<p>
My wife, being still the bride on this occasion, had the honour of being led to
the dinner-table by our banker and host. Lord Highgate was reserved for Mrs.
Hobson, who, in an engaging manner, requested poor Clive to conduct his cousin
Maria to dinner, handing over Miss Ethel to another guest. Our Major gave his
arm to Lady Clara, and I perceived that my wife looked very grave as he passed
the place where she sat, and seated Lady Clara in the next chair to that which
Lord Highgate chanced to occupy. Feeling himself <i>en vein</i>, and the
company being otherwise rather mum and silent, my uncle told a number of
delightful anecdotes about the beau-monde of his time, about the Peninsular
war, the Regent, Brummell, Lord Steyne, Pea Green Payne, and so forth. He said
the evening was very pleasant, though some others of the party, as it appeared
to me, scarcely seemed to think so. Clive had not a word for his cousin Maria,
but looked across the table at Ethel all dinner-time. What could Ethel have to
say to her partner, old Colonel Sir Donald M&rsquo;Craw, who gobbled and drank,
as his wont is, and if he had a remark to make, imparted it to Mrs. Hobson, at
whose right hand he was sitting, and to whom, during the whole course, or
courses, of the dinner, my Lord Highgate scarcely uttered one single word?
</p>

<p>
His lordship was whispering all the while into the ringlets of Lady Clara; they
were talking a jargon which their hostess scarcely understood, of people only
known to her by her study of the Peerage. When we joined the ladies after
dinner, Lord Highgate again made way towards Lady Clara, and at an order from
her, as I thought, left her ladyship, and strove hard to engage in a
conversation with Mrs. Newcome. I hope he succeeded in smoothing the frowns in
that round little face. Mrs. Laura, I own, was as grave as a judge all the
evening; very grave even and reserved with my uncle, when the hour for parting
came, and we took him home.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He, he!&rdquo; said the old man, coughing, and nodding his old head and
laughing in his senile manner, when I saw him on the next day; &ldquo;that was
a pleasant evening we had yesterday; doosid pleasant, and I think my two
neighbours seemed to be uncommonly pleased with each other; not an amusing
fellow, that young painter of yours, though he is good-looking enough, but
there&rsquo;s no conversation in him. Do you think of giving a little dinner,
Arthur, in return for these hospitalities? Greenwich, hey, or something of that
sort? I&rsquo;ll go you halves, sir, and we&rsquo;ll ask the young banker and
bankeress&mdash;not yesterday&rsquo;s Amphitryon nor his wife; no, no, hang it!
but Barnes Newcome is a devilish clever, rising man, and moves in about as good
society as any in London. We&rsquo;ll ask him and Lady Clara and Highgate, and
one or two more, and have a pleasant party.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
But to this proposal, when the old man communicated it to her, in a very quiet,
simple, artful way, Laura, with a flushing face said No quite abruptly, and
quitted the room, rustling in her silks, and showing at once dignity and
indignation.
</p>

<p class="p2">
Not many more feasts was Arthur Pendennis, senior, to have in this world. Not
many more great men was he to flatter, nor schemes to wink at, nor earthly
pleasures to enjoy. His long days were well-nigh ended: on his last couch,
which Laura tended so affectionately, with his last breath almost, he faltered
out to me. &ldquo;I had other views for you, my boy, and once hoped to see you
in a higher position in life; but I begin to think now, Arthur, that I was
wrong; and as for that girl, sir, I am sure she is an angel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
May I not inscribe the words with a grateful heart? Blessed he&mdash;blessed
though maybe undeserving&mdash;who has the love of a good woman.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0050" id="link2HCH0050"></a>
CHAPTER L.<br/>
Clive in New Quarters</h2>

<p>
My wife was much better pleased with Clive than with some of his relatives to
whom I had presented her. His face carried a recommendation with it that few
honest people could resist. He was always a welcome friend in our lodgings, and
even our uncle the Major signified his approval of the lad as a young fellow of
very good manners and feelings, who, if he chose to throw himself away and be a
painter, <i>ma foi</i>, was rich enough no doubt to follow his own caprices.
Clive executed a capital head of Major Pendennis, which now hangs in our
drawing-room at Fairoaks, and reminds me of that friend of my youth. Clive
occupied ancient lofty chambers in Hanover Square now. He had furnished them in
an antique manner, with hangings, cabinets, carved work, Venice glasses, fine
prints, and water-colour sketches of good pictures by his own and other hands.
He had horses to ride, and a liberal purse full of paternal money. Many fine
equipages drew up opposite to his chambers: few artists had such luck as young
Mr. Clive. And above his own chambers were other three which the young
gentleman had hired, and where, says he, &ldquo;I hope ere very long my dear
old father will be lodging with me. In another year he says he thinks he will
be able to come home; when the affairs of the Bank are quite settled. You shake
your head! why? The shares are worth four times what we gave for them. We are
men of fortune, Pen, I give you my word. You should see how much they make of
me at Baynes and Jolly&rsquo;s, and how civil they are to me at Hobson
Brothers&rsquo;! I go into the City now and then, and see our manager, Mr.
Blackmore. He tells me such stories about indigo, and wool, and copper, and
sicca rupees, and Company&rsquo;s rupees. I don&rsquo;t know anything about the
business, but my father likes me to go and see Mr. Blackmore. Dear cousin
Barnes is for ever asking me to dinner; I might call Lady Clara Clara if I
liked, as Sam Newcome does in Bryanstone Square. You can&rsquo;t think how kind
they are to me there. My aunt reproaches me tenderly for not going there
oftener&mdash;it&rsquo;s not very good fun dining in Bryanstone Square, is it?
And she praises my cousin Maria to me&mdash;you should hear my aunt praise her!
I have to take Maria down to dinner; to sit by the piano and listen to her
songs in all languages. Do you know Maria can sing Hungarian and Polish,
besides your common German, Spanish, and Italian? Those I have at our
<i>other</i> agents&rsquo;, Baynes and Jolly&rsquo;s&mdash;Baynes&rsquo;s that
is in the Regent&rsquo;s Park, where the girls are prettier and just as civil
to me as at Aunt Hobson&rsquo;s.&rdquo; And here Clive would amuse us by the
accounts which he gave us of the snares which the Misses Baynes, those young
sirens of Regent&rsquo;s Park, set for him; of the songs which they sang to
enchant him, the albums in which they besought him to draw&mdash;the thousand
winning ways which they employed to bring him into their cave in York Terrace.
But neither Circe&rsquo;s smiles nor Calypso&rsquo;s blandishments had any
effect on him; his ears were stopped to their music, and his eyes rendered dull
to their charms by those of the flighty young enchantress with whom my wife had
of late made acquaintance.
</p>

<p>
Capitalist though he was, our young fellow was still very affable. He forgot no
old friends in his prosperity; and the lofty antique chambers would not
unfrequently be lighted up at nights to receive F. B. and some of the old
cronies of the Haunt, and some of the Gandishites, who, if Clive had been of a
nature that was to be spoiled by flattery, had certainly done mischief to the
young man. Gandish himself, when Clive paid a visit to that illustrious
artist&rsquo;s Academy, received his former pupil as if the young fellow had
been a sovereign prince almost, accompanied him to his horse; and would have
held his stirrup as he mounted; whilst the beautiful daughters of the house
waved adieus to him from the parlour-window. To the young men assembled in his
Gandish studio, was never tired of talking about Clive. The Professor would
take occasion to inform them that he had been to visit his distinguished young
friend, Mr. Newcome, son of Colonel Newcome; that last evening he had been
present at an elegant entertainment at Mr. Newcome&rsquo;s news apartments.
Clive&rsquo;s drawings were hung up in Gandish&rsquo;s gallery, and pointed out
to visitors by the worthy Professor. On one or two occasions, I was allowed to
become a bachelor again, and participate in these jovial meetings. How guilty
my coat was on my return home; how haughty the looks of the mistress of my
house, as she bade Martha carry away the obnoxious garment! How grand F. B.
used to be as president of Clive&rsquo;s smoking-party, where he laid down the
law, talked the most talk, sang the jolliest song, and consumed the most drink
of all the jolly talkers and drinkers! Clive&rsquo;s popularity rose
prodigiously; not only youngsters, but old practitioners of the fine arts,
lauded his talents. What a shame that his pictures were all refused this year
at the Academy! Alfred Smee, Esq., R.A., was indignant at their rejection, but
J. J. confessed with a sigh, and Clive owned good-naturedly, that he had been
neglecting his business, and that his pictures were not so good as those of two
years before. I am afraid Mr. Clive went to too many balls and parties, to
clubs and jovial entertainments, besides losing yet more time in that other
pursuit we wot of. Meanwhile J. J. went steadily on with his work, no day
passed without a line: and Fame was not very far off, though this he heeded but
little; and Art, his sole mistress, rewarded him for his steady and fond
pursuit of her.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Look at him,&rdquo; Clive would say with a sigh. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t he
the mortal of all others the most to be envied! He is so fond of his art that
in all the world there is no attraction like it for him. He runs to his easel
at sunrise, and sits before it caressing his picture all day till nightfall. He
takes leave of it sadly when dark comes, spends the night in a Life Academy,
and begins next morning <i>da capo</i>. Of all the pieces of good fortune which
can befall a man, is not this the greatest: to have your desire, and then never
tire of it? I have been in such a rage with my own shortcomings that I have
dashed my foot through the canvases, and vowed I would smash my palette and
easel. Sometimes I succeed a little better in my work, and then it will happen
for half an hour that I am pleased, but pleased at what? pleased at drawing Mr.
Muggins&rsquo;s head rather like Mr. Muggins. Why, a thousand fellows can do
better, and when one day I reach my very best, yet thousands will be able to do
better still. Ours is a trade for which nowadays there is no excuse unless one
can be great in it: and I feel I have not the stuff for that. No. 666.
&lsquo;Portrait of Joseph Muggins, Esq., Newcome, Great George Street.&rsquo;
No. 979. &lsquo;Portrait of Mrs. Muggins, on her grey pony, Newcome.&rsquo; No.
579. &lsquo;Portrait of Joseph Muggins Esq.&rsquo;s dog Toby,
Newcome&rsquo;&mdash;this is&mdash;what I&rsquo;m fit for. These are the
victories I have set myself on achieving. Oh, Mrs. Pendennis, isn&rsquo;t it
humiliating? Why isn&rsquo;t there a war? Why can&rsquo;t I go and distinguish
myself somewhere and be a general? Why haven&rsquo;t I a genius? I say, Pen,
sir, why haven&rsquo;t I a genius? There is a painter who lives hard by, and
who sends sometimes, to beg me to come and look at his work. He is in the
Muggins line too. He gets his canvases with a good light upon them: excludes
the contemplation of all other objects, stands beside his pictures in an
attitude himself, and thinks that he and they are masterpieces. Masterpieces!
Oh me, what drivelling wretches we are! Fame!&mdash;except that of just the one
or two&mdash;what&rsquo;s the use of it? I say, Pen, would you feel
particularly proud now if you had written Hayley&rsquo;s poems? And as for a
second place in painting, who would care to be Caravaggio or Caracci? I
wouldn&rsquo;t give a straw to be Caracci or Caravaggio. I would just as soon
be yonder artist who is painting up Foker&rsquo;s Entire over the public-house
at the corner. He will have his payment afterwards, five shillings a day, and a
pot of beer. Your head a little more to the light, Mrs. Pendennis, if you
please. I am tiring you, I dare say, but then, oh, I am doing it so
badly!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I, for my part, thought Clive was making a very pretty drawing of my wife, and
having affairs of my own to attend to, would often leave her at his chambers as
a sitter, or find him at our lodgings visiting her. They became the very
greatest friends. I knew the young fellow could have no better friend than
Laura; and not being ignorant of the malady under which he was labouring,
concluded naturally and justly that Clive grew so fond of my wife, not for her
sake entirely, but for his own, because he could pour his heart out to her, and
her sweet kindness and compassion would soothe him in his unhappy condition.
</p>

<p>
Miss Ethel, I have said, also professed a great fondness for Mrs. Pendennis;
and there was that charm in the young lady&rsquo;s manner which speedily could
overcome even female jealousy. Perhaps Laura determined magnanimously to
conquer it; perhaps she hid it so as to vex me and prove the injustice of my
suspicions: perhaps, honestly, she was conquered by the young beauty, and gave
her a regard and admiration which the other knew she could inspire whenever she
had the will. My wife was fairly captivated by her at length. The untameable
young creature was docile and gentle in Laura&rsquo;s presence; modest,
natural, amiable, full of laughter and spirits, delightful to see and to hear;
her presence cheered our quiet little household; her charm fascinated my wife
as it had subjugated poor Clive. Even the reluctant Farintosh was compelled to
own her power, and confidentially told his male friends, that, hang it, she was
so handsome, and so clever, and so confoundedly pleasant and fascinating, and
that&mdash;that he had been on the point of popping the fatal question ever so
many times, by Jove. &ldquo;And hang it, you know,&rdquo; his lordship would
say, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to marry until I have had my fling, you
know.&rdquo; As for Clive, Ethel treated him like a boy, like a big brother.
She was jocular, kind, pert, pleasant with him, ordered him on her errands,
accepted his bouquets and compliments, admired his drawings, liked to hear him
praised, and took his part in all companies; laughed at his sighs, and frankly
owned to Laura her liking for him and her pleasure in seeing him.
&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;should not I be happy as long as the
sunshine lasts? To-morrow, I know, will be glum and dreary enough. When
grandmamma comes back I shall scarcely be able to come and see you. When I am
settled in life&mdash;eh! I shall be settled in life! Do not grudge me my
holiday, Laura. Oh, if you knew how stupid it is to be in the world, and how
much pleasanter to come and talk, and laugh, and sing, and be happy with you,
than to sit in that dreary Eaton Place with poor Clara!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why do you stay in Eaton Place?&rdquo; asks Laura.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why? because I must go out with somebody. What an unsophisticated little
country creature you are! Grandmamma is away, and I cannot go about to parties
by myself.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But why should you go to parties, and why not go back to your
mother?&rdquo; says Mrs. Pendennis, gently.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;To the nursery, and my little sisters, and Miss Cann? I like being in
London best, thank you. You look grave? You think a girl should like to be with
her mother and sisters best? My dear mamma wishes me to be here, and I stay
with Barnes and Clara by grandmamma&rsquo;s orders. Don&rsquo;t you know that I
have been made over to Lady Kew, who has adopted me? Do you think a young lady
of my pretensions can stop at home in a damp house in Warwickshire and cut
bread-and-butter for little schoolboys? Don&rsquo;t look so very grave and
shake your head so, Mrs. Pendennis! If you had been bred as I have, you would
be as I am. I know what you are thinking, madam.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am thinking,&rdquo; said Laura, blushing and bowing her
head&mdash;&ldquo;I am thinking, if it pleases God to give me children, I
should like to live at home at Fairoaks.&rdquo; My wife&rsquo;s thoughts,
though she did not utter them, and a certain modesty and habitual awe kept her
silent upon subjects so very sacred, went deeper yet. She had been bred to
measure her actions by a standard which the world may nominally admit, but
which it leaves for the most part unheeded. Worship, love, duty, as taught her
by the devout study of the Sacred Law which interprets and defines it&mdash;if
these formed the outward practice of her life, they were also its constant and
secret endeavours and occupation. She spoke but very seldom of her religion,
though it filled her heart and influenced all her behaviour. Whenever she came
to that sacred subject, her demeanour appeared to her husband so awful that he
scarcely dared to approach it in her company, and stood without as this pure
creature entered into the Holy of Holies. What must the world appear to such a
person? Its ambitious rewards, disappointments, pleasures, worth how much?
Compared to the possession of that priceless treasure and happiness
unspeakable, a perfect faith, what has Life to offer? I see before me now her
sweet grave face, as she looks out from the balcony of the little Richmond
villa we occupied during the first happy year after our marriage, following
Ethel Newcome, who rides away, with a staid groom behind her, to her
brother&rsquo;s summer residence, not far distant. Clive had been with us in
the morning, and had brought us stirring news. The good Colonel was by this
time on his way home. &ldquo;If Clive could tear himself away from
London,&rdquo; the good man wrote (and we thus saw he was acquainted with the
state of the young man&rsquo;s mind), &ldquo;why should not Clive go and meet
his father at Malta?&rdquo; He was feverish and eager to go; and his two
friends strongly counselled him to take the journey. In the midst of our talk
Miss Ethel came among us. She arrived flushed and in high spirits; she rallied
Clive upon his gloomy looks; she turned rather pale, as it seemed to us, when
she heard the news. Then she coldly told him she thought the voyage must be a
pleasant one, and would do him good: it was pleasanter than that journey she
was going to take herself with her dreary grandmother, to those German springs
which the old Countess frequented year after year. Mr. Pendennis having
business, retired to his study, whither presently Mrs. Laura followed, having
to look for her scissors, or a book she wanted, or upon some pretext or other.
She sate down in the conjugal study; not one word did either of us say for a
while about the young people left alone in the drawing-room yonder. Laura
talked about our own home at Fairoaks, which our tenants were about to vacate.
She vowed and declared that we must live at Fairoaks; that Clavering, with all
its tittle-tattle and stupid inhabitants, was better than this wicked London.
Besides, there were some new and very pleasant families settled in the
neighbourhood. Clavering Park was taken by some delightful
people&mdash;&ldquo;and you know, Pen, you were always very fond of
fly-fishing, and may fish the Brawl, as you used in old days,
when&mdash;&rdquo; The lips of the pretty satirist who alluded to these
unpleasant bygones were silenced as they deserved to be by Mr. Pendennis.
&ldquo;Do you think, sir, I did not know,&rdquo; says the sweetest voice in the
world, &ldquo;when you went out on your fishing excursions with Miss
Amory?&rdquo; Again the flow of words is checked by the styptic previously
applied.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; says Mr. Pendennis, archly, bending over his
wife&rsquo;s fair hand&mdash;&ldquo;I wonder whether this kind of thing is
taking place in the drawing-room?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Nonsense, Arthur. It is time to go back to them. Why, I declare, I have
been three-quarters of an hour away!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they will much miss you, my dear,&rdquo; says the
gentleman.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She is certainly very fond of him. She is always coming here. I am sure
it is not to hear you read Shakspeare, Arthur; or your new novel, though it is
very pretty. I wish Lady Kew and her sixty thousand pounds were at the bottom
of the sea.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But she says she is going to portion her younger brothers with a part of
it; she told Clive so,&rdquo; remarks Mr. Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;For shame! Why does not Barnes Newcome portion his younger brothers? I
have no patience with that&mdash;&mdash;Why! Goodness! There is Clive going
away, actually! Clive! Mr. Newcome!&rdquo; But though my wife ran to the
study-window and beckoned our friend, he only shook his head, jumped on his
horse, and rode away gloomily.
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;Ethel had been crying when I went into the room,&rdquo; Laura afterwards
told me. &ldquo;I knew she had; but she looked up from some flowers over which
she was bending, began to laugh and rattle, would talk about nothing but Lady
Hautboi&rsquo;s great breakfast the day before, and the most insufferable
Mayfair jargon; and then declared it was time to go home and dress for Mrs.
Booth&rsquo;s <i>déjeûner</i>, which was to take place that afternoon.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And so Miss Newcome rode away&mdash;back amongst the roses and the
rouges&mdash;back amongst the fiddling, flirting, flattery, falseness&mdash;and
Laura&rsquo;s sweet serene face looked after her departing. Mrs. Booth&rsquo;s
was a very grand <i>déjeûner</i>. We read in the newspapers a list of the
greatest names there. A Royal Duke and Duchess; a German Highness, a Hindoo
Nabob, etc.; and, amongst the Marquises, Farintosh; and, amongst the Lords,
Highgate; and Lady Clara Newcome, and Miss Newcome, who looked killing, our
acquaintance Captain Crackthorpe informs us, and who was in perfectly stunning
spirits. &ldquo;His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke of Farintosh is wild about
her,&rdquo; the Captain said, &ldquo;and our poor young friend Clive may just
go and hang himself. Dine with us at the Gar and Starter? Jolly party. Oh! I
forgot! married man now!&rdquo; So saying, the Captain entered the hostelry
near which I met him, leaving this present chronicler to return to his own
home.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0051" id="link2HCH0051"></a>
CHAPTER LI.<br/>
An Old Friend</h2>

<p>
I might open the present chapter as a contemporary writer of Romance is
occasionally in the habit of commencing his tales of Chivalry, by a description
of a November afternoon falling leaves, tawny forests, gathering storms, and
other autumnal phenomena; and two horsemen winding up the romantic road which
leads from&mdash;from Richmond Bridge to the Star and Garter. The one rider is
youthful, and has a blonde moustache. The cheek of the other has been browned
by foreign suns; it is easy to see by the manner in which he bestrides his
powerful charger that he has followed the profession of arms. He looks as if he
had faced his country&rsquo;s enemies on many a field of Eastern battle. The
cavaliers alight before the gate of a cottage on Richmond Hill, where a
gentleman receives them with eager welcome. Their steeds are accommodated at a
neighbouring hostelry,&mdash;I pause in the midst of the description, for the
reader has made the acquaintance of our two horsemen long since. It is Clive
returned from Malta, from Gibraltar, from Seville, from Cadiz, and with him our
dear old friend the Colonel. His campaigns are over, his sword is hung up, he
leaves Eastern suns and battles to warm younger blood. Welcome back to England,
dear Colonel and kind friend! How quickly the years have passed since he has
been gone! There is a streak or two more silver in his hair. The wrinkles about
his honest eyes are somewhat deeper, but their look is as steadfast and kind as
in the early, almost boyish days when first we knew them.
</p>

<p>
We talk a while about the Colonel&rsquo;s voyage home, the pleasures of the
Spanish journey, the handsome new quarters in which Clive has installed his
father and himself, my own altered condition in life, and what not. During the
conversation a little querulous voice makes itself audible above-stairs, at
which noise Mr. Clive begins to laugh, and the Colonel to smile. It is for the
first time in his life Mr. Clive listens to the little voice; indeed, it is
only since about six weeks that that small organ has been heard in the world at
all. Laura Pendennis believes its tunes to be the sweetest, the most
interesting, the most mirth-inspiring, the most pitiful and pathetic, that ever
baby uttered; which opinions, of course, are backed by Mrs. Hokey, the
confidential nurse. Laura&rsquo;s husband is not so rapturous; but, let us
trust, behaves in a way becoming a man and a father. We forgo the description
of his feelings as not pertaining to the history at present under
consideration. A little while before the dinner is served, the lady of the
cottage comes down to greet her husband&rsquo;s old friends.
</p>

<p>
And here I am sorely tempted to a third description, which has nothing to do
with the story, to be sure, but which, if properly his off might fill half a
page very prettily. For is not a young mother one of the sweetest sights which
life shows us? If she has been beautiful before, does not her present pure joy
give a character of refinement and sacredness almost to her beauty, touch her
sweet cheeks with fairer blushes, and impart I know not what serene brightness
to her eyes? I give warning to the artist who designs the pictures for this
veracious story, to make no attempt at this subject. I never would be satisfied
with it were his drawing ever so good.
</p>

<p>
When Sir Charles Grandison stepped up and made his very beautifullest bow to
Miss Byron, I am sure his gracious dignity never exceeded that of Colonel
Newcome&rsquo;s first greeting to Mrs. Pendennis. Of course from the very
moment they beheld one another they became friends. Are not most of our likings
thus instantaneous? Before she came down to see him, Laura had put on one of
the Colonel&rsquo;s shawls&mdash;the crimson one, with the red palm-leaves and
the border of many colours. As for the white one, the priceless, the gossamer,
the fairy web, which might pass through a ring, <i>that</i>, every lady must be
aware, was already appropriated to cover the cradle, or what I believe is
called the bassinet, of Master Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
So we all became the very best of friends; and during the winter months whilst
we still resided at Richmond, the Colonel was my wife&rsquo;s constant visitor.
He often came without Clive. He did not care for the world which the young
gentleman frequented, and was more pleased and at home by my wife&rsquo;s
fireside than at more noisy and splendid entertainments. And, Laura being a
sentimental person interested in pathetic novels and all unhappy attachments,
of course she and the Colonel talked a great deal about Mr. Clive&rsquo;s
little affair, over which they would have such deep confabulations that even
when the master of the house appeared, Pater Familias, the man whom, in the
presence of the Rev. Dr. Portman, Mrs. Laura had sworn to love and honour these
two guilty ones would be silent, or change the subject of conversation, not
caring to admit such an unsympathising person as myself into their conspiracy.
</p>

<p>
From many a talk which they have had together since the Colonel and his son
embraced at Malta, Clive&rsquo;s father had been led to see how strongly the
passion which our friend had once fought and mastered, had now taken possession
of the young man. The unsatisfied longing left him indifferent to all other
objects of previous desire or ambition. The misfortune darkened the sunshine of
his spirit, and clouded the world before his eyes. He passed hours in his
painting-room, though he tore up what he did there. He forsook his usual
haunts, or appeared amongst his old comrades moody and silent. From
cigar-smoking, which I own to be a reprehensible practice, he plunged into
still deeper and darker dissipation; for I am sorry to say, he took to pipes
and the strongest tobacco, for which there is <i>no</i> excuse. Our young man
was changed. During the last fifteen or twenty months, the malady had been
increasing on him, of which we have not chosen to describe at length the
stages; knowing very well that the reader (the male reader at least) does not
care a fig about other people&rsquo;s sentimental perplexities, and is not
wrapped up heart and soul in Clive&rsquo;s affairs like his father, whose rest
was disturbed if the boy had a headache, or who would have stripped the coat
off his back to keep his darling&rsquo;s feet warm.
</p>

<p>
The object of this hopeless passion had, meantime, returned to the custody of
the dark old duenna, from which she had been liberated for a while. Lady Kew
had got her health again, by means of the prescriptions of some doctors, or by
the efficacy of some baths; and was again on foot and in the world, tramping
about in her grim pursuit of pleasure. Lady Julia, we are led to believe, had
retired upon half-pay, and into an inglorious exile at Brussels, with her
sister, the outlaw&rsquo;s wife, by whose bankrupt fireside she was perfectly
happy. Miss Newcome was now her grandmother&rsquo;s companion, and they had
been on a tour of visits in Scotland, and were journeying from country-house to
country-house about the time when our good Colonel returned to his native
shores.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel loved his nephew Barnes no better than before, perhaps, though we
must say that since his return from India the young Baronet&rsquo;s conduct had
been particularly friendly. &ldquo;No doubt marriage had improved him; Lady
Clara seemed a good-natured young woman enough; besides,&rdquo; says the
Colonel, wagging his good old head knowingly, &ldquo;Tom Newcome, of the
Bundelcund Bank, is a personage to be conciliated; whereas Tom Newcome, of the
Bengal Cavalry, was not worth Master Barnes&rsquo;s attention. He has been very
good and kind on the whole; so have his friends been uncommonly civil. There
was Clive&rsquo;s acquaintance, Mr. Belsize that was, Lord Highgate who is now,
entertained our whole family sumptuously last week&mdash;wants us and Barnes
and his wife to go to his country-house at Christmas&mdash;is as hospitable, my
dear Mrs. Pendennis, as man can be. He met you at Barnes&rsquo;s, and as soon
as we are alone,&rdquo; says the Colonel, turning round to Laura&rsquo;s
husband, &ldquo;I will tell you in what terms Lady Clara speaks of your wife.
Yes. She is a good-natured, kind little woman, that Lady Clara.&rdquo; Here
Laura&rsquo;s face assumed that gravity and severeness, which it always wore
when Lady Clara&rsquo;s name was mentioned, and the conversation took another
turn.
</p>

<p>
Returning home from London one afternoon, I met the Colonel, who hailed me on
the omnibus, and rode on his way towards the City, I knew, of course, that he
had been colloquying with my wife; and taxed that young woman with these
continued flirtations. &ldquo;Two or three times a week, Mrs. Laura, you dare
to receive a Colonel of Dragoons. You sit for hours closeted with the young
fellow of sixty; you change the conversation when your own injured husband
enters the room, and pretend to talk about the weather, or the baby. You little
arch hypocrite, you know you do. Don&rsquo;t try to humbug me, miss; what will
Richmond, what will society, what will Mrs. Grundy in general say to such
atrocious behaviour?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh! Pen,&rdquo; says my wife, closing my mouth in a way which I do not
choose further to particularise; &ldquo;that man is the best, the dearest, the
kindest creature. I never knew such a good man; you ought to put him into a
book. Do you know, sir, that I felt the very greatest desire to give him a kiss
when he went away; and that one which you had just now, was intended for him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Take back thy gift, false girl!&rdquo; says Mr Pendennis; and then,
finally, we come to the particular circumstance which had occasioned so much
enthusiasm on Mrs. Laura&rsquo;s part.
</p>

<p>
Colonel Newcome had summoned heart of grace, and in Clive&rsquo;s behalf had
regularly proposed him to Barnes, as a suitor to Ethel, taking an artful
advantage of his nephew Barnes Newcome, and inviting that Barnes to a private
meeting, where they were to talk about the affairs of the Bundelcund Banking
Company.
</p>

<p>
Now this Bundelcund Banking Company, in the Colonel&rsquo;s eyes, was in
reality his son Clive. But for Clive there might have been a hundred banking
companies established, yielding a hundred per cent, in as many districts of
India, and Thomas Newcome, who had plenty of money for his own wants, would
never have thought of speculation. His desire was to see his boy endowed with
all the possible gifts of fortune. Had he built a palace for Clive, and been
informed that a roc&rsquo;s egg was required to complete the decoration of the
edifice, Tom Newcome would have travelled to the world&rsquo;s end in search of
the wanting article. To see Prince Clive ride in a gold coach with a princess
beside him, was the kind old Colonel&rsquo;s ambition; that done, he would be
content to retire to a garret in the prince&rsquo;s castle, and smoke his
cheroot there in peace. So the world is made. The strong and eager covet honour
and enjoyment for themselves; the gentle and disappointed (once, they may have
been strong and eager, too) desire these gifts for their children. I think
Clive&rsquo;s father never liked or understood the lad&rsquo;s choice of a
profession. He acquiesced in it as he would in any of his son&rsquo;s wishes.
But, not being a poet himself, he could not see the nobility of that calling;
and felt secretly that his son was demeaning himself by pursuing the art of
painting. &ldquo;Had he been a soldier, now,&rdquo; thought Thomas Newcome,
&ldquo;(though I prevented that) had he been richer than he is, he might have
married Ethel, instead of being unhappy as he now is, God help him! I remember
my own time of grief well enough: and what years it took before my wound was
scarred over.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So with these things occupying his brain Thomas Newcome artfully invited
Barnes, his nephew, to dinner under pretence of talking of the affairs of the
great B. B. C. With the first glass of wine at dessert, and according to the
Colonel&rsquo;s good old-fashioned custom of proposing toasts, they drank the
health of the B. B. C. Barnes drank the toast with all his generous heart. The
B. B. C. sent to Hobson Brothers and Newcome a great deal of business, was in a
most prosperous condition, kept a great balance at the bank, a balance that
would not be overdrawn, as Sir Barnes Newcome very well knew. Barnes was for
having more of these bills, provided there were remittances to meet the same.
Barnes was ready to do any amount of business with the Indian bank, or with any
bank, or with any individual, Christian or heathen, white or black, who could
do good to the firm of Hobson Brothers and Newcome. He spoke upon this subject
with great archness and candour: of course as a City man he would be glad to do
a profitable business anywhere, and the B. B. C.&rsquo;s business was
profitable. But the interested motive which he admitted frankly as a man of the
world, did not prevent other sentiments more agreeable. &ldquo;My dear
Colonel,&rdquo; says Barnes, &ldquo;I am happy, most happy, to think that our
house and our name should have been useful, as I know they have been, in the
establishment of a concern in which one of our family is interested; one whom
we all so sincerely respect and regard.&rdquo; And he touched his glass with
his lips and blushed a little, as he bowed towards his uncle. He found himself
making a little speech, indeed; and to do so before one single person seems
rather odd. Had there been a large company present Barnes would not have
blushed at all, but have tossed off his glass, struck his waistcoat possibly,
and looked straight in the face of his uncle as the chairman; well, he
<i>did</i> very likely believe that he respected and regarded the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel said&mdash;&ldquo;Thank you, Barnes, with all my heart. It is
always good for men to be friends, much more for blood relations, as we
are.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A relationship which honours me, I&rsquo;m sure!&rdquo; says Barnes,
with a tone of infinite affability. You see, he believed that Heaven had made
him the Colonel&rsquo;s superior.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I am very glad,&rdquo; the elder went on, &ldquo;that you and my boy
are good friends.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Friends! of course. It would be unnatural if such near relatives were
otherwise than good friends.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have been hospitable to him, and Lady Clara very kind, and he wrote
to me telling me of your kindness. Ahem! this is tolerable claret. I wonder
where Clive gets it?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You were speaking about that indigo, Colonel!&rdquo; here Barnes
interposes. &ldquo;Our house has done very little in that way, to be sure but I
suppose that our credit is <i>about</i> as good as Baines and Jolly&rsquo;s,
and if&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; but the Colonel is in a brown study.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive will have a good bit of money when I die,&rdquo; resumes
Clive&rsquo;s father.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why, you are a hale man&mdash;upon my word, quite a young man, and may
marry again, Colonel,&rdquo; replies the nephew fascinatingly.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I shall never do that,&rdquo; replies the other. &ldquo;Ere many years
are gone, I shall be seventy years old, Barnes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Nothing in this country, my dear sir! positively nothing. Why, there was
Titus, my neighbour in the country&mdash;when will you come down to
Newcome?&mdash;who married a devilish pretty girl, of very good family, too,
Miss Burgeon, one of the Devonshire Burgeons. He looks, I am sure, twenty years
older than you do. Why should not you do likewise?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Because I like to remain single, and want to leave Clive a rich man.
Look here, Barnes, you know the value of our bank shares, now?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed I do; rather speculative; but of course I know what some sold for
last week,&rdquo; says Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Suppose I realise now. I think I am worth six lakhs. I had nearly two
from my poor father. I saved some before and since I invested in this affair;
and could sell out to-morrow with sixty thousand pounds.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A very pretty sum of money, Colonel,&rdquo; says Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have a pension of a thousand a year.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear Colonel, you are a capitalist! we know it very well,&rdquo;
remarks Sir Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And two hundred a year is as much as I want for myself,&rdquo; continues
the capitalist, looking into the fire, and jingling his money in his pockets.
&ldquo;A hundred a year for a horse; a hundred a year for pocket-money, for I
calculate, you know, that Clive will give me a bedroom and my dinner.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He! he! If your son won&rsquo;t, your nephew will, my dear
Colonel!&rdquo; says the affable Barnes, smiling sweetly.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I can give the boy a handsome allowance, you see,&rdquo; resumes Thomas
Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You can make him a handsome allowance now, and leave him a good fortune
when you die!&rdquo; says the nephew, in a noble and courageous
manner,&mdash;and as if he said Twelve times twelve are a hundred and
forty-four and you have Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s authority&mdash;Sir Barnes
Newcome&rsquo;s, mind you&mdash;to say so.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not when I die, Barnes,&rdquo; the uncle goes on. &ldquo;I will give him
every shilling I am worth to-morrow morning, if he marries as I wish
him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Tant mieux pour lui!&rdquo; cries the nephew; and thought to himself,
&ldquo;Lady Clara must ask Clive to dinner instantly. Confound the fellow. I
hate him&mdash;always have; but what luck he has!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A man with that property may pretend to a good wife, as the French say;
hey Barnes?&rdquo; asks the Colonel, rather eagerly looking up in his
nephew&rsquo;s face.
</p>

<p>
That countenance was lighted up with a generous enthusiasm. &ldquo;To any
woman, in any rank&mdash;to a nobleman&rsquo;s daughter, my dear sir!&rdquo;
exclaims Sir Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I want your sister; I want dear Ethel for him, Barnes,&rdquo; cries
Thomas Newcome, with a trembling voice, and a twinkle in his eyes. &ldquo;That
was the hope I always had till my talk with your poor father stopped it. Your
sister was engaged to my Lord Kew then; and my wishes of course were
impossible. The poor boy is very much cut up, and his whole heart is bent upon
possessing her. She is not, she can&rsquo;t be, indifferent to him. I am sure
she would not be, if her family in the least encouraged him. Can either of
these young folks have a better chance of happiness again offered to them in
life? There&rsquo;s youth, there&rsquo;s mutual liking, there&rsquo;s wealth
for them almost&mdash;only saddled with the encumbrance of an old dragoon, who
won&rsquo;t be much in their way. Give us your good word, Barnes, and let them
come together; and upon my word the rest of my days will be made happy if I can
eat my meal at their table.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Whilst the poor Colonel was making his appeal, Barnes had time to collect his
answer; which, since in our character of historians we take leave to explain
gentlemen&rsquo;s motives as well as record their speeches and actions, we may
thus interpret. &ldquo;Confound the young beggar!&rdquo; thinks Barnes, then.
&ldquo;He will have three or four thousand a year, will he? Hang him, but
it&rsquo;s a good sum of money. What a fool his father is to give it away! Is
he joking? No, he was always half crazy&mdash;the Colonel. Highgate seemed
uncommonly sweet on her, and was always hanging about our house. Farintosh has
not been brought to book yet; and perhaps neither of them will propose for her.
My grandmother, I should think, won&rsquo;t hear of her making a low marriage,
as this certainly is: but it&rsquo;s a pity to throw away four thousand a year,
ain&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; All these natural calculations passed briskly through
Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s mind, as his uncle, from the opposite side of the
fireplace, implored him in the above little speech.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear Colonel,&rdquo; said Barnes, &ldquo;my dear, kind Colonel! I
needn&rsquo;t tell you that your proposal flatters us, as much as your
extraordinary generosity surprises me. I never heard anything like
it&mdash;never. Could I consult my own wishes I would at once&mdash;I would,
permit me to say, from sheer admiration of your noble character, say yes, with
all my heart, to your proposal. But, alas, I haven&rsquo;t that power.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is&mdash;is she engaged?&rdquo; asks the Colonel, looking as blank and
sad as Clive himself when Ethel had conversed with him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No&mdash;I cannot say engaged&mdash;though a person of the very highest
rank has paid her the most marked attention. But my sister has, in a way, gone
from our family, and from my influence as the head of it&mdash;an influence
which I, I am sure, had most gladly exercised in your favour. My grandmother,
Lady Kew, has adopted her; purposes, I believe, to leave Ethel the greater part
of her fortune, upon certain conditions; and, of course, expects the&mdash;the
obedience, and so forth, which is customary in such cases. By the way, Colonel,
is our young soupirant aware that papa is pleading his cause for him?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The Colonel said no; and Barnes lauded the caution which his uncle had
displayed. It was quite as well for the young man&rsquo;s interests (which Sir
Barnes had most tenderly at heart) that Clive Newcome should not himself move
in the affair, or present himself to Lady Kew. Barnes would take the matter in
hand at the proper season; the Colonel might be sure it would be most eagerly,
most ardently pressed. Clive came home at this juncture, whom Barnes saluted
affectionately. He and the Colonel had talked over their money business; their
conversation had been most satisfactory, thank you. &ldquo;Has it not,
Colonel?&rdquo; The three parted the very best of friends.
</p>

<p>
As Barnes Newcome professed that extreme interest for his cousin and uncle, it
is odd he did not tell them that Lady Kew and Miss Ethel Newcome were at that
moment within a mile of them, at her ladyship&rsquo;s house in Queen Street,
Mayfair. In the hearing of Clive&rsquo;s servant, Barnes did not order his
brougham to drive to Queen Street, but waited until he was in Bond Street
before he gave the order.
</p>

<p>
And, of course, when he entered Lady Kew&rsquo;s house, he straightway asked
for his sister, and communicated to her the generous offer which the good
Colonel had made.
</p>

<p>
You see, Lady Kew was in town, and not in town. Her ladyship was but passing
through, on her way from a tour of visits in the North, to another tour of
visits somewhere else. The newspapers were not even off the blinds. The
proprietor of the house cowered over a bed-candle and a furtive teapot in the
back drawing-room. Lady Kew&rsquo;s gens were not here. The tall canary ones
with white polls, only showed their plumage and sang in spring. The solitary
wretch who takes charge of London houses, and the two servants specially
affected to Lady Kew&rsquo;s person, were the only people in attendance. In
fact, her ladyship was not in town. And that is why, no doubt, Barnes Newcome
said nothing about her being there.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0052" id="link2HCH0052"></a>
CHAPTER LII.<br/>
Family Secrets</h2>

<p>
The figure cowering over the furtive teapot glowered grimly at Barnes as he
entered; and an old voice said&mdash;&ldquo;Ho, it&rsquo;s you!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have brought you the notes, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; says Barnes, taking a
packet of those documents from his pocket-book. &ldquo;I could not come sooner,
I have been engaged upon bank business until now.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I dare say! You smell of smoke like a courier.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A foreign capitalist: he would smoke. They will, ma&rsquo;am. <i>I</i>
didn&rsquo;t smoke, upon my word.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see why you shouldn&rsquo;t, if you like it. You will
never get anything out of me whether you do or don&rsquo;t. How is Clara? Is
she gone to the country with the children? Newcome is the best place for
her.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Doctor Bambury thinks she can move in a fortnight. The boy has had a
little&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A little fiddlestick! I tell you it is she who likes to stay, and makes
that fool, Bambury, advise her not going away. I tell you to send her to
Newcome. The air is good for her.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By that confounded smoky town, my dear Lady Kew?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And invite your mother and little brothers and sisters to stay Christmas
there. The way in which you neglect them is shameful, it is, Barnes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Upon my word, ma&rsquo;am, I propose to manage my own affairs without
your ladyship&rsquo;s assistance,&rdquo; cries Barnes, starting up, &ldquo;and
did not come at this time of night to hear this kind of&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of good advice. I sent for you to give it you. When I wrote to you to
bring me the money I wanted it was but a pretext; Barkins might have fetched it
from the City in the morning. I want you to send Clara and the children to
Newcome. They ought to go, sir. That is why I sent for you; to tell you that.
Have you been quarrelling as much as usual?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pretty much as usual,&rdquo; says Barnes, drumming on his hat.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t beat that devil&rsquo;s tattoo; you agacez my poor old
nerves. When Clara was given to you she was as well broke a girl as any in
London.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Sir Barnes responded by a groan.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She was as gentle and amenable to reason, as good-natured a girl as
could be; a little vacant and silly, but you men like dolls for your wives; and
now in three years you have utterly spoiled her. She is restive, she is artful,
she flies into rages, she fights you and beats you. He! he! and that comes of
your beating her!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t come to hear this, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; says Barnes, livid
with rage
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You struck her, you know you did, Sir Barnes Newcome. She rushed over to
me last year on the night you did it, you know she did.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Great God, ma&rsquo;am! You know the provocation,&rdquo; screams Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Provocation or not, I don&rsquo;t say. But from that moment she has beat
you. You fool, to write her a letter and ask her pardon. If I had been a man I
would rather have strangled my wife, than have humiliated myself so before her.
She will never forgive that blow.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I was mad when I did it; and she drove me mad,&rdquo; says Barnes.
&ldquo;She has the temper of a fiend, and the ingenuity of the devil. In two
years an entire change has come over her. If I had used a knife to her I should
not have been surprised. But it is not with you to reproach me about Clara.
Your ladyship found her for me.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And you spoilt her after she was found, sir. She told me part of her
story that night she came to me. I know it is true, Barnes. You have treated
her dreadfully, sir.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know that she makes my life miserable, and there is no help for
it,&rdquo; says Barnes, grinding a curse between his teeth. &ldquo;Well, well,
no more about this. How is Ethel? Gone to sleep after her journey? What do you
think, ma&rsquo;am, I have brought for her? A proposal.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Bon Dieu! You don&rsquo;t mean to say Charles Belsize was in
earnest!&rdquo; cries the dowager. &ldquo;I always thought it was
a&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is not from Lord Highgate, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; Sir Barnes said,
gloomily. &ldquo;It is some time since I have known that he was not in earnest;
and he knows that I am now.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Gracious goodness! come to blows with him, too? You have not? That would
be the very thing to make the world talk,&rdquo; says the dowager, with some
anxiety.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No,&rdquo; answers Barnes. &ldquo;He knows well enough that there can be
no open rupture. We had some words the other day at a dinner he gave at his own
house; Colonel Newcome and that young beggar, Clive, and that fool, Mr. Hobson,
were there. Lord Highgate was confoundedly insolent. He told me that I did not
dare to quarrel with him because of the account he kept at our house. I should
like to have massacred him! She has told him that I struck her,&mdash;the
insolent brute&mdash;he says he will tell it at my clubs; and threatens
personal violence to me, there, if I do it again. Lady Kew, I&rsquo;m not safe
from that man and that woman,&rdquo; cries poor Barnes, in an agony of terror.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Fighting is Jack Belsize&rsquo;s business, Barnes Newcome; banking is
yours, luckily,&rdquo; said the dowager. &ldquo;As old Lord Highgate was to die
and his eldest son, too, it is a pity certainly they had not died a year or two
earlier, and left poor Clara and Charles to come together. You should have
married some woman in the serious way; my daughter Walham could have found you
one. Frank, I am told, and his wife go on very sweetly together; her
mother-in-law governs the whole family. They have turned the theatre back into
a chapel again: they have six little ploughboys dressed in surplices to sing
the service; and Frank and the Vicar of Kewbury play at cricket with them on
holidays. Stay, why should not Clara go to Kewbury?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She and her sister have quarrelled about this very affair with Lord
Highgate. Some time ago it appears they had words about it and when I told Kew
that bygones had best be bygones, that Highgate was very sweet upon Ethel now,
and that I did not choose to lose such a good account as his, Kew was very
insolent to me; his conduct was blackguardly, ma&rsquo;am, quite blackguardly,
and you may be sure but for our relationship I would have called him
to&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Here the talk between Barnes and his ancestress was interrupted by the
appearance of Miss Ethel Newcome, taper in hand, who descended from the upper
regions enveloped in a shawl.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How do you do, Barnes? How is Clara? I long to see my little nephew. Is
he like his pretty papa?&rdquo; cries the young lady, giving her fair cheek to
her brother.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Scotland has agreed with our Newcome rose,&rdquo; says Barnes,
gallantly. &ldquo;My dear Ethel, I never saw you in greater beauty.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By the light of one bedroom candle! what should I be if the whole room
were lighted? You would see my face then was covered all over with wrinkles,
and quite pale and woebegone, with the dreariness of the Scotch journey. Oh,
what a time we have spent! haven&rsquo;t we, grandmamma? I never wish to go to
a great castle again; above all, I never wish to go to a little shooting-box.
Scotland may be very well for men; but for women&mdash;allow me to go to Paris
when next there is talk of a Scotch expedition. I had rather be in a
boarding-school in the Champs Elysées than in the finest castle in the
Highlands. If it had not been for a blessed quarrel with Fanny Follington, I
think I should have died at Glen Shorthorn. Have you seen my dear, dear uncle,
the Colonel? When did he arrive?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is he come? Why is he come?&rdquo; asks Lady Kew.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is he come? Look here, grandmamma! did you ever see such a darling
shawl! I found it in a packet in my room.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, it is beautiful,&rdquo; cries the Dowager, bending her ancient
nose over the web. &ldquo;Your Colonel is a galant homme. That must be said of
him; and in this does not quite take after the rest of the family. Hum! hum! is
he going away again soon?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He has made a fortune, a very considerable fortune for a man in that
rank in life,&rdquo; says Sir Barnes. &ldquo;He cannot have less than sixty
thousand pounds.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is that much?&rdquo; asks Ethel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not in England, at our rate of interest; but his money is in India,
where he gets a great percentage. His income must be five or six thousand
pounds, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; says Barnes, turning to Lady Kew.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A few of the Indians were in society in my time, my dear,&rdquo; says
Lady Kew, musingly. &ldquo;My father has often talked to me about Barbell of
Stanstead, and his house in St. James&rsquo;s Square; the man who ordered more
curricles when there were not carriages enough for his guests. I was taken to
Mr. Hastings&rsquo;s trial. It was very stupid and long. The young man, the
painter, I suppose will leave his paint-pots now, and set up as a gentleman. I
suppose they were very poor, or his father would not have put him to such a
profession. Barnes, why did you not make him a clerk in the bank, and save him
from the humiliation?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Humiliation! why, he is proud of it. My uncle is as proud as a
Plantagenet; though he is as humble as&mdash;as what! Give me a simile Barnes.
Do you know what my quarrel with Fanny Follington was about? She said we were
not descended from the barber-surgeon, and laughed at the Battle of Bosworth.
She says our great-grandfather was a weaver. Was he a weaver?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How should I know? and what on earth does it matter, my child? Except
the Gaunts, the Howards, and one or two more, there is scarcely any good blood
in England. You are lucky in sharing some of mine. My poor Lord Kew&rsquo;s
grandfather was an apothecary at Hampton Court, and founded the family by
giving a dose of rhubarb to Queen Caroline. As a rule, nobody is of a good
family. Didn&rsquo;t that young man, that son of the Colonel&rsquo;s, go about
last year? How did he get in society? Where did we meet him? Oh! at Baden, yes;
when Barnes was courting, and my grandson&mdash;yes, my grandson, acted so
wickedly.&rdquo; Here she began to cough, and to tremble so, that her old stick
shook under her hand. &ldquo;Ring the bell for Ross. Ross, I will go to bed. Go
you too, Ethel. You have been travelling enough to-day.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Her memory seems to fail her a little,&rdquo; Ethel whispered to her
brother; &ldquo;or she will only remember what she wishes. Don&rsquo;t you see
that she has grown very much older?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I will be with her in the morning. I have business with her,&rdquo; said
Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Good night. Give my love to Clara, and kiss the little ones for me. Have
you done what you promised me, Barnes?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;To be&mdash;to be kind to Clara. Don&rsquo;t say cruel things to her.
She has a high spirit, and she feels them, though she says nothing.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Doesn&rsquo;t</i> she?&rdquo; said Barnes, grimly.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ah, Barnes, be gentle with her. Seldom as I saw you together, when I
lived with you in the spring, I could see that you were harsh, though she
affected to laugh when she spoke of your conduct to her. Be kind. I am sure it
is the best, Barnes; better than all the wit in the world. Look at grandmamma,
how witty she was and is; what a reputation she had, how people were afraid of
her; and see her now&mdash;quite alone.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll see her in the morning quite alone, my dear,&rdquo; says
Barnes, waving a little gloved hand. &ldquo;Bye-bye!&rdquo; and his brougham
drove away. While Ethel Newcome had been under her brother&rsquo;s roof, where
I and friend Clive, and scores of others, had been smartly entertained, there
had been quarrels and recriminations, misery and heart-burning, cruel words and
shameful struggles, the wretched combatants in which appeared before the world
with smiling faces, resuming their battle when the feast was concluded and the
company gone.
</p>

<p>
On the next morning, when Barnes came to visit his grandmother, Miss Newcome
was gone away to see her sister-in-law, Lady Kew said, with whom she was going
to pass the morning; so Barnes and Lady Kew had an uninterrupted
<i>tête-à-tête</i>, in which the former acquainted the old lady with the
proposal which Colonel Newcome had made to him on the previous night.
</p>

<p>
Lady Kew wondered what the impudence of the world&rsquo;s would come to. An
artist propose for Ethel! One of her footmen might propose next, and she
supposed Barnes would bring the message. &ldquo;The father came and proposed
for this young painter, and you didn&rsquo;t order him out of the room!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Barnes laughed. &ldquo;The Colonel is one of my constituents. I can&rsquo;t
afford to order the Bundelcund Banking Company out of its own room.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You did not tell Ethel this pretty news, I suppose?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course I didn&rsquo;t tell Ethel. Nor did I tell the Colonel that
Ethel was in London. He fancies her in Scotland with your ladyship at this
moment.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish the Colonel were at Calcutta, and his son with him. I wish he was
in the Ganges, I wish he was under Juggernaut&rsquo;s car,&rdquo; cried the old
lady. &ldquo;How much money has the wretch really got? If he is of importance
to the bank, of course you must keep well with him. Five thousand a year, and
he says he will settle it all on his son? He must be crazy. There is nothing
some of these people will not do, no sacrifice they will not make, to ally
themselves with good families. Certainly you must remain on good terms with him
and his bank. And we must say nothing of the business to Ethel, and trot out of
town as quickly as we can. Let me see? We go to Drummington on Saturday. This
is Tuesday. Barkins, you will keep the front drawing-room shutters shut, and
remember we are not in town, unless Lady Glenlivat or Lord Farintosh should
call.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you think Farintosh will&mdash;will call, ma&rsquo;am?&rdquo; asked
Sir Barnes demurely.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He will be going through to Newmarket. He has been where we have been at
two or three places in Scotland,&rdquo; replies the lady, with equal gravity.
&ldquo;His poor mother wishes him to give up his bachelor&rsquo;s life&mdash;as
well she may&mdash;for you young men are terribly dissipated. Rossmont is quite
a regal place. His Norfolk house is not inferior. A young man of that station
ought to marry, and live at his places, and be an example to his people,
instead of frittering away his time at Paris and Vienna amongst the most odious
company.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is he going to Drummington?&rdquo; asks the grandson.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I believe he has been invited. We shall go to Paris for November: he
probably will be there,&rdquo; answered the Dowager casually; &ldquo;and tired
of the dissipated life he has been leading, let us hope he will mend his ways,
and find a virtuous, well-bred young woman to keep him right.&rdquo; With this
her ladyship&rsquo;s apothecary is announced, and her banker and grandson takes
his leave.
</p>

<p>
Sir Barnes walked into the City with his umbrella, read his letters, conferred
with his partners and confidential clerks; was for a while not the exasperated
husband, or the affectionate brother, or the amiable grandson, but the shrewd,
brisk banker, engaged entirely with his business. Presently he had occasion to
go on &rsquo;Change, or elsewhere, to confer with brother-capitalists, and in
Cornhill behold he meets his uncle, Colonel Newcome, riding towards the India
House, a groom behind him.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel springs off his horse, and Barnes greets him in the blandest
manner. &ldquo;Have you any news for me, Barnes?&rdquo; cries the officer.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The accounts from Calcutta are remarkably good. That cotton is of
admirable quality really. Mr. Briggs, of our house, who knows cotton as well as
any man in England, says&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the cotton, my dear Sir Barnes,&rdquo; cries the other.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The bills are perfectly good; there is no sort of difficulty about them.
Our house will take half a million of &rsquo;em, if&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You are talking of bills, and I am thinking of poor Clive,&rdquo; the
Colonel interposes. &ldquo;I wish you could give me good news for him,
Barnes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish I could. I heartily trust that I may some day. My good wishes you
know are enlisted in your son&rsquo;s behalf,&rdquo; cries Barnes, gallantly.
&ldquo;Droll place to talk sentiment in&mdash;Cornhill, isn&rsquo;t it? But
Ethel, as I told you, is in the hands of higher powers, and we must conciliate
Lady Kew if we can. She has always spoken very highly of Clive; very.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Had I not best go to her?&rdquo; asks the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Into the North, my good sir? She is&mdash;ah&mdash;she is travelling
about. I think you had best depend upon me, Good morning. In the City we have
no hearts, you know, Colonel. Be sure you shall hear from me as soon as Lady
Kew and Ethel come to town.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And the banker hurried away, shaking his finger-tips to his uncle, and leaving
the good Colonel utterly surprised at his statements. For the fact is, the
Colonel knew that Lady Kew was in London, having been apprised of the
circumstance in the simplest manner in the world, namely, by a note from Miss
Ethel, which billet he had in his pocket, whilst he was talking with the head
of the house of Hobson Brothers:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;My dear Uncle&rdquo; (the note said), &ldquo;how glad I shall be to see
you! How shall I thank you for the beautiful shawl, and the kind, kind
remembrance of me? I found your present yesterday evening, on our arrival from
the North. We are only here <i>en passant</i>, and see <i>nobody</i> in Queen
Street but Barnes, who has just been about business, and he does not count, you
know. I shall go and see Clara to-morrow, and make her take me to see your
pretty friend, Mrs. Pendennis. How glad I should be if you <i>happened</i> to
pay Mrs. P. a visit <i>about two!</i> Good-night. I thank you a thousand times,
and am always your affectionate E.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Q<small>UEEN</small> S<small>TREET</small>. Tuesday night. <i>Twelve
o&rsquo;clock</i>.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
This note came to Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s breakfast-table, and he smothered the
exclamation of wonder which was rising to his lips, not choosing to provoke the
questions of Clive, who sate opposite to him. Clive&rsquo;s father was in a
woeful perplexity all that forenoon. &ldquo;Tuesday night, twelve
o&rsquo;clock,&rdquo; thought he. &ldquo;Why, Barnes must have gone to his
grandmother from my dinner-table; and he told me she was out of town, and said
so again just now when we met in the City.&rdquo; (The Colonel was riding
towards Richmond at this time.) &ldquo;What cause had the young man to tell me
these lies? Lady Kew may not wish to be at home for me, but need Barnes Newcome
say what is untrue to mislead me? The fellow actually went away simpering, and
kissing his hand to me, with a falsehood on his lips! What a pretty villain! A
fellow would deserve, and has got, a horse-whipping for less. And to think of a
Newcome doing this to his own flesh and blood; a young Judas!&rdquo; Very sad
and bewildered, the Colonel rode towards Richmond, where he was to happen to
call on Mrs. Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
It was not much of a fib that Barnes had told. Lady Kew announcing that she was
out of town, her grandson, no doubt, thought himself justified in saying so, as
any other of her servants would have done. But if he had recollected how Ethel
came down with the Colonel&rsquo;s shawl on her shoulders, how it was possible
she might have written to thank her uncle, surely Barnes Newcome would not have
pulled that unlucky long-bow. The banker had other things to think of than
Ethel and her shawl.
</p>

<p>
When Thomas Newcome dismounted at the door of Honeymoon Cottage, Richmond, the
temporary residence of A. Pendennis, Esq., one of the handsomest young women in
England ran into the passage with outstretched arms, called him her dear old
uncle, and gave him two kisses, that I dare say brought blushes on his lean
sunburnt cheeks. Ethel clung always to his affection. She wanted that man,
rather than any other in the whole world, to think well of her. When she was
with him, she was the amiable and simple, the loving impetuous creature of old
times. She chose to think of no other. Worldliness, heartlessness, eager
scheming, cold flirtations, marquis-hunting and the like, disappeared for a
while&mdash;and were not, as she sate at that honest man&rsquo;s side. O me!
that we should have to record such charges against Ethel Newcome!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He was come home for good now? He would never leave that boy he spoiled
so, who was a good boy, too: she wished she could see him oftener. At Paris, at
Madame de Florac&rsquo;s&mdash;I found out all about Madame de Florac,
sir,&rdquo; says Miss Ethel, with a laugh&mdash;&ldquo;we used often to meet
there; and here, sometimes, in London. But in London it was different. You know
what peculiar notions some people have; and as I live with grandmamma, who is
most kind to me and my brothers, of course I must obey her, see her,&rdquo;
etc. etc. That the young lady went on talking, defending herself, whom nobody
attacked, protesting her dislike to gaiety and dissipation&mdash;you would have
fancied her an artless young country lass, only longing to trip back to her
village, milk her cows at sunrise, and sit spinning of winter evenings by the
fire.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why do you come and spoil my <i>tête-à-tête</i> with my uncle, Mr.
Pendennis?&rdquo; cries the young lady to the master of the house, who happens
to enter &ldquo;Of all the men in the world the one I like best to talk to!
Does he not look younger than when he went to India? When Clive marries that
pretty little Miss Mackenzie, you will marry again, uncle, and I will be
jealous of your wife.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Did Barnes tell you that we had met last night, my dear?&rdquo; asks the
Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not one word. Your shawl and your dear kind note told me you were come.
Why did not Barnes tell us? Why do you look so grave?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He has not told her that I was here, and would have me believe her
absent,&rdquo; thought Newcome, as his countenance fell. &ldquo;Shall I give
her my own message, and plead my poor boy&rsquo;s cause with her?&rdquo; I know
not whether he was about to lay his suit before her; he said himself
subsequently that his mind was not made up; but at this juncture, a procession
of nurses and babies made their appearance, followed by the two mothers, who
had been comparing their mutual prodigies (each lady having her own private
opinion)&mdash;Lady Clara and my wife&mdash;the latter for once gracious to
Lady Clara Newcome, in consideration of the infantine company with which she
came to visit Mrs. Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
Luncheon was served presently. The carriage of the Newcomes drove away, my wife
smilingly pardoning Ethel for the assignation which the young person had made
at our house. And when those ladies were gone, our good Colonel held a council
of war with us his two friends, and told us what had happened between him and
Barnes on that morning and the previous night. His offer to sacrifice every
shilling of his fortune to young Clive seemed to him to be perfectly simple
(though the recital of the circumstance brought tears into my wife&rsquo;s
eyes)&mdash;he mentioned it by the way, and as a matter that was scarcely to
call for comment, much less praise.
</p>

<p>
Barnes&rsquo;s extraordinary statements respecting Lady Kew&rsquo;s absence
puzzled the elder Newcome; and he spoke of his nephew&rsquo;s conduct with much
indignation. In vain I urged that her ladyship desiring to be considered absent
from London, her grandson was bound to keep her secret. &ldquo;Keep her secret,
yes! Tell me lies, no!&rdquo; cries out the Colonel. Sir Barnes&rsquo;s conduct
was in fact indefensible, though not altogether unusual&mdash;the worst
deduction to be drawn from it, in my opinion, was, that Clive&rsquo;s chance
with the young lady was but a poor one, and that Sir Barnes Newcome, inclined
to keep his uncle in good-humour, would therefore give him no disagreeable
refusal.
</p>

<p>
Now this gentleman could no more pardon a lie than he could utter one. He would
believe all and everything a man told him until deceived once, after which he
never forgave. And wrath being once roused in his simple mind and distrust
firmly fixed there, his anger and prejudices gathered daily. He could see no
single good quality in his opponent; and hated him with a daily increasing
bitterness.
</p>

<p>
As ill luck would have it, that very same evening, at his return to town,
Thomas Newcome entered Bays&rsquo;s club, of which, at our request, he had
become a member during his last visit to England, and there was Sir Barnes, as
usual, on his way homewards from the City. Barnes was writing at a table, and
sealing and closing a letter, as he saw the Colonel enter; he thought he had
been a little inattentive and curt with his uncle in the morning; had remarked,
perhaps, the expression of disapproval on the Colonel&rsquo;s countenance. He
simpered up to his uncle as the latter entered the clubroom, and apologised for
his haste when they met in the City in the morning&mdash;all City men were so
busy! &ldquo;And I have been writing about that little affair, just as you came
in,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;quite a moving letter to Lady Kew, I assure you, and
I do hope and trust we shall have a favourable answer in a day or two.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You said her ladyship was in the North, I think?&rdquo; said the
Colonel, drily.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, yes&mdash;in the North, at&mdash;at Lord
Wallsend&rsquo;s&mdash;great coal-proprietor, you know.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And your sister is with her?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ethel is always with her.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I hope you will send her my very best remembrances,&rdquo; said the
Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll open the letter, and add &rsquo;em in a postscript,&rdquo;
said Barnes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Confounded liar?&rdquo; cried the Colonel, mentioning the circumstance
to me afterwards, &ldquo;why does not somebody pitch him out of the
bow-window?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
If we were in the secret of Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s correspondence, and
could but peep into that particular letter to his grandmother, I dare say we
should read that he had seen the Colonel, who was very anxious about his
darling youth&rsquo;s suit, but, pursuant to Lady Kew&rsquo;s desire, Barnes
had stoutly maintained that her ladyship was still in the North, enjoying the
genial hospitality of Lord Wallsend. That of course he should say nothing to
Ethel, except with Lady Kew&rsquo;s full permission: that he wished her a
pleasant trip to &mdash;&mdash;, and was, etc. etc.
</p>

<p>
Then if we could follow him, we might see him reach his Belgravian mansion, and
fling an angry word to his wife as she sits alone in the darkling drawing-room,
poring over the embers. He will ask her, probably with an oath, why the
&mdash;&mdash; she is not dressed? and if she always intends to keep her
company waiting? An hour hence, each with a smirk, and the lady in smart
raiment, with flowers in her hair, will be greeting their guests as they
arrive. Then will come dinner and such conversation as it brings. Then at night
Sir Barnes will issue forth, cigar in mouth; to return to his own chamber at
his own hour; to breakfast by himself; to go Citywards, money-getting. He will
see his children once a fortnight, and exchange a dozen sharp words with his
wife twice in that time.
</p>

<p>
More and more sad does the Lady Clara become from day to day; liking more to
sit lonely over the fire; careless about the sarcasms of her husband; the
prattle of her children. She cries sometimes over the cradle of the young heir.
She is aweary, aweary. You understand, the man to whom her parents sold her
does not make her happy, though she has been bought with diamonds, two
carriages, several large footmen, a fine country-house with delightful gardens,
and conservatories, and with all this she is miserable&mdash;is it possible?
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0053" id="link2HCH0053"></a>
CHAPTER LIII.<br/>
In which Kinsmen fall out</h2>

<p>
Not the least difficult part of Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s present business was to
keep from his son all knowledge of the negotiation in which he was engaged on
Clive&rsquo;s behalf. If my gentle reader has had sentimental disappointments,
he or she is aware that the friends who have given him most sympathy under
these calamities have been persons who have had dismal histories of their own
at some time of their lives, and I conclude Colonel Newcome in his early days
must have suffered very cruelly in that affair of which we have a slight
cognisance, or he would not have felt so very much anxiety about Clive&rsquo;s
condition.
</p>

<p>
A few chapters back and we described the first attack, and Clive&rsquo;s manful
cure: then we had to indicate the young gentleman&rsquo;s relapse, and the
noisy exclamations of the youth under this second outbreak of fever. Calling
him back after she had dismissed him, and finding pretext after pretext to see
him,&mdash;why did the girl encourage him, as she certainly did? I allow, with
Mrs. Grundy and most moralists, that Miss Newcome&rsquo;s conduct in this
matter was highly reprehensible; that if she did not intend to marry Clive she
should have broken with him&mdash;altogether; that a virtuous young woman of
high principle, etc. etc., having once determined to reject a suitor, should
separate from him utterly then and there&mdash;never give him again the least
chance of a hope, or reillume the extinguished fire in the wretch&rsquo;s
bosom.
</p>

<p>
But coquetry, but kindness, but family affection, and a strong, very strong
partiality for the rejected lover&mdash;are these not to be taken in account,
and to plead as excuses for her behaviour to her cousin? The least unworthy
part of her conduct, some critics will say, was that desire to see Clive and be
well with him: as she felt the greatest regard for him, the showing it was not
blameable; and every flutter which she made to escape out of the meshes which
the world had cast about her was but the natural effort at liberty. It was her
prudence which was wrong; and her submission wherein she was most culpable. In
the early church story, do we not read how young martyrs constantly had to
disobey worldly papas and mammas, who would have had them silent, and not utter
their dangerous opinions? how their parents locked them up, kept them on
bread-and-water, whipped and tortured them in order to enforce
obedience?&mdash;nevertheless they would declare the truth: they would defy the
gods by law established, and deliver themselves up to the lions or the
tormentors. Are not there Heathen Idols enshrined among us still? Does not the
world worship them, and persecute those who refuse to kneel? Do not many timid
souls sacrifice to them; and other bolder spirits rebel and, with rage at their
hearts, bend down their stubborn knees at their altars? See! I began by siding
with Mrs. Grundy and the world, and at the next turn of the see-saw have
lighted down on Ethel&rsquo;s side, and am disposed to think that the very best
part of her conduct has been those escapades which&mdash;which right-minded
persons most justly condemn. At least, that a young beauty should torture a man
with alternate liking and indifference; allure, dismiss, and call him back out
of banishment; practise arts to please upon him, and ignore them when rebuked
for her coquetry&mdash;these are surely occurrences so common in young
women&rsquo;s history as to call for no special censure; and if on these
charges Miss Newcome is guilty, is she, of all her sex, alone in her
criminality?
</p>

<p>
So Ethel and her duenna went away upon their tour of visits to mansions so
splendid, and among hosts and guests so polite, that the present modest
historian does not dare to follow them. Suffice it to say that Duke This and
Earl That were, according to their hospitable custom, entertaining a brilliant
circle of friends at their respective castles, all whose names the <i>Morning
Post</i> gave; and among them those of the Dowager Countess of Kew and Miss
Newcome.
</p>

<p>
During her absence, Thomas Newcome grimly awaited the result of his application
to Barnes. That Baronet showed his uncle a letter, or rather a postscript, from
Lady Kew, which probably had been dictated by Barnes himself, in which the
Dowager said she was greatly touched by Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s noble offer;
that though she owned she had very different views for her granddaughter, Miss
Newcome&rsquo;s choice of course lay with herself. Meanwhile, Lady K. and Ethel
were engaged in a round of visits to the country, and there would be plenty of
time to resume this subject when they came to London for the season. And, lest
dear Ethel&rsquo;s feelings should be needlessly agitated by a discussion of
the subject, and the Colonel should take a fancy to write to her privately,
Lady Kew gave orders that all letters from London should be despatched under
cover to her ladyship, and carefully examined the contents of the packet before
Ethel received her share of the correspondence.
</p>

<p>
To write to her personally on the subject of the marriage, Thomas Newcome had
determined was not a proper course for him to pursue. &ldquo;They consider
themselves,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;above us, forsooth, in their rank of life
(oh, mercy! what pigmies we are! and don&rsquo;t angels weep at the brief
authority in which we dress ourselves up!) and of course the approaches on our
side must be made in regular form, and the parents of the young people must act
for them. Clive is too honourable a man to wish to conduct the affair in any
other way. He might try the influence of his <i>beaux yeux</i>, and run off to
Gretna with a girl who had nothing; but the young lady being wealthy, and his
relation, sir, we must be on the point of honour; and all the Kews in
Christendom shan&rsquo;t have more pride than we in this matter.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
All this time we are keeping Mr. Clive purposely in the background. His face is
so woebegone that we do not care to bring it forward in the family picture. His
case is so common that surely its lugubrious symptoms need not be described at
length. He works away fiercely at his pictures, and in spite of himself
improves in his art. He sent a &ldquo;Combat of Cavalry,&rdquo; and a picture
of &ldquo;Sir Brian the Templar carrying off Rebecca,&rdquo; to the British
Institution this year; both of which pieces were praised in other journals
besides the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>. He did not care for the newspaper
praises. He was rather surprised when a dealer purchased his &ldquo;Sir Brian
the Templar.&rdquo; He came and went from our house a melancholy swain. He was
thankful for Laura&rsquo;s kindness and pity. J. J.&rsquo;s studio was his
principal resort; and I dare say, as he set up his own easel there, and worked
by his friend&rsquo;s side, he bemoaned his lot to his sympathising friend.
</p>

<p>
Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s family was absent from London during the winter. His
mother, and his brothers and sisters, his wife and his two children, were gone
to Newcome for Christmas. Some six weeks after seeing him, Ethel wrote her
uncle a kind, merry letter. They had been performing private theatricals at the
country-house where she and Lady Kew were staying. &ldquo;Captain Crackthorpe
made an admirable Jeremy Diddler in &lsquo;Raising the Wind.&rsquo; Lord
Farintosh broke down lamentably as Fusbos in &lsquo;Bombastes
Furioso.&rsquo;&rdquo; Miss Ethel had distinguished herself in both of these
facetious little comedies. &ldquo;I should like Clive to paint me as Miss
Plainways,&rdquo; she wrote. &ldquo;I wore a powdered front, painted my face
all over wrinkles, imitated old Lady Griffin as well as I could, and looked
sixty at least.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Thomas Newcome wrote an answer to his fair niece&rsquo;s pleasant letter;
&ldquo;Clive,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;would be happy to bargain to paint her,
and nobody else but her, all the days of his life; and,&rdquo; the Colonel was
sure, &ldquo;would admire her at sixty as much as he did now, when she was
forty years younger.&rdquo; But, determined on maintaining his appointed line
of conduct respecting Miss Newcome, he carried his letter to Sir Barnes, and
desired him to forward it to his sister. Sir Barnes took the note, and promised
to despatch it. The communications between him and his uncle had been very
brief and cold, since the telling of these little fibs concerning old Lady
Kew&rsquo;s visits to London, which the Baronet dismissed from his mind as soon
as they were spoken, and which the good Colonel never could forgive. Barnes
asked his uncle to dinner once or twice, but the Colonel was engaged. How was
Barnes to know the reason of the elder&rsquo;s refusal? A London man, a banker,
and a Member of Parliament, has a thousand things to think of; and no time to
wonder that friends refuse his invitations to dinner. Barnes continued to grin
and smile most affectionately when he met the Colonel; to press his hand, to
congratulate him on the last accounts from India, unconscious of the scorn and
distrust with which his senior mentally regarded him. &ldquo;Old boy is
doubtful about the young cub&rsquo;s love-affair,&rdquo; the Baronet may have
thought. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll ease his old mind on that point some time
hence.&rdquo; No doubt Barnes thought he was conducting the business very
smartly and diplomatically.
</p>

<p>
I heard myself news at this period from the gallant Crackthorpe, which, being
interested in my young friend&rsquo;s happiness, filled me with some dismay.
&ldquo;Our friend the painter and glazier has been hankering about our barracks
at Knightsbridge&rdquo; (the noble Life Guards Green had now pitched their
tents in that suburb), &ldquo;and pumping me about <i>la belle cousine</i>. I
don&rsquo;t like to break it to him&mdash;I don&rsquo;t really, now. But
it&rsquo;s all up with his chance, I think. Those private theatricals at
Fallowfield have done Farintosh&rsquo;s business. He used to rave about the
Newcomes to me, as we were riding home from hunting. He gave Bob Henchman the
lie, who told a story which Bob got from his man, who had it from Miss
Newcome&rsquo;s lady&rsquo;s-maid, about&mdash;about some journey to Brighton,
which the cousins took.&rdquo; Here Mr. Crackthorpe grinned most facetiously.
&ldquo;Farintosh swore he&rsquo;d knock Henchman down; and vows he will be the
death of&mdash;will murder our friend Clive when he comes to town. As for
Henchman, he was in a desperate way. He lives on the Marquis, you know, and
Farintosh&rsquo;s anger or his marriage will be the loss of free quarters, and
ever so many good dinners a year to him.&rdquo; I did not deem it necessary to
impart Crackthorpe&rsquo;s story to Clive, or explain to him the reason why
Lord Farintosh scowled most fiercely upon the young painter, and passed him
without any other sign of recognition one day as Clive and I were walking
together in Pall Mall. If my lord wanted a quarrel, young Clive was not a man
to balk him; and would have been a very fierce customer to deal with, in his
actual state of mind.
</p>

<p class="p2">
A pauper child in London at seven years old knows how to go to market, to fetch
the beer, to pawn father&rsquo;s coat, to choose the largest fried fish or the
nicest ham-bone, to nurse Mary Jane of three,&mdash;to conduct a hundred
operations of trade or housekeeping, which a little Belgravian does not perhaps
acquire in all the days of her life. Poverty and necessity force this
precociousness on the poor little brat. There are children who are accomplished
shoplifters and liars almost as soon as they can toddle and speak. I dare say
little Princes know the laws of etiquette as regards themselves, and the
respect due to their rank, at a very early period of their royal existence.
Every one of us, according to his degree, can point to the Princekins of
private life who are flattered and worshipped, and whose little shoes grown men
kiss as soon almost as they walk upon ground.
</p>

<p>
It is a wonder what human nature will support: and that, considering the amount
of flattery some people are crammed with from their cradles, they do not grow
worse and more selfish than they are. Our poor little pauper just mentioned is
dosed with Daffy&rsquo;s Elixir, and somehow survives the drug. Princekin or
lordkin from his earliest days has nurses, dependants, governesses, little
friends, schoolfellows, schoolmasters, fellow-collegians, college tutors,
stewards and valets, led captains of his suite, and women innumerable
flattering him and doing him honour. The tradesman&rsquo;s manner, which to you
and me is decently respectful, becomes straightway frantically servile before
Princekin. Honest folks at railway stations whisper to their families,
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the Marquis of Farintosh,&rdquo; and look hard at him as he
passes. Landlords cry, &ldquo;This way, my lord; this room for your
lordship.&rdquo; They say at public schools Princekin is taught the beauties of
equality, and thrashed into some kind of subordination. Psha! Toad-eaters in
pinafores surround Princekin. Do not respectable people send their children so
as to be at the same school with him; don&rsquo;t they follow him to college,
and eat his toads through life?
</p>

<p>
And as for women&mdash;oh, my dear friends and brethren in this vale of
tears&mdash;did you ever see anything so curious, monstrous, and amazing as the
way in which women court Princekin when he is marriageable, and pursue him with
their daughters? Who was the British nobleman in old old days who brought his
three daughters to the King of Mercia, that His Majesty might choose one after
inspection? Mercia was but a petty province, and its king in fact a Princekin.
Ever since those extremely ancient and venerable times the custom exists not
only in Mercia, but in all the rest of the provinces inhabited by the Angles,
and before Princekins the daughters of our nobles are trotted out.
</p>

<p>
There was no day of his life which our young acquaintance, the Marquis of
Farintosh, could remember on which he had not been flattered; and no society
which did not pay him court. At a private school he could recollect the
master&rsquo;s wife stroking his pretty curls and treating him furtively to
goodies; at college he had the tutor simpering and bowing as he swaggered over
the grass-plat; old men at clubs would make way for him and fawn on
him&mdash;not your mere pique-assiettes and penniless parasites, but most
respectable toad-eaters, fathers of honest families, gentlemen themselves of
good station, who respected this young gentleman as one of the institutions of
their country, and the admired wisdom of the nation that set him to legislate
over us. When Lord Farintosh walked the streets at night, he felt himself like
Haroun Alraschid&mdash;(that is, he would have felt so had he ever heard of the
Arabian potentate)&mdash;a monarch in disguise affably observing and
promenading the city. And let us be sure there was a Mesrour in his train to
knock at the doors for him and run the errands of this young caliph. Of course
he met with scores of men in life who neither flattered him nor would suffer
his airs; but he did not like the company of such, or for the sake of truth
undergo the ordeal of being laughed at; he preferred toadies, generally
speaking. &ldquo;I like,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;you know, those fellows who are
always saying pleasant things, you know, and who would run from here to
Hammersmith if I asked &rsquo;em&mdash;much better than those fellows who are
always making fun of me, you know.&rdquo; A man of his station who likes
flatterers need not shut himself up; he can get plenty of society.
</p>

<p>
As for women, it was his lordship&rsquo;s opinion that every daughter of Eve
was bent on marrying him. A Scotch marquis, an English earl, of the best blood
in the empire, with a handsome person, and a fortune of fifteen thousand a
year, how could the poor creatures do otherwise than long for him? He blandly
received their caresses; took their coaxing and cajolery as matters of course;
and surveyed the beauties of his time as the Caliph the moonfaces of his harem.
My lord intended to marry certainly. He did not care for money, nor for rank;
he expected consummate beauty and talent, and some day would fling his
handkerchief to the possessor of these, and place her by his side upon the
Farintosh throne.
</p>

<p>
At this time there were but two or three young ladies in society endowed with
the necessary qualifications, or who found favour in his eyes. His lordship
hesitated in his selection from these beauties. He was not in a hurry, he was
not angry at the notion that Lady Kew (and Miss Newcome with her) hunted him.
What else should they do but pursue an object so charming? Everybody hunted
him. The other young ladies, whom we need not mention, languished after him
still more longingly. He had little notes from these; presents of purses worked
by them, and cigar-cases embroidered with his coronet. They sang to him in cosy
boudoirs&mdash;mamma went out of the room, and sister Ann forgot something in
the drawing-room. They ogled him as they sang. Trembling they gave him a little
foot to mount them, that they might ride on horseback with him. They tripped
along by his side from the Hall to the pretty country church on Sundays. They
warbled hymns: sweetly looking at him the while mamma whispered confidentially
to him, &ldquo;What an angel Cecilia is!&rdquo; And so forth, and so
forth&mdash;with which chaff our noble bird was by no means to be caught. When
he had made up his great mind, that the time was come and the woman, he was
ready to give a Marchioness of Farintosh to the English nation.
</p>

<p>
Miss Newcome has been compared ere this to the statue of &ldquo;Huntress
Diana&rdquo; at the Louvre, whose haughty figure and beauty the young lady
indeed somewhat resembled. I was not present when Diana and Diana&rsquo;s
grandmother hunted the noble Scottish stag of whom we have just been writing;
nor care to know how many times Lord Farintosh escaped, and how at last he was
brought to bay and taken by his resolute pursuers. Paris, it appears, was the
scene of his fall and capture. The news was no doubt well known amongst Lord
Farintosh&rsquo;s brother-dandies, among exasperated matrons and virgins in
Mayfair, and in polite society generally, before it came to simple Tom Newcome
and his son. Not a word on the subject had Sir Barnes mentioned to the Colonel:
perhaps not choosing to speak till the intelligence was authenticated; perhaps
not wishing to be the bearer of tidings so painful.
</p>

<p>
Though the Colonel may have read in his <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> a paragraph
which announced an approaching <small>MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE</small>,
&ldquo;between a noble young marquis and an accomplished and beautiful young
lady, daughter and sister of a Northern baronet,&rdquo; he did not know who
were the fashionable persons about to be made happy, nor, until he received a
letter from an old friend who lived at Paris, was the fact conveyed to him.
Here is the letter preserved by him along with all that he ever received from
the same hand:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;Rue St. Dominique, St. Germain, Paris, 10 Fev.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;So behold you of return, my friend! you quit for ever the sword and
those arid plains where you have passed so many years of your life, separated
from those to whom, at the commencement, you held very nearly. Did it not seem
once as if two hands never could unlock, so closely were they enlaced together?
Ah, mine are old and feeble now; forty years have passed since the time when
you used to say they were young and fair. How well I remember me of every one
of those days, though there is a death between me and them, and it is as across
a grave I review them! Yet another parting, and tears and regrets are finished.
Tenez, I do not believe them when they say there is no meeting for us
afterwards, there above. To what good to have seen you, friend, if we are to
part here, and in Heaven too? I have not altogether forgotten your language, is
it not so? I remember it because it was yours, and that of my happy days. I
radote like an old woman as I am. M. de Florac has known my history from the
commencement. May I not say that after so many of years I have been faithful to
him and to all my promises? When the end comes with its great absolution, I
shall not be sorry. One supports the combats of life, but they are long, and
one comes from them very wounded; ah, when shall they be over?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You return and I salute you with wishes for parting. How much egotism! I
have another project which I please myself to arrange. You know how I am
arrived to love Clive as own my child. I very quick surprised his secret, the
poor boy, when he was here it is twenty months. He looked so like you as I
repeal me of you in the old time! He told me he had no hope of his beautiful
cousin. I have heard of the fine marriage that one makes her. Paul, my son, has
been at the English Ambassade last night and has made his congratulations to M.
de Farintosh. Paul says him handsome, young, not too spiritual, rich, and
haughty, like all, all noble Montagnards.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But it is not of M. de Farintosh I write, whose marriage, without doubt,
has been announced to you. I have a little project; very foolish, perhaps. You
know Mr. the Duke of Ivry has left me guardian of his little daughter
Antoinette, whose <i>affreuse</i> mother no one sees more. Antoinette is pretty
and good, and soft, and with an affectionate heart. I love her already as my
infant. I wish to bring her up, and that Clive should marry her. They say you
are returned very rich. What follies are these I write! In the long evenings of
winter, the children escaped it is a long time from the maternal nest, a silent
old man my only company,&mdash;I live but of the past; and play with its
souvenirs as the detained caress little birds, little flowers, in their
prisons. I was born for the happiness; my God! I have learned it in knowing
you. In losing you I have lost it. It is not against the will of Heaven I
oppose myself. It is man, who makes himself so much of this evil and misery,
this slavery, these tears, these crimes, perhaps.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This marriage of the young Scotch Marquis and the fair Ethel (I love her
in spite of all, and shall see her soon and congratulate her, for, do you see,
I might have stopped this fine marriage, and did my best and more than my duty
for our poor Clive) shall make itself in London next spring, I hear. You shall
assist scarcely at the ceremony; he, poor boy, shall not care to be there.
Bring him to Paris to make the court to my little Antoinette: bring him to
Paris to his good friend, Comtesse de Florac.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I read marvels of his works in an English journal, which one sends
me.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
Clive was not by when this letter reached his father. Clive was in his
painting-room, and lest he should meet his son, and in order to devise the best
means of breaking the news to the lad, Thomas Newcome retreated out of doors;
and from the Oriental he crossed Oxford Street, and from Oxford Street he
stalked over the roomy pavements of Gloucester Place, and there he bethought
him how he had neglected Mrs. Hobson Newcome of late, and the interesting
family of Bryanstone Square. So he went to leave his card at Maria&rsquo;s
door: her daughters, as we have said, are quite grown girls. If they have been
lectured, and learning, and back-boarded, and practising, and using the globes,
and laying in a store of &rsquo;ologies, ever since, what a deal they must
know! Colonel Newcome was admitted to see his nieces, and Consummate Virtue,
their parent. Maria was charmed to see her brother-in-law; she greeted him with
reproachful tenderness: &ldquo;Why, why,&rdquo; her fine eyes seemed to say,
&ldquo;have you so long neglected us? Do you think because I am wise, and
gifted, and good, and you are, it must be confessed, a poor creature with no
education, I am not also affable? Come, let the prodigal be welcomed by his
virtuous relatives: come and lunch with us, Colonel!&rdquo; He sate down
accordingly to the family tiffin.
</p>

<p>
When the meal was over, the mother, who had matter <i>of importance to impart
to him</i>, besought him to go to the drawing-room, and there poured out such a
eulogy upon her children&rsquo;s qualities as fond mothers know how to utter.
They knew this and they knew that. They were instructed by the most eminent
professors; &ldquo;that wretched Frenchwoman, whom you may remember here,
Mademoiselle Lenoir,&rdquo; Maria remarked parenthetically, &ldquo;turned out,
oh, frightfully! She taught the girls the worst accent, it appears. Her father
was not a colonel; he was&mdash;oh! never mind! It is a mercy I got rid of that
<i>fiendish woman</i>, and before my precious ones knew <i>what</i> she
was!&rdquo; And then followed details of the perfections of the two girls, with
occasional side-shots at Lady Anne&rsquo;s family, just as in the old time.
&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you bring your boy, whom I have always loved as a son,
and who avoids me? Why does not Clive know his cousins? They are very different
from others of his kinswomen, who think best of the <i>heartless
world</i>.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I fear, Maria, there is too much truth in what you say,&rdquo; sighs the
Colonel, drumming on a book on the drawing-room table, and looking down sees it
is a great, large, square, gilt Peerage, open at F<small>ARINTOSH</small>,
M<small>ARQUIS</small> OF.&mdash;Fergus Angus Malcolm Mungo Roy, Marquis of
Farintosh, Earl of Glenlivat, in the peerage of Scotland; also Earl of
Rossmont, in that of the United Kingdom. Son of Angus Fergus Malcolm, Earl of
Glenlivat, and grandson and heir of Malcolm Mungo Angus, first Marquis of
Farintosh, and twenty-fifth Earl, etc. etc.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have heard the news regarding Ethel?&rdquo; remarks Hobson.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have just heard,&rdquo; says the poor Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have a letter from Anne this morning,&rdquo; Maria continues.
&ldquo;They are of course delighted with the match. Lord Farintosh is wealthy,
handsome; has been a little wild, I hear; is not such a husband as I would
choose for my darlings, but poor Brian&rsquo;s family have been educated to
love the world; and Ethel no doubt is flattered by the prospects before her. I
<i>have</i> heard that some one else was a little <i>épris</i> in that quarter.
How does Clive bear the news, my dear Colonel?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He has long expected it,&rdquo; says the Colonel, rising: &ldquo;and I
left him very cheerful at breakfast this morning.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Send him to see us, the naughty boy!&rdquo; cries Maria.
&ldquo;<i>We</i> don&rsquo;t change; we remember old times, to us he will ever
be welcome!&rdquo; And with this confirmation of Madame de Florac&rsquo;s news,
Thomas Newcome walked sadly homewards.
</p>

<p>
And now Thomas Newcome had to break the news to his son; who received the shot
in such a way as caused his friends and confidants to admire his high spirit.
He said he had long been expecting some such announcement: it was many months
since Ethel had prepared him for it. Under her peculiar circumstances he did
not see how she could act otherwise than she had done. And he narrated to the
Colonel the substance of the conversation which the two young people had had
together several months before, in Madame de Florac&rsquo;s garden.
</p>

<p>
Clive&rsquo;s father did not tell his son of his own bootless negotiation with
Barnes Newcome. There was no need to recall that now; but the Colonel&rsquo;s
wrath against his nephew exploded in conversation with me, who was the
confidant of father and son in this business. Ever since that luckless day when
Barnes thought proper to&mdash;to give a wrong address for Lady Kew, Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s anger had been growing. He smothered it yet for a while, sent a
letter to Lady Anne Newcome, briefly congratulating her on the choice which he
had heard Miss Newcome had made; and in acknowledgment of Madame de
Florac&rsquo;s more sentimental epistle he wrote a reply which has not been
preserved, but in which he bade her rebuke Miss Newcome for not having answered
him when he wrote to her, and not having acquainted her old uncle with her
projected union.
</p>

<p>
To this message, Ethel wrote back a brief, hurried reply; it said:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;I saw Madame de Florac last night at her daughter&rsquo;s reception, and
she gave me my dear uncle&rsquo;s messages. <i>Yes, the news is true</i> which
you have heard from Madame de Florac, and in Bryanstone Square. I did not like
to write it to you, because I know one whom I regard as a brother (and a great,
great deal better), and to whom I know it will give pain. He knows that I have
done <i>my duty</i>, and <i>why</i> I have acted as I have done. God bless him
and his dear father!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What is this about a letter which I never answered? Grandmamma knows
nothing about a letter. Mamma has enclosed to me that which you wrote to her,
but there has been <i>no letter</i> from T. N. to his sincere and affectionate
E. N.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Rue de Rivoli. Friday.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
This was too much, and the cup of Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s wrath overflowed.
Barnes had lied about Ethel&rsquo;s visit to London: Barnes had lied in saying
that he delivered the message with which his uncle charged him: Barnes had lied
about the letter which he had received, and never sent. With these accusations
firmly proven in his mind against his nephew, the Colonel went down to confront
that sinner.
</p>

<p>
Wherever he should find Barnes, Thomas Newcome was determined to tell him his
mind. Should they meet on the steps of a church, on the flags of &rsquo;Change,
or in the newspaper-room at Bays&rsquo;s, at evening-paper time, when men most
do congregate, Thomas the Colonel was determined upon exposing and chastising
his father&rsquo;s grandson. With Ethel&rsquo;s letter in his pocket, he took
his way into the City, penetrated into the unsuspecting back-parlour of
Hobson&rsquo;s bank, and was disappointed at first at only finding his
half-brother Hobson there engaged over his newspaper. The Colonel signified his
wish to see Sir Barnes Newcome. &ldquo;Sir Barnes was not come in yet.
You&rsquo;ve heard about the marriage,&rdquo; says Hobson. &ldquo;Great news
for the Barnes&rsquo;s, ain&rsquo;t it? The head of the house is as proud as a
peacock about it. Said he was going out to Samuels, the diamond merchants;
going to make his sister some uncommon fine present. Jolly to be uncle to a
marquis, ain&rsquo;t it, Colonel? I&rsquo;ll have nothing under a duke for my
girls. I say, I know whose nose is out of joint. But young fellows get over
these things, and Clive won&rsquo;t die this time, I dare say.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
While Hobson Newcome made these satiric and facetious remarks, his half-brother
paced up and down the glass parlour, scowling over the panes into the bank
where the busy young clerks sate before their ledgers. At last he gave an
&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; as of satisfaction. Indeed, he had seen Sir Barnes Newcome
enter into the bank.
</p>

<p>
The Baronet stopped and spoke with a clerk, and presently entered, followed by
that young gentleman into his private parlour. Barnes tried to grin when he saw
his uncle, and held out his hand to greet the Colonel; but the Colonel put both
his behind his back&mdash;that which carried his faithful bamboo cane shook
nervously. Barnes was aware that the Colonel had the news. &ldquo;I was going
to&mdash;to write to you this morning, with&mdash;with some intelligence that I
am&mdash;very&mdash;very sorry to give.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This young gentleman is one of your clerks?&rdquo; asked Thomas Newcome,
blandly.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes; Mr. Boltby, who has your private account. This is Colonel Newcome,
Mr. Boltby,&rdquo; says Sir Barnes, in some wonder.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mr. Boltby, brother Hobson, you heard what Sir Barnes Newcome said just
now respecting certain intelligence which he grieved to give me?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
At this the three other gentlemen respectively wore looks of amazement.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Allow me to say in your presence, that I don&rsquo;t believe one single
word Sir Barnes Newcome says, when he tells me that he is very sorry for some
intelligence he has to communicate. He lies, Mr. Boltby; he is very glad. I
made up my mind that in whatsoever company I met him, and on the very first day
I found him&mdash;hold your tongue, sir; you shall speak afterwards and tell
more lies when I have done&mdash;I made up my mind, I say, that on the very
first occasion I would tell Sir Barnes Newcome that he was a liar and a cheat.
He takes charge of letters and keeps them back. Did you break the seal, sir?
There was nothing to steal in my letter to Miss Newcome. He tells me people are
out of town, when he goes to see in the next street, after leaving my table,
and whom I see myself half an hour before he lies to me about their
absence.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;D&mdash;n you, go out, and don&rsquo;t stand staring there, you
booby!&rdquo; screams out Sir Barnes to the clerk. &ldquo;Stop, Boltby. Colonel
Newcome, unless you leave this room I shall&mdash;I shall&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You shall call a policeman. Send for the gentleman, and I will tell the
Lord Mayor what I think of Sir Barnes Newcome, Baronet. Mr. Boltby, shall we
have the constable in?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Sir, you are an old man, and my father&rsquo;s brother, or you know very
well I would&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You would what, Sir? Upon my word, Barnes Newcome&rdquo; (here the
Colonel&rsquo;s two hands and the bamboo cane came from the rear and formed in
front), &ldquo;but that you are my father&rsquo;s grandson, after a menace like
that, I would take you out and cane you in the presence of your clerks. I
repeat, sir, that I consider you guilty of treachery, falsehood, and knavery.
And if I ever see you at Bays&rsquo;s Club, I will make the same statement to
your acquaintance at the west end of the town. A man of your baseness ought to
be known, sir; and it shall be my business to make men of honour aware of your
character. Mr. Boltby, will you have the kindness to make out my account? Sir
Barnes Newcome, for fear of consequences that I should deplore, I recommend you
to keep a wide berth of me, sir.&rdquo; And the Colonel twirled his mustachios,
and waved his cane in an ominous manner, and Barnes started back spontaneously
out of its dangerous circle.
</p>

<p>
What Mr. Boltby&rsquo;s sentiments may have been regarding this extraordinary
scene in which his principal cut so sorry a figure;&mdash;whether he narrated
the conversation to other gentlemen connected with the establishment of Hobson
Brothers, or prudently kept it to himself, I cannot say, having no means of
pursuing Mr. B.&rsquo;s subsequent career. He speedily quitted his desk at
Hobson Brothers; and let us presume that Barnes <i>thought</i> Mr. B. had old
all the other clerks of the avuncular quarrel. That conviction will make us
imagine Barnes still more comfortable. Hobson Newcome no doubt was rejoiced at
Barnes&rsquo;s discomfiture; he had been insolent and domineering beyond
measure of late to his vulgar good-natured uncle, whereas after the above
interview with the Colonel he became very humble and quiet in his demeanour,
and for a long, long time never said a rude word. Nay, I fear Hobson must have
carried an account of the transaction to Mrs. Hobson and the circle in
Bryanstone Square; for Sam Newcome, now entered at Cambridge, called the
Baronet &ldquo;Barnes&rdquo; quite familiarly; asked after Clara and Ethel; and
requested a small loan of Barnes.
</p>

<p>
Of course the story did not get wind at Bays&rsquo;s; of course Tom Eaves did
not know all about it, and say that Sir Barnes had been beaten black-and-blue.
Having been treated very ill by the committee in a complaint which he made
about the Club cookery, Sir Barnes Newcome never came to Bays&rsquo;s, and at
the end of the year took off his name from the lists of the Club.
</p>

<p>
Sir Barnes, though a little taken aback in the morning, and not ready with an
impromptu reply to the Colonel and his cane, could not allow the occurrence to
pass without a protest; and indited a letter which Thomas Newcome kept along
with some others previously quoted by the compiler of the present memoirs.
</p>

<p>
It is as follows:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
Belgrave St., Feb. 15, 18&mdash;.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Colonel Newcome, C.B., <i>private</i>.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;S<small>IR</small>&mdash;The incredible insolence and violence of your
behaviour to-day (inspired by whatever causes or mistakes of your own), cannot
be passed without some comment, on my part. I laid before a friend of your own
profession, a statement of the words which you applied to me in the presence of
my partner and one of my clerks this morning; and my adviser is of opinion,
that considering the relationship unhappily subsisting between us, I can take
no notice of insults for which you knew when you uttered them, I could not call
you to account.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There is some truth in that,&rdquo; said the Colonel. &ldquo;He
couldn&rsquo;t fight, you know; but then he was such a liar I could not help
speaking my mind.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I gathered from the brutal language which you thought fit to employ
towards a disarmed man, the ground of one of your monstrous accusations against
me, that I deceived you in stating that my relative, Lady Kew, was in the
country, when in fact she was at her house in London.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;To this absurd charge I at once plead guilty. The venerable lady in
question was passing through London, where she desired to be free from
intrusion. At her ladyship&rsquo;s wish I stated that she was out of town; and
would, under the same circumstances, unhesitatingly make the same statement.
Your slight acquaintance with the person in question did not warrant that you
should force yourself on her privacy, as you would doubtless know were you more
familiar with the customs of the society in which she moves.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I declare upon my honour as a gentleman, that I gave her the message
which I promised to deliver from you, and also that I transmitted a letter with
which you entrusted me; and repel with scorn and indignation the charges which
you were pleased to bring against me, as I treat with contempt the language and
the threats which you thought fit to employ.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Our books show the amount of <i>x</i>£. <i>xs. xd</i>. to your credit,
which you will be good enough to withdraw at your earliest convenience; as of
course all intercourse must cease henceforth between you and&mdash;Yours, etc.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;B. Newcome Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;I think, sir, he doesn&rsquo;t make out a bad case,&rdquo; Mr. Pendennis
remarked to the Colonel, who showed him this majestic letter.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It would be a good case if I believed a single word of it,
Arthur,&rdquo; replied my friend, placidly twirling the old grey moustache.
&ldquo;If you were to say so-and-so, and say that I had brought false charges
against you, I should cry <i>mea culpa</i> and apologise with all my heart. But
as I have a perfect conviction that every word this fellow says is a lie, what
is the use of arguing any more about the matter? I would not believe him if he
brought twenty as witnesses, and if he lied till he was black in the other
liars&rsquo; face. Give me the walnuts. I wonder who Sir Barnes&rsquo;s
military friend was.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Barnes&rsquo;s military friend was our gallant acquaintance General Sir George
Tufto, K.C.B., who a short while afterwards talked over the quarrel with the
Colonel, and manfully told him that (in Sir George&rsquo;s opinion) he was
wrong. &ldquo;The little beggar behaved very well, I thought, in the first
business. You bullied him so, and in the front of his regiment, too, that it
was almost past bearing; and when he deplored, with tears in his eyes, almost,
the little humbug! that his relationship prevented him calling you out, ecod, I
believed him! It was in the second affair that poor little Barnes showed he was
a cocktail.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What second affair?&rdquo; asked Thomas Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you know? He! he! this is famous!&rdquo; cries Sir George.
&ldquo;Why, sir, two days after your business, he comes to me with another
letter and a face as long as my mare&rsquo;s, by Jove. And that letter,
Newcome, was from your young &rsquo;un. Stop, here it is!&rdquo; and from his
padded bosom General Sir George Tufto drew a pocket-book, and from the
pocket-book a copy of a letter, inscribed, &ldquo;Clive Newcome, Esq., to Sir
B. N. Newcome.&rdquo; &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no mistake about your fellow,
Colonel. No,&mdash;&mdash;him!&rdquo; and the man of war fired a volley of
oaths as a salute to Clive.
</p>

<p>
And the Colonel, on horseback, riding by the other cavalry officer&rsquo;s side
read as follows:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;George Street, Hanover Square, February 16.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;S<small>IR</small>&mdash;Colonel Newcome this morning showed me a letter
bearing your signature, in which you state&mdash;1. That Colonel Newcome has
uttered calumnious and insolent charges against you. 2. That Colonel Newcome so
spoke, knowing that you could take no notice of his charges of falsehood and
treachery, on account of the relationship subsisting between you.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Your statements would evidently imply that Colonel Newcome has been
guilty of ungentlemanlike conduct, and of cowardice towards you.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;As there can be no reason why we should not meet in any manner that you
desire, I here beg leave to state, on my own part, that I fully coincide with
Colonel Newcome in his opinion that you have been guilty of falsehood and
treachery, and that the charge of cowardice which you dare to make against a
gentleman of his tried honour and courage, is another wilful and cowardly
falsehood on your part.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I hope you will refer the bearer of this note, my friend, Mr. George
Warrington, of the Upper Temple, to the military gentleman whom you consulted
in respect to the just charges of Colonel Newcome. Waiting a prompt reply,
</p>

<p class="right">
&ldquo;Believe me, sir&mdash;Your obedient servant,<br/>
Clive Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Sir Barnes Newcome Newcome, Bart., M. P., etc.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;What a blunderhead I am!&rdquo; cries the Colonel, with delight on his
countenance, spite of his professed repentance. &ldquo;It never once entered my
head that the youngster would take any part in the affair. I showed him his
cousin&rsquo;s letter casually, just to amuse him, I think, for he has been
deuced low lately, about&mdash;about a young man&rsquo;s scrape that he has got
into. And he must have gone off and despatched his challenge straightway. I
recollect he appeared uncommonly brisk at breakfast the next morning. And so
you say, General, the Baronet did not like the <i>poulet?</i>&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By no means; never saw a fellow show such a confounded white feather. At
first I congratulated him, thinking your boy&rsquo;s offer must please him, as
it would have pleased any fellow in our time to have a shot. Dammy! but I was
mistaken in my man. He entered into some confounded long-winded story about a
marriage you wanted to make with that infernal pretty sister of his, who is
going to marry young Farintosh, and how you were in a rage because the scheme
fell to the ground, and how a family duel might occasion unpleasantries to Miss
Newcome; though I showed him how this could be most easily avoided, and that
the lady&rsquo;s name need never appear in the transaction. &lsquo;Confound it,
Sir Barnes,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;I recollect this boy, when he was a youngster
throwing a glass of wine in your face! We&rsquo;ll put it upon that, and say
it&rsquo;s an old feud between you.&rsquo; He turned quite pale, and he said
your fellow had apologised for the glass of wine.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the Colonel, sadly, &ldquo;my boy apologised for the
glass of wine. It is curious how we have disliked that Barnes ever since we set
eyes on him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, Newcome,&rdquo; Sir George resumed, as his mettled charger
suddenly jumped and curvetted, displaying the padded warrior&rsquo;s
cavalry-seat to perfection. &ldquo;Quiet, old lady!&mdash;easy, my dear! Well,
when I found the little beggar turning tail in this way I said to him,
&lsquo;Dash me, sir, if you don&rsquo;t want me, why the dash do you send for
me, dash me? Yesterday you talked as if you would bite the Colonel&rsquo;s head
off, and to-day, when his son offers you every accommodation, by dash, sir,
you&rsquo;re afraid to meet him. It&rsquo;s my belief you had better send for a
policeman. A 22 is your man, Sir Barnes Newcome.&rsquo; And with that I turned
on my heel and left him. And the fellow went off to Newcome that very
night.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A poor devil can&rsquo;t command courage, General,&rdquo; said the
Colonel, quite peaceably, &ldquo;any more than he can make himself six feet
high.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Then why the dash did the beggar send for me?&rdquo; called out General
Sir George Tufto, in a loud and resolute voice; and presently the two officers
parted company.
</p>

<p class="p2">
When the Colonel reached home, Mr. Warrington and Mr. Pendennis happened to be
on a visit to Clive, and all three were in the young fellow&rsquo;s
painting-room. We knew our lad was unhappy, and did our little best to amuse
and console him. The Colonel came in. It was in the dark February days: we
lighted the gas in the studio. Clive had made a sketch from some favourite
verses of mine and George&rsquo;s: those charming lines of
Scott&rsquo;s:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="poem">
&ldquo;He turned his charger as he spake,<br/>
    Beside the river shore;<br/>
He gave his bridle-rein a shake,<br/>
    With adieu for evermore,<br/>
            My dear!<br/>
    Adieu for evermore!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Thomas Newcome held up a finger at Warrington, and he came up to the picture
and looked at it; and George and I trolled out:
</p>

<p class="poem">
&ldquo;Adieu for evermore,<br/>
            My dear!<br/>
Adieu for evermore!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
From the picture the brave old Colonel turned to the painter, regarding his son
with a look of beautiful inexpressible affection. And he laid his hand on his
son&rsquo;s shoulder, and smiled, and stroked Clive&rsquo;s yellow moustache.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And&mdash;and did Barnes send no answer to that letter you wrote
him?&rdquo; he said, slowly.
</p>

<p>
Clive broke out into a laugh that was almost a sob. He took both his
father&rsquo;s hands. &ldquo;My dear, dear old father!&rdquo; says he,
&ldquo;what a&mdash;what an&mdash;old&mdash;trump you are!&rdquo; My eyes were
so dim I could hardly see the two men as they embraced.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0054" id="link2HCH0054"></a>
CHAPTER LIV.<br/>
Has a Tragical Ending</h2>

<p>
Clive presently answered the question which his father put to him in the last
chapter, by producing from the ledge of his easel a crumpled paper, full of
Cavendish now, but on which was written Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s reply to his
cousin&rsquo;s polite invitation. Sir Barnes Newcome wrote, &ldquo;that he
thought a reference to a friend was quite unnecessary, in the most disagreeable
and painful dispute in which Mr. Clive desired to interfere as a principal;
that the reasons which prevented Sir Barnes from taking notice of Colonel
Newcome&rsquo;s shameful and ungentlemanlike conduct applied equally, as Mr.
Clive Newcome very well knew, to himself; that if further insult was offered,
or outrage attempted, Sir Barnes should resort to the police for protection;
that he was about to quit London, and certainly should not delay his departure
on account of Mr. Clive Newcome&rsquo;s monstrous proceedings; and that he
desired to take leave of an odious subject, as of an individual whom he had
striven to treat with kindness, but from whom, from youth upwards, Sir Barnes
Newcome had received nothing but insolence, enmity, and ill-will.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He is an ill man to offend,&rdquo; remarked Mr. Pendennis. &ldquo;I
don&rsquo;t think he has ever forgiven that claret, Clive.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pooh! the feud dates from long before that,&rdquo; said Clive;
&ldquo;Barnes wanted to lick me when I was a boy, and I declined: in fact, I
think he had rather the worst of it; but then I operated freely on his shins,
and that wasn&rsquo;t fair in war, you know.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Heaven forgive me,&rdquo; cries the Colonel; &ldquo;I have always felt
the fellow was my enemy: and my mind is relieved now war is declared. It has
been a kind of hypocrisy with me to shake his hand and eat his dinner. When I
trusted him it was against my better instinct; and I have been struggling
against it these ten years, thinking it was a wicked prejudice, and ought to be
overcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why should we overcome such instincts?&rdquo; asks Mr. Warrington.
&ldquo;Why shouldn&rsquo;t we hate what is hateful in people and scorn what is
mean? From what friend Pen has described to me, and from some other accounts
which have come to my ears, your respectable nephew is about as loathsome a
little villain as crawls on the earth. Good seems to be out of his sphere, and
away from his contemplation. He ill-treats every one he comes near; or, if,
gentle to them, it is that they may serve some base purpose. Since my attention
has been drawn to the creature, I have been contemplating his ways with wonder
and curiosity. How much superior Nature&rsquo;s rogues are, Pen, to the
villains you novelists put into your books! This man goes about his life
business with a natural propensity to darkness and evil&mdash;as a bug crawls,
and stings, and stinks. I don&rsquo;t suppose the fellow feels any more remorse
than a cat that runs away with a mutton-chop. I recognise the Evil Spirit, sir,
and do honour to Ahrimanes, in taking off my hat to this young man. He seduced
a poor girl in his father&rsquo;s country town&mdash;is it not natural?
Deserted her and her children&mdash;don&rsquo;t you recognise the beast?
married for rank&mdash;could you expect otherwise from him? invites my Lord
Highgate to his house in consideration of his balance at the bank;&mdash;sir,
unless somebody&rsquo;s heel shall crunch him on the way, there is no height to
which this aspiring vermin mayn&rsquo;t crawl. I look to see Sir Barnes Newcome
prosper more and more. I make no doubt he will die an immense capitalist, and
an exalted Peer of this realm. He will have a marble monument, and a pathetic
funeral sermon. There is a divine in your family, Clive, that shall preach it.
I will weep respectful tears over the grave of Baron Newcome, Viscount Newcome,
Earl Newcome; and the children whom he has deserted, and who, in the course of
time, will be sent by a grateful nation to New South Wales, will proudly say to
their brother convicts,&mdash;&lsquo;Yes, the Earl was our honoured
father.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I fear he is no better than he should be, Mr. Warrington,&rdquo; says
the Colonel, shaking his head. &ldquo;I never heard the story about the
deserted children.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How should you, O you guileless man!&rdquo; cries Warrington.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am not in the ways of scandal-hearing myself much: but this tale I had
from Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s own country. Mr. Batters of the <i>Newcome
Independent</i> is my esteemed client. I write leading articles for his
newspaper, and when he was in town last spring he favoured me with the
anecdote; and proposed to amuse the Member for Newcome by publishing it in his
journal. This kind of writing is not much in my line: and, out of respect to
you and your young one, I believe&mdash;I strove with Mr. Batters,
and&mdash;entreated him and prevailed with him, not to publish the story. That
is how I came to know it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I sate with the Colonel in the evening, when he commented on Warrington&rsquo;s
story and Sir Barnes&rsquo;s adventures in his simple way. He said his brother
Hobson had been with him the morning after the dispute, reiterating
Barnes&rsquo;s defence of his conduct: and professing on his own part nothing
but goodwill towards his brother. &ldquo;Between ourselves the young Baronet
carries matters with rather a high hand sometimes, and I am not sorry that you
gave him a little dressing. But you were too hard upon him,
Colonel&mdash;really you were.&rdquo; &ldquo;Had I known that child-deserting
story I would have given it harder still, sir,&rdquo; says Thomas Newcome,
twirling his mustachios: &ldquo;but my brother had nothing to do with the
quarrel, and very rightly did not wish to engage in it. He has an eye to
business, has Master Hobson too,&rdquo; my friend continued: &ldquo;for he
brought me a cheque for my private account, which of course, he said, could not
remain after my quarrel with Barnes. But the Indian bank account, which is
pretty large, he supposed need not be taken away? and indeed why should it? So
that, which is little business of mine, remains where it was; and brother
Hobson and I remain perfectly good friends.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think Clive is much better since he has been quite put out of his
suspense. He speaks with a great deal more kindness and good-nature about the
marriage than I am disposed to feel regarding it: and depend on it has too high
a spirit to show that he is beaten. But I know he is a good deal cut up, though
he says nothing; and he agreed willingly enough to take a little journey,
Arthur, and be out of the way when this business takes place. We shall go to
Paris: I don&rsquo;t know where else besides. These misfortunes do good in one
way, hard as they are to bear: they unite people who love each other. It seems
to me my boy has been nearer to me, and likes his old father better than he has
done of late.&rdquo; And very soon after this talk our friends departed.
</p>

<p class="p2">
The Bulgarian minister having been recalled, and Lady Anne Newcome&rsquo;s
house in park Lane being vacant, her ladyship and her family came to occupy the
mansion for this eventful season, and sate once more in the dismal dining-room
under the picture of the defunct Sir Brian. A little of the splendour and
hospitality of old days was revived in the house: entertainments were given by
Lady Anne: and amongst other festivities a fine ball took place, when pretty
Miss Alice, Miss Ethel&rsquo;s younger sister, made her first appearance in the
world, to which she was afterwards to be presented by the Marchioness of
Farintosh. All the little sisters were charmed, no doubt, that the beautiful
Ethel was to become a beautiful Marchioness, who, as they came up to womanhood
one after another, would introduce them severally to amiable young earls,
dukes, and marquises, when they would be married off and wear coronets and
diamonds of their own right. At Lady Anne&rsquo;s ball I saw my acquaintance,
young Mumford, who was going to Oxford next October, and about to leave Rugby,
where he was at the head of the school, looking very dismal as Miss Alice
whirled round the room dancing in Viscount Bustington&rsquo;s arms;&mdash;Miss
Alice, with whose mamma he used to take tea at Rugby, and for whose pretty sake
Mumford did Alfred Newcome&rsquo;s verses for him and let him off his
thrashings. Poor Mumford! he dismally went about under the protection of young
Alfred, a fourth-form boy&mdash;not one soul did he know in that rattling
London ballroom; his young face&mdash;as white as the large white tie, donned
two hours since at the Tavistock with such nervousness and beating of heart!
</p>

<p>
With these lads, and decorated with a tie equally splendid, moved about young
Sam Newcome, who was shirking from his sister and his mamma. Mrs. Hobson had
actually assumed clean gloves for this festive occasion. Sam stared at all the
&ldquo;Nobs:&rdquo; and insisted upon being introduced to
&ldquo;Farintosh,&rdquo; and congratulated his lordship with much graceful
ease: and then pushed about the rooms perseveringly hanging on to
Alfred&rsquo;s jacket. &ldquo;I say, I wish you wouldn&rsquo;t call me
Al&rsquo;,&rdquo; I heard Mr. Alfred say to his cousin. Seeing my face, Mr.
Samuel ran up to claim acquaintance. He was good enough to say he thought
Farintosh seemed devilish haughty. Even my wife could not help saying, that Mr.
Sam was an odious little creature.
</p>

<p>
So it was for young Alfred, and his brothers and sisters, who would want help
and protection in the world, that Ethel was about to give up her independence,
her inclination perhaps, and to bestow her life on yonder young nobleman.
Looking at her as a girl devoting herself to her family, her sacrifice gave her
a melancholy interest in our eyes. My wife and I watched her, grave and
beautiful, moving through the rooms, receiving and returning a hundred
greetings, bending to compliments, talking with this friend and that, with my
lord&rsquo;s lordly relations, with himself, to whom she listened
deferentially; faintly smiling as he spoke now and again; doing the honours of
her mother&rsquo;s house. Lady after lady of his lordship&rsquo;s clan and
kinsfolk complimented the girl and her pleased mother. Old Lady Kew was radiant
(if one can call radiance the glances of those darkling old eyes). She sate in
a little room apart, and thither people went to pay their court to her.
Unwillingly I came in on this levee with my wife on my arm: Lady Kew scowled at
me over her crutch, but without a sign of recognition. &ldquo;What an awful
countenance that old woman has!&rdquo; Laura whispered as we retreated out of
that gloomy presence.
</p>

<p>
And Doubt (as its wont is) whispered too a question in my ear, &ldquo;Is it for
her brothers and sisters only that Miss Ethel is sacrificing herself? Is it not
for the coronet, and the triumph, and the fine houses?&rdquo; &ldquo;When two
motives may actuate a friend, we surely may try and believe in the good
one,&rdquo; says Laura. &ldquo;But, but I am glad Clive does not marry
her&mdash;poor fellow&mdash;he would not have been happy with her. She belongs
to this great world: she has spent all her life in it: Clive would have entered
into it very likely in her train; and you know, sir, it is not good that we
should be our husbands&rsquo; superiors,&rdquo; adds Mrs. Laura, with a
curtsey.
</p>

<p>
She presently pronounced that the air was very hot in the rooms, and in fact
wanted to go home to see her child. As we passed out, we saw Sir Barnes
Newcome, eagerly smiling, smirking, bowing, and in the fondest conversation
with his sister and Lord Farintosh. By Sir Barnes presently brushed
Lieutenant-General Sir George Tufto, K.C.B., who, when he saw on whose foot he
had trodden, grunted out, &ldquo;H&rsquo;m, beg your pardon!&rdquo; and turning
his back on Barnes, forthwith began complimenting Ethel and the Marquis.
&ldquo;Served with your lordship&rsquo;s father in Spain; glad to make your
lordship&rsquo;s acquaintance,&rdquo; says Sir George. Ethel bows to us as we
pass out of the rooms, and we hear no more of Sir George&rsquo;s conversation.
</p>

<p>
In the cloak-room sits Lady Clara Newcome, with a gentleman bending over her,
just in such an attitude as the bride is in Hogarth&rsquo;s &ldquo;Marriage à
la Mode&rdquo; as the counsellor talks to her. Lady Clara starts up as a crowd
of blushes come into her wan face, and tries to smile, and rises to greet my
wife, and says something about its being so dreadfully hot in the upper rooms,
and so very tedious waiting for the carriages. The gentleman advances towards
me with a military stride, and says, &ldquo;How do you do, Mr. Pendennis?
How&rsquo;s our young friend, the painter?&rdquo; I answer Lord Highgate
civilly enough, whereas my wife will scarce speak a word in reply to Lady Clara
Newcome.
</p>

<p>
Lady Clara asked us to her ball, which my wife declined altogether to attend.
Sir Barnes published a series of quite splendid entertainments on the happy
occasion of his sister&rsquo;s betrothal. We read the names of all the clan
Farintosh in the <i>Morning Post</i>, as attending these banquets. Mr. and Mrs.
Hobson Newcome, in Bryanstone Square, gave also signs of rejoicing at their
niece&rsquo;s marriage. They had a grand banquet followed by a tea, to which
latter amusement the present biographer was invited. Lady Anne, and Lady Kew
and her granddaughter, and the Baronet and his wife, and my Lord Highgate and
Sir George Tufto attended the dinner; but it was rather a damp entertainment.
&ldquo;Farintosh,&rdquo; whispers Sam Newcome, &ldquo;sent word just before
dinner that he had a sore throat, and Barnes was as sulky as possible. Sir
George wouldn&rsquo;t speak to him, and the Dowager wouldn&rsquo;t speak to
Lord Highgate. Scarcely anything was drank,&rdquo; concluded Mr. Sam, with a
slight hiccup. &ldquo;I say, Pendennis, how sold Clive will be!&rdquo; And the
amiable youth went off to commune with others of his parents&rsquo; guests.
</p>

<p>
Thus the Newcomes entertained the Farintoshes, and the Farintoshes entertained
the Newcomes. And the Dowager Countess of Kew went from assembly to assembly
every evening, and to jewellers and upholsterers and dressmakers every morning;
and Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s town-house was splendidly re-decorated in the newest
fashion; and he seemed to grow more and more attentive as the happy day
approached, and he gave away all his cigars to his brother Rob; and his sisters
were delighted with Ethel, and constantly in her company, and his mother was
pleased with her, and thought a girl of her spirit and resolution would make a
good wife for her son: and select crowds flocked to see the service of plate at
Handyman&rsquo;s, and the diamonds which were being set for the lady; and Smee,
R.A., painted her portrait, as a <i>souvenir</i> for mamma when Miss Newcome
should be Miss Newcome no more; and Lady Kew made a will leaving all she could
leave to her beloved granddaughter, Ethel, daughter of the late Sir Brian
Newcome, Baronet; and Lord Kew wrote an affectionate letter to his cousin,
congratulating her, and wishing her happiness with all his heart; and I was
glancing over <i>The Times</i> newspaper at breakfast one morning; when I laid
it down with an exclamation which caused my wife to start with surprise.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; cries Laura, and I read as follows:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;&lsquo;Death of the Countess Dowager of Kew.&mdash;We regret to have to
announce the awfully sudden death of this venerable lady. Her ladyship, who had
been at several parties of the nobility the night before last, seemingly in
perfect health, was seized with a fit as she was waiting for her carriage, and
about to quit Lady Pallgrave&rsquo;s assembly. Immediate medical assistance was
procured, and her ladyship was carried to her own house, in Queen Street,
Mayfair. But she never rallied, or, we believe, spoke, after the first fatal
seizure, and sank at eleven o&rsquo;clock last evening, The deceased, Louisa
Joanna Gaunt, widow of Frédéric, first Earl of Kew, was daughter of Charles,
Earl of Gaunt, and sister of the late and aunt of the present Marquis of
Steyne. The present Earl of Kew is her ladyship&rsquo;s grandson, his
lordship&rsquo;s father, Lord Walham, having died before his own father, the
first earl. Many noble families are placed in mourning by this sad event.
Society has to deplore the death of a lady who has been its ornament for more
than half a century, and who was known, we may say, throughout Europe for her
remarkable sense, extraordinary memory, and brilliant wit.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0055" id="link2HCH0055"></a>
CHAPTER LV.<br/>
Barnes&rsquo;s Skeleton Closet</h2>

<p>
The demise of Lady Kew of course put a stop for a while to the matrimonial
projects so interesting to the house of Newcome. Hymen blew his torch out, put
it into the cupboard for use on a future day, and exchanged his garish
saffron-coloured robe for decent temporary mourning. Charles Honeyman improved
the occasion at Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel hard by; and &ldquo;Death at the
Festival&rdquo; was one of his most thrilling sermons; reprinted at the request
of some of the congregation. There were those of his flock, especially a pair
whose quarter of the fold was the organ-loft, who were always charmed with the
piping of that melodious pastor.
</p>

<p>
Shall we too, while the coffin yet rests on the earth&rsquo;s outer surface,
enter the chapel whither these void remains of our dear sister departed are
borne by the smug undertaker&rsquo;s gentlemen, and pronounce an elegy over
that bedizened box of corruption? When the young are stricken down, and their
roses nipped in an hour by the destroying blight, even the stranger can
sympathise, who counts the scant years on the gravestone, or reads the notice
in the newspaper corner. The contrast forces itself on you. A fair young
creature, bright and blooming yesterday, distributing smiles, levying homage,
inspiring desire, conscious of her power to charm, and gay with the natural
enjoyment of her conquests&mdash;who in his walk through the world has not
looked on many such a one; and, at the notion of her sudden call away from
beauty, triumph, pleasure; her helpless outcries during her short pain; her
vain pleas for a little respite; her sentence, and its execution; has not felt
a shock of pity? When the days of a long life come to its close, and a white
head sinks to rise no more, we bow our own with respect as the mourning train
passes, and salute the heraldry and devices of yonder pomp, as symbols of age,
wisdom, deserved respect and merited honour; long experience of suffering and
action. The wealth he may have achieved is the harvest which he sowed; the
titles on his hearse, fruits of the field he bravely and laboriously wrought
in. But to live to fourscore years, and be found dancing among the idle
virgins! to have had near a century of allotted time, and then be called away
from the giddy notes of a Mayfair fiddle! To have to yield your roses too, and
then drop out of the bony clutch of your old fingers a wreath that came from a
Parisian bandbox! One fancies around some graves unseen troops of mourners
waiting; many and many a poor pensioner trooping to the place; many weeping
charities; many kind actions; many dear friends beloved and deplored, rising up
at the toll of that bell to follow the honoured hearse; dead parents waiting
above, and calling, &ldquo;Come, daughter!&rdquo; lost children, heaven&rsquo;s
fondlings, hovering round like cherubim, and whispering, &ldquo;Welcome,
mother!&rdquo; Here is one who reposes after a long feast where no love has
been; after girlhood without kindly maternal nurture; marriage without
affection; matronhood without its precious griefs and joys; after fourscore
years of lonely vanity. Let us take off our hats to that procession too as it
passes, admiring the different lots awarded to the children of men, and the
various usages to which Heaven puts its creatures.
</p>

<p>
Leave we yonder velvet-palled box, spangled with fantastic heraldry, and
containing within the aged slough and envelope of a soul gone to render its
account. Look rather at the living audience standing round the shell;&mdash;the
deep grief on Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s fine countenance; the sadness depicted in
the face of the most noble the Marquis of Farintosh; the sympathy of her
ladyship&rsquo;s medical man (who came in the third mourning carriage); better
than these, the awe, and reverence, and emotion, exhibited in the kind face of
one of the witnesses of this scene, as he listens to those words which the
priest rehearses over our dead. What magnificent words! what a burning faith,
what a glorious triumph; what a heroic life, death, hope, they record! They are
read over all of us alike; as the sun shines on just and unjust. We have all of
us heard them; and I have fancied, for my part, that they fell and smote like
the sods on the coffin.
</p>

<p>
The ceremony over, the undertaker&rsquo;s gentlemen clamber on the roof of the
vacant hearse, into which palls, tressels, trays of feathers, are inserted, and
the horses break out into a trot, and the empty carriages, expressing the deep
grief of the deceased lady&rsquo;s friends, depart homeward. It is remarked
that Lord Kew hardly has any communication with his cousin, Sir Barnes Newcome.
His lordship jumps into a cab, and goes to the railroad. Issuing from the
cemetery, the Marquis of Farintosh hastily orders that thing to be taken off
his hat, and returns to town in his brougham, smoking a cigar. Sir Barnes
Newcome rides in the brougham beside Lord Farintosh as far as Oxford Street,
where he gets a cab, and goes to the City. For business is business, and must
be attended to, though grief be ever so severe.
</p>

<p>
A very short time previous to her demise, Mr. Rood (that was Mr.
Rood&mdash;that other little gentleman in black, who shared the third mourning
coach along with her ladyship&rsquo;s medical man) had executed a will by which
almost all the Countess&rsquo;s property was devised to her granddaughter,
Ethel Newcome. Lady Kew&rsquo;s decease of course delayed the marriage projects
for a while. The young heiress returned to her mother&rsquo;s house in Park
Lane. I dare say the deep mourning habiliments in which the domestics of that
establishment appeared, were purchased out of the funds left in his hands,
which Ethel&rsquo;s banker and brother had at her disposal.
</p>

<p>
Sir Barnes Newcome, who was one of the trustees of his sister&rsquo;s property,
grumbled no doubt because his grandmother had bequeathed to him but a paltry
recompense of five hundred pounds for his pains and trouble of trusteeship; but
his manner to Ethel was extremely bland and respectful: an heiress now, and to
be a marchioness in a few months, Sir Barnes treated her with a very different
regard to that which he was accustomed to show to other members of his family.
For while this worthy Baronet would contradict his mother at every word she
uttered, and take no pains to disguise his opinion that Lady Anne&rsquo;s
intellect was of the very poorest order, he would listen deferentially to
Ethel&rsquo;s smallest observations, exert himself to amuse her under her
grief, which he chose to take for granted was very severe, visit her
constantly, and show the most charming solicitude for her general comfort and
welfare.
</p>

<p>
During this time my wife received constant notes from Ethel Newcome, and the
intimacy between the two ladies much increased. Laura was so unlike the women
of Ethel&rsquo;s circle, the young lady was pleased to say, that to be with her
was Ethel&rsquo;s greatest comfort. Miss Newcome was now her own mistress, had
her carriage, and would drive day after day to our cottage at Richmond. The
frigid society of Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s sisters, the conversation of his
mother, did not amuse Ethel, and she escaped from both with her usual
impatience of control. She was at home every day dutifully to receive my
lord&rsquo;s visits; but though she did not open her mind to Laura as freely
regarding the young gentleman as she did when the character and disposition of
her future mother and sisters-in-law was the subject of their talk, I could
see, from the grave look of commiseration which my wife&rsquo;s face bore after
her young friend&rsquo;s visits, that Mrs. Pendennis augured rather ill of the
future happiness of this betrothed pair. Once, at Miss Newcome&rsquo;s special
request, I took my wife to see her in Park Lane, where the Marquis of Farintosh
found us. His lordship and I had already a half-acquaintance, which was not,
however, improved after my regular presentation to him by Miss Newcome: he
scowled at me with a countenance indicative of anything but welcome, and did
not seem in the least more pleased when Ethel entreated her friend Laura not to
take her bonnet, not to think of going away so soon. She came to see us the
very next day, stayed much longer with us than usual, and returned to town
quite late in the evening, in spite of the entreaties of the inhospitable
Laura, who would have had her leave us long before. &ldquo;I am sure,&rdquo;
says clear-sighted Mrs. Laura, &ldquo;she is come out of bravado, and after we
went away yesterday that there were words between her and Lord Farintosh on our
account.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Confound the young man,&rdquo; breaks out Mr. Pendennis in a fume;
&ldquo;what does he mean by his insolent airs?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He may think we are partisans de l&rsquo;autre,&rdquo; says Mrs.
Pendennis, with a smile first, and a sigh afterwards, as she said &ldquo;poor
Clive!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you ever talk about Clive?&rdquo; asks the husband.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Never. Once, twice, perhaps, in the most natural manner in the world we
mentioned where he is; but nothing further passes. The subject is a sealed one
between us. She often looks at his drawings in my album (Clive had drawn our
baby there and its mother in a great variety of attitudes), and gazes at his
sketch of his dear old father: but of him she never says a word.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;So it is best,&rdquo; says Mr. Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes&mdash;best,&rdquo; echoes Laura, with a sigh.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You think, Laura,&rdquo; continues the husband, &ldquo;you think
she&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She what?&rdquo; What did Mr. Pendennis mean? Laura his wife certainly
understood him, though upon my conscience the sentence went no
further&mdash;for she answered at once:
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes&mdash;I think she certainly did, poor boy! But that, of course, is
over now: and Ethel, though she cannot help being a worldly woman, has such
firmness and resolution of character, that if she has once determined to
conquer any inclination of that sort I am sure she will master it, and make
Lord Farintosh a very good wife.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Since the Colonel&rsquo;s quarrel with Sir Barnes,&rdquo; cries Mr.
Pendennis, adverting by a natural transition from Ethel to her amiable brother,
&ldquo;our banking friend does not invite us any more: Lady Clara sends you no
cards. I have a great mind to withdraw my account.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Laura, who understands nothing about accounts, did not perceive the fine irony
of this remark: but her face straightway put on the severe expression which it
chose to assume whenever Sir Barnes&rsquo;s family was mentioned, and she said,
&ldquo;My dear, I am very glad indeed that Lady Clara sends us no more of her
invitations. You know very well why I disliked them.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I hear baby crying,&rdquo; says Laura. Oh, Laura, Laura! how could you
tell your husband such a fib?&mdash;and she quits the room without deigning to
give any answer to that &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Let us pay a brief visit to Newcome in the north of England, and there we may
get some answer to the question of which Mr. Pendennis had just in vain asked a
reply from his wife. My design does not include a description of that great and
flourishing town of Newcome, and of the manufactures which caused its
prosperity; but only admits of the introduction of those Newcomites who are
concerned in the affairs of the family which has given its respectable name to
these volumes.
</p>

<p>
Thus in previous pages we have said nothing about the Mayor and Corporation of
Newcome the magnificent bankers and manufacturers who had their places of
business in the town, and their splendid villas outside its smoky precincts;
people who would give their thousand guineas for a picture or a statue, and
write you off a cheque for ten times the amount any day; people who, if there
was a talk of a statue to the Queen or the Duke, would come down to the Town
All and subscribe their one, two, three undred apiece (especially if in the
neighbouring city of S<small>LOWCOME</small> they were putting up a statue to
the Duke or the Queen)&mdash;not of such men have I spoken, the magnates of the
place; but of the humble Sarah Mason in Jubilee Row&mdash;of the Reverend Dr.
Bulders the Vicar, Mr. Vidler the apothecary, Mr. Puff the baker&mdash;of Tom
Potts, the jolly reporter of the <i>Newcome Independent</i>, and &mdash;&mdash;
Batters, Esq., the proprietor of that journal&mdash;persons with whom our
friends have had already, or will be found presently to have, some connexion.
And it is from these that we shall arrive at some particulars regarding the
Newcome family, which will show us that they have a skeleton or two in
<i>their</i> closets, as well as their neighbours.
</p>

<p>
Now, how will you have the story? Worthy mammas of families&mdash;if you do not
like to have your daughters told that bad husbands will make bad wives; that
marriages begun in indifference make homes unhappy; that men whom girls are
brought to swear to love and honour are sometimes false, selfish, and cruel;
and that women forget the oaths which they have been made to swear&mdash;if you
will not hear of this, ladies, close the book, and send for some other. Banish
the newspaper out of your houses, and shut your eyes to the truth, the awful
truth, of life and sin. Is the world made of Jennies and Jessamies; and passion
the play of schoolboys and schoolgirls, scribbling valentines and interchanging
lollipops? Is life all over when Jenny and Jessamy are married; and are there
no subsequent trials, griefs, wars, bitter heart-pangs, dreadful temptations,
defeats, remorses, sufferings to bear, and dangers to overcome? As you and I,
friend, kneel with our children round about us, prostrate before the Father of
us all, and asking mercy for miserable sinners, are the young ones to suppose
the words are mere form, and don&rsquo;t apply to us?&mdash;to some outcasts in
the free seats probably, or those naughty boys playing in the churchyard? Are
they not to know that we err too, and pray with all our hearts to be rescued
from temptation? If such a knowledge is wrong for them, send them to church
apart. Go you and worship in private; or if not too proud, kneel humbly in the
midst of them, owning your wrong, and praying Heaven to be merciful to you a
sinner.
</p>

<p>
When Barnes Newcome became the reigning Prince of the Newcome family, and after
the first agonies of grief for his father&rsquo;s death had subsided, he made
strong attempts to conciliate the principal persons in the neighbourhood, and
to render himself popular in the borough. He gave handsome entertainments to
the townsfolk and to the county gentry; he tried even to bring those two
warring classes together. He endeavoured to be civil to the <i>Newcome
Independent</i>, the Opposition paper, as well as to the <i>Newcome
Sentinel</i> that true old Uncompromising Blue. He asked the Dissenting
clergyman to dinner, and the Low Church clergyman, as well as the orthodox
Doctor Bulders and his curates. He gave a lecture at the Newcome Athenæum,
which everybody said was very amusing, and which <i>Sentinel</i> and
<i>Independent</i> both agreed in praising. Of course he subscribed to that
statue which the Newcomites were raising; to the philanthropic missions which
Reverend Low Church gentlemen were engaged in; to the (for the young Newcomite
manufacturers are as sporting as any gents in the North), to the hospital, the
People&rsquo;s Library, the restoration of the rood-screen and the great
painted window in Newcome Old Church (Rev. J. Bulders), and he had to pay in
fine a most awful price for his privilege of sitting in Parliament as
representative of his native place&mdash;as he called it in his speeches
&ldquo;the cradle of his forefathers, the home of his race,&rdquo; etc., though
Barnes was in fact born at Clapham.
</p>

<p>
Lady Clara could not in the least help this young statesman in his designs upon
Newcome and the Newcomites. After she came into Barnes&rsquo;s hands, a
dreadful weight fell upon her. She would smile and simper, and talk kindly and
gaily enough at first, during Sir Brian&rsquo;s life; and among women, when
Barnes was not present. But as soon as he joined the company, it was remarked
that his wife became silent, and looked eagerly towards him whenever he
ventured to speak. She blundered, her eyes filled with tears; the little wit
she had left her in her husband&rsquo;s presence: he grew angry, and tried to
hide his anger with a sneer, or broke out with gibe and an oath, when he lost
patience, and Clara, whimpering, would leave the room. Everybody at Newcome
knew that Barnes bullied his wife.
</p>

<p>
People had worse charges against Barnes than wife-bullying. Do you suppose that
little interruption which occurred at Barnes&rsquo;s marriage was not known in
Newcome? His victim had been a Newcome girl, the man to whom she was betrothed
was in a Newcome factory. When Barnes was a young man, and in his occasional
visits to Newcome, lived along with those dashing young blades Sam Jollyman
(Jollyman Brothers and Bowcher), Bob Homer, Cross Country Bill, Al Rackner (for
whom his father had to pay eighteen thousand pounds after the Leger, the year
Toggery won it) and that wild lot, all sorts of stories were told of them, and
of Barnes especially. Most of them were settled, and steady business men by
this time. Al, it was known had become very serious, besides making his fortune
in cotton. Bob Homer managed the Bank; and as for S. Jollyman, Mrs. S. J. took
uncommon good care that he didn&rsquo;t break out of bounds any more; why, he
was not even allowed to play a game at billiards; or to dine out without
her&mdash;&mdash;I could go on giving you interesting particulars of a hundred
members of the Newcome aristocracy, were not our attention especially directed
to one respectable family.
</p>

<p>
All Barnes&rsquo;s endeavours at popularity were vain, partly from his own
fault, and partly from the nature of mankind, and of the Newcome folks
especially, whom no single person could possibly conciliate. Thus, suppose he
gave the advertisements to the <i>Independent;</i> the old Blue paper the
<i>Sentinel</i> was very angry: suppose he asked Mr. Hunch, the Dissenting
minister, to bless the tablecloth after dinner, as he had begged Dr. Bulders to
utter a benediction on the first course, Hunch and Bulders were both angry. He
subscribed to the races&mdash;what heathenism! to the missionaries&mdash;what
sanctimonious humbug! And the worst was that Barnes being young at that time,
and not able to keep his tongue in order, could not help saying not to but of
such and such a man, that he was an infernal ass, or a confounded old idiot,
and so forth&mdash;peevish phrases, which undid in a moment the work of a dozen
dinners, countless compliments, and months of grinning good-humour.
</p>

<p>
Now he is wiser. He is very proud of being Newcome of Newcome, and quite
believes that the place is his hereditary principality. But still, he says, his
father was a fool for ever representing the borough. &ldquo;Dammy, sir,&rdquo;
cries Sir Barnes, &ldquo;never sit for a place that lies at your park-gates,
and above all never try to conciliate &rsquo;em. Curse &rsquo;em! Hate
&rsquo;em well, sir! Take a line, and flog the fellows on the other side. Since
I have sate in Parliament for another place, I have saved myself I don&rsquo;t
know how much a year. I never go to High Church or Low; don&rsquo;t give a
shillin&rsquo; to the confounded races, or the infernal souptickets, or to the
miserable missionaries; and at last live in quiet.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So, in spite of all his subscriptions, and his coaxing of the various orders of
Newcomites, Sir Barnes Newcome was not popular among them; and while he had
enemies on all sides, had sturdy friends not even on his own. Scarce a man but
felt Barnes was laughing at him; Bulders in his pulpit, Holder who seconded him
in his election, the Newcome society; and the ladies, even more than the men,
were uneasy under his ominous familiarity, and recovered their good-humour when
he left them. People felt as if it was a truce only, and not an alliance with
him, and always speculated on the possibility of war: when he turned his back
on them in the market, men felt relieved, and, as they passed his gate, looked
with no friendly glances over his park-wall.
</p>

<p>
What happened within was perfectly familiar to many persons. Our friend was
insolent to all his servants; and of course very well served, but very much
disliked, in consequence. The butler was familiar with Taplow&mdash;the
housekeeper had a friend at Newcome; Mrs Taplow, in fact, of the King&rsquo;s
Arms&mdash;one of the grooms at Newcome Park kept company with Mrs.
Bulder&rsquo;s maid: the incomings and outgoings, the quarrels and tears, the
company from London, and all the doings of the folks at Newcome Park were thus
known to the neighbourhood round about. The apothecary brought an awful story
back from Newcome. He had been called to Lady Clara in strong hysterical fits.
He found her ladyship with a bruise on her face. When Sir Barnes approached her
(he would not allow the medical man to see her except in his presence) she
screamed and bade him not come near her. These things did Mr. Vidler weakly
impart to Mrs. Vidler: these, under solemn vows of secrecy, Mrs. Vidler told to
one or two friends. Sir Barnes and Lady Clara were seen shopping together very
graciously in Newcome a short time afterwards; persons who dined at the Park
said the Baronet and his wife seemed on very good terms; but&mdash;but that
story of the bruised cheek remained in the minds of certain people, and lay by
at compound interest as such stories will.
</p>

<p>
Now, say people quarrel and make it up; or don&rsquo;t make it up, but wear a
smirking face to society, and call each other &ldquo;my dear&rdquo; and
&ldquo;my love,&rdquo; and smooth over their countenances before John, who
enters with the coals as they are barking and biting, or who announces the
dinner as they are tearing each other&rsquo;s eyes out? Suppose a woman is ever
so miserable, and yet smiles, and doesn&rsquo;t show her grief? &ldquo;Quite
right,&rdquo; say her prudent friends, and her husband&rsquo;s relations above
all. &ldquo;My dear, you have too much propriety to exhibit your grief before
the world, or above all, before the darling children.&rdquo; So to lie is your
duty, to lie to your friends, to yourself if you can, to your children.
</p>

<p>
Does this discipline of hypocrisy improve any mortal woman? Say she learns to
smile after a blow, do you suppose in this matter alone she will be a
hypocrite? Poor Lady Clara! I fancy a better lot for you than that to which
fate handed you over. I fancy there need have been no deceit in your fond
simple little heart, could it but have been given into other keeping. But you
were consigned to a master, whose scorn and cruelty terrified you; under whose
sardonic glances your scared eyes were afraid to look up, and before whose
gloomy coldness you dared not be happy. Suppose a little plant, very frail and
delicate from the first, but that might have bloomed sweetly and borne fair
flowers, had it received warm shelter and kindly nurture; suppose a young
creature taken out of her home, and given over to a hard master whose caresses
are as insulting as his neglect; consigned to cruel usage; to weary loneliness;
to bitter, bitter recollections of the past; suppose her schooled into
hypocrisy by tyranny&mdash;and then, quick, let us hire an advocate to roar out
to a British jury the wrongs of her injured husband, to paint the agonies of
his bleeding heart (if Mr. Advocate gets plaintiff&rsquo;s brief in time, and
before defendant&rsquo;s attorney has retained him), and to show Society
injured through him. Let us console that martyr, I say, with thumping damages;
and as for the woman&mdash;the guilty wretch!&mdash;let us lead her out and
stone her.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0056" id="link2HCH0056"></a>
CHAPTER LVI.<br/>
Rosa quo locorum sera moratur</h2>

<p>
Clive Newcome bore his defeat with such a courage and resolution as those who
knew the young fellow&rsquo;s character were sure he would display. It was
whilst he had a little lingering hope still that the poor lad was in the worst
condition; as a gambler is restless and unhappy whilst his last few guineas
remain with him, and he is venturing them against the overpowering chances of
the bank. His last piece, however, gone, our friend rises up from that unlucky
table beaten at the contest but not broken in spirit. He goes back into the
world again and withdraws from that dangerous excitement; sometimes when he is
alone or wakeful, tossing in his bed at nights, he may recall the fatal game,
and think how he might have won it&mdash;think what a fool he was ever to have
played it at all&mdash;but these cogitations Clive kept for himself. He was
magnanimous enough not even to blame Ethel much, and to take her side against
his father, who it must be confessed now exhibited a violent hostility against
that young lady and her belongings. Slow to anger and utterly beyond deceit
himself, when Thomas Newcome was once roused, or at length believed that he was
cheated woe to the offender! From that day forth, Thomas believed no good of
him. Every thought or action of his enemy&rsquo;s life seemed treason to the
worthy Colonel. If Barnes gave a dinner-party, his uncle was ready to fancy
that the banker wanted to poison somebody; if he made a little speech in the
House of Commons (Barnes did make little speeches in the House of Commons), the
Colonel was sure some infernal conspiracy lay under the villain&rsquo;s words.
The whole of that branch of the Newcomes fared little better at their
kinsman&rsquo;s hands&mdash;they were all deceitful, sordid, heartless,
worldly;&mdash;Ethel herself no better now than the people who had bred her up.
People hate, as they love, unreasonably. Whether is it the more mortifying to
us, to feel that we are disliked or liked undeservedly?
</p>

<p>
Clive was not easy until he had the sea between him and his misfortune: and now
Thomas Newcome had the chance of making that tour with his son, which in early
days had been such a favourite project with the good man. They travelled
Rhineland and Switzerland together&mdash;they crossed into Italy&mdash;went
from Milan to Venice (where Clive saluted the greatest painting in the
world&mdash;the glorious &lsquo;Assumption&rsquo; of Titian)&mdash;they went to
Trieste and over the beautiful Styrian Alps to Vienna&mdash;they beheld Danube,
and the plain where the Turk and Sobieski fought. They travelled at a
prodigious fast pace. They did not speak much to one another. They were a
pattern pair of English travellers: I dare say many persons whom they met
smiled to observe them; and shrugged their shoulders at the aspect of <i>ces
Anglais</i>. They did not know the care in the young traveller&rsquo;s mind;
and the deep tenderness and solicitude of the elder. Clive wrote to say it was
a very pleasant tour, but I think I should not have liked to join it. Let us
dismiss it in this single sentence. Other gentlemen have taken the same
journey, and with sorrow perhaps as their silent fellow-traveller. How you
remember the places afterwards, and the thoughts which pursued you! If in after
days, when your grief is dead and buried, you revisit the scenes in which it
was your companion, how its ghost rises and shows itself again! Suppose this
part of Mr. Clive&rsquo;s life were to be described at length in several
chapters, and not in a single brief sentence, what dreary pages they would be!
In two or three months our friends saw a number of men, cities, mountains,
rivers, and what not. It was yet early autumn when they were back in France
again, and September found them at Brussels, where James Binnie, Esq., and his
family were established in comfortable quarters, and where we may be sure Clive
and his father were very welcome.
</p>

<p>
Dragged abroad at first sorely against his will, James Binnie had found the
Continental life pretty much to his liking. He had passed a winter at Pau, a
summer at Vichy, where the waters had done him good. His ladies had made
several charming foreign acquaintances. Mrs. Mackenzie had quite a list of
counts and marchionesses among her friends. The excellent Captain Goby,
wandered about the country with them. Was it to Rosey, was it to her mother,
the Captain was most attached? Rosey received him as a godpapa; Mrs. Mackenzie
as a wicked, odious, good-for-nothing, dangerous, delightful creature. Is it
humiliating, is it consolatory, to remark, with what small wit some of our
friends are amused? The jovial sallies of Goby appeared exquisite to
Rosey&rsquo;s mother, and to the girl probably; though that young Bahawder of a
Clive Newcome chose to wear a grave face (confound his insolent airs!) at the
very best of the Goby jokes.
</p>

<p>
In Goby&rsquo;s train was his fervent admirer and inseparable young friend,
Clarence Hoby. Captain Hoby and Captain Goby travelled the world together,
visited Hombourg and Baden, Cheltenham and Leamington, Paris and Brussels, in
company, belonged to the same club in London&mdash;the centre of all pleasure,
fashion, and joy, for the young officer and the older campaigner. The jokes at
the Flag, the dinners at the Flag, the committee of the Flag, were the theme of
their constant conversation. Goby fifty years old, unattached, and with dyed
moustaches, was the affable comrade of the youngest member of his club: when
absent, a friend wrote him the last riddle from the smoking-room; when present,
his knowledge of horses, of cookery, wines, and cigars, and military history,
rendered him a most acceptable companion. He knew the history and achievements
of every regiment in the army; of every general and commanding officer. He was
known to have been &lsquo;out&rsquo; more than once himself, and had made up a
hundred quarrels. He was certainly not a man of an ascetic life or a profound
intellectual culture: but though poor he was known to be most honourable;
though more than middle-aged he was cheerful, busy, and kindly; and though the
youngsters called him Old Goby, he bore his years very gaily and handsomely,
and I dare say numbers of ladies besides Mrs. Mackenzie thought him delightful.
Goby&rsquo;s talk and rattle perhaps somewhat bored James Binnie, but Thomas
Newcome found the Captain excellent company; and Goby did justice to the good
qualities of the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
Clive&rsquo;s father liked Brussels very well. He and his son occupied very
handsome quarters, near the spacious apartments in the Park which James
Binnie&rsquo;s family inhabited. Waterloo was not far off, to which the Indian
officer paid several visits with Captain Goby for a guide; and many of
Marlborough&rsquo;s battlefields were near, in which Goby certainly took but a
minor interest; but on the other hand Clive beheld these with the greatest
pleasure, and painted more than one dashing piece, in which Churchill and
Eugene, Cutts and Cadogan, were the heroes; whose flowing periwigs, huge boots,
and thundering Flemish chargers were, he thought, more novel and picturesque
than the Duke&rsquo;s surtout, and the French Grenadiers&rsquo; hairy caps,
which so many English and French artists have portrayed.
</p>

<p>
Mr. and Mrs. Pendennis were invited by our kind Colonel to pass a
month&mdash;six months if they chose&mdash;at Brussels, and were most
splendidly entertained by our friends in that city. A suite of handsome rooms
was set apart for us. My study communicated with Clive&rsquo;s atelier. Many an
hour did we pass, and many a ride and walk did we take together. I observed
that Clive never mentioned Miss Newcome&rsquo;s name, and Laura and I agreed
that it was as well not to recall it. Only once, when we read the death of Lady
Glenlivat, Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s mother, in the newspaper, I remember to have
said, &ldquo;I suppose that marriage will be put off again.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Qu&rsquo;est ce que cela me fait?&rdquo; says Mr. Clive gloomily, over
his picture&mdash;a cheerful piece representing Count Egmont going to
execution; in which I have the honour to figure as a halberdier, Captain Hoby
as the Count, and Captain Goby as the Duke of Alva, looking out of window.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Mackenzie was in a state of great happiness and glory during this winter.
She had a carriage, and worked that vehicle most indefatigably. She knew a
great deal of good company at Brussels. She had an evening for receiving. She
herself went to countless evening-parties, and had the joy of being invited to
a couple of court balls, at which I am bound to say her daughter and herself
both looked very handsome. The Colonel brushed up his old uniform and attended
these entertainments. M. Newcome fils, as I should judge, was not the
worst-looking man in the room; and, as these young people waltzed together (in
which accomplishment Clive was very much more skilful than Captain Goby) I dare
say many people thought he and Rosey made a pretty couple.
</p>

<p>
Most persons, my wife included, difficult as that lady is to please, were
pleased with the pretty little Rosey. She sang charmingly now, and looked so
while singing. If her mother would but have omitted that chorus, which she
cackled perseveringly behind her daughter&rsquo;s pretty back: about
Rosey&rsquo;s angelic temper; about the compliments Signor Polonini paid her;
about Sir Horace Dash, our minister, <i>insisting</i> upon her singing
&ldquo;Batti Batti&rdquo; over again, and the Archduke clapping his hands and
saying, &ldquo;Oh, yes!&rdquo; about Count Vanderslaapen&rsquo;s attentions to
her, etc. etc.; but for these constant remarks of Mrs. Mack&rsquo;s, I am sure
no one would have been better pleased with Miss Rosey&rsquo;s singing and
behaviour than myself. As for Captain Hoby, it was easy to see how <i>he
was</i> affected towards Miss Rosalind&rsquo;s music and person.
</p>

<p>
And indeed few things could be pleasanter than to watch the behaviour of this
pretty little maid with her Uncle James and his old chum the Colonel. The
latter was soon as fond of her as James Binnie himself, whose face used to
lighten with pleasure whenever it turned towards hers. She seemed to divine his
wants, as she would trip across the room to fulfil them. She skipped into the
carriage and covered his feet with a shawl. James was lazy and chilly now, when
he took his drive. She sate opposite to him and smiled on him; and, if he
dozed, quick, another handkerchief was round his neck. I do not know whether
she understood his jokes, but she saluted them always with a sweet kind smile.
How she kissed him, and how delighted she was if he bought her a bouquet for
her ball that night! One day, upon occasion of one of these balls, James and
Thomas, those two old boys, absolutely came into Mrs. Mackenzie&rsquo;s
drawing-room with a bouquet apiece for Miss Rosey; and there was a fine
laughing.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, you little Susanna!&rdquo; says James, after taking his usual
payment; &ldquo;now go and pay t&rsquo;other elder.&rdquo; Rosey did not quite
understand at first, being, you see, more ready to laugh at jokes than to
comprehend them: but when she did, I promise you she looked uncommonly pretty
as she advanced to Colonel Newcome and put that pretty fresh cheek of hers up
to his grizzled moustache.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I protest I don&rsquo;t know which of you blushes the most,&rdquo;
chuckles James Binnie&mdash;and the truth is, the old man and the young girl
had both hung out those signals of amiable distress.
</p>

<p>
On this day, and as Miss Rosey was to be overpowered by flowers, who should
come presently to dinner but Captain Hoby, with another bouquet? on which Uncle
James said Rosey should go to the ball like an American Indian with her scalps
at her belt.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Scalps!&rdquo; cries Mrs. Mackenzie.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Scalps! Oh law, uncle!&rdquo; exclaims Miss Rosey. &ldquo;What can you
mean by anything so horrid?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Goby recalls to Mrs. Mack, Hook-ee-ma-goosh the Indian chief, whom she must
have seen when the Hundred and Fiftieth were at Quebec, and who had his lodge
full of them; and who used to lie about the barracks so drunk, and who used to
beat his poor little European wife: and presently Mr. Clive Newcome joins this
company, when the chirping, tittering, joking, laughing, cease somehow.
</p>

<p>
Has Clive brought a bouquet too? No. He has never thought about a bouquet. He
is dressed in black, with long hair, a long moustache, and melancholy imperial.
He looks very handsome, but as glum as an undertaker. And James Binnie says,
&ldquo;Egad, Tom, they used to call you the knight of the woeful countenance,
and Clive has just inherited the paternal mug.&rdquo; Then James calls out in a
cheery voice, &ldquo;Dinner, dinner!&rdquo; and trots off with Mrs. Pendennis
under his arm; Rosey nestles up against the Colonel; Goby and Mrs. Mack walk
away arm-in-arm very contentedly; and I don&rsquo;t know with which of her
three nosegays pretty Rosey appears at the ball.
</p>

<p class="p2">
Our stay with our friends at Brussels could not be prolonged beyond a month,
for at the end of that period we were under an engagement to other friends in
England, who were good enough to desire the presence of Mrs. Pendennis and her
suite of baby, nurse, and husband. So we presently took leave of Rosey and the
Campaigner, of the two stout elders, and our melancholy young Clive, who bore
us company to Antwerp, and who won Laura&rsquo;s heart by the neat way in which
he took her child on board ship. Poor fellow! how sad he looked as he bowed to
us and took off his hat! His eyes did not seem to be looking at us, though they
and his thoughts were turned another way. He moved off immediately, with his
head down, puffing his eternal cigar, and lost in his own meditations; our
going or our staying was of very little importance to the lugubrious youth.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think it was a great pity they came to Brussels,&rdquo; says Laura, as
we sate on the deck, while her unconscious infant was cheerful, and while the
water of the lazy Scheldt as yet was smooth.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Who? The Colonel and Clive? They are very handsomely lodged. They have a
good maître-d&rsquo;hôtel. Their dinners, I am sure, are excellent; and your
child, madam, is as healthy as it possibly can be.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Blessed darling! Yes!&rdquo; (Blessed darling crows, moos, jumps in his
nurse&rsquo;s arms, and holds out a little mottled hand for a biscuit of Savoy,
which mamma supplies.) &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t help thinking, Arthur, that Rosey
would have been much happier as Mrs. Hoby than she will be as Mrs.
Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Who thinks of her being Mrs. Newcome?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Her mother, her uncle, and Clive&rsquo;s father, Since the Colonel has
been so rich, I think Mrs. Mackenzie sees a great deal of merit in Clive. Rosey
will do anything her mother bids her. If Clive can be brought to the same
obedience, Uncle James and the Colonel will be delighted. Uncle James has set
his heart on this marriage. (He and his sister agree upon this point.) He told
me, last night, that he would sing &lsquo;Nunc dimittis,&rsquo; could he but
see the two children happy; and that he should lie easier in purgatory if that
could be brought about.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And what did you say, Laura?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I laughed, and told Uncle James I was of the Hoby faction. He is very
good-natured, frank, honest, and gentlemanlike, Mr. Hoby. But Uncle James said
he thought Mr. Hoby was so&mdash;well, so stupid&mdash;that his Rosey would be
thrown away upon the poor Captain. So I did not tell Uncle James that, before
Clive&rsquo;s arrival, Rosey had found Captain Hoby far from stupid. He used to
sing duets with her; he used to ride with her before Clive came. Last winter,
when they were at Pau, I feel certain Miss Rosey thought Captain Hoby very
pleasant indeed. She thinks she was attached to Clive formerly, and now she
admires him, and is dreadfully afraid of him. He is taller and handsomer, and
richer and cleverer than Captain Hoby, certainly.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I should think so, indeed,&rdquo; breaks out Mr. Pendennis. &ldquo;Why,
my dear, Clive is as fine a fellow as one can see on a summer&rsquo;s day. It
does one good to look at him. What a frank pair of bright blue eyes he has, or
used to have, till this mishap overclouded them! What a pleasant laugh he has!
What a well-built, agile figure it is&mdash;what pluck, and spirit, and honour,
there is about my young chap! I don&rsquo;t say he is a genius of the highest
order, but he is the staunchest, the bravest, the cheeriest, the most
truth-telling, the kindest heart. Compare him and Hoby! Why, Clive is an eagle,
and yonder little creature a mousing owl!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I like to hear you speak so,&rdquo; cries Mrs. Laura, very tenderly.
&ldquo;People say that you are always sneering, Arthur; but I know my husband
better. We know papa better, don&rsquo;t we, baby?&rdquo; (Here my wife kisses
the infant Pendennis with great effusion, who has come up dancing on his
nurse&rsquo;s arms.) &ldquo;But,&rdquo; says she, coming back and snuggling by
her husband&rsquo;s side again&mdash;&ldquo;But suppose your favourite Clive is
an eagle, Arthur, don&rsquo;t you think he had better have an eagle for a mate?
If he were to marry little Rosey, I dare say he would be very good to her; but
I think neither he nor she would be very happy. My dear, she does not care for
his pursuits; she does not understand him when he talks. The two captains, and
Rosey and I, and the campaigner, as you call her, laugh and talk, and prattle,
and have the merriest little jokes with one another, and we all are as quiet as
mice when you and Clive come in.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What, am I an eagle, too? I have no aquiline pretensions at all, Mrs.
Pendennis.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No. Well, we are not afraid of you. We are not afraid of papa, are we,
darling?&rdquo; this young woman now calls out to the other member of her
family; who, if you will calculate, has just had time to be walked twice up and
down the deck of the steamer, whilst Laura has been making her speech about
eagles. And soon the mother, child, and attendant descend into the lower
cabins: and then dinner is announced: and Captain Jackson treats us to
champagne from his end of the table and yet a short while, and we are at sea,
and conversation becomes impossible: and morning sees us under the grey London
sky, and amid the million of masts in the Thames.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0057" id="link2HCH0057"></a>
CHAPTER LVII.<br/>
Rosebury and Newcome</h2>

<p>
The friends to whom we were engaged in England were Florac and his wife, Madame
la Princesse de Moncontour, who were determined to spend the Christmas holidays
at the Princess&rsquo;s country seat. It was for the first time since their
reconciliation, that the Prince and Princess dispensed their hospitalities at
the latter&rsquo;s château. It is situated, as the reader has already been
informed, at some five miles from the town of Newcome; away from the chimneys
and smoky atmosphere of that place, in a sweet country of rural woodlands; over
which quiet villages, grey church spires, and ancient gabled farmhouses are
scattered: still wearing the peaceful aspect which belonged to them when
Newcome was as yet but an antiquated country town, before mills were erected on
its river-banks, and dyes and cinders blackened its stream. Twenty years since
Newcome Park was the only great house in that district; now scores of fine
villas have sprung up in the suburb lying between the town and park. Newcome
New Town, as everybody knows, has grown round the park-gates, and the New Town
Hotel (where the railway station is) is a splendid structure in the Tudor
style, more ancient in appearance than the park itself; surrounded by little
antique villas with spiked gables, stacks of crooked chimneys, and plate-glass
windows looking upon trim lawns; with glistening hedges of evergreens, spotless
gravel walks, and Elizabethan gig-houses. Under the great railway viaduct of
the New Town, goes the old tranquil winding London highroad, once busy with a
score of gay coaches, and ground by innumerable wheels: but at a few miles from
the New Town Station the road has become so mouldy that the grass actually
grows on it; and Rosebury, Madame de Moncontour&rsquo;s house, stands at one
end of a village-green, which is even more quiet now than it was a hundred
years ago.
</p>

<p>
When first Madame de Florac bought the place, it scarcely ranked amongst the
country-houses; and she, the sister of manufacturers at Newcome and Manchester,
did not of course visit the county families. A homely little body, married to a
Frenchman from whom she was separated, may or may not have done a great deal of
good in her village, have had pretty gardens, and won prizes at the Newcome
flower and fruit shows; but, of course, she was nobody in such an aristocratic
county as we know &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;shire is. She had her friends and
relatives from Newcome. Many of them were Quakers&mdash;many were retail
shopkeepers. She even frequented the little branch Ebenezer, on Rosebury Green;
and it was only by her charities and kindness at Christmas-time, that the Rev.
Dr. Potter, the rector at Rosebury, knew her. The old clergy, you see, live
with the county families. Good little Madame de Florac was pitied and
patronised by the Doctor, treated with no little superciliousness by Mrs.
Potter, and the young ladies, who only kept the first society. Even when her
rich brother died, and she got her share of all that money Mrs. Potter said
poor Madame de Florac did well in not trying to move out of her natural sphere
(Mrs. P. was the daughter of a bankrupt hatter in London, and had herself been
governess in a noble family, out of which she married Mr. P., who was private
tutor). Madame de Florac did well, she said, not to endeavour to leave her
natural sphere, and that The County never would receive her. Tom Potter, the
rector&rsquo;s son, with whom I had the good fortune to be a fellow-student at
Saint Boniface College, Oxbridge&mdash;a rattling, forward, and it must be
owned, vulgar youth&mdash;asked me whether Florac was not a billiard-marker by
profession? and was even so kind as to caution his sisters not to speak of
billiards before the lady of Rosebury. Tom was surprised to learn that Monsieur
Paul de Florac was a gentleman of lineage incomparably better than that of any,
except two or three families in England (including your own, my dear and
respected reader, of course, if you hold to your pedigree). But the truth is,
heraldically speaking, that union with the Higgs of Manchester was the first
misalliance which the Florac family had made for long long years. Not that I
would wish for a moment to insinuate that any nobleman is equal to an English
nobleman; nay, that an English snob, with a coat-of-arms bought yesterday, or
stolen out of Edmonton, or a pedigree purchased from a peerage-maker, has not a
right to look down upon any of your paltry foreign nobility.
</p>

<p>
One day the carriage-and-four came in state from Newcome Park, with the
well-known chaste liveries of the Newcomes, and drove up Rosebury Green,
towards the parsonage gate, when Mrs. and the Miss Potters happened to be
standing, cheapening fish from a donkey-man, with whom they were in the habit
of dealing. The ladies were in their pokiest old head-gear and most dingy
gowns, when they perceived the carriage approaching; and considering, of
course, that the visit of the Park people was intended for them, dashed into
the rectory to change their clothes, leaving Rowkins, the costermonger, in the
very midst of the negotiation about the three mackerel. Mamma got that new
bonnet out of the bandbox; Lizzy and Liddy skipped up to their bedroom, and
brought out those dresses which they wore at the <i>déjeûner</i> at the Newcome
Athenæum, when Lord Leveret came down to lecture; into which they no sooner had
hooked their lovely shoulders, than they reflected with terror that mamma had
been altering one of papa&rsquo;s flannel waistcoats and had left it in the
drawing-room, when they were called out by the song of Rowkins, and the
appearance of his donkey&rsquo;s ears over the green gate of the rectory. To
think of the Park people coming, and the drawing-room in that dreadful state!
</p>

<p>
But when they came downstairs the Park people were not in the room&mdash;the
woollen garment was still on the table (how they plunged it into the
chiffonier!)&mdash;and the only visitor was Rowkins, the costermonger, grinning
at the open French windows, with the three mackerel, and crying, &ldquo;Make it
sixpence, miss&mdash;don&rsquo;t say fippens, maam, to a pore fellow that has a
wife and family.&rdquo; So that the young ladies had to
cry&mdash;&ldquo;Impudence!&rdquo; &ldquo;Get away, you vulgar insolent
creature!&mdash;Go round, sir, to the back door!&rdquo; &ldquo;How dare
you?&rdquo; and the like; fearing lest Lady Anne Newcome, and Young Ethel, and
Barnes should enter in the midst of this ignoble controversy.
</p>

<p>
They never came at all&mdash;those Park people. How very odd! They passed the
rectory gate; they drove on to Madame de Florac&rsquo;s lodge. They went in.
They stayed for half an hour; the horses driving round and round the gravel
road before the house; and Mrs. Potter and the girls speedily going to the
upper chambers, and looking out of the room where the maids slept, saw Lady
Anne, Ethel, and Barnes walking with Madame de Florac, going into the
conservatories, issuing thence with MacWhirter, the gardener, bearing huge
bunches of grapes and large fasces of flowers; they saw Barnes talking in the
most respectful manner to Madame de Florac: and when they went downstairs and
had their work before them&mdash;Liddy her gilt music-book, Lizzy her
embroidered altar-cloth, mamma her scarlet cloak for one of the old
women&mdash;they had the agony of seeing the barouche over the railings whisk
by, with the Park people inside, and Barnes driving the four horses.
</p>

<p>
It was on that day when Barnes had determined to take up Madame de Florac; when
he was bent upon reconciling her to her husband. In spite of all Mrs.
Potter&rsquo;s predictions, the county families did come and visit the
manufacturer&rsquo;s daughter; and when Madame de Florac became Madame la
Princesse de Moncontour, when it was announced that she was coming to stay at
Rosebury for Christmas, I leave you to imagine whether the circumstance was or
was not mentioned in the <i>Newcome Sentinel</i> and the <i>Newcome
Independent;</i> and whether Rev. G. Potter, D.D., and Mrs. Potter did or did
not call on the Prince and Princess. I leave you to imagine whether the lady
did or did not inspect all the alterations which Vineer&rsquo;s people from
Newcome were making at Rosebury House&mdash;the chaste yellow satin and gold of
the drawing-room&mdash;the carved oak for the dining-room&mdash;the chintz for
the bedrooms&mdash;the Princess&rsquo;s apartment&mdash;the Prince&rsquo;s
apartment&mdash;the guests&rsquo; apartments&mdash;the smoking-room, gracious
goodness!&mdash;the stables (these were under Tom Potter&rsquo;s
superintendence), &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m finished,&rdquo; says he one day,
&ldquo;if here doesn&rsquo;t come a billiard-table!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The house was most comfortably and snugly appointed from top to bottom; and
thus it will be seen that Mr. and Mrs. Pendennis were likely to be in very good
quarters for Christmas of 184-.
</p>

<p>
Tom Potter was so kind as to call on me two days after our arrival; and to
greet me in the Princess&rsquo;s pew at church on the previous day. Before
desiring to be introduced to my wife, he requested me to present him to my
friend the Prince. He called him your Highness. His Highness, who had behaved
with exemplary gravity, save once when he shrieked an &ldquo;ah!&rdquo; as Miss
Liddy led off the children in the organ-loft in a hymn, and the whole pack went
woefully out of tune, complimented Monsieur Tom on the sermon of monsieur his
father. Tom walked with us to Rosebury lodge-gate. &ldquo;Will you not come in,
and make a party of billiard with me?&rdquo; says His Highness. &ldquo;Ah
Pardon! I forgot, you do not play the billiard the Sunday!&rdquo; &ldquo;<i>Any
other day</i>, Prince, I shall be delighted,&rdquo; says Tom; and squeezed His
Highness&rsquo;s hand tenderly at parting. &ldquo;Your comrade of college was
he?&rdquo; asks Florac. &ldquo;My dear, what men are these comrades of college!
What men are you English! My word of honour, there are some of them
here&mdash;if I were to say to them wax my boots, they would take them and wax
them! Didst thou see how the Révérend eyed us during the sermon? He regarded us
over his book, my word of honour!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Madame de Florac said simply, she wished the Prince would go and hear Mr. Jacob
at the Ebenezer. Mr. Potter was not a good preacher, certainly.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Savez-vous qu&rsquo;elle est furieusement belle, la fille du
Révérend?&rdquo; whispered His Highness to me. &ldquo;I have made eyes at her
during the sermon. They will be of pretty neighbours these meess!&rdquo; and
Paul looked unutterably roguish and victorious as he spoke. To my wife, I am
bound to say, Monsieur de Moncontour showed a courtesy, a respect and kindness,
that could not be exceeded. He admired her. He paid her compliments
innumerable, and gave me I am sure sincere congratulations at possessing such a
treasure. I do not think he doubted about his power of conquering her, or any
other of the daughters of women. But I was the friend of his
misfortunes&mdash;his guest; and he spared me.
</p>

<p>
I have seen nothing more amusing, odd, and pleasant than Florac at this time of
his prosperity. We arrived, as this veracious chronicle has already asserted,
on a Saturday evening. We were conducted to our most comfortable apartments;
with crackling fires blazing on the hearths, and every warmth of welcome.
Florac expanded and beamed with good-nature. He shook me many times by the
hand; he patted me; he called me his good&mdash;his brave. He cried to his
maître-d&rsquo;hôtel, &ldquo;Frédéric, remember monsieur is master here! Run
before his orders. Prostrate thyself to him. He was good to me in the days of
my misfortune. Hearest thou, Frédéric? See that everything be done for Monsieur
Pendennis&mdash;for madame sa charmante lady&mdash;for her angelic infant, and
the bonne. None of thy garrison tricks with that young person, Frédéric! vieux
scélérat! Garde-toi de là, Frédéric; si non, je t&rsquo;envoie à Botani Bay; je
te traduis devant le Lord-Maire!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;En Angleterre je me fais Anglais, vois-tu, mon ami,&rdquo; continued the
Prince. &ldquo;Demain c&rsquo;est Sunday, et tu vas voir! I hear the bell,
dress thyself for the dinner&mdash;my friend!&rdquo;; Here there was another
squeeze of both hands from the good-natured fellow. &ldquo;It do good to my art
to &rsquo;ave you in my &rsquo;ouse! Heuh!&rdquo; He hugged his guest; he had
tears in his eyes as he performed this droll, this kind embrace. Not less kind
in her way, though less expensive and <i>embracive</i>, was Madame de
Moncontour to my wife, as I found on comparing notes with that young woman,
when the day&rsquo;s hospitalities were ended. The little Princess trotted from
bedchamber to nursery to see that everything was made comfortable for her
guests. She sate and saw the child washed and put to bed. She had never beheld
such a little angel. She brought it a fine toy to play with. She and her grim
old maid frightened the little creature at first, but it was very speedily
reconciled to their countenances. She was in the nursery almost as early as the
child&rsquo;s mother. &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; sighed the poor little woman,
&ldquo;how happy you must be to have one!&rdquo; In fine, my wife was quite
overcome by her goodness and welcome.
</p>

<p>
Sunday morning arrived in the course of time, and then Florac appeared as a
most wonderful Briton indeed! He wore top-boots and buckskins; and after
breakfast, when we went to church, a white great-coat with a little cape, in
which garment he felt that his similarity to an English gentleman was perfect.
In conversation with his grooms and servants he swore freely,&mdash;not that he
was accustomed to employ oaths in his own private talk, but he thought the
employment of these expletives necessary as an English country gentleman. He
never dined without a roast-beef, and insisted that the piece of meat should be
bleeding, &ldquo;as you love it, you others.&rdquo; He got up boxing-matches:
and kept birds for combats of cock. He assumed the sporting language with
admirable enthusiasm&mdash;drove over to cover with a steppère&mdash;rode
across countri like a good one&mdash;was splendid in the hunting-field in his
velvet cap and Napoleon boots, and made the Hunt welcome at Rosebury where his
good-natured little wife was as kind to the gentlemen in scarlet as she used to
be of old to the stout Dissenting gentlemen in black, who sang hymns and spake
sermons on her lawn. These folks, scared at the change which had taken place in
the little Princess&rsquo;s habits of life, lamented her falling away: but in
the county she and her husband got a great popularity, and in Newcome town
itself they were not less liked, for her benefactions were unceasing, and
Paul&rsquo;s affability the theme of all praise. The <i>Newcome Independent</i>
and the <i>Newcome Sentinel</i> both paid him compliments; the former journal
contrasting his behaviour with that of Sir Barnes, their member. Florac&rsquo;s
pleasure was to drive his Princess with four horses into Newcome. He called his
carriage his &ldquo;trappe,&rdquo; his &ldquo;drague.&rdquo; The street-boys
cheered and hurrayed the Prince as he passed through the town. One haberdasher
had a yellow stock called the &ldquo;Moncontour&rdquo; displayed in his
windows; another had a pink one marked &ldquo;The Princely,&rdquo; and as such
recommended it to the young Newcome gents.
</p>

<p>
The drague conveyed us once to the neighbouring house of Newcome, whither my
wife accompanied Madame de Moncontour at that lady&rsquo;s own request, to whom
Laura very properly did not think fit to confide her antipathy for Lady Clara
Newcome. Coming away from a great house, how often she and I, egotistical
philosophers, thanked our fates that our own home was a small one! How long
will great houses last in this world? Do not their owners now prefer a lodging
at Brighton, or a little entresol on the Boulevard, to the solitary ancestral
palace in a park barred round with snow? We were as glad to get out of Newcome
as out of a prison. My wife and our hostess skipped into the carriage, and
began to talk freely as the lodge-gates closed after us. Would we be lords of
such a place under the penalty of living in it? We agreed that the little angle
of earth called Fairoaks was dearer to us than the clumsy Newcome-pile of Tudor
masonry. The house had been fitted up in the time of George IV. and the
quasi-Gothic revival. We were made to pass through Gothic dining-rooms, where
there was now no hospitality,&mdash;Gothic drawing-rooms shrouded in brown
hollands, to one little room at the end of the dusky suite, where Lady Clara
sate alone, or in the company of the nurses and children. The blank gloom of
the place had fallen upon the poor lady. Even when my wife talked about
children (good-natured Madame de Moncontour vaunting ours as a prodigy) Lady
Clara did not brighten up! Her pair of young ones was exhibited and withdrawn.
A something weighed upon the woman. We talked about Ethel&rsquo;s marriage. She
said it was fixed for the new year, she believed. She did not know whether
Glenlivat had been very handsomely fitted up. She had not seen Lord
Farintosh&rsquo;s house in London. Sir Barnes came down
once&mdash;twice&mdash;of a Saturday sometimes, for three or four days to hunt,
to amuse himself, as all men do she supposed. She did not know when he was
coming again. She rang languidly when we rose to take leave, and sank back on
her sofa, where lay a heap of French novels. &ldquo;She has chosen some pretty
books,&rdquo; says Paul, as we drove through the sombre avenues through the
grey park, mists lying about the melancholy ornamental waters, dingy herds of
huddled sheep speckling the grass here and there; no smoke rising up from the
great stacks of chimneys of the building we were leaving behind us, save one
little feeble thread of white which we knew came from the fire by which the
lonely mistress of Newcome was seated. &ldquo;Ouf!&rdquo; cries Florac, playing
his whip, as the lodge-gates closed on us, and his team of horses rattled
merrily along the road, &ldquo;what a blessing it is to be out of that vault of
a place! There is something fatal in this house&mdash;in this woman. One smells
misfortune there.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The hotel which our friend Florac patronised on occasion of his visits to
Newcome was the King&rsquo;s Arms, and it happened, one day, as we entered that
place of entertainment in company, that a visitor of the house was issuing
through the hall, to whom Florac seemed as if he would administer one of his
customary embraces, and to whom the Prince called out &ldquo;Jack,&rdquo; with
great warmth and kindness as he ran towards the stranger.
</p>

<p>
Jack did not appear to be particularly well pleased on beholding us; he rather
retreated from before the Frenchman&rsquo;s advances.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear Jack, my good, my brave Ighgate! I am delighted to see
you!&rdquo; Florac continues, regardless of the stranger&rsquo;s reception, or
of the landlord&rsquo;s looks towards us, who was bowing the Prince into his
very best room.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How do you do, Monsieur de Florac?&rdquo; growls the new comer, surlily;
and was for moving on after this brief salutation; but having a second thought
seemingly, turned back and followed Florac into the apartment where our host
conducted us. <i>A la bonne heure!</i> Florac renewed his cordial greetings to
Lord Highgate. &ldquo;I knew not, mon bon, what fly had stung you,&rdquo; says
he to my lord. The landlord, rubbing his hands, smirking and bowing, was
anxious to know whether the Prince would take anything after his drive. As the
Prince&rsquo;s attendant and friend, the lustre of his reception partially
illuminated me. When the chief was not by, I was treated with great attention
(mingled with a certain degree of familiarity) by my landlord.
</p>

<p>
Lord Highgate waited until Mr. Taplow was out of the room; and then said to
Florac, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t call me by my name here, please, Florac, I am here
incog.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Plait-il?&rdquo; asks Florac. &ldquo;Where is incog.?&rdquo; He laughed
when the word was interpreted to him. Lord Highgate had turned to me.
&ldquo;There was no rudeness, you understand, intended, Mr. Pendennis, but I am
down here on some business, and don&rsquo;t care to wear the handle to my name.
Fellows work it so, don&rsquo;t you understand? never leave you at rest in a
country town&mdash;that sort of thing. Heard of our friend Clive lately?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Whether you &rsquo;ave &rsquo;andle or no &rsquo;andle, Jack, you are
always the bien-venu to me. What is thy affair? Old monster! I
wager&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, no, no such nonsense,&rdquo; says Jack, rather eagerly. &ldquo;I
give you my honour, I&mdash;I want to&mdash;to raise a sum of money&mdash;that
is, to invest some in a speculation down here&mdash;deuced good the
speculations down here; and, by the way, if the landlord asks you, I&rsquo;m
Mr. Harris&mdash;I&rsquo;m a civil engineer&mdash;I&rsquo;m waiting for the
arrival of the Canada at Liverpool from America, and very uneasy about my
brother who is on board.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What does he recount to us there? Keep these stories for the landlord,
Jack; to us &rsquo;tis not the pain to lie. My good Mr. Harris, why have we not
seen you at Rosebury? The Princess will scold me if you do not come; and you
must bring your dear brother when he arrive too. Do you hear?&rdquo; The last
part of this sentence was uttered for Mr. Taplow&rsquo;s benefit, who had
re-entered the George bearing a tray of wine and biscuit.
</p>

<p>
The Master of Rosebury and Mr. Harris went out presently to look at a horse
which was waiting the former&rsquo;s inspection in the stableyard of the hotel.
The landlord took advantage of his business, to hear a bell which never was
rung, and to ask me questions about the guest who had been staying at his house
for a week past. Did I know that party? Mr. Pendennis said, &ldquo;Yes, he knew
that party.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Most respectable party, I have no doubt,&rdquo; continues Boniface.
&ldquo;Do you suppose the Prince of Moncontour knows any but respectable
parties?&rdquo; asks Mr. Pendennis&mdash;a query of which the force was so
great as to discomfit and silence our landlord, who retreated to ask questions
concerning Mr. Harris of Florac&rsquo;s grooms.
</p>

<p>
What was Highgate&rsquo;s business here? Was it mine to know? I might have
suspicions, but should I entertain them or communicate them, and had I not best
keep them to myself? I exchanged not a word on the subject of Highgate with
Florac, as we drove home: though from the way in which we looked at one another
each saw that the other was acquainted with that unhappy gentleman&rsquo;s
secret. We fell to talking about Madame la Duchesse d&rsquo;Ivry as we trotted
on; and then of English manners by way of contrast, of intrigues, elopements,
Gretna Grin, etc., etc. &ldquo;You are a droll nation!&rdquo; says Florac.
&ldquo;To make love well, you must absolutely have a chaise-de-poste, and a
scandal afterwards. If our affairs of this kind made themselves on the grand
route, what armies of postillions we should need!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I held my peace. In that vision of Jack Belsize I saw misery, guilt, children
dishonoured, homes deserted,&mdash;ruin for all the actors and victims of the
wretched conspiracy. Laura marked my disturbance when we reached home. She even
divined the cause of it, and charged me with it at night, when we sate alone by
our dressing-room fire, and had taken leave of our kind entertainers. Then,
under her cross-examination, I own that I told what I had seen&mdash;Lord
Highgate, under a feigned name staying at Newcome. It might be nothing.
&ldquo;Nothing! Gracious heavens! Could not this crime and misery be
stopped?&rdquo; &ldquo;It might be too late,&rdquo; Laura&rsquo;s husband said
sadly, bending down his head into the fire.
</p>

<p>
She was silent too for a while. I could see she was engaged where pious women
ever will betake themselves in moments of doubt, of grief, of pain, of
separation, of joy even, or whatsoever other trial. They have but to will, and
as it were an invisible temple rises round them; their hearts can kneel down
there; and they have an audience of the great, the merciful untiring Counsellor
and Consoler. She would not have been frightened at Death near at hand. I have
known her to tend the poor round about us, or to bear pain&mdash;not her own
merely, but even her children&rsquo;s and mine, with a surprising outward
constancy and calm. But the idea of this crime being enacted close at hand, and
no help for it&mdash;quite overcame her. I believe she lay awake all that
night; and rose quite haggard and pale after the bitter thoughts which had
deprived her of rest.
</p>

<p>
She embraced her own child with extraordinary tenderness that morning, and even
wept over it, calling it by a thousand fond names of maternal endearment
&ldquo;Would I leave you, my darling&mdash;could I ever, ever, ever quit you,
my blessing, and treasure!&rdquo; The unconscious little thing, hugged to his
mother&rsquo;s bosom, and scared at her tones and tragic face, clung frightened
and weeping round Laura&rsquo;s neck. Would you ask what the husband&rsquo;s
feelings were as he looked at that sweet love, that sublime tenderness, that
pure Saint blessing the life of him unworthy? Of all the gifts of Heaven to us
below, that felicity is the sum and the chief. I tremble as I hold it lest I
should lose it, and be left alone in the blank world without it: again, I feel
humiliated to think that I possess it; as hastening home to a warm fireside and
a plentiful table, I feel ashamed sometimes before the poor outcast beggar
shivering in the street.
</p>

<p>
Breakfast was scarcely over when Laura asked for a pony carriage, and said she
was bent on a private visit. She took her baby and nurse with her. She refused
our company, and would not even say whither she was bound until she had passed
the lodge-gate. I may have suspected what the object was of her journey. Florac
and I did not talk of it. We rode out to meet the hounds of a cheery winter
morning: on another day I might have been amused with my host&mdash;the
splendour of his raiment, the neatness of his velvet cap, the gloss of his
hunting-boots; the cheers, shouts, salutations, to dog and man; the oaths and
outcries of this Nimrod, who shouted louder than the whole field and the whole
pack too&mdash;but on this morning&mdash;I was thinking of the tragedy yonder
enacting, and came away early from the hunting-field, and found my wife already
returned to Rosebury.
</p>

<p>
Laura had been, as I suspected, to Lady Clara. She did not know why, indeed.
She scarce knew what she should say when she arrived&mdash;how she could say
what she had in her mind. &ldquo;I hoped, Arthur, that I should have
something&mdash;something told me to say,&rdquo; whispered Laura, with her head
on my shoulder; and as I lay awake last night thinking of her,
prayed&mdash;that is, hoped, I might find a word of consolation for that poor
lady. Do you know, I think she has hardly ever heard a kind word? She said so;
she was very much affected after we had talked together a little.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;At first she was very indifferent; cold and haughty in her manner; asked
what had caused the pleasure of this visit, for I would go in, though at the
lodge they told me her ladyship was unwell, and they thought received no
company. I said I wanted to show our boy to her&mdash;that the children ought
to be acquainted&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know what I said. She seemed more and more
surprised&mdash;then all of a sudden&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know how&mdash;I said,
&lsquo;Lady Clara, I have had a dream about you and your children, and I was so
frightened that I came over to you to speak about it.&rsquo; And I <i>had</i>
the dream, Pen; it came to me absolutely as I was speaking to her.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She looked a little scared, and I went on telling her the dream.
&lsquo;My dear&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;I dreamed that I saw you happy with those
children.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Happy!&rsquo; says she&mdash;the three were playing in the
conservatory into which her sitting-room opens.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;And that a bad spirit came and tore them from you, and drove you
out into the darkness; and I saw you wandering about quite lonely and wretched,
and looking back into the garden where the children were playing. And you asked
and implored to see them; and the Keeper at the gate said &lsquo;No,
never.&rsquo; And then&mdash;then I thought they passed by you, and they did
not know you.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Ah!&rsquo; said Lady Clara.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;And then I thought, as we do in dreams, you know, that it was my
child who was separated from me, and who would not know me: and oh, what a pang
that was! Fancy that! Let us pray God it was only a dream. And worse than that,
when you, when I implored to come to the child, and the man said, &lsquo;No,
never,&rsquo; I thought there came a spirit&mdash;an angel that fetched the
child to heaven, and you said, &lsquo;Let me come too; oh, let me come too, I
am so miserable.&rsquo; And the angel said, &lsquo;No, never, never.&rsquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By this time Lady Clara was looking very pale. &lsquo;What do you
mean?&rsquo; she asked of me,&rdquo; Laura continued.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Oh, dear lady, for the sake of the little ones, and Him who calls
them to Him, go you with them. Never, never part from them! Cling to His knees,
and take shelter there.&rsquo; I took her hands, and I said more to her in this
way, Arthur, that I need not, that I ought not to speak again. But she was
touched at length when I kissed her; and she said I was very kind to her, and
no one had ever been so, and that she was quite alone in the world and had no
friend to fly to; and would I go and stay with her? and I said
&lsquo;yes;&rsquo; and we must go, my dear. I think you should see that person
at Newcome&mdash;see him, and warn him,&rdquo; cried Laura, warming as she
spoke, &ldquo;and pray God to enlighten and strengthen him, and to keep him
from this temptation, and implore him to leave this poor, weak, frightened,
trembling creature; if he has the heart of a gentleman and the courage of a
man, he will, I know he will.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think he would, my dearest,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;if he but heard the
petitioner.&rdquo; Laura&rsquo;s cheeks were blushing, her eyes brightened, her
voice rang with a sweet pathos of love that vibrates through my whole being
sometimes. It seems to me as if evil must give way, and bad thoughts retire
before that purest creature.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why has she not some of her family with her, poor thing!&rdquo; my wife
continued. &ldquo;She perishes in that solitude. Her husband prevents her, I
think&mdash;and&mdash;oh&mdash;I know enough of <i>him</i> to know what his
life is. I shudder, Arthur, to see you take the hand of that wicked, selfish
man. You must break with him, do you hear, sir?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Before or after going to stay at his house, my love?&rdquo; asks Mr.
Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Poor thing! she lighted up at the idea of any one coming. She ran and
showed me the rooms we were to have. It will be very stupid; and you
don&rsquo;t like that. But you can write your book, and still hunt and shoot
with our friends here. And Lady Anne Newcome must be made to come back again.
Sir Barnes quarrelled with his mother and drove her out of the house on her
last visit&mdash;think of that! The servants here know it. Martha brought me
the whole story from the housekeeper&rsquo;s room. This Sir Barnes Newcome is a
dreadful creature, Arthur. I am so glad I loathed him from the very first
moment I saw him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And into this ogre&rsquo;s den you propose to put me and my family,
madam!&rdquo; says the husband. &ldquo;Indeed, where won&rsquo;t I go if you
order me? Oh, who will pack my portmanteau?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Florac and the Princess were both in desolation when, at dinner, we announced
our resolution to go away&mdash;and to our neighbours at Newcome! that was more
extraordinary. &ldquo;Que diable goest thou to do in this galley?&rdquo; asks
our host as we sat alone over our wine.
</p>

<p>
But Laura&rsquo;s intended visit to Lady Clara was never to have a fulfilment,
for on this same evening, as we sate at our dessert, comes a messenger from
Newcome, with a note for my wife from the lady there:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;<i>Dearest, kindest</i> Mrs. Pendennis,&rdquo; Lady Clara wrote, with
many italics, and evidently in much distress of mind. &ldquo;Your visit <i>is
not to be</i>. I spoke about it to Sir B., who <i>arrived this afternoon</i>,
and who has already begun to treat me <i>in his usual way</i>. Oh, I am so
unhappy! Pray, pray do not be angry at this rudeness&mdash;though indeed it is
only a kindness to keep you from this wretched place! I feel as <i>if I cannot
bear this much longer</i>. But, whatever happens, I shall always remember your
goodness, your beautiful goodness and kindness; and shall worship you as <i>an
angel</i> deserves to be worshipped. Oh, why had I not such a friend
<i>earlier!</i> But alas! I have none&mdash;only <i>his odious family</i>
thrust upon me for companions to the <i>wretched, lonely</i>, C. N.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;P.S.&mdash;He does not know of my writing. Do not be surprised if you
get another note from me in the morning, written in a <i>ceremonious style</i>
and regretting that we <i>cannot have the pleasure</i> of receiving Mr. and
Mrs. Pendennis for the present at Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;P.S.&mdash;The hypocrite!&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
This letter was handed to my wife at dinner-time, and she gave it to me as she
passed out of the room with the other ladies.
</p>

<p>
I told Florac that the Newcomes could not receive us, and that we would remain,
if he willed it, his guests for a little longer. The kind fellow was only too
glad to keep us. &ldquo;My wife would die without <i>Bébi</i>,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;She becomes quite dangerous about Bébi.&rdquo; It was gratifying that
the good old lady was not to be parted as yet from the innocent object of her
love.
</p>

<p>
My host knew as well as I the terms upon which Sir Barnes and his wife were
living. Their quarrels were the talk of the whole county; one side brought
forward his treatment of her, and his conduct elsewhere, and said that he was
so bad that honest people should not know him. The other party laid the blame
upon her, and declared that Lady Clara was a languid, silly, weak, frivolous
creature; always crying out of season; who had notoriously taken Sir Barnes for
his money and who as certainly had had an attachment elsewhere. Yes, the
accusations were true on both sides. A bad, selfish husband had married a woman
for her rank: a weak, thoughtless girl had been sold to a man for his money;
and the union, which might have ended in a complete indifference, had taken an
ill turn and resulted in misery, cruelty, fierce mutual recriminations, bitter
tears shed in private, husband&rsquo;s curses and maledictions, and open scenes
of wrath and violence for servants to witness and the world to sneer at. We
arrange such matches every day; we sell or buy beauty, or rank, or wealth; we
inaugurate the bargain in churches with sacramental services, in which the
parties engaged call upon Heaven to witness their vows&mdash;we know them to be
lies, and we seal them with God&rsquo;s name. &ldquo;I, Barnes, promise to take
you, Clara, to love and honour till death do us part&rdquo; &ldquo;I Clara,
promise to take you, Barnes,&rdquo; etc, etc. Who has not heard the ancient
words; and how many of us have uttered them, knowing them to be untrue: and is
there a bishop on the bench that has not amen&rsquo;d the humbug in his lawn
sleeves and called a blessing over the kneeling perjurers?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Does Mr. Harris know of Newcome&rsquo;s return?&rdquo; Florac asked,
when I acquainted him with this intelligence. &ldquo;Ce scelerat de
Highgate&mdash;Va!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Does Newcome know that Lord Highgate is here?&rdquo; I thought within
myself, admiring my wife&rsquo;s faithfulness and simplicity, and trying to
believe with that pure and guileless creature that it was not yet too late to
save the unhappy Lady Clara.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mr. Harris had best be warned,&rdquo; I said to Florac; &ldquo;will you
write him a word, and let us send a messenger to Newcome?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
At first Florac said, &ldquo;Parbleu! No;&rdquo; the affair was none of his, he
attended himself always to this result of Lady Clara&rsquo;s marriage. He had
even complimented Jack upon it years before at Baden, when scenes enough
tragic, enough comical, <i>ma foi</i>, had taken place <i>à propos</i> of this
affair. Why should he meddle with it now?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Children dishonoured,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;honest families made
miserable; for Heaven&rsquo;s sake, Florac, let us stay this catastrophe if we
can.&rdquo; I spoke with much warmth, eagerly desirous to avert this calamity
if possible, and very strongly moved by the tale which I had heard only just
before dinner from that noble and innocent creature, whose pure heart had
already prompted her to plead the cause of right and truth, and to try and
rescue an unhappy desperate sister trembling on the verge of ruin.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If you will not write to him,&rdquo; said I, in some heat, &ldquo;if
your grooms don&rsquo;t like to go out of a night&rdquo; (this was one of the
objections which Florac had raised), &ldquo;I will walk.&rdquo; We were talking
over the affair rather late in the evening, the ladies having retreated to
their sleeping apartments, and some guests having taken leave, whom our
hospitable host and hostess had entertained that night, and before whom I
naturally did not care to speak upon a subject so dangerous.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Parbleu, what virtue, my friend! what a Joseph!&rdquo; cries Florac,
puffing his cigar. &ldquo;One sees well that your wife had made you the sermon.
My poor Pendennis! You are henpecked, my pauvre bon! You become the husband
model. It is true my mother writes that thy wife is an angel!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I do not object to obey such a woman when she bids me do right,&rdquo; I
said; and would indeed at that woman&rsquo;s request have gone out upon the
errand, but that we here found another messenger. On days when dinner-parties
were held at Rosebury, certain auxiliary waiters used to attend from Newcome
whom the landlord of the King&rsquo;s Arms was accustomed to supply; indeed, it
was to secure these, and make other necessary arrangements respecting fish,
game, etc., that the Prince de Moncontour had ridden over to Newcome on the day
when we met Lord Highgate, <i>alias</i> Mr. Harris, before the bar of the
hotel. Whilst we were engaged in the above conversation a servant enters, and
says, &ldquo;My lord, Jenkins and the other man is going back to Newcome in
their cart, and is there anything wanted?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is the Heaven which sends him,&rdquo; says Florac, turning round to
me with a laugh; &ldquo;make Jenkins to wait five minutes, Robert; I have to
write to a gentleman at the King&rsquo;s Arms.&rdquo; And so saying, Florac
wrote a line which he showed me, and having sealed the note, directed it to Mr.
Harris at the King&rsquo;s Arms. The cart, the note, and the assistant waiters
departed on their way to Newcome. Florac bade me go to rest with a clear
conscience. In truth, the warning was better given in that way than any other,
and a word from Florac was more likely to be effectual than an expostulation
from me. I had never thought of making it, perhaps; except at the expressed
desire of a lady whose counsel in all the difficult circumstances of life I own
I am disposed to take.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Jenkins&rsquo;s horse no doubt trotted at a very brisk pace, as
gentlemen&rsquo;s horses will of a frosty night, after their masters have been
regaled with plentiful supplies of wine and ale. I remember in my bachelor days
that my horses always trotted quicker after I had had a good dinner; the
champagne used to communicate itself to them somehow, and the claret get into
their heels. Before midnight the letter for Mr. Harris was in Mr.
Harris&rsquo;s hands in the King&rsquo;s Arms.
</p>

<p>
It has been said that in the Boscawen Room at the Arms, some of the jolly
fellows of Newcome had a club, of which Parrot the auctioneer, Tom Potts the
talented reporter, now editor of the <i>Independent</i>, Vidler the apothecary,
and other gentlemen, were members.
</p>

<p>
When we first had occasion to mention that society, it was at an early stage of
this history, long before Clive Newcome&rsquo;s fine moustache had grown. If
Vidler the apothecary was old and infirm then, he is near ten years older now;
he has had various assistants, of course, and one of them of late years had his
become his partner, though the firm continues to be known by Viller&rsquo;s
ancient and respectable name. A jovial fellow was this partner&mdash;a capital
convivial member of the Jolly Britons, where he used to sit very late, so as to
be in readiness for any night-work that might come in.
</p>

<p>
So the Britons were all sitting, smoking, drinking, and making merry, in the
Boscawen Room, when Jenkins enters with a note, which he straightway delivers
to Mr. Vidler&rsquo;s partner. &ldquo;From Rosebury? The Princess ill again, I
suppose,&rdquo; says the surgeon, not sorry to let the company know that he
attends her. &ldquo;I wish the old girl would be ill in the daytime. Confound
it,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;what&rsquo;s this&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and he reads
out, &ldquo;&lsquo;Sir Newcome est de retour. Bon voyage, mon
ami.&mdash;F.&rsquo; What does this mean?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I thought you knew French, Jack Harris,&rdquo; says Tom Potts;
&ldquo;you&rsquo;re always bothering us with your French songs.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course I know French,&rdquo; says the other; &ldquo;but what&rsquo;s
the meaning of this?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Screwcome came back by the five o&rsquo;clock train. I was in it, and
his royal highness would scarcely speak to me. Took Brown&rsquo;s fly from the
station. Brown won&rsquo;t enrich his family much by the operation,&rdquo; says
Mr. Potts.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But what do <i>I</i> care?&rdquo; cries Jack Harris; &ldquo;we
don&rsquo;t attend him, and we don&rsquo;t lose much by that. Howell attends
him, ever since Vidler and he had that row.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hulloh! I say, it&rsquo;s a mistake,&rdquo; cries Mr. Taplow, smoking in
his chair. &ldquo;This letter is for the party in the Benbow. The gent which
the Prince spoke to him, and called him Jack the other day when he was here.
Here&rsquo;s a nice business, and the seal broke, and all. Is the Benbow party
gone to bed? John, you must carry him in this here note.&rdquo; John, quite
innocent of the note and its contents, for he that moment had entered the
clubroom with Mr. Potts&rsquo;s supper, took the note to the Benbow, from which
he presently returned to his master with a very scared countenance. He said the
gent in the Benbow was a most harbitrary gent. He had almost choked John after
reading the letter, and John wouldn&rsquo;t stand it; and when John said he
supposed that Mr. Harris in the Boscawen&mdash;that Mr. Jack Harris, had opened
the letter, the other gent cursed and swore awful.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Potts,&rdquo; said Taplow, who was only too communicative on some
occasions after he had imbibed too much of his own brandy-and-water,
&ldquo;it&rsquo;s my belief that that party&rsquo;s name is no more Harris than
mine is. I have sent his linen to the wash, and there was two white
pocket-handkerchiefs with H. and a coronet.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
On the next day we drove over to Newcome, hoping perhaps to find that Lord
Highgate had taken the warning sent to him and quitted the place. But we were
disappointed. He was walking in front of the hotel, where a thousand persons
might see him as well as ourselves.
</p>

<p>
We entered into his private apartment with him, and there expostulated upon his
appearance in the public street, where Barnes Newcome or any passer-by might
recognise him. He then told us of the mishap which had befallen Florac&rsquo;s
letter on the previous night.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t go away now, whatever might have happened previously: by
this time that villain knows that I am here. If I go, he will say I was afraid
of him, and ran away. Oh, how I wish he would come and find me!&rdquo; He broke
out with a savage laugh.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is best to run away,&rdquo; one of us interposed sadly.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pendennis,&rdquo; he said with a tone of great softness, &ldquo;your
wife is a good woman. God bless her! God bless her for all she has said and
done&mdash;would have done, if that villain had let her! Do you know the poor
thing hasn&rsquo;t a single friend in the world, not one, one&mdash;except me,
and that girl they are selling to Farintosh, and who does not count for much.
He has driven away all her friends from her: one and all turn upon her. Her
relations, of course; when did <i>they</i> ever fail to hit a poor fellow or a
poor girl when she was down? The poor angel! The mother who sold her comes and
preaches at her; Kew&rsquo;s wife turns up her little cursed nose and scorns
her; Rooster, forsooth, must ride high the horse, now he is married and lives
at Chanticlere, and give her warning to avoid my company or his! Do you know
the only friend she ever had was that old woman with the stick&mdash;old Kew;
the old witch whom they buried four months ago after nobbling her money for the
beauty of the family? She used to protect her&mdash;that old woman; heaven
bless her for it, wherever she is now, the old hag&mdash;a good word
won&rsquo;t do her any harm. Ha! ha!&rdquo; His laughter was cruel to hear.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Why did I come down?&rdquo; he continued in reply to our sad queries.
&ldquo;Why did I come down, do you ask? Because she was wretched, and sent for
me. Because if I was at the end of the world, and she was to say, &lsquo;Jack,
come!&rsquo; I&rsquo;d come.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And if she bade you go?&rdquo; asked his friends.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I would go; and I have gone. If she told me to jump into the sea, do you
think I would not do it? But I go; and when she is alone with him, do you know
what he does? He strikes her. Strikes <i>that</i> poor little thing! He has
owned to it. She fled from him and sheltered with the old woman who&rsquo;s
dead. He may be doing it now. Why did I ever shake hands with him? that&rsquo;s
humiliation sufficient, isn&rsquo;t it? But she wished it; and I&rsquo;d black
his boots, curse him, if she told me. And because he wanted to keep my money in
his confounded bank; and because he knew he might rely upon my honour and hers,
poor dear child, he chooses to shake hands with me&mdash;me, whom he hates
worse than a thousand devils&mdash;and quite right too. Why isn&rsquo;t there a
place where we can go and meet, like man to man, and have it over! If I had a
ball through my brains I shouldn&rsquo;t mind, I tell you. I&rsquo;ve a mind to
do it for myself, Pendennis. You don&rsquo;t understand me, Viscount.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Il est vrai,&rdquo; said Florac, with a shrug, &ldquo;I comprehend
neither the suicide nor the chaise-de-poste. What will you? I am not yet enough
English, my friend. We make marriages of convenance in our country, que diable,
and what follows follows; but no scandal afterwards! Do not adopt our
institutions à demi, my friend. Vous ne me comprenez pas non plus, men pauvre
Jack!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There is one way still, I think,&rdquo; said the third of the speakers
in this scene. &ldquo;Let Lord Highgate come to Rosebury in his own name,
leaving that of Mr. Harris behind him. If Sir Barnes Newcome wants you, he can
seek you there. If you will go, as go you should, and God speed you, you can
go, and in your own name, too.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Parbleu, c&rsquo;est ça,&rdquo; cries Florac, &ldquo;he speaks like a
book&mdash;the romancier!&rdquo; I confess, for my part, I thought that a good
woman might plead with him, and touch that manly not disloyal heart now
trembling on the awful balance between evil and good.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Allons! let us make to come the drague!&rdquo; cries Florac.
&ldquo;Jack, thou returnest with us, my friend! Madame Pendennis, an angel, my
friend, a <i>quakre</i> the most charming, shall roucoule to thee the sweetest
sermons. My wife shall tend thee like a mother&mdash;a grandmother. Go make thy
packet!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Lord Highgate was very much pleased and relieved seemingly. He shook our hands,
he said he should never forget our kindness, never! In truth, the didactic part
of our conversation was carried on at much greater length than as here noted
down: and he would come that evening, but not with us, thank you; he had a
particular engagement, some letters he must write. Those done, he would not
fail us, and would be at Rosebury by dinner-time.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0058" id="link2HCH0058"></a>
CHAPTER LVIII.<br/>
&ldquo;One more Unfortunate&rdquo;</h2>

<p>
The Fates did not ordain that the plan should succeed which Lord
Highgate&rsquo;s friends had devised for Lady Clara&rsquo;s rescue or respite.
He was bent upon one more interview with the unfortunate lady; and in that
meeting the future destiny of their luckless lives was decided. On the morning
of his return home, Barnes Newcome had information that Lord Highgate, under a
feigned name, had been staying in the neighbourhood of his house, and had
repeatedly been seen in the company of Lady Clara. She may have gone out to
meet him but for one hour more. She had taken no leave of her children on the
day when she left her home, and, far from making preparations for her own
departure, had been engaged in getting the house ready for the reception of
members of the family, whose arrival her husband announced as speedily to
follow his own. Ethel and Lady Anne and some of the children were coming. Lord
Farintosh&rsquo;s mother and sisters were to follow. It was to be a reunion
previous to the marriage which was closer to unite the two families. Lady Clara
said Yes to her husband&rsquo;s orders; rose mechanically to obey his wishes
and arrange for the reception of the guests; and spoke tremblingly to the
housekeeper as her husband gibed at her. The little ones had been consigned to
bed early and before Sir Barnes&rsquo;s arrival. He did not think fit to see
them in their sleep; nor did their mother. She did not know, as the poor little
creatures left her room in charge of their nurses, that she looked on them for
the last time. Perhaps, had she gone to their bedsides that evening, had the
wretched panic-stricken soul been allowed leisure to pause, and to think, and
to pray, the fate of the morrow might have been otherwise, and the trembling
balance of the scale have inclined to right&rsquo;s side. But the pause was not
allowed her. Her husband came and saluted her with his accustomed greetings of
scorn, and sarcasm, and brutal insult. On a future day he never dared to call a
servant of his household to testify to his treatment of her; though many were
ready to attend to prove his cruelty and her terror. On that very last night,
Lady Clara&rsquo;s maid, a country girl from her father&rsquo;s house at
Chanticlere, told Sir Barnes in the midst of a conjugal dispute that her lady
might bear his conduct but she could not, and that she would no longer live
under the roof of such a brute. The girl&rsquo;s interference was not likely to
benefit her mistress much: the wretched Lady Clara passed the last night under
the roof of her husband and children, unattended save by this poor domestic who
was about to leave her, in tears and hysterical outcries, and then in moaning
stupor. Lady Clara put to sleep with laudanum, her maid carried down the story
of her wrongs to the servants&rsquo; quarters; and half a dozen of them took in
their resignation to Sir Barnes as he sat over his breakfast the next
morning&mdash;in his ancestral hall&mdash;surrounded by the portraits of his
august forefathers&mdash;in his happy home.
</p>

<p>
Their mutiny of course did not add to their master&rsquo;s good-humour; and his
letters brought him news which increased Barnes&rsquo;s fury. A messenger
arrived with a letter from his man of business at Newcome, upon the receipt of
which he started up with such an execration as frightened the servant waiting
on him, and letter in hand he ran to Lady Clara&rsquo;s sitting-room. Her
ladyship was up. Sir Barnes breakfasted rather late on the first morning after
an arrival at Newcome. He had to look over the bailiff&rsquo;s books, and to
look about him round the park and grounds; to curse the gardeners; to damn the
stable and kennel grooms; to yell at the woodman for clearing not enough or too
much; to rail at the poor old workpeople brooming away the fallen leaves, etc.
So Lady Clara was up and dressed when her husband went to her room, which lay
at the end of the house as we have said, the last of a suite of ancestral
halls.
</p>

<p>
The mutinous servant heard high voices and curses within; then Lady
Clara&rsquo;s screams; then Sir Barnes Newcome burst out of the room, locking
the door and taking the key with him, and saluting with more curses James, the
mutineer, over whom his master ran.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Curse your wife, and don&rsquo;t curse me, Sir Barnes Newcome!&rdquo;
said James, the mutineer; and knocked down a hand which the infuriated Baronet
raised against him, with an arm that was twice as strong as Barnes&rsquo;s own.
This man and maid followed their mistress in the sad journey upon which she was
bent. They treated her with unalterable respect. They never could be got to see
that her conduct was wrong. When Barnes&rsquo;s counsel subsequently tried to
impugn their testimony, they dared him; and hurt the plaintiff&rsquo;s case
very much. For the balance had weighed over; and it was Barnes himself who
caused what now ensued; and what we learned in a very few hours afterwards from
Newcome, where it was the talk of the whole neighbourhood.
</p>

<p>
Florac and I, as yet ignorant of all that was occurring, met Barnes near his
own lodge-gate riding in the direction of Newcome, as we were ourselves
returning to Rosebury. The Prince de Moncontour, who was driving, affably
saluted the Baronet, who gave us a scowling recognition, and rode on, his groom
behind him. &ldquo;The figure of the garçon,&rdquo; says Florac, as our
acquaintance passed, &ldquo;is not agreeable. Of pale, he has become livid. I
hope these two men will not meet, or evil will come!&rdquo; Evil to Barnes
there might be, Florac&rsquo;s companion thought, who knew the previous little
affairs between Barnes and his uncle and cousin; and that Lord Highgate was
quite able to take care of himself.
</p>

<p>
In half an hour after Florac spoke, that meeting between Barnes and Highgate
actually had taken place&mdash;in the open square of Newcome, within four doors
of the King&rsquo;s Arms inn, close to which lives Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s
man of business; and before which, Mr. Harris, as he was called, was walking,
and waiting till a carriage which he had ordered came round from the inn yard.
As Sir Barnes Newcome rode into the place many people touched their hats to
him, however little they loved him. He was bowing and smirking to one of these,
when he suddenly saw Belsize.
</p>

<p>
He started back, causing his horse to back with him on to the pavement, and it
may have been rage and fury, or accident and nervousness merely, but at this
instant Barnes Newcome, looking towards Lord Highgate, shook his whip.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You cowardly villain!&rdquo; said the other, springing forward. &ldquo;I
was going to your house.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How dare you, sir,&rdquo; cries Sir Barnes, still holding up that
unlucky cane, &ldquo;how dare you to&mdash;to&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Dare, you scoundrel!&rdquo; said Belsize. &ldquo;Is that the cane you
strike your wife with, you ruffian!&rdquo; Belsize seized and tore him out of
the saddle, flinging him screaming down on the pavement. The horse, rearing and
making way for himself, galloped down the clattering street; a hundred people
were round Sir Barnes in a moment.
</p>

<p>
The carriage which Belsize had ordered came round at this very juncture. Amidst
the crowd, shrinking, bustling, expostulating, threatening, who pressed about
him, he shouldered his way. Mr. Taplow, aghast, was one of the hundred
spectators of the scene.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am Lord Highgate,&rdquo; said Barnes&rsquo;s adversary. &ldquo;If Sir
Barnes Newcome wants me, tell him I will send him word where he may hear of
me.&rdquo; And getting into the carriage, he told the driver to go &ldquo;to
the usual place.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Imagine the hubbub in the town, the conclaves at the inns, the talks in the
counting-houses, the commotion amongst the factory people, the paragraphs in
the Newcome papers, the bustle of surgeons and lawyers, after this event.
Crowds gathered at the King&rsquo;s Arms, and waited round Mr. Speers the
lawyer&rsquo;s house, into which Sir Barnes was carried. In vain policemen told
them to move on; fresh groups gathered after the seceders. On the next day,
when Barnes Newcome, who was not much hurt, had a fly to go home, a factory man
shook his fist in at the carriage window, and, with a curse, said, &ldquo;Serve
you right, you villain.&rdquo; It was the man whose sweetheart this Don Juan
had seduced and deserted years before; whose wrongs were well known amongst his
mates, a leader in the chorus of hatred which growled round Barnes Newcome.
</p>

<p>
Barnes&rsquo;s mother and sister Ethel had reached Newcome shortly before the
return of the master of the house. The people there were in disturbance. Lady
Anne and Miss Newcome came out with pallid looks to greet him. He laughed and
reassured them about his accident: indeed his hurt had been trifling; he had
been bled by the surgeon, a little jarred by the fall from his horse; but there
was no sort of danger. Still their pale and doubtful looks continued. What
caused them? In the open day, with a servant attending her Lady Clara Newcome
had left her husband&rsquo;s house; and a letter was forwarded to him that same
evening from my Lord Highgate, informing Sir Barnes Newcome that Lady Clara
Pulleyn could bear his tyranny no longer, and had left his roof; that Lord
Highgate proposed to leave England almost immediately, but would remain long
enough to afford Sir Barnes Newcome the opportunity for an interview, in case
he should be disposed to demand one: and a friend (of Lord Highgate&rsquo;s
late regiment) was named who would receive letters and act in any way necessary
for his lordship.
</p>

<p>
The debates of the House of Lords must tell what followed afterwards in the
dreary history of Lady Clara Pulleyn. The proceedings in the Newcome Divorce
Bill filled the usual number of columns in the papers,&mdash;especially the
Sunday papers. The witnesses were examined by learned peers whose
business&mdash;nay, pleasure&mdash;it seems to be to enter into such matters;
and, for the ends of justice and morality, doubtless, the whole story of Barnes
Newcome&rsquo;s household was told to the British public. In the previous trial
in the Court of Queen&rsquo;s Bench, how grandly Serjeant Rowland stood up for
the rights of British husbands! with what pathos he depicted the conjugal
paradise, the innocent children prattling round their happy parents, the
serpent, the destroyer, entering into that Belgravian Eden; the wretched and
deserted husband alone by his desecrated hearth, and calling for redress on his
country! Rowland wept freely during his noble harangue. At not a shilling under
twenty thousand pounds would he estimate the cost of his client&rsquo;s
injuries. The jury was very much affected: the evening papers gave
Rowland&rsquo;s address <i>in extenso</i>, with some pretty sharp raps at the
aristocracy in general. The <i>Day</i>, the principal morning journal of that
period, came out with a leading article the next morning, in which every party
concerned and every institution was knocked about. The disgrace of the peerage,
the ruin of the monarchy (with a retrospective view of the well-known case of
Gyges and Candaules), the monstrosity of the crime, and the absurdity of the
tribunal and the punishment, were all set forth in the terrible leading article
of the <i>Day</i>.
</p>

<p>
But when, on the next day, Serjeant Rowland was requested to call witnesses to
prove that connubial happiness which he had depicted so pathetically, he had
none at hand.
</p>

<p>
Oliver, Q.C., now had his innings. A man, a husband, and a father, Mr. Oliver
could not attempt to defend the conduct of his unfortunate client; but if there
could be any excuse for such conduct, that excuse he was free to confess the
plaintiff had afforded, whose cruelty and neglect twenty witnesses in court
were ready to prove&mdash;neglect so outrageous, cruelty so systematic, that he
wondered the plaintiff had not been better advised than to bring this trial,
with all its degrading particulars, to a public issue. On the very day when the
ill-omened marriage took place, another victim of cruelty had interposed as
vainly&mdash;as vainly as Serjeant Rowland himself interposed in Court to
prevent this case being made known&mdash;and with piteous outcries, in the name
of outraged neglected woman, of castaway children pleading in vain for bread,
had besought the bride to pause, and the bridegroom to look upon the wretched
beings who owed him life. Why had not Lady Clara Pulleyn&rsquo;s friends
listened to that appeal? And so on, and so on, between Rowland and Oliver the
battle waged fiercely that day. Many witnesses were mauled and slain. Out of
that combat scarce anybody came well, except the two principal champions,
Rowland, Serjeant, and Oliver, Q.C. The whole country looked on and heard the
wretched story, not only of Barnes&rsquo;s fault and Highgate&rsquo;s fault,
but of the private peccadilloes of their suborned footmen and conspiring
housemaids. Mr. Justice C. Sawyer charged the jury at great length&mdash;those
men were respectable men and fathers of families themselves&mdash;of course
they dealt full measure to Lord Highgate for his delinquencies; consoled the
injured husband with immense damages, and left him free to pursue the further
steps for releasing himself altogether from the tie which had been bound with
affecting episcopal benediction at St. George&rsquo;s, Hanover Square.
</p>

<p>
So Lady Clara flies from the custody of her tyrant, but to what a rescue! The
very man who loves her, and gives her asylum, pities and deplores her. She
scarce dares to look out of the windows of her new home upon the world, lest it
should know and reproach her. All the sisterhood of friendship is cut off from
her. If she dares to go abroad she feels the sneer of the world as she goes
through it; and knows that malice and scorn whisper behind her. People, as
criminal but undiscovered, make room for her, as if her touch were pollution.
She knows she has darkened the lot and made wretched the home of the man whom
she loves best; that his friends who see her, treat her with but a doubtful
respect; and the domestics who attend her, with a suspicious obedience. In the
country lanes, or the streets of the county town, neighbours look aside as the
carriage passes in which she sits splendid and lonely. Rough hunting companions
of her husband&rsquo;s come to her table: he is driven perforce to the company
of flatterers and men of inferior sort; his equals, at least in his own home,
will not live with him. She would be kind, perhaps, and charitable to the
cottagers round about her, but she fears to visit them lest they too should
scorn her. The clergyman who distributes her charities, blushes and looks
awkward on passing her in the village, if he should be walking with his wife or
one of his children. Shall they go to the Continent, and set up a grand house
at Paris or at Florence? There they can get society, but of what a sort! Our
acquaintances of Baden,&mdash;Madame Schlangenbad, and Madame de Cruchecassée,
and Madame d&rsquo;Ivry, and Messrs. Loder, and Punter, and Blackball, and
Deuceace, will come, and dance, and flirt, and quarrel, and gamble, and feast
round about her; but what in common with such wild people has this poor, timid,
shrinking soul? Even these scorn her. The leers and laughter on those painted
faces are quite unlike her own sad countenance. She has no reply to their wit.
Their infernal gaiety scares her more than the solitude at home. No wonder that
her husband does not like home, except for a short while in the hunting season.
No wonder that he is away all day; how can he like a home which she has made so
wretched? In the midst of her sorrow, and doubt, and misery, a child comes to
her: how she clings to it! how her whole being, and hope, and passion centres
itself on this feeble infant!&mdash;&mdash;but she no more belongs to our
story; with the new name she has taken, the poor lady passes out of the history
of the Newcomes.
</p>

<p>
If Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s children meet yonder solitary lady, do they know her?
If her once-husband thinks upon the unhappy young creature whom his cruelty
drove from him, does his conscience affect his sleep at night? Why should Sir
Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s conscience be more squeamish than his country&rsquo;s,
which has put money in his pocket for having trampled on the poor weak young
thing, and scorned her, and driven her to ruin? When the whole of the accounts
of that wretched bankruptcy are brought up for final Audit, which of the
unhappy partners shall be shown to be most guilty? Does the Right Reverend
Prelate who did the benedictory business for Barnes and Clara his wife repent
in secret? Do the parents who pressed the marriage, and the fine folks who
signed the book, and ate the breakfast, and applauded the bridegroom&rsquo;s
speech, feel a little ashamed? O Hymen Hymenæe! The bishops, beadles, clergy,
pew-openers, and other officers of the temple dedicated to Heaven under the
invocation of St. George, will officiate in the same place at scores and scores
more of such marriages: and St. George of England may behold virgin after
virgin offered up to the devouring monster, Mammon (with many most respectable
female dragons looking on)&mdash;may see virgin after virgin given away, just
as in the Soldan of Babylon&rsquo;s time, but with never a champion to come to
the rescue!
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0059" id="link2HCH0059"></a>
CHAPTER LIX.<br/>
In which Achilles loses Briseis</h2>

<p>
Although the years of the Marquis of Farintosh were few, he had spent most of
them in the habit of command; and, from his childhood upwards, had been obeyed
by all persons round about him. As an infant he had but to roar, and his mother
and nurses were as much frightened as though he had been a Libyan lion. What he
willed and ordered was law amongst his clan and family. During the period of
his London and Parisian dissipations his poor mother did not venture to
remonstrate with her young prodigal, but shut her eyes, not daring to open them
on his wild courses. As for the friends of his person and house, many of whom
were portly elderly gentlemen, their affection for the young Marquis was so
extreme that there was no company into which their fidelity would not lead them
to follow him; and you might see him dancing at Mabille with veteran
aides-de-camp looking on, or disporting with opera-dancers at a Trois Freres
banquet, which some old gentleman of his father&rsquo;s age had taken the pains
to order. If his lordship Count Almaviva wants a friend to carry the lanthorn
or to hold the ladder; do you suppose there are not many most respectable men
in society who will act Figaro? When Farintosh thought fit, in the fulness of
time and the blooming pride of manhood, to select a spouse, and to elevate a
marchioness to his throne, no one dared gainsay him. When he called upon his
mother and sisters, and their ladyships&rsquo; hangers-on and attendants; upon
his own particular kinsmen, led captains, and toadies; to bow the knee and do
homage to the woman whom he delighted to honour, those duteous subjects
trembled and obeyed; in fact, he thought that the position of a Marchioness of
Farintosh was under heaven, and before men, so splendid, that, had he elevated
a beggar-maid to that sublime rank, the inferior world was bound to worship
her.
</p>

<p>
So my lord&rsquo;s lady-mother, and my lord&rsquo;s sisters, and his captains,
and his players of billiards, and the toadies of his august person, all
performed obeisance to his bride-elect, and never questioned the will of the
young chieftain. What were the private comments of the ladies of the family we
had no means of knowing; but it may naturally be supposed that his
lordship&rsquo;s gentlemen-in-waiting, Captain Henchman, Jack Todhunter, and
the rest, had many misgivings of their own respecting their patrons change in
life, and could not view without anxiety the advent of a mistress who might
reign over him and them, who might possibly not like their company, and might
exert her influence over her husband to oust these honest fellows from places
in which they were very comfortable. The jovial rogues had the run of my
lord&rsquo;s kitchen, stables, cellars, and cigar-boxes. A new marchioness
might hate hunting, smoking, jolly parties, and toad-eaters in general, or
might bring into the house favourites of her own. I am sure any kind-hearted
man of the world must feel for the position of these faithful, doubtful,
disconsolate vassals, and have a sympathy for their rueful looks and demeanour
as they eye the splendid preparations for the ensuing marriage, the grand
furniture sent to my lord&rsquo;s castles and houses, the magnificent plate
provided for his tables&mdash;tables at which they may never have a knife and
fork; castles and houses of which the poor rogues may never be allowed to pass
the doors.
</p>

<p>
When, then, &ldquo;the elopement in High Life,&rdquo; which has been described
in the previous pages, burst upon the town in the morning papers, I can fancy
the agitation which the news occasioned in the faithful bosoms of the generous
Todhunter, and the attached Henchman. My lord was not in his own house as yet.
He and his friends still lingered on in the little house in Mayfair, the dear
little bachelor&rsquo;s quarters, where they had enjoyed such good dinners,
such good suppers, such rare doings, such a jolly time. I fancy Hench coming
down to breakfast, and reading the <i>Morning Post</i>. I imagine Tod dropping
in from his bedroom over the way, and Hench handing the paper over to Tod, and
the conversation which ensued between those worthy men. Elopement in high
life&mdash;excitement in N&mdash;come, and flight of Lady Cl&mdash;
N&mdash;come, daughter of the late and sister of the present Earl of D-rking,
with Lord H&mdash;-gate; personal rencontre between Lord H&mdash;-gate and Sir
B&mdash;nes N&mdash;come. Extraordinary disclosures. I say, I can fancy Hench
and Tod over this awful piece of news.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pretty news, ain&rsquo;t it, Toddy?&rdquo; says Henchman, looking up
from a Perigord-pie, which the faithful creature is discussing.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Always expected it,&rdquo; remarks the other. &ldquo;Anybody who saw
them together last season must have known it. The Chief himself spoke of it to
me.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll cut him up awfully when he reads it. Is it in the <i>Morning
Post?</i> He has the <i>Post</i> in his bedroom. I know he has rung his bell: I
heard it. Bowman, has his lordship read his paper yet?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Bowman, the valet, said, &ldquo;I believe you, he <i>have</i> read his paper.
When he read it, he jumped out of bed and swore most awful. I cut as soon as I
could,&rdquo; continued Mr. Bowman, who was on familiar&mdash;nay contemptuous
terms with the other two gentlemen.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Enough to make any man swear,&rdquo; says Toddy to Henchman; and both
were alarmed in their noble souls, reflecting that their chieftain was now
actually getting up and dressing himself; that he would speedily, and in course
of nature, come downstairs; and, then, most probably, would begin swearing at
<i>them</i>.
</p>

<p>
The most noble Mungo Malcolm Angus was in an awful state of mind when, at
length, he appeared in the breakfast-room. &ldquo;Why the dash do you make a
taproom of this?&rdquo; he cries. The trembling Henchman, who has begun to
smoke&mdash;as he has done a hundred times before in this bachelor&rsquo;s
hall&mdash;flings his cigar into the fire.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;There you go&mdash;nothing like it! Why don&rsquo;t you fling some more
in? You can get &rsquo;em at Hudson&rsquo;s for five guineas a pound.&rdquo;
bursts out the youthful peer.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I understand why you are out of sorts, old boy,&rdquo; says Henchman,
stretching out his manly hand. A tear of compassion twinkled in his eyelid, and
coursed down his mottled cheek. &ldquo;Cut away at old Frank,
Farintosh,&mdash;a fellow who has been attached to you since before you could
speak. It&rsquo;s not when a fellow&rsquo;s down and cut up, and
riled&mdash;naturally riled&mdash;as you are&mdash;I know you are, Marquis;
it&rsquo;s not then that I&rsquo;m going to be angry with you. Pitch into old
Frank Henchman&mdash;hit away, my young one.&rdquo; And Frank put himself into
an attitude as of one prepared to receive a pugilistic assault. He bared his
breast, as it were, and showed his scars, and said, &ldquo;Strike!&rdquo; Frank
Henchman was a florid toady. My uncle, Major Pendennis, has often laughed with
me about the fellow&rsquo;s pompous flatteries and ebullient fidelity.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have read this confounded paragraph?&rdquo; says the Marquis.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We <i>have</i> read it: and were deucedly cut up, too,&rdquo; says
Henchman, &ldquo;for your sake, my dear boy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I remembered what you said, last year, Marquis,&rdquo; cries Todhunter
(not unadroitly). &ldquo;You, yourself, pointed out, in this very room, I
recollect, at this very table&mdash;that night Coralie and the little Spanish
dancer and her mother supped here, and there was a talk about
Highgate&mdash;you, yourself, pointed out what was likely to happen. I doubted
it; for I have dined at the Newcomes&rsquo;, and seen Highgate and her together
in society often. But though you are a younger bird, you have better eyes than
I have&mdash;and you saw the thing at once&mdash;at once, don&rsquo;t you
remember I and Coralie said how glad she was, because Sir Barnes ill-treated
her friend. What was the name of Coralie&rsquo;s friend, Hench?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How should <i>I</i> know her confounded name?&rdquo; Henchman briskly
answers. &ldquo;What do I care for Sir Barnes Newcome and his private affairs?
He is no friend of mine. I never said he was a friend of mine. I never said I
liked him. Out of respect for the Chief here, I held my tongue about him, and
shall hold my tongue. Have some of this pate, Chief! No? Poor old boy! I know
you haven&rsquo;t got an appetite. I know this news cuts you up. I say nothing,
and make no pretence of condolence; though I feel for you&mdash;and you know
you can count on old Frank Henchman&mdash;don&rsquo;t you, Malcolm?&rdquo; And
again he turns away to conceal his gallant sensibility and generous emotion.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What does it matter to me?&rdquo; bursts out the Marquis, garnishing his
conversation with the usual expletives which adorned his eloquence when he was
strongly moved. &ldquo;What do I care for Barnes Newcome, and his confounded
affairs and family? I never want to see him again, but in the light of a
banker, when I go to the City, where he keeps my account. I say, I have nothing
to do with him, or all the Newcomes under the sun. Why, one of them is a
painter, and will paint my dog, Ratcatcher, by Jove! or my horse, or my groom,
if I give him the order. Do you think I care for any one of the pack?
It&rsquo;s not the fault of the Marchioness of Farintosh that her family is not
equal to mine. Besides two others in England and Scotland, I should like to
know what family is? I tell you what, Hench. I bet you five to two, that before
an hour is over my mother will be here, and down on her knees to me, begging me
to break off this engagement.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And what will you do, Farintosh?&rdquo; asks Henchman, slowly,
&ldquo;Will you break it off?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No!&rdquo; shouts the Marquis. &ldquo;Why shall I break off with the
finest girl in England&mdash;and the best-plucked one, and the cleverest and
wittiest, and the most beautiful creature, by Jove, that ever stepped, for no
fault of hers, and because her sister-in-law leaves her brother, who I know
treated her infernally? We have talked this matter over at home before. I
wouldn&rsquo;t dine with the fellow; though he was always asking me; nor meet,
except just out of civility, any of his confounded family. Lady Anne is
different. She is a lady, she is. She is a good woman: and Kew is a most
respectable man, though he is only a peer of George III.&rsquo;s creation, and
you should hear how <i>he</i> speaks of Miss Newcome, though she refused him. I
should like to know who is to prevent me marrying Lady Anne Newcome&rsquo;s
daughter?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;By Jove, you are a good-plucked fellow, Farintosh&mdash;give me your
hand, old boy,&rdquo; says Henchman.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Heh! am I? You would have said, give me your hand, old boy, whichever
way I determined, Hench! I tell you, I ain&rsquo;t intellectual, and that sort
of thing. But I know my rank, and I know my place; and when a man of my station
gives his word, he sticks to it, sir; and my lady, and my sisters, may go on
their knees all round; and, by Jove, I won&rsquo;t flinch.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The justice of Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s views was speedily proved by the
appearance of his lordship&rsquo;s mother, Lady Glenlivat, whose arrival put a
stop to a conversation which Captain Francis Henchman has often subsequently
narrated. She besought to see her son in terms so urgent, that the young
nobleman could not be denied to his parent; and, no doubt, a long and
interesting interview took place, in which Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s mother
passionately implored him to break off a match upon which he was as resolutely
bent.
</p>

<p>
Was it a sense of honour, a longing desire to possess this young beauty, and
call her his own, or a fierce and profound dislike to being balked in any
object of his wishes, which actuated the young lord? Certainly he had borne,
very philosophically, delay after delay which had taken place in the devised
union; and being quite sure of his mistress, had not cared to press on the
marriage, but lingered over the dregs of his bachelor cup complacently still.
We all know in what an affecting farewell he took leave of the associates of
his <i>vie de garçon:</i> the speeches made (in both languages), the presents
distributed, the tears and hysterics of some of the guests assembled; the
cigar-boxes given over to this friend, the <i>écrin</i> of diamonds to that, et
cætera, et cætera, et cætera. Don&rsquo;t we know? If we don&rsquo;t it is not
Henchman&rsquo;s fault, who has told the story of Farintosh&rsquo;s betrothals
a thousand and one times at his clubs, at the houses where he is asked to dine,
on account of his intimacy with the nobility, among the young men of fashion,
or no fashion, whom this two-bottle Mentor, and burly admirer of youth, has
since taken upon himself to form. The farewell at Greenwich was so affecting
that all &ldquo;traversed the cart,&rdquo; and took another farewell at
Richmond, where there was crying too, but it was Eucharis cried because fair
Calypso wanted to tear her eyes out; and where not only Telemachus (as was
natural to his age), but Mentor likewise, quaffed the wine-cup too freely. You
are virtuous, O reader! but there are still cakes and ale, Ask Henchman if
there be not. You will find him in the Park any afternoon; he will dine with
you if no better man ask him in the interval. He will tell you story upon story
regarding young Lord Farintosh, and his marriage, and what happened before his
marriage, and afterwards; and he will sigh, weep almost at some moments, as he
narrates their subsequent quarrel, and Farintosh&rsquo;s unworthy conduct, and
tells you how he formed that young man. My uncle and Captain Henchman disliked
each other very much, I am sorry to say&mdash;sorry to add that it was very
amusing to hear either one of them speak of the other.
</p>

<p>
Lady Glenlivat, according to the Captain, then, had no success in the interview
with her son; who, unmoved by the maternal tears, commands, and entreaties,
swore he would marry Miss Newcome, and that no power on earth should prevent
him. &ldquo;As if trying to thwart that man&mdash;<i>could</i> ever prevent his
having his way!&rdquo; ejaculated his quondam friend.
</p>

<p>
But on the next day, after ten thousand men in clubs and coteries had talked
the news over; after the evening had repeated and improved the delightful theme
of our &ldquo;morning contemporaries;&rdquo; after Calypso and Eucharis driving
together in the Park, and reconciled now, had kissed their hands to Lord
Farintosh, and made him their compliments&mdash;after a night of natural doubt,
disturbance, defiance, fury&mdash;as men whispered to each other at the club
where his lordship dined, and at the theatre where he took his
recreation&mdash;after an awful time at breakfast in which Messrs. Bowman,
valet, and Todhunter and Henchman, captains of the Farintosh bodyguard, all got
their share of kicks and growling&mdash;behold Lady Glenlivat came back to the
charge again; and this time with such force that poor Lord Farintosh was shaken
indeed.
</p>

<p>
Her ladyship&rsquo;s ally was no other than Miss Newcome herself; from whom
Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s mother received, by that day&rsquo;s post, a letter,
which she was commissioned to read to her son:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;Dear Madam&rdquo; (wrote the young lady in her firmest
handwriting)&mdash;&ldquo;Mamma is at this moment in a state of such <i>grief
and dismay</i> at the <i>cruel</i> misfortune and <i>humiliation</i> which has
just befallen our family, that she is really not able to write to you as she
<i>ought</i>, and this task, painful as it is, must be <i>mine</i>. Dear Lady
Glenlivat, the kindness and confidence which I have ever received from you and
<i>yours</i>, merit truth, and most grateful respect and regard from <i>me</i>.
And I feel after the late fatal occurrence, what I have often and often owned
to myself though I did not <i>dare</i> to acknowledge it, that I ought to
release Lord F., <i>at once and for ever</i>, from an engagement <i>which he
could never think</i> of maintaining with a family <i>so unfortunate as
ours</i>. I thank him with all my heart for his goodness in bearing with my
humours so long; if I have given him pain, as I <i>know</i> I have sometimes, I
beg his pardon, and would do so <i>on my knees</i>. I hope and pray he may be
happy, as I feared he never could be with me. He has many good and noble
qualities; and, in bidding him farewell, I trust I may retain his friendship,
and that he will believe in the esteem and gratitude of your most sincere,
</p>

<p class="right">
Ethel Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
A copy of this farewell letter was seen by a lady who happened to be a
neighbour of Miss Newcome&rsquo;s when the family misfortune occurred, and to
whom, in her natural dismay and grief, the young lady fled for comfort and
consolation. &ldquo;Dearest Mrs. Pendennis,&rdquo; wrote Miss Ethel to my wife,
&ldquo;I hear you are at Rosebury; do, do come to your affectionate E.
N.&rdquo; The next day, it was&mdash;&ldquo;Dearest Laura&mdash;If you can,
pray, pray come to Newcome this morning. I want very much to speak to you about
the poor children, to consult you about something most important.&rdquo; Madame
de Moncontour&rsquo;s pony-carriage was constantly trotting between Rosebury
and Newcome in these days of calamity.
</p>

<p>
And my wife, as in duty bound, gave me full reports of all that happened in
that house of mourning. On the very day of the flight, Lady Anne, her daughter,
and some others of her family arrived at Newcome. The deserted little girl,
Barnes&rsquo;s eldest child, ran, with tears and cries of joy, to her Aunt
Ethel, whom she had always loved better than her mother; and clung to her and
embraced her; and, in her artless little words, told her that mamma had gone
away, and that Ethel should be her mamma now. Very strongly moved by the
misfortune, as by the caresses and affection of the poor orphaned creature,
Ethel took the little girl to her heart, and promised to be a mother to her,
and that she would not leave her; in which pious resolve I scarcely need say
Laura strengthened her, when, at her young friend&rsquo;s urgent summons, my
wife came to her.
</p>

<p>
The household at Newcome was in a state of disorganisation after the
catastrophe. Two of Lady Clara&rsquo;s servants; it has been stated already,
went away with her. The luckless master of the house was lying wounded in the
neighbouring town. Lady Anne Newcome, his mother, was terribly agitated by the
news, which was abruptly broken to her, of the flight of her daughter-in-law
and her son&rsquo;s danger. Now she thought of flying to Newcome to nurse him;
and then feared lest she should be ill received by the invalid&mdash;indeed,
ordered by Sir Barnes to go home, and not to bother him. So at home Lady Anne
remained, where the thoughts of the sufferings she had already undergone in
that house, of Sir Barnes&rsquo;s cruel behaviour to her at her last visit,
which he had abruptly requested her to shorten, of the happy days which she had
passed as mistress of that house and wife of the defunct Sir Brian; the sight
of that departed angel&rsquo;s picture in the dining-room and wheel-chair in
the gallery; the recollection of little Barnes as a cherub of a child in that
very gallery, and pulled out of the fire by a nurse in the second year of his
age, when he was all that a fond mother could wish&mdash;these incidents and
reminiscences so agitated Lady Anne Newcome, that she, for her part, went off
in a series of hysterical fits, and acted as one distraught: her second
daughter screamed in sympathy with her and Miss Newcome had to take the command
of the whole of this demented household, hysterical mamma and sister,
mutineering servants, and shrieking abandoned nursery, and bring young people
and old to peace and quiet.
</p>

<p>
On the morrow after his little concussion Sir Barnes Newcome came home, not
much hurt in body, but woefully afflicted in temper, and venting his wrath upon
everybody round about him in that strong language which he employed when
displeased; and under which his valet, his housekeeper, his butler, his
farm-bailiff, his lawyer, his doctor, his dishevelled mother herself&mdash;who
rose from her couch and her sal-volatile to fling herself round her dear
boy&rsquo;s knees&mdash;all had to suffer. Ethel Newcome, the Baronet&rsquo;s
sister, was the only person in his house to whom Sir Barnes did not utter oaths
or proffer rude speeches. He was afraid of offending her or encountering that
resolute spirit, and lapsed into a surly silence in her presence. Indistinct
maledictions growled about Sir Barnes&rsquo;s chair when he beheld my
wife&rsquo;s pony-carriage drive up; and he asked what brought <i>her</i> here?
But Ethel sternly told her brother that Mrs. Pendennis came at her particular
request, and asked him whether he supposed anybody could come into that house
for pleasure now, or for any other motive but kindness? Upon which, Sir Barnes
fairly burst out into tears, intermingled with execrations against his enemies
and his own fate, and assertions that he was the most miserable beggar alive.
He would not see his children: but with more tears he would implore Ethel never
to leave them, and, anon, would ask what he should do when she married, and he
was left alone in that infernal house?
</p>

<p>
T. Potts, Esq., of the <i>Newcome Independent</i>, used to say afterwards that
the Baronet was in the direst terror of another meeting with Lord Highgate, and
kept a policeman at the lodge-gate, and a second in the kitchen, to interpose
in event of a collision. But Mr. Potts made this statement in after days, when
the quarrel between his party and paper and Sir Barnes Newcome was flagrant.
Five or six days after the meeting of the two rivals in Newcome market-place,
Sir Barnes received a letter from the friend of Lord Highgate, informing him
that his lordship, having waited for him according to promise, had now left
England, and presumed that the differences between them were to be settled by
their respective lawyers&mdash;infamous behaviour on a par with the rest of
Lord Highgate&rsquo;s villainy, the Baronet said. &ldquo;When the scoundrel
knew I could lift my pistol arm,&rdquo; Barnes said, &ldquo;Lord Highgate fled
the country;&rdquo;&mdash;thus hinting that death, and not damages, were what
he intended to seek from his enemy.
</p>

<p class="p2">
After that interview in which Ethel communicated to Laura her farewell letter
to Lord Farintosh, my wife returned to Rosebury with an extraordinary
brightness and gaiety in her face and her demeanour. She pressed Madame de
Moncontour&rsquo;s hands with such warmth, she blushed and looked so handsome,
she sang and talked so gaily, that our host was struck by her behaviour, and
paid her husband more compliments regarding her beauty, amiability, and other
good qualities, than need be set down here. It may be that I like Paul de
Florac so much, in spite of certain undeniable faults of character, because of
his admiration for my wife. She was in such a hurry to talk to me, that night,
that Paul&rsquo;s game and Nicotian amusements were cut short by her visit to
the billiard-room; and when we were alone by the cosy dressing-room fire, she
told me what had happened during the day. Why should Ethel&rsquo;s refusal of
Lord Farintosh have so much elated my wife?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; cries Mrs. Pendennis, &ldquo;she has a generous nature, and
the world has not had time to spoil it. Do you know there are many points that
she never has thought of&mdash;I would say problems that she has to work out
for herself, only you, Pen, do not like us poor ignorant women to use such a
learned word as problems? Life and experience force things upon her mind which
others learn from their parents or those who educate them, but, for which she
has never had any teachers. Nobody has ever told her, Arthur, that it was wrong
to marry without love, or pronounce lightly those awful vows which we utter
before God at the altar. I believe, if she knew that her life was futile, it is
but of late she has thought it could be otherwise, and that she might mend it.
I have read (besides that poem of Goethe of which you are so fond) in books of
Indian travels of Bayaderes, dancing-girls brought up by troops round about the
temples, whose calling is to dance, and wear jewels, and look beautiful; I
believe they are quite respected in&mdash;in Pagoda-land. They perform before
the priests in the pagodas; and the Brahmins and the Indian princes marry them.
Can we cry out against these poor creatures, or against the custom of their
country? It seems to me that young women in our world are bred up in a way not
very different. What they do they scarcely know to be wrong. They are educated
for the world, and taught to display: their mothers will give them to the
richest suitor, as they themselves were given before. How can these think
seriously, Arthur, of souls to be saved, weak hearts to be kept out of
temptation, prayers to be uttered, and a better world to be held always in
view, when the vanities of this one are all their thought and scheme?
Ethel&rsquo;s simple talk made me smile sometimes, do you know, and her
<i>strenuous</i> way of imparting her discoveries. I thought of the shepherd
boy who made a watch, and found on taking it into the town how very many
watches there were, and how much better than his. But the poor child has had to
make hers for herself, such as it is; and, indeed, is employed now in working
on it. She told me very artlessly her little history, Arthur; it affected me to
hear her simple talk, and&mdash;and I blessed God for our mother, my dear, and
that my early days had had a better guide.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You know that for a long time it was settled that she was to marry her
cousin, Lord Kew. She was bred to that notion from her earliest youth; about
which she spoke as we all can about our early days. They were spent, she said,
in the nursery and schoolroom for the most part. She was allowed to come to her
mother&rsquo;s dressing-room, and sometimes to see more of her during the
winter at Newcome. She describes her mother as always the kindest of the kind:
but from very early times the daughter must have felt her own superiority, I
think, though she does not speak of it. You should see her at home now in their
dreadful calamity. She seems the only person of the house who keeps her head.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She told very nicely and modestly how it was Lord Kew who parted from
her, not she who had dismissed him, as you know the Newcomes used to say. I
have heard that&mdash;oh&mdash;that man Sir Barnes say so myself. She says
humbly that her cousin Kew was a great deal too good for her; and so is every
one almost, she adds, poor thing!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Poor every one! Did you ask about him, Laura?&rdquo; said Mr. Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No; I did not venture. She looked at me out of her downright eyes, and
went on with her little tale. &lsquo;I was scarcely more than a child
then,&rsquo; she continued, &lsquo;and though I liked Kew very much&mdash;who
would not like such a generous honest creature? I felt somehow that I was
<i>taller</i> than my cousin, and as if I ought not to marry him, or should
make him unhappy if I did. When poor papa used to talk, we children remarked
that mamma hardly listened to him; and so we did not respect him as we should,
and Barnes was especially scoffing and odious with him. Why, when he was a boy,
he used to sneer at papa openly before us younger ones. Now Harriet admires
everything that Kew says, and that makes her a great deal happier at being with
him.&rsquo; And then,&rdquo; added Mrs. Pendennis, &ldquo;Ethel said, &lsquo;I
hope you respect your husband, Laura: depend on it, you will be happier if you
do.&rsquo; Was not that a fine discovery of Ethel&rsquo;s, Mr. Pen?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Clara&rsquo;s terror of Barnes frightened me when I stayed in the
house,&rsquo; Ethel went on. &lsquo;I am sure <i>I</i> would not tremble before
any man in the world as she did. I saw early that she used to deceive him, and
tell him lies, Laura. I do not mean lies of words alone, but lies of looks and
actions. Oh! I do not wonder at her flying from him. He was dreadful to be
with: cruel, and selfish, and cold. He was made worse by marrying a woman he
did not love; as she was, by that unfortunate union with him. Suppose he had
found a clever woman who could have controlled him, and amused him, and whom he
and his friends could have admired, instead of poor Clara, who made his home
wearisome, and trembled when he entered it? Suppose she could have married that
unhappy man to whom she was attached early? I was frightened, Laura, to think
how ill this worldly marriage had prospered.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;My poor grandmother, whenever I spoke upon such a subject, would
break out into a thousand gibes and sarcasms, and point to many of our friends
who had made love-matches, and were quarrelling now as fiercely as though they
had never loved each other. You remember that dreadful case in France Duc de
&mdash;&mdash;, who murdered his duchess? That was a love-match, and I can
remember the sort of screech with which Lady Kew used to speak about it; and of
the journal which the poor duchess kept, and in which she noted down all her
husband&rsquo;s ill-behaviour.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Hush, Laura! Do you remember where we are? If the Princess were to put
down all Florac&rsquo;s culpabilities in an album, what a ledger it would
be&mdash;as big as Dr. Portman&rsquo;s Chrysostom!&rdquo; But this was
parenthetical: and after a smile, and a little respite, the young woman
proceeded in her narration of her friend&rsquo;s history.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;I was willing enough to listen,&rsquo; Ethel said, &lsquo;to
grandmamma then: for we are glad of an excuse to do what we like; and I liked
admiration, and rank, and great wealth, Laura; and Lord Farintosh offered me
these. I liked to surpass my companions, and I saw <i>them</i> so eager in
pursuing him! You cannot think, Laura, what meannesses women in the world will
commit&mdash;mothers and daughters too, in the pursuit of a person of his great
rank. Those Miss Burrs, you should have seen them at the country-houses where
we visited together, and how they followed him; how they would meet him in the
parks and shrubberies; how they liked smoking though I knew it made them ill;
how they were always finding pretexts for getting near him! Oh, it was
odious!&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I would not willingly interrupt the narrative, but let the reporter be allowed
here to state that at this point of Miss Newcome&rsquo;s story (which my wife
gave with a very pretty imitation of the girl&rsquo;s manner), we both burst
out laughing so loud that little Madame de Moncontour put her head into the
drawing-room and asked what we was a-laughing at? We did not tell our hostess
that poor Ethel and her grandmother had been accused of doing the very same
thing for which she found fault with the Misses Burr. Miss Newcome thought
<i>herself</i> quite innocent, or how should she have cried out at the naughty
behaviour of other people?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;Wherever we went, however,&rsquo; resumed my wife&rsquo;s young
penitent, &lsquo;it was easy to see, I think I may say so without vanity, who
was the object of Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s attention. He followed us everywhere;
and we could not go upon any visit in England or Scotland but he was in the
same house. Grandmamma&rsquo;s whole heart was bent upon that marriage, and
when he proposed for me I do not disown that I was very pleased and vain.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;It is in these last months that I have heard about him more, and
learned to know him better&mdash;him and myself too, Laura. Some one&mdash;some
one you know, and whom I shall always love as a brother&mdash;reproached me in
former days for a worldliness about which you talk too sometimes. But it is not
worldly to give yourself up for your family, is it? One cannot help the rank in
which one is born, and surely it is but natural and proper to marry in it. Not
that Lord Farintosh thinks me or any one of his rank.&rsquo; (Here Miss Ethel
laughed.) &lsquo;He is the Sultan, and we, every unmarried girl in society, is
his humblest slave. His Majesty&rsquo;s opinions upon this subject did not suit
me, I can assure you: I have no notion of such pride!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;But I do not disguise from you, dear Laura, that after accepting
him, as I came to know him better, and heard him, and heard of him, and talked
with him daily, and understood Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s character, I looked
forward with more and more doubt to the day when I was to become his wife. I
have not learned to respect him in these months that I have known him, and
during which there has been mourning in our families. I will not talk to you
about him; I have no right, have I?&mdash;to hear him speak out his heart, and
tell it to any friend. He said he liked me because I did not flatter him. Poor
Malcolm! they all do. What was my acceptance of him, Laura, but flattery? Yes,
flattery, and servility to rank, and a desire to possess it. Would I have
accepted plain Malcolm Roy? I sent away a better than him, Laura.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;These things have been brooding in my mind for some months past.
I must have been but an ill companion for him, and indeed he bore with my
waywardness much more kindly than I ever thought possible; and when four days
since we came to this sad house, where he was to have joined us, and I found
only dismay and wretchedness, and these poor children deprived of a mother,
whom I pity, God help her, for she has been made so miserable&mdash;and is now
and must be to the end of her days; as I lay awake, thinking of my own future
life, and that I was going to marry, as poor Clara had married, but for an
establishment and a position in life; I, my own mistress, and not obedient by
nature, or a slave to others as that poor creature was&mdash;I thought to
myself, why shall I do this? Now Clara has left us, and is, as it were, dead to
us who made her so unhappy, let me be the mother to her orphans. I love the
little girl, and she has always loved me, and came crying to me that day when
we arrived, and put her dear little arms round my neck, and said,
&lsquo;<i>You</i> won&rsquo;t go away, will you, Aunt Ethel?&rsquo; in her
sweet voice. And I will stay with her; and will try and learn myself that I may
teach her; and learn to be good too&mdash;better than I have been. Will praying
help me, Laura? I did. I am sure I was right, and that it is my duty to stay
here.&rsquo;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Laura was greatly moved as she told her friend&rsquo;s confession; and when the
next day at church the clergyman read the opening words of the service I
thought a peculiar radiance and happiness beamed from her bright face.
</p>

<p class="p2">
Some subsequent occurrences in the history of this branch of the Newcome family
I am enabled to report from the testimony of the same informant who has just
given us an account of her own feelings and life. Miss Ethel and my wife were
now in daily communication, and &ldquo;my-dearesting&rdquo; each other with
that female fervour, which, cold men of the world as we are&mdash;not only
chary of warm expressions of friendship, but averse to entertaining warm
feelings at all&mdash;we surely must admire in persons of the inferior sex,
whose loves grow up and reach the skies in a night; who kiss, embrace, console,
call each other by Christian names, in that sweet, kindly sisterhood of
Misfortune and Compassion who are always entering into partnership here in
life. I say the world is full of Miss Nightingales; and we, sick and wounded in
our private Scutaris, have countless nurse-tenders. I did not see my wife
ministering to the afflicted family at Newcome Park; but I can fancy her there
amongst the women and children, her prudent counsel, her thousand gentle
offices, her apt pity and cheerfulness, the love and truth glowing in her face,
and inspiring her words, movements, demeanour.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Pendennis&rsquo;s husband for his part did not attempt to console Sir
Barnes Newcome Newcome, Baronet. I never professed to have a halfpennyworth of
pity at that gentleman&rsquo;s command. Florac, who owed Barnes his
principality and his present comforts in life, did make some futile efforts at
condolence, but was received by the Baronet with such fierceness, and evident
ill-humour, that he did not care to repeat his visits, and allowed him to vent
his curses and peevishness on his own immediate dependents. We used to ask
Laura on her return to Rosebury from her charity visits to Newcome about the
poor suffering master of the house. She faltered and stammered in describing
him and what she heard of him; she smiled, I grieve to say, for this
unfortunate lady cannot help having a sense of humour; and we could not help
laughing outright sometimes at the idea of that discomfited wretch, that
overbearing creature overborne in his turn&mdash;which laughter Mrs. Laura used
to chide as very naughty and unfeeling. When we went into Newcome the landlord
of the King&rsquo;s Arms looked knowing and quizzical: Tom Potts grinned at me
and rubbed his hands. &ldquo;This business serves the paper better than Mr.
Warrington&rsquo;s articles,&rdquo; says Mr. Potts. &ldquo;We have sold no end
of <i>Independents;</i> and if you polled the whole borough, I bet that five to
one would say Sir Screwcome Screwcome was served right. By the way,
what&rsquo;s up about the Marquis of Farintosh, Mr. Pendennis? He arrived at
the Arms last night; went over to the Park this morning, and is gone back to
town by the afternoon train.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
What had happened between the Marquis of Farintosh and Miss Newcome I am
enabled to know from the report of Miss Newcome&rsquo;s confidante. On the
receipt of that letter of <i>congé</i> which has been mentioned in a former
chapter, his lordship must have been very much excited, for he left town
straightway by that evening&rsquo;s mail, and on the next morning, after a few
hours of rest at his inn, was at Newcome lodge-gate demanding to see the
Baronet.
</p>

<p>
On that morning it chanced that Sir Barnes had left home with Mr Speer, his
legal adviser; and hereupon the Marquis asked to see Miss Newcome; nor could
the lodge-keeper venture to exclude so distinguished a person from the Park.
His lordship drove up to the house, and his name was taken to Miss Ethel. She
turned very pale when she heard it; and my wife divined at once who was her
visitor. Lady Anne had not left her room as yet. Laura Pendennis remained in
command of the little conclave of children, with whom the two ladies were
sitting when Lord Farintosh arrived. Little Clara wanted to go with her aunt as
she rose to leave the room&mdash;the child could scarcely be got to part from
her now.
</p>

<p>
At the end of an hour the carriage was seen driving away, and Ethel returned
looking as pale as before, and red about the eyes. Miss Clara&rsquo;s
mutton-chop for dinner coming in at the same time, the child was not so
presently eager for her aunt&rsquo;s company. Aunt Ethel cut up the mutton-chop
very neatly, and then, having seen the child comfortably seated at her meal,
went with her friend into a neighbouring apartment (of course, with some
pretext of showing Laura a picture, or a piece of china, or a new child&rsquo;s
frock, or with some other hypocritical pretence by which the ingenuous female
attendants pretended to be utterly blinded), and there, I have no doubt, before
beginning her story, dearest Laura embraced dearest Ethel, and vice versa.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He is gone!&rdquo; at length gasps dearest Ethel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pour toujours? poor young man!&rdquo; sighs dearest Laura. &ldquo;Was he
very unhappy, Ethel?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He was more angry,&rdquo; Ethel answers. &ldquo;He had a right to be
hurt, but not to speak as he did. He lost his temper quite at last, and broke
out in the most frantic reproaches. He forgot all respect and even
gentlemanlike behaviour. Do you know he used words&mdash;words such as Barnes
uses sometimes when he is angry! and dared this language to me! I was sorry
till then, very sorry, and very much moved; but I know more than ever, now,
that I was right in refusing Lord Farintosh.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Dearest Laura now pressed for an account of all that had happened, which may be
briefly told as follows. Feeling very deeply upon the subject which brought him
to Miss Newcome, it was no wonder that Lord Farintosh spoke at first in a way
which moved her. He said he thought her letter to his mother was very rightly
written under the circumstances, and thanked her for her generosity in offering
to release him from his engagement. But the affair&mdash;the painful
circumstance of Highgate, and that&mdash;which had happened in the Newcome
family, was no fault of Miss Newcome&rsquo;s, and Lord Farintosh could not
think of holding her accountable. His friends had long urged him to marry, and
it was by his mother&rsquo;s own wish that the engagement was formed, which he
was determined to maintain. In his course through the world (of which he was
getting very tired), he had never seen a woman, a lady who was so&mdash;you
understand, Ethel&mdash;whom he admired so much, who was likely to make so good
a wife for him as you are. &ldquo;You allude,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;to
differences we have had&mdash;and we have had them&mdash;but many of them, I
own, have been from my fault. I have been bred up in a way different to most
young men. I cannot help it if I have had temptations to which other men are
not exposed; and have been placed by&mdash;by Providence&mdash;in a high rank
of life; I am sure if you share it with me you will adorn it, and be in every
way worthy of it, and make me much better than I have been. If you knew what a
night of agony I passed after my mother read that letter to me&mdash;I know
you&rsquo;d pity me, Ethel,&mdash;I know you would. The idea of losing you
makes me wild. My mother was dreadfully alarmed when she saw the state I was
in; so was the doctor&mdash;I assure you he was. And I had no rest at all, and
no peace of mind, until I determined to come down to you; and say that I adored
you, and you only; and that I would hold to my engagement in spite of
everything&mdash;and prove to you that&mdash;that no man in the world could
love you more sincerely than I do.&rdquo; Here the young gentleman was so
overcome that he paused in his speech, and gave way to an emotion, for which,
surely no man who has been in the same condition with Lord Farintosh will blame
him.
</p>

<p>
Miss Newcome was also much touched by this exhibition of natural feeling; and,
I dare say, it was at this time that her eyes showed the first symptoms of that
malady of which the traces were visible an hour after.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You are very generous and kind to me, Lord Farintosh,&rdquo; she said.
&ldquo;Your constancy honours me very much, and proves how good and loyal you
are; but&mdash;but do not think hardly of me for saying that the more I have
thought of what has happened here,&mdash;of the wretched consequences of
interested marriages; the long union growing each day so miserable, that at
last it becomes intolerable and is burst asunder, as in poor Clara&rsquo;s
case;&mdash;the more I am resolved not to commit that first fatal step of
entering into a marriage without&mdash;without the degree of affection which
people who take that vow ought to feel for one another.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Affection! Can you doubt it? Gracious heavens, I adore you! Isn&rsquo;t
my being here a proof that I do?&rdquo; cries the young lady&rsquo;s lover.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But I?&rdquo; answered the girl. &ldquo;I have asked my own heart that
question before now. I have thought to myself,&mdash;If he comes after
all,&mdash;if his affection for me survives this disgrace of our family, as it
has, and every one of us should be thankful to you&mdash;ought I not to show at
least gratitude for so much kindness and honour, and devote myself to one who
makes such sacrifices for me? But, before all things I owe you the truth, Lord
Farintosh. I never could make you happy; I know I could not: nor obey you as
you are accustomed to be obeyed; nor give you such a devotion as you have a
right to expect from your wife. I thought I might once. I can&rsquo;t now! I
know that I took you because you were rich, and had a great name; not because
you were honest, and attached to me as you show yourself to be. I ask your
pardon for the deceit I practised on you.&mdash;Look at Clara, poor child, and
her misery! My pride, I know, would never have let me fall as far as she has
done; but oh! I am humiliated to think that I could have been made to say I
would take the first step in that awful career.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What career, in God&rsquo;s name?&rdquo; cries the astonished suitor.
&ldquo;Humiliated, Ethel? Who&rsquo;s going to humiliate you? I suppose there
is no woman in England who need be humiliated by becoming my wife. I should
like to see the one that I can&rsquo;t pretend to&mdash;or to royal blood if I
like: it&rsquo;s not better than mine. Humiliated, indeed! That <i>is</i> news.
Ha! ha! You don&rsquo;t suppose that your pedigree, which I know all about, and
the Newcome family, with your barber-surgeon to Edward the Confessor, are equal
to&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;To yours? No. It is not very long that I have learned to disbelieve in
that story altogether. I fancy it was an odd whim of my poor father&rsquo;s,
and that our family were quite poor people.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I knew it,&rdquo; said Lord Farintosh. &ldquo;Do you suppose there was
not plenty of women to tell it me?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It was not because we were poor that I am ashamed,&rdquo; Ethel went on.
&ldquo;That cannot be our fault, though some of us seem think it is, as they
hide the truth so. One of my uncles used to tell me that my grandfather&rsquo;s
father was a labourer in Newcome: but I was a child then, and liked to believe
the prettiest story best.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;As if it matters!&rdquo; cries Lord Farintosh.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;As if it matters in your wife? <i>n&rsquo;est-ce pas?</i> I never
thought that it would. I should have told you, as it was my duty to tell you
all. It was not my ancestors you cared for; and it is you yourself that your
wife must swear before heaven to love.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course it&rsquo;s me,&rdquo; answers the young man, not quite
understanding the train of ideas in his companion&rsquo;s mind. &ldquo;And
I&rsquo;ve given up everything&mdash;everything&mdash;and have broken off with
my old habits and&mdash;and things, you know&mdash;and intend to lead a regular
life&mdash;and will never go to Tattersall&rsquo;s again; nor bet a shilling;
nor touch another cigar if you like&mdash;that is, if you don&rsquo;t like; for
I love you so, Ethel&mdash;I do, with all my heart I do!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You are very generous and kind, Lord Farintosh,&rdquo; Ethel said.
&ldquo;It is myself, not you, I doubt. Oh, I am humiliated to make such a
confession!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How humiliated?&rdquo; Ethel withdrew the hand which the young nobleman
endeavoured to seize.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;If,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;if I found it was your birth, and your
name, and your wealth that I coveted, and had nearly taken, ought I not to feel
humiliated, and ask pardon of you and of God? Oh, what perjuries poor Clara was
made to speak,&mdash;and see what has befallen her! We stood by and heard her
without being shocked. We applauded even. And to what shame and misery we
brought her! Why did her parents and mine consign her to such ruin! She might
have lived pure and happy but for us. With her example before me&mdash;not her
flight, poor child&mdash;I am not afraid of <i>that</i> happening to
me&mdash;but her long solitude, the misery of her wasted years,&mdash;my
brother&rsquo;s own wretchedness and faults aggravated a hundredfold by his
unhappy union with her&mdash;I must pause while it is yet time, and recall a
promise which I know I should make you unhappy if I fulfilled. I ask your
pardon that I deceived you, Lord Farintosh, and feel ashamed for myself that I
could have consented to do so.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you mean,&rdquo; cried the young Marquis, &ldquo;that after my
conduct to you&mdash;after my loving you, so that even this&mdash;this disgrace
in your family don&rsquo;t prevent my going on&mdash;after my mother has been
down on her knees to me to break off, and I wouldn&rsquo;t&mdash;no, I
wouldn&rsquo;t&mdash;after all White&rsquo;s sneering at me and laughing at me,
and all my friends, friends of my family, who would go to&mdash;go anywhere for
me, advising me, and saying, &lsquo;Farintosh, what a fool you are! break off
this match,&rsquo;&mdash;and I wouldn&rsquo;t back out, because I loved you so,
by Heaven, and because, as a man and a gentleman, when I give my word I keep
it&mdash;do you mean that you throw me over? It&rsquo;s a
shame&mdash;it&rsquo;s a shame!&rdquo; And again there were tears of rage and
anguish in Farintosh&rsquo;s eyes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What I did was a shame, my lord,&rdquo; Ethel said, humbly; &ldquo;and
again I ask your pardon for it. What I do now is only to tell you the truth,
and to grieve with all my soul for the falsehood&mdash;yes the
falsehood&mdash;which I told you, and which has given your kind heart such
cruel pain.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, it was a falsehood!&rdquo; the poor lad cried out. &ldquo;You
follow a fellow, and you make a fool of him, and you make him frantic in love
with you, and then you fling him over! I wonder you can look me in the face
after such an infernal treason. You&rsquo;ve done it to twenty fellows before,
I know you have. Everybody said so, and warned me. You draw them on, and get
them to be in love, and then you fling them away. Am I to go back to London and
be made the laughing-stock of the whole town&mdash;I, who might marry any woman
in Europe, and who am at the head of the nobility of England?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Upon my word, if you will believe me after deceiving you once,&rdquo;
Ethel interposed, still very humbly, &ldquo;I will never say that it was I who
withdrew from you, and that it was not you who refused me. What has happened
here fully authorises you. Let the rupture of the engagement come from you, my
lord. Indeed, indeed, I would spare you all the pain I can. I have done you
wrong enough already, Lord Farintosh.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And now the Marquis burst forth with tears and imprecations, wild cries of
anger, love, and disappointment, so fierce and incoherent that the lady to whom
they were addressed did not repeat them to her confidante. Only she generously
charged Laura to remember, if ever she heard the matter talked of in the world,
that it was Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s family which broke off the marriage; but
that his lordship had acted most kindly and generously throughout the whole
affair.
</p>

<p class="p2">
He went back to London in such a state of fury, and raved so wildly amongst his
friends against the whole Newcome family, that many men knew what the case
really was. But all women averred that that intriguing worldly Ethel Newcome,
the apt pupil of her wicked old grandmother, had met with a deserved rebuff;
that, after doing everything in her power to catch the great <i>parti</i>, Lord
Farintosh, who had long been tired of her, flung her over, not liking the
connexion; and that she was living out of the world now at Newcome, under the
pretence of taking care of that unfortunate Lady Clara&rsquo;s children, but
really because she was pining away for Lord Farintosh, who, as we all know,
married six months afterwards.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0060" id="link2HCH0060"></a>
CHAPTER LX.<br/>
In which we write to the Colonel</h2>

<p>
Deeming that her brother Barnes had cares enough of his own presently at hand,
Ethel did not think fit to confide to him the particulars of her interview with
Lord Farintosh; nor even was poor Lady Anne informed that she had lost a noble
son-in-law. The news would come to both of them soon enough, Ethel thought; and
indeed, before many hours were over, it reached Sir Barnes Newcome in a very
abrupt and unpleasant way. He had dismal occasion now to see his lawyers every
day; and on the day after Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s abrupt visit and departure,
Sir Barnes, going into Newcome upon his own unfortunate affairs, was told by
his attorney, Mr. Speers, how the Marquis of Farintosh had slept for a few
hours at the King&rsquo;s Arms, and returned to town the same evening by the
train. We may add, that his lordship had occupied the very room in which Lord
Highgate had previously slept; and Mr. Taplow recommends the bed accordingly,
and shows pride it with to this very day.
</p>

<p>
Much disturbed by this intelligence, Sir Barnes was making his way to his
cheerless home in the evening, when near his own gate he overtook another
messenger. This was the railway porter, who daily brought telegraphic messages
from his uncle and the London bank. The message of that day
was,&mdash;&ldquo;Consols, so-and-so. French Rentes, so much.
<i>Highgate&rsquo;s and Farintosh&rsquo;s accounts withdrawn</i>.&rdquo; The
wretched keeper of the lodge owned, with trembling, in reply to the curses and
queries of his employer, that a gentleman, calling himself the Marquis of
Farintosh, had gone up to the house the day before, and come away an hour
afterwards,&mdash;did not like to speak to Sir Barnes when he came home, Sir
Barnes looked so bad like.
</p>

<p>
Now, of course, there could be no concealment from her brother, and Ethel and
Barnes had a conversation, in which the latter expressed himself with that
freedom of language which characterised the head of the house of Newcome.
Madame de Moncontour&rsquo;s pony-chaise was in waiting at the hall door, when
the owner of the house entered it; and my wife was just taking leave of Ethel
and her little people when Sir Barnes Newcome entered the lady&rsquo;s
sitting-room.
</p>

<p>
The livid scowl with which Barnes greeted my wife surprised that lady, though
it did not induce her to prolong her visit to her friend. As Laura took leave,
she heard Sir Barnes screaming to the nurses to &ldquo;take those little
beggars away,&rdquo; and she rightly conjectured that some more unpleasantries
had occurred to disturb this luckless gentleman&rsquo;s temper.
</p>

<p>
On the morrow, dearest Ethel&rsquo;s usual courier, one of the boys from the
lodge, trotted over on his donkey to dearest Laura at Rosebury, with one of
those missives which were daily passing between the ladies. This letter
said:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;Barnes m&rsquo;a fait une scène terrible hier. I was obliged to tell him
everything about Lord F., and <i>to use the plainest language</i>. At first, he
forbade you the house. He thinks that you have been the cause of F.&rsquo;s
dismissal, and charged me, <i>most unjustly</i>, with a desire to bring back
poor C. N. I replied <i>as became me</i>, and told him fairly I would leave the
house if <i>odious insulting charges</i> were made against me, if my friends
were not received. He stormed, he cried, he employed<i> his usual
language</i>,&mdash;he was in a dreadful state. He relented and asked pardon.
He goes to town to-night by the mail-train. <i>Of course</i> you come as usual,
dear, dear Laura. I am miserable without you; and you know I cannot leave poor
mamma. Clarykin sends a <i>thousand kisses</i> to little Arty; and I am <i>his
mother&rsquo;s</i> always affectionate&mdash;E. N.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Will the gentlemen like to shoot our pheasants? Please ask the Prince to
let Warren know when. I sent a brace to poor dear old Mrs. Mason, and had such
a nice letter from her!&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;And who is poor dear Mrs. Mason&rdquo; asks Mr. Pendennis, as yet but
imperfectly acquainted with the history of the Newcomes.
</p>

<p>
And Laura told me&mdash;perhaps I had heard before, and forgotten&mdash;that
Mrs. Mason was an old nurse and pensioner of the Colonel&rsquo;s, and how he
had been to see her for the sake of old times; and how she was a great
favourite with Ethel; and Laura kissed her little son, and was exceedingly
bright, cheerful, and hilarious that evening, in spite of the affliction under
which her dear friends at Newcome were labouring.
</p>

<p class="p2">
People in country-houses should be exceedingly careful about their
blotting-paper. They should bring their own portfolios with them. If any kind
readers will bear this simple little hint in mind, how much mischief may they
save themselves,&mdash;nay, enjoy possibly, by looking at the pages of the next
portfolio in the next friend&rsquo;s bedroom in which they sleep. From such a
book I once cut out, in Charles Slyboots&rsquo; well-known and perfectly clear
handwriting, the words, &ldquo;Miss Emily Hartington, James Street, Backingham
Gate, London,&rdquo; and produced as legibly on the blotting-paper as on the
envelope which the postman delivered. After showing the paper round to the
company, I enclosed it in a note and sent it to Mr. Slyboots, who married Miss
Hartington three months afterwards. In such a book at the club I read, as
plainly as you may read this page, a holograph page of the Right Honourable the
Earl of Bareacres, which informed the whole club of a painful and private
circumstance, and said, &ldquo;My dear Green,&mdash;I am truly sorry that I
shall not be able to take up the bill for eight hundred and fifty-six pounds,
which becomes due next Tu&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and upon such a book, going to
write a note in Madame de Moncontour&rsquo;s drawing-room at Rosebury, what
should I find but proofs that my own wife was engaged in a clandestine
correspondence with a gentleman residing abroad!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Colonel Newcome, C.B., Montagne de la Cour, Brussels,&rdquo; I read, in
this young woman&rsquo;s handwriting; and asked, turning round upon Laura, who
entered the room just as I discovered her guilt: &ldquo;What have you been
writing to Colonel Newcome about, miss?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wanted him to get me some lace,&rdquo; she said.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;To lace some nightcaps for me, didn&rsquo;t you, my dear? He is such a
fine judge of lace! If I had known you had been writing, I would have asked you
to send him a message. I want something from Brussels. Is the
letter&mdash;ahem&mdash;gone?&rdquo; (In this artful way, you see, I just
hinted that I should like to see letter.).
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The letter is&mdash;ahem&mdash;gone,&rdquo; says Laura. &ldquo;What do
you want from Brussels, Pen?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I want some Brussels sprouts, my love&mdash;they are so fine in their
native country.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Shall I write to him to send the letter back?&rdquo; palpitates poor
little Laura; for she thought her husband was offended, by using the ironic
method.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, you dear little woman! You need not send for letter the back: and
you need not tell me what was in it: and I will bet you a hundred yards of lace
to a cotton nightcap&mdash;and you know whether <i>I</i>, madam, am a man <i>à
bonnet-de-coton</i>&mdash;I will let you that I know what you have been writing
about, under pretence of a message about lace, to our Colonel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He promised to send it me. He really did. Lady Rockminster gave me
twenty pounds&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; gasps Laura.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Under pretence of lace, you have been sending over a love-message. You
want to see whether Clive is still of his old mind. You think the coast is now
clear, and that dearest Ethel may like him. You think Mrs. Mason is growing
very old and infirm, and the sight of her dear boy would&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pen! Pen! <i>did you open my letter?</i>&rdquo; cries Laura; and a laugh
which could afford to be good-humoured (followed by yet another expression of
the lips) ended this colloquy. No; Mr Pendennis did not see the
letter&mdash;but he knew the writer;&mdash;flattered himself that he knew women
in general.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Where did you get your experience of them, sir?&rdquo; asks Mrs. Laura.
Question answered in the same manner as the previous demand.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, my dear; and why should not the poor boy be made happy?&rdquo;
Laura continues, standing very close up to her husband. &ldquo;It is evident to
me that Ethel is fond of him. I would rather see her married to a good young
man whom she loves, than the mistress of a thousand palaces and coronets.
Suppose&mdash;suppose you had married Miss Amory, sir, what a wretched worldly
creature you would have been by this time; whereas now&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Now that I am the humble slave of a good woman there is some chance for
me,&rdquo; cries this model of husbands. &ldquo;And all good women are
match-makers, as we know very well; and you have had this match in your heart
ever since you saw the two young people together. Now; madam, since I did not
see your letter to the Colonel&mdash;though I have guessed part of
it&mdash;tell me, what have you said in it? Have you by any chance told the
Colonel that the Farintosh alliance was broken off?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Laura owned that she had hinted as much.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have not ventured to say that Ethel is well inclined to
Clive?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, no&mdash;oh <i>dear</i>, no!&rdquo; But after much cross-examining
and a little blushing on Laura&rsquo;s part, she is brought to confess that she
has asked the Colonel whether he will not come and see Mrs. Mason, who is
pining to see him, and is growing very old. And I find out that she has been to
see this Mrs. Mason; that she and Miss Newcome visited the old lady the day
before yesterday; and Laura thought from the manner in which Ethel looked at
Clive&rsquo;s picture, hanging up in the parlour of his father&rsquo;s old
friend, that she really was very much, etc. etc. So, the letter being gone,
Mrs. Pendennis is most eager about the answer to it, and day after day examines
the bag, and is provoked that it brings no letter bearing the Brussels
post-mark.
</p>

<p>
Madame de Moncontour seems perfectly well to know what Mrs. Laura has been
doing and is hoping. &ldquo;What, no letters again to-day? Ain&rsquo;t it
provoking?&rdquo; she cries. She is in the conspiracy too; and presently Florac
is one of the initiated. &ldquo;These women wish to <i>bacler</i> a marriage
between the belle miss and le petit Claive,&rdquo; Florac announces to me. He
pays the highest compliments to Miss Newcome&rsquo;s person, as he speaks
regarding the marriage. &ldquo;I continue to adore your Anglaises,&rdquo; he is
pleased to say. &ldquo;What of freshness, what of beauty, what roses! And then
they are so adorably good! Go, Pendennis, thou art a happy
<i>coquin!</i>&rdquo; Mr. Pendennis does not say No. He has won the
twenty-thousand-pound prize; and we know there are worse blanks in that
lottery.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0061" id="link2HCH0061"></a>
CHAPTER LXI.<br/>
In which we are introduced to a New Newcome</h2>

<p>
No answer came to Mrs. Pendennis&rsquo;s letter to Colonel Newcome at Brussels,
for the Colonel was absent from that city, and at the time when Laura wrote was
actually in London, whither affairs of his own had called him. A note from
George Warrington acquainted me with this circumstance; he mentioned that he
and the Colonel had dined together at Bays&rsquo;s on the day previous, and
that the Colonel seemed to be in the highest spirits. High spirits about what?
This news put Laura in a sad perplexity. Should she write and tell him to get
his letters from Brussels? She would in five minutes have found some other
pretext for writing to Colonel Newcome, had not her husband sternly cautioned
the young woman to leave the matter alone.
</p>

<p>
The more readily perhaps because he had quarrelled with his nephew Sir Barnes,
Thomas Newcome went to visit his brother Hobson and his sister-in-law; bent on
showing that there was no division between him and this branch of his family.
And you may suppose that the admirable woman just named had a fine occasion for
her virtuous conversational powers in discoursing upon the painful event which
had just happened to Sir Barnes. When we fail, how our friends cry out for us!
Mrs. Hobson&rsquo;s homilies must have been awful. How that outraged virtue
must have groaned and lamented, gathered its children about its knees, wept
over them and washed them; gone into sackcloth and ashes and tied up the
knocker; confabulated with its spiritual adviser; uttered commonplaces to its
husband; and bored the whole house! The punishment of worldliness and vanity,
the evil of marrying out of one&rsquo;s station, how these points must have
been explained and enlarged on! Surely the Peerage was taken off the
drawing-room table and removed to papa&rsquo;s study, where it could not open,
as it used naturally once, to Highgate, Baron, or Farintosh, Marquis of, being
shut behind wires and closely jammed in on an upper shelf between
Blackstone&rsquo;s Commentaries and the Farmer&rsquo;s Magazine! The breaking
of the engagement with the Marquis of Farintosh was known in Bryanstone Square;
and you may be sure interpreted by Mrs. Hobson in the light the most
disadvantageous to Ethel Newcome. A young nobleman&mdash;with grief and pain
Ethel&rsquo;s aunt must own the fact&mdash;a young man of notoriously
dissipated habits but of great wealth and rank, had been pursued by the unhappy
Lady Kew&mdash;Mrs. Hobson would not say by her <i>niece</i>, that were
<i>too</i> dreadful&mdash;had been pursued, and followed, and hunted down in
the most notorious manner, and finally made to propose! Let Ethel&rsquo;s
<i>conduct</i> and <i>punishment</i> be a warning to my dearest girls, and let
them bless <i>Heaven</i> they have parents who are not worldly! After all the
trouble and pains, Mrs. Hobson did not say <i>disgrace</i>, the Marquis takes
<i>the very first pretext</i> to break off the match, and leaves the
unfortunate girl for ever!
</p>

<p>
And now we have to tell of the hardest blow which fell upon poor Ethel, and
this was that her good uncle Thomas Newcome believed the charges against her.
He was willing enough to listen now to anything which was said against that
branch of the family. With such a traitor, double-dealer, dastard as Barnes at
its head, what could the rest of the race be? When the Colonel offered to endow
Ethel and Clive with every shilling he had in the world, had not Barnes, the
arch-traitor, temporised and told him falsehoods, and hesitated about throwing
him off until the Marquis had declared himself? Yes. The girl he and poor Clive
loved so was ruined by her artful relatives, was unworthy of his affection and
his boy&rsquo;s, was to be banished, like her worthless brother, out of his
regard for ever. And the man she had chosen in preference to his Clive!&mdash;a
roue, a libertine, whose extravagances and dissipations were the talk of every
club, who had no wit, nor talents, not even constancy (for had he not taken the
first opportunity to throw her off?) to recommend him&mdash;only a great title
and a fortune wherewith to bribe her! For shame, for shame! Her engagement to
this man was a blot upon her&mdash;the rupture only a just punishment and
humiliation. Poor unhappy girl! let her take care of her wretched
brother&rsquo;s abandoned children, give up the world, and amend her life.
</p>

<p>
This was the sentence Thomas Newcome delivered: a righteous and tender-hearted
man, as we know, but judging in this case wrongly, and bearing much too hardly,
as we who know her betters must think, upon one who had her faults certainly,
but whose errors were not all of her own making. Who set her on the path she
walked in? It was her parents&rsquo; hands which led her, and her
parents&rsquo; voices which commanded her to accept the temptation set before
her. What did she know of the character of the man selected to be her husband?
Those who should have known better brought him to her, and vouched for him.
Noble, unhappy young creature! are you the first of your sisterhood who has
been bidden to traffic your beauty, to crush and slay your honest natural
affections, to sell your truth and your life for rank and title? But the Judge
who sees not the outward acts merely, but their causes, and views not the wrong
alone, but the temptations, struggles, ignorance of erring creatures, we know
has a different code to ours&mdash;to ours, who fall upon the fallen, who fawn
upon the prosperous so, who administer our praises and punishments so
prematurely, who now strike so hard, and, anon, spare so shamelessly.
</p>

<p>
Our stay with our hospitable friends at Rosebury was perforce coming to a
close, for indeed weeks after weeks had passed since we had been under their
pleasant roof; and in spite of dearest Ethel&rsquo;s remonstrances it was clear
that dearest Laura must take her farewell. In these last days, besides the
visits which daily took place between one and other, the young messenger was
put in ceaseless requisition, and his donkey must have been worn off his little
legs with trotting to and fro between the two houses, Laura was quite anxious
and hurt at not hearing from the Colonel; it was a shame that he did not have
over his letters from Belgium and answer that one which she had honoured him by
writing. By some information, received who knows how? our host was aware of the
intrigue which Mrs. Pendennis was carrying on; and his little wife almost as
much interested in it as my own. She whispered to me in her kind way that she
would give a guinea, that she would, to see a certain couple made happy
together; that they were born for one another, that they were; she was for
having me go off to fetch Clive: but who was I to act as Hymen&rsquo;s
messenger, or to interpose in such delicate family affairs?
</p>

<p>
All this while Sir Barnes Newcome, Bart., remained absent in London, attending
to his banking duties there, and pursuing the dismal inquiries which ended, in
the ensuing Michaelmas term, in the famous suit of Newcome <i>v</i>. Lord
Highgate. Ethel, pursuing the plan which she had laid down for herself from the
first, took entire charge of his children and house: Lady Anne returned to her
own family: never indeed having been of much use in her son&rsquo;s dismal
household. My wife talked to me of course about her pursuits and amusements at
Newcome, in the ancestral hall which we have mentioned. The children played and
ate their dinner (mine often partook of his infantine mutton, in company with
little Clara and the poor young heir of Newcome) in the room which had been
called my lady&rsquo;s own, and in which her husband had locked her, forgetting
that the conservatories were open, through which the hapless woman had fled.
Next to this was the baronial library, a side of which was fitted with the
gloomy books from Clapham, which old Mrs. Newcome had amassed; rows of tracts,
and missionary magazines, and dingy quarto volumes of worldly travel and
history which that lady had admitted into her collection.
</p>

<p>
Almost on the last day of our stay at Rosebury, the two young ladies bethought
them of paying a visit to the neighbouring town of Newcome, to that old Mrs.
Mason who has been mentioned in a foregoing page in some yet earlier chapter of
our history. She was very old now, very faithful to the recollections of her
own early time, and oblivious of yesterday. Thanks to Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s
bounty, she had lived in comfort for many a long year past; and he was as much
her boy now as in those early days of which we have given but an outline. There
were Clive&rsquo;s pictures of himself and his father over her little
mantelpiece, near which she sat in comfort and warmth by the winter fire which
his bounty supplied.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Mason remembered Miss Newcome, prompted thereto by the hints of her little
maid, who was much younger, and had a more faithful memory than her mistress.
Why, Sarah Mason would have forgotten the pheasants whose very tails decorated
the chimney-glass, had not Keziah, the maid, reminded her that the young lady
was the donor. Then she recollected her benefactor, and asked after her father,
the Baronet; and wondered, for her part, why her boy, the Colonel, was not made
baronet, and why his brother had the property? Her father was a very good man;
though Mrs. Mason had heard he was not much liked in those parts. &ldquo;Dead
and gone, was he, poor man?&rdquo; (This came in reply to a hint from Keziah,
the attendant, bawled in the old lady&rsquo;s ears, who was very deaf.)
&ldquo;Well, well, we must all go; and if we were all good, like the Colonel,
what was the use of staying? I hope his wife will be good. I am sure such a
good man deserves one,&rdquo; added Mrs. Mason.
</p>

<p>
The ladies thought the old woman doting, led thereto by the remark of Keziah,
the maid, that Mrs. Mason have a lost her memory. And she asked who the other
bonny lady was, and Ethel told her that Mrs. Pendennis was a friend of the
Colonel&rsquo;s and Clive&rsquo;s.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, Clive&rsquo;s friend! Well, she was a pretty lady, and he was a dear
pretty boy. He drew those pictures; and he took off me in my cap, with my old
cat and all&mdash;my poor old cat that&rsquo;s buried this ever so long
ago.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She has had a letter from the Colonel, miss,&rdquo; cries out Keziah.
&ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you had a letter from the Colonel, mum? It came only
yesterday.&rdquo; And Keziah takes out the letter and shows it to the ladies.
They read as follows:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;London, Feb. 12, 184-.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My Dear Old Mason&mdash;I have just heard from a friend of mine who has
been staying in your neighbourhood, that you are well and happy, and that you
have been making inquiries after <i>your young scapegrace</i>, Tom Newcome, who
is well and happy too, and who proposes to be <i>happier still</i> before any
very long time is over.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The letter which was written to me about you was sent to me <i>in
Belgium</i>, at Brussels, where I have been living&mdash;a town near the place
where the famous <i>Battle of Waterloo</i> was fought; and as I had run away
from Waterloo it <i>followed me to England</i>.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I cannot come to Newcome just now to shake my dear old friend and nurse
<i>by the hand</i>. I have business in London; and there are those of my name
<i>living in Newcome</i> who would not be very happy to see me and mine.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But I promise you a visit before very long, and Clive will come with me;
and when we come I shall introduce a new friend to you, a very pretty little
<i>daughter-in-law</i>, whom you must promise to love very much. She is a
<i>Scotch lassie</i>, niece of my oldest friend, James Binnie, Esquire, of the
Bengal Civil Service, who will give her a <i>pretty bit of siller</i>, and her
present name is Miss Rosa Mackenzie.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We shall send you a <i>wedding cake</i> soon, and a new gown for Keziah
(to whom remember me), and when I am gone, my grandchildren after me will hear
what a dear friend you were to your affectionate Thomas Newcome.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
Keziah must have thought that there was something between Clive and my wife,
for when Laura had read the letter she laid it down on the table, and sitting
down by it, and hiding her face in her hands, burst into tears.
</p>

<p>
Ethel looked steadily at the two pictures of Clive and his father. Then she put
her hand on her friend&rsquo;s shoulder. &ldquo;Come, my dear,&rdquo; she said,
&ldquo;it is growing late, and I must go back to my children.&rdquo; And she
saluted Mrs. Mason and her maid in a very stately manner, and left them,
leading my wife away, who was still exceedingly overcome.
</p>

<p>
We could not stay long at Rosebury after that. When Madame de Moncontour heard
the news, the good lady cried too. Mrs. Pendennis&rsquo;s emotion was renewed
as we passed the gates of Newcome Park on our way to the railroad.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0062" id="link2HCH0062"></a>
CHAPTER LXII.<br/>
Mr. and Mrs. Clive Newcome</h2>

<p>
The friendship between Ethel and Laura, which the last narrated sentimental
occurrences had so much increased, subsists very little impaired up to the
present day. A lady with many domestic interests and increasing family, etc.
etc., cannot be supposed to cultivate female intimacies out of doors with that
ardour and eagerness which young spinsters exhibit in their intercourse; but
Laura, whose kind heart first led her to sympathise with her young friend in
the latter&rsquo;s days of distress and misfortune, has professed ever since a
growing esteem for Ethel Newcome, and says, that the trials and perhaps grief
which the young lady now had to undergo have brought out the noblest qualities
of her disposition. She is a very different person from the giddy and worldly
girl who compelled our admiration of late in the days of her triumphant
youthful beauty, of her wayward generous humour, of her frivolities and her
flirtations.
</p>

<p>
Did Ethel shed tears in secret over the marriage which had caused Laura&rsquo;s
gentle eyes to overflow? We might divine the girl&rsquo;s grief, but we
respected it. The subject was never mentioned by the ladies between themselves,
and even in her most intimate communications with her husband that gentleman is
bound to say his wife maintained a tender reserve upon the point, nor cared to
speculate upon a subject which her friend held sacred. I could not for my part
but acquiesce in this reticence; and, if Ethel felt regret and remorse, admire
the dignity of her silence, and the sweet composure of her now changed and
saddened demeanour.
</p>

<p>
The interchange of letters between the two friends was constant, and in these
the younger lady described at length the duties, occupations, and pleasures of
her new life. She had quite broken with the world, and devoted herself entirely
to the nurture and education of her brother&rsquo;s orphan children. She
educated herself in order to teach them. Her letters contain droll yet touching
confessions of her own ignorance and her determination to overcome it. There
was no lack of masters of all kinds in Newcome. She set herself to work like a
schoolgirl. The little piano in the room near the conservatory was thumped by
Aunt Ethel until it became quite obedient to her, and yielded the sweetest
music under her fingers. When she came to pay us a visit at Fairoaks some two
years afterwards she played for our dancing children (our third is named Ethel,
our second Helen, after one still more dear), and we were in admiration of her
skill. There must have been the labour of many lonely nights when her little
charges were at rest, and she and her sad thoughts sat up together, before she
overcame the difficulties of the instrument so as to be able to soothe herself
and to charm and delight her children.
</p>

<p>
When the divorce was pronounced, which came in due form, though we know that
Lady Highgate was not much happier than the luckless Lady Clara Newcome had
been, Ethel&rsquo;s dread was lest Sir Barnes should marry again, and by
introducing a new mistress into his house should deprive her of the care of her
children.
</p>

<p>
Miss Newcome judged her brother rightly in that he would try to marry, but a
noble young lady to whom he offered himself rejected him, to his surprise and
indignation, for a beggarly clergyman with a small living, on which she elected
to starve; and the wealthy daughter of a neighbouring manufacturer whom he next
proposed to honour with his gracious hand, fled from him with horror to the
arms of her father, wondering how such a man as that should ever dare to
propose marriage to an honest girl. Sir Barnes Newcome was much surprised at
this outbreak of anger; he thought himself a very ill-used and unfortunate man,
a victim of most cruel persecutions, which we may be sure did not improve his
temper or tend to the happiness of his circle at home. Peevishness, and selfish
rage, quarrels with servants and governesses, and other domestic disquiet,
Ethel had of course to bear from her brother, but not actual personal
ill-usage. The fiery temper of former days was subdued in her, but the haughty
resolution remained, which was more than a match for her brother&rsquo;s
cowardly tyranny: besides, she was the mistress of sixty thousand pounds, and
by many wily hints and piteous appeals to his sister Sir Barnes sought to
secure this desirable sum of money for his poor dear unfortunate children.
</p>

<p>
He professed to think that she was ruining herself for her younger brothers,
whose expenses the young lady was defraying, this one at college, that in the
army, and whose maintenance he thought might be amply defrayed out of their own
little fortunes and his mother&rsquo;s jointure: and, by ingeniously proving
that a vast number of his household expenses were personal to Miss Newcome and
would never have been incurred but for her residence in his house, he
subtracted for his own benefit no inconsiderable portion of her income. Thus
the carriage-horses were hers, for what need had he, a miserable bachelor, of
anything more than a riding-horse and a brougham? A certain number of the
domestics were hers, and as he could get no scoundrel of his own to stay with
him, he took Miss Newcome&rsquo;s servants. He would have had her pay the coals
which burned in his grate, and the taxes due to our sovereign lady the Queen;
but in truth, at the end of the year, with her domestic bounties and her
charities round about Newcome, which daily increased as she became acquainted
with her indigent neighbours, Miss Ethel, the heiress, was as poor as many
poorer persons.
</p>

<p>
Her charities increased daily with her means of knowing the people round about
her. She gave much time to them and thought; visited from house to house,
without ostentation; was awestricken by that spectacle of the poverty which we
have with us always, of which the sight rebukes our selfish griefs into
silence, the thought compels us to charity, humility, and devotion. The priests
of our various creeds, who elsewhere are doing battle together continually, lay
down their arms in its presence and kneel before it; subjugated by that
overpowering master. Death, never dying out; hunger always crying; and children
born to it day after day,&mdash;our young London lady, flying from the
splendours and follies in which her life had been past, found herself in the
presence of these; threading darkling alleys which swarmed with wretched life;
sitting by naked beds, whither by God&rsquo;s blessing she was sometimes
enabled to carry a little comfort and consolation; or whence she came
heart-stricken by the overpowering misery, or touched by the patient
resignation of the new friends to whom fate had directed her. And here she met
the priest upon his shrift, the homely missionary bearing his words of
consolation, the quiet curate pacing his round; and was known to all these, and
enabled now and again to help their people in trouble. &ldquo;Oh! what good
there is in this woman!&rdquo; my wife would say to me, as she laid one of Miss
Ethel&rsquo;s letters aside; &ldquo;who would have thought this was the girl of
your glaring London ballroom? If she has had grief to bear, how it has
chastened and improved her!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And now I have to confess that all this time, whilst Ethel Newcome has been
growing in grace with my wife, poor Clive has been lapsing sadly out of favour.
She has no patience with Clive. She drubs her little foot when his name is
mentioned and turns the subject. Whither are all the tears and pities fled now?
Mrs. Laura has transferred all her regard to Ethel, and when that lady&rsquo;s
ex-suitor writes to his old friend, or other news is had of him, Laura flies
out in her usual tirades against the world, the horrid wicked selfish world,
which spoils everybody who comes near it. What has Clive done, in vain his
apologist asks, that an old friend should be so angry with him?
</p>

<p>
She is not angry with him&mdash;not she. She only does not care about him. She
wishes him no manner of harm&mdash;not the least, only she has lost all
interest in him. And the Colonel too, the poor good old Colonel, was actually
in Mrs. Pendennis&rsquo; black books, and when he sent her the Brussels veil
which we have heard of, she did not think it was a bargain at all&mdash;not
particularly pretty, in fact, rather dear at the money. When we met Mr. and
Mrs. Clive Newcome in London, whither they came a few months after their
marriage, and where Rosey appeared as pretty, happy, good-humoured a little
blushing bride as eyes need behold, Mrs. Pendennis&rsquo;s reception of her was
quite a curiosity of decorum. &ldquo;I, not receive her well?&rdquo; cried
Laura. &ldquo;How on earth would you have me receive her? I talked to her about
everything, and she only answered yes or no. I showed her the children, and she
did not seem to care. Her only conversation was about millinery and Brussels
balls, and about her dress at the drawing-room. The drawing-room! What business
has she with such follies?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The fact is, that the drawing-room was Tom Newcome&rsquo;s affair, not his
son&rsquo;s, who was heartily ashamed of the figure he cut in that astounding
costume, which English private gentlemen are made to sport when they bend the
knee before their gracious Sovereign.
</p>

<p>
Warrington roasted poor Clive upon the occasion, and complimented him with his
usual gravity, until the young fellow blushed and his father somewhat testily
signified to our friend that his irony was not agreeable. &ldquo;I
suppose,&rdquo; says the Colonel, with great hauteur, &ldquo;that there is
nothing ridiculous in an English gentleman entertaining feelings of loyalty and
testifying his respect to his Queen: and I presume that Her Majesty knows best,
and has a right to order in what dress her subjects shall appear before her and
I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s kind of you, George, I say, I don&rsquo;t think
it&rsquo;s kind of you to quiz my boy for doing his duty to his Queen and to
his father too, sir,&mdash;for it was at my request that Clive went, and we
went together, sir&mdash;to the levee and then to the drawing-room afterwards
with Rosey, who was presented by the lady of my old friend, Sir George Tufto, a
lady of rank herself, and the wife of as brave an officer as ever drew a
sword.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Warrington stammered an apology for his levity, but no explanations were
satisfactory, and it was clear George had wounded the feelings of our dear
simple old friend.
</p>

<p>
After Clive&rsquo;s marriage, which was performed at Brussels, Uncle James and
the lady, his sister, whom we have sometimes flippantly ventured to call the
Campaigner, went off to perform that journey to Scotland which James had
meditated for ten years past; and, now little Rosey was made happy for life, to
renew acquaintance with little Josey. The Colonel and his son and
daughter-in-law came to London, not to the bachelor quarters, where we have
seen them, but to an hotel, which they occupied until their new house could be
provided for them, a sumptuous mansion in the Tyburnian district, and one which
became people of their station.
</p>

<p>
We have been informed already what the Colonel&rsquo;s income was, and have the
gratification of knowing that it was very considerable. The simple gentleman
who would dine off a crust, and wear a coat for ten years, desired that his
children should have the best of everything: ordered about upholsterers,
painters, carriage-makers, in his splendid Indian way; presented pretty Rosey
with brilliant jewels for her introduction at Court, and was made happy by the
sight of the blooming young creature decked in these magnificences, and admired
by all his little circle. The old boys, the old generals, the old colonels, the
old qui-his from the club, came and paid her their homage; the directors&rsquo;
ladies, and the generals&rsquo; ladies, called upon her, and feasted her at
vast banquets served on sumptuous plate. Newcome purchased plate and gave
banquets in return for these hospitalities. Mrs. Clive had a neat close
carriage for evenings, and a splendid barouche to drive in the Park. It was
pleasant to see this equipage at four o&rsquo;clock of an afternoon, driving up
to Bays&rsquo;s, with Rosey most gorgeously attired reclining within; and to
behold the stately grace of the old gentleman as he stepped out to welcome his
daughter-in-law, and the bow he made before he entered her carriage. Then they
would drive round the Park; round and round and round; and the old generals,
and the old colonels, and old fogies, and their ladies and daughters, would nod
and smile out of <i>their</i> carriages as they crossed each other upon this
charming career of pleasure.
</p>

<p>
I confess that a dinner at the Colonel&rsquo;s, now he appeared in all his
magnificence, was awfully slow. No peaches could look fresher than
Rosey&rsquo;s cheeks,&mdash;no damask was fairer than her pretty little
shoulders. No one, I am sure, could be happier than she, but she did not impart
her happiness to her friends; and replied chiefly by smiles to the conversation
of the gentlemen at her side. It is true that these were for the most part
elderly dignitaries, distinguished military officers with blue-black whiskers,
retired old Indian judges, and the like, occupied with their victuals, and
generally careless to please. But that solemn happiness of the Colonel, who
shall depict it:&mdash;that look of affection with which he greeted his
daughter as she entered, flounced to the waist, twinkling with innumerable
jewels, holding a dainty pocket-handkerchief, with smiling eyes, dimpled
cheeks, and golden ringlets! He would take her hand, or follow her about from
group to group, exchanging precious observations about the weather, the Park,
the exhibition, nay, the opera, for the old man actually went to the opera with
his little girl, and solemnly snoozed by her side in a white waistcoat.
</p>

<p>
Very likely this was the happiest period of Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s life. No
woman (save one perhaps fifty years ago) had ever seemed so fond of him as that
little girl. What pride he had in her, and what care he took of her! If she was
a little ailing, what anxiety and hurrying for doctors! What droll letters came
from James Binnie, and how they laughed over them: with what respectful
attention he acquainted Mrs. Mack with everything that took place: with what
enthusiasm that Campaigner replied! Josey&rsquo;s husband called a special
blessing upon his head in the church at Musselburgh; and little Jo herself sent
a tinful of Scotch bun to her darling sister, with a request from her husband
that he might have a few shares in the famous Indian Company.
</p>

<p>
The Company was in a highly flourishing condition, as you may suppose, when one
of its directors, who at the same time was one of the honestest men alive,
thought it was his duty to live in the splendour in which we now behold him.
Many wealthy City men did homage to him. His brother Hobson, though the Colonel
had quarrelled with the chief of the firm, yet remained on amiable terms with
Thomas Newcome, and shared and returned his banquets for a while. Charles
Honeyman we may be sure was present at many of them, and smirked a blessing
over the plenteous meal. The Colonel&rsquo;s influence was such with Mr.
Sherrick that he pleaded Charles&rsquo;s cause with that gentleman, and
actually brought to a successful termination that little love-affair in which
we have seen Miss Sherrick and Charles engaged. Mr. Sherrick was not disposed
to part with much money during his lifetime&mdash;indeed, he proved to Colonel
Newcome that he was not so rich as the world supposed him. But, by the
Colonel&rsquo;s interest, the chaplaincy of Boggley Wollah was procured for the
Rev. C. Honeyman, who now forms the delight of that flourishing station.
</p>

<p>
All this while we have said little about Clive, who in truth was somehow in the
background in this flourishing Newcome group. To please the best father in the
world; the kindest old friend who endowed his niece with the best part of his
savings; to settle that question about marriage and have an end of
it;&mdash;Clive Newcome had taken a pretty and fond young girl, who respected
and admired him beyond all men, and who heartily desired to make him happy. To
do as much would not his father have stripped his coat from his
back,&mdash;have put his head under Juggernaut&rsquo;s chariot-wheel, have
sacrificed any ease, comfort, or pleasure for the youngster&rsquo;s benefit?
One great passion he had had and closed the account of it: a worldly ambitious
girl&mdash;how foolishly worshipped and passionately beloved no
matter&mdash;had played with him for years; had flung him away when a dissolute
suitor with a great fortune and title had offered himself. Was he to whine and
despair because a jilt had fooled him? He had too much pride and courage for
any such submission; he would accept the lot in life which was offered to him,
no undesirable one surely; he would fulfil the wish of his father&rsquo;s
heart, and cheer his kind declining years. In this way the marriage was brought
about. It was but a whisper to Rosey in the drawing-room, a start and a blush
from the little girl as he took the little willing hand, a kiss for her from
her delighted old father-in-law, a twinkle in good old James&rsquo;s eyes, and
double embrace from the Campaigner as she stood over them in a benedictory
attitude;&mdash;expressing her surprise at an event for which she had been
jockeying ever since she set eyes on young Newcome; and calling upon Heaven to
bless her children. So, as a good thing when it is to be done had best be done
quickly, these worthy folks went off almost straightway to a clergyman, and
were married out of hand&mdash;to the astonishment of Captains Hoby and Goby
when they came to hear of the event. Well, my gallant young painter and friend
of my boyhood! if my wife chooses to be angry at your marriage, shall her
husband not wish you happy?
</p>

<p>
Suppose we had married our first loves, others of us, were we the happier now?
Ask Mr. Pendennis, who sulked in his tents when his Costigan, his Briseis, was
ravished from him. Ask poor George Warrington, who had his own way, Heaven help
him! There was no need why Clive should turn monk because number one refused
him; and, that charmer removed, why he should not take to his heart number two.
I am bound to say, that when I expressed these opinions to Mrs. Laura, she was
more angry and provoked than ever.
</p>

<p>
It is in the nature of such a simple soul as Thomas Newcome, to see but one
side of a question, and having once fixed Ethel&rsquo;s worldliness in his
mind, and her brother&rsquo;s treason, to allow no argument of advocates of the
other side to shake his displeasure. Hence the one or two appeals which Laura
ventured to make on behalf of her friend, were checked by the good Colonel with
a stern negation. If Ethel was not guiltless, she could not make him see at
least that she was not guilty. He dashed away all excuses and palliations.
Exasperated as he was, he persisted in regarding the poor girl&rsquo;s conduct
in its most unfavourable light. &ldquo;She was rejected, and deservedly
rejected, by the Marquis of Farintosh,&rdquo; he broke out to me once, who was
not indeed authorised to tell all I knew regarding the story; &ldquo;the whole
town knows it; all the clubs ring with it. I blush, sir, to think that my
brother&rsquo;s child should have brought such a stain upon our name.&rdquo; In
vain, I told him that my wife, who knew all the circumstances much better,
judged Miss Newcome far more favourably, and indeed greatly esteemed and loved
her. &ldquo;Pshaw! sir,&rdquo; breaks out the indignant Colonel, &ldquo;your
wife is an innocent creature, who does not know the world as we men of
experience do,&mdash;as I do, sir;&rdquo; and would have no more of the
discussion. There is no doubt about it, there was a coolness between my old
friend&rsquo;s father and us.
</p>

<p>
As for Barnes Newcome, we gave up that worthy, and the Colonel showed him no
mercy. He recalled words used by Warrington, which I have recorded in a former
page, and vowed that he only watched for an opportunity to crush the miserable
reptile. He hated Barnes as a loathsome traitor, coward, and criminal; he made
no secret of his opinion; and Clive, with the remembrance of former injuries,
of dreadful heart-pangs; the inheritor of his father&rsquo;s blood, his honesty
of nature, and his impetuous enmity against wrong; shared to the full his
sire&rsquo;s antipathy against his cousin, and publicly expressed his scorn and
contempt for him. About Ethel he would not speak. &ldquo;Perhaps what you say,
Pen, is true,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I hope it is. Pray God it is.&rdquo; But
his quivering lips and fierce countenance, when her name was mentioned or her
defence attempted, showed that he too had come to think ill of her. &ldquo;As
for her brother, as for that scoundrel,&rdquo; he would say, clenching his
fist, &ldquo;if ever I can punish him I will. I shouldn&rsquo;t have the soul
of a dog, if ever I forgot the wrongs that have been done me by that vagabond.
Forgiveness? Pshaw! Are you dangling to sermons, Pen, at your wife&rsquo;s
leading-strings? Are you preaching that cant? There are some injuries that no
honest man should forgive, and I shall be a rogue on the day I shake hands with
that villain.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive has adopted the Iroquois ethics,&rdquo; says George Warrington,
smoking his pipe sententiously, &ldquo;rather than those which are at present
received among us. I am not sure that something is not to be said, as against
the Eastern, upon the Western, or Tomahawk, or Ojibbeway side of the question.
I should not like,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;to be in a vendetta or feud, and to
have you, Clive, and the old Colonel engaged against me.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I would rather,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;for my part, have half a dozen
such enemies as Clive and the Colonel, than one like Barnes. You never know
where or when that villain may hit you.&rdquo; And before a very short period
was over, Sir Barnes Newcome, Bart., hit his two hostile kinsmen such a blow,
as one might expect from such a quarter.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0063" id="link2HCH0063"></a>
CHAPTER LXIII.<br/>
Mrs. Clive at Home</h2>

<p>
Clive and his father did not think fit to conceal their opinions regarding
their kinsman, Barnes Newcome, and uttered them in many public places when Sir
Barnes&rsquo;s conduct was brought into question, we may be sure that their
talk came to the Baronet&rsquo;s ears, and did not improve his already angry
feeling towards those gentlemen. For a while they had the best of the attack.
The Colonel routed Barnes out of his accustomed club at Bays&rsquo;s; where
also the gallant Sir George Tufto expressed himself pretty openly with respect
to the poor Baronet&rsquo;s want of courage: the Colonel had bullied and
browbeaten Barnes in the parlour of his own bank, and the story was naturally
well known in the City; where it certainly was not pleasant for Sir Barnes, as
he walked to &rsquo;Change, to meet sometimes the scowls of the angry man of
war, his uncle, striding down to the offices of the Bundelcund Bank, and armed
with that terrible bamboo cane.
</p>

<p>
But though his wife had undeniably run away after notorious ill-treatment from
her husband; though he had shown two white feathers in those unpleasant little
affairs with his uncle and cousin; though Sir Barnes Newcome was certainly
neither amiable nor popular in the City of London, his reputation as a most
intelligent man of business still stood; the credit of his house was deservedly
high, and people banked with him, and traded with him, in spite of faithless
wives and hostile colonels.
</p>

<p>
When the outbreak between Colonel Newcome and his nephew took place, it may be
remembered that Mr. Hobson Newcome, the other partner of the firm of Hobson
Brothers, waited upon Colonel Newcome, as one of the principal English
directors of the B. B. C., and hoped that although private differences would,
of course, oblige Thomas Newcome to cease all personal dealings with the bank
of Hobson, the affairs of the Company in which he was interested ought not to
suffer on this account; and that the Indian firm should continue dealing with
Hobsons on the same footing as before. Mr. Hobson Newcome represented to the
Colonel, in his jolly frank way, that whatever happened between the latter and
his nephew Barnes, Thomas Newcome had still one friend in the house; that the
transactions between it and the Indian Company were mutually advantageous;
finally, that the manager of the Indian bank might continue to do business with
Hobsons as before. So the B. B. C. sent its consignments to Hobson Brothers,
and drew its bills, which were duly honoured by that firm.
</p>

<p>
More than one of Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s City acquaintances, among them his
agent, Mr. Jolly, and his ingenuous friend, Mr. Sherrick, especially, hinted to
Thomas Newcome to be very cautious in his dealings with Hobson Brothers, and
keep a special care lest that house should play him an evil turn. They both
told him that Barnes Newcome had said more than once, in answer to reports of
the Colonel&rsquo;s own speeches against Barnes. &ldquo;I know that hot-headed,
blundering Indian uncle of mine is furious against me, on account of an absurd
private affair and misunderstanding, which he is too obstinate to see in the
proper light. What is my return for the abuse and rant which he lavishes
against me? I cannot forget that he is my grandfather&rsquo;s son, an old man,
utterly ignorant both of society and business here; and as he is interested in
this Indian Banking Company, which must be preciously conducted when it
appointed him as the guardian and overseer of its affairs in England, I do my
very best to serve the Company, and I can tell you, its blundering,
muddleheaded managers, black and white, owe no little to the assistance which
they have had from our house. If they don&rsquo;t like us, why do they go on
dealing with us? We don&rsquo;t want them and their bills. We were a leading
house fifty years before they were born, and shall continue to be so long after
they come to an end.&rdquo; Such was Barnes&rsquo;s case, as stated by himself.
It was not a very bad one, or very unfairly stated, considering the advocate. I
believe he has always persisted in thinking that he never did his uncle any
wrong.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Jolly and Mr. Sherrick, then, both entreated Thomas Newcome to use his best
endeavours, and bring the connexion of the B. B. C. and Hobson Brothers to a
speedy end. But Jolly was an interested party; he and his friends would have
had the agency of the B. B. C., and the profits thereof, which Hobsons had
taken from them. Mr. Sherrick was an outside practitioner, a guerilla amongst
regular merchants. The opinions of one and the other, though submitted by
Thomas Newcome duly to his co-partners, the managers and London board of
directors of the Bundelcund Banking Company, were overruled by that assembly.
</p>

<p>
They had their establishment and apartments in the City; they had their clerks
and messengers, their managers&rsquo; room and board-room, their meetings,
where no doubt great quantities of letters were read, vast ledgers produced;
where Tom Newcome was voted into the chair, and voted out with thanks; where
speeches were made, and the affairs of the B. B. C. properly discussed. These
subjects are mysterious, terrifying, unknown to me. I cannot pretend to
describe them. Fred Bayham, I remember, used to be great in his knowledge of
the affairs of the Bundelcund Banking Company. He talked of cotton, wool,
copper, opium, indigo, Singapore, Manilla, China, Calcutta, Australia, with
prodigious eloquence and fluency. His conversation was about millions. The most
astounding paragraphs used to appear in the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, regarding
the annual dinner at Blackwall, which the directors gave, and to which he, and
George, and I, as friends of the court, were invited. What orations were
uttered, what flowing bumpers emptied in the praise of this great Company; what
quantities of turtle and punch did Fred devour at its expense! Colonel Newcome
was the kindly old chairman at these banquets; the prince, his son, taking but
a modest part in the ceremonies, and sitting with us, his old cronies.
</p>

<p>
All the gentlemen connected with the board, all those with whom the B. B. C.
traded in London, paid Thomas Newcome extraordinary respect. His character for
wealth was deservedly great, and of course multiplied by the tongue of Rumour.
F. B. knew to a few millions of rupees, more or less, what the Colonel
possessed, and what Clive would inherit. Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s distinguished
military services, his high bearing, lofty courtesy, simple but touching
garrulity;&mdash;for the honest man talked much more now than he had been
accustomed to do in former days, and was not insensible to the flattery which
his wealth brought him,&mdash;his reputation as a keen man of business, who had
made his own fortune by operations equally prudent and spirited, and who might
make the fortunes of hundreds of other people, brought the worthy Colonel a
number of friends, and I promise you that the loudest huzzahs greeted his
health when it was proposed at the Blackwall dinners. At the second annual
dinner after Clive&rsquo;s marriage some friends presented Mrs. Clive Newcome
with a fine testimonial. There was a superb silver cocoa-nut tree, whereof the
leaves were dexterously arranged for holding candle and pickles; under the
cocoa-nut was an Indian prince on a camel, giving his hand to a cavalry officer
on horseback&mdash;a howitzer, a plough, a loom, a bale of cotton, on which
were the East India Company&rsquo;s arms, a Brahmin, Britannia, and Commerce
with a cornucopia were grouped round the principal figures: and if you would
see a noble account of this chaste and elegant specimen of British art, you are
referred to the pages of the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> of that year, as well as
to Fred Bayham&rsquo;s noble speech in the course of the evening, when it was
exhibited. The East and its wars, and its heroes, Assaye and Seringapatam
(&ldquo;and Lord Lake and Laswaree too,&rdquo; calls out the Colonel greatly
elated), tiger-hunting, palanquins, Juggernaut, elephants, the burning of
widows&mdash;all passed before us in F. B.&rsquo;s splendid oration. He spoke
of the product of the Indian forest, the palm-tree, the cocoa-nut tree, the
banyan-tree. Palms the Colonel had already brought back with him, the palms of
valour, won in the field of war (cheers). Cocoa-nut trees he had never seen,
though he had heard wonders related regarding the milky contents of their
fruit. Here at any rate was one tree of the kind, under the branches of which
he humbly trusted often to repose&mdash;and, if he might be so bold as to carry
on the Eastern metaphor, he would say, knowing the excellence of the
Colonel&rsquo;s claret and the splendour of his hospitality, that he would
prefer a cocoa-nut day at the Colonel&rsquo;s to a banyan day anywhere else.
Whilst F. B.&rsquo;s speech went on, I remember J. J. eyeing the trophy, and
the queer expression of his shrewd face. The health of British Artists was
drunk a propos of this splendid specimen of their skill, and poor J. J. Ridley,
Esq., A.R.A., had scarce a word to say in return. He and Clive sat by one
another, the latter very silent and gloomy. When J. J. and I met in the world,
we talked about our friend, and it was easy for both of us to see that neither
was satisfied with Clive&rsquo;s condition.
</p>

<p>
The fine house in Tyburnia was completed by this time, as gorgeous as money
could make it. How different it was from the old Fitzroy Square mansion with
its ramshackle furniture, and spoils of brokers&rsquo; shops, and Tottenham
Court Road odds and ends! An Oxford Street upholsterer had been let loose in
the yet virgin chambers; and that inventive genius had decorated them with all
the wonders his fancy could devise. Roses and cupids quivered on the ceilings,
up to which golden arabesques crawled from the walls; your face (handsome or
otherwise) was reflected by countless looking-glasses, so multiplied and
arranged as, as it were, to carry you into the next street. You trod on velvet,
pausing with respect in the centre of the carpet, where Rosey&rsquo;s cypher
was worked in the sweet flowers which bear her name. What delightful crooked
legs the chairs had! What corner cupboards there were filled with Dresden
gimcracks, which it was a part of this little woman&rsquo;s business in life to
purchase! What etageres, and bonbonnieres, and chiffonnieres! What awfully bad
pastels there were on the walls! What frightful Boucher and Lancret shepherds
and shepherdesses leered over the portieres! What velvet-bound volumes,
mother-of-pearl albums, inkstands representing beasts of the field, prie-dieu
chairs, and wonderful knick-knacks I can recollect! There was the most
magnificent piano, though Rosey seldom sang any of her six songs now; and when
she kept her couch at a certain most interesting period, the good Colonel, ever
anxious to procure amusement for his darling, asked whether she would not like
a barrel-organ grinding fifty or sixty favourite pieces, which a bearer could
turn? And he mentioned how Windus, of their regiment, who loved music
exceedingly, had a very fine instrument of this kind out to Barrackpore in the
year 1810, and relays of barrels by each ship with all the new tunes from
Europe. The Testimonial took its place in the centre of Mrs. Clive&rsquo;s
table, surrounded by satellites of plate. The delectable parties were
constantly gathered together, the grand barouche rolling in the Park, or
stopping at the principal shops. Little Rosey bloomed in millinery, and was
still the smiling little pet of her father-in-law, and poor Clive, in the midst
of all these splendours, was gaunt, and sad, and silent; listless at most
times, bitter and savage at others, pleased only when he was out of the society
which bored him, and in the company of George and J. J., the simple friends of
his youth.
</p>

<p>
His careworn look and altered appearance mollified my wife towards
him&mdash;who had almost taken him again into favour. But she did not care for
Mrs. Clive, and the Colonel, somehow, grew cool towards us, and to look askance
upon the little band of Clive&rsquo;s friends. It seemed as if there were two
parties in the house. There was Clive&rsquo;s set&mdash;J. J., the shrewd,
silent little painter; Warrington, the cynic; and the author of the present
biography, who was, I believe, supposed to give himself contemptuous airs; and
to have become very high and mighty since his marriage. Then there was the
great, numerous, and eminently respectable set, whose names were all registered
in little Rosey&rsquo;s little visiting-book, and to whose houses she drove
round, duly delivering the cards of Mr. and Mrs. Clive Newcome, and Colonel
Newcome;&mdash;the generals and colonels, the judges and the fogies. The only
man who kept well with both sides of the house was F. Bayham, Esq., who, having
got into clover, remained in the enjoyment of that welcome pasture; who really
loved Clive and the Colonel too, and had a hundred pleasant things and funny
stories (the droll old creature!) to tell to the little lady for whom we others
could scarcely find a word. The old friends of the student-days were not
forgotten, but they did not seem to get on in the new house. The Miss Gandishes
came to one of Mrs. Clive&rsquo;s balls, still in blue crape, still with
ringlets on their wizened old foreheads, accompanying papa, with his
shirt-collars turned down&mdash;who gazed in mute wonder on the splendid scene.
Warrington actually asked Miss Gandish to dance, making woeful blunders,
however, in the quadrille, while Clive, with something like one of his old
smiles on his face, took out Miss Zoe Gandish, her sister. We made Gandish
overeat and overdrink himself in the supper-room, and Clive cheered him by
ordering a full length of Mrs. Clive Newcome from his distinguished pencil.
Never was seen a grander exhibition of white satin and jewels. Smee, R.A., was
furious at the preference shown to his rival.
</p>

<p>
We had Sandy M&rsquo;Collop, too, at the party, who had returned from Rome,
with his red beard, and his picture of the murder of the Red Comyn, which made
but a dim effect in the Octagon Room of the Royal Academy, where the bleeding
agonies of the dying warrior were veiled in an unkind twilight. On Sandy and
his brethren little Rosey looked rather coldly. She tossed up her little head
in conversation with me, and gave me to understand that this party was only an
<i>omnium gatherum</i>, not one of the select parties, from which Heaven defend
us. &ldquo;We are Poins, and Nym, and Pistol,&rdquo; growled out George
Warrington, as he strode away to finish the evening in Clive&rsquo;s painting-
and smoking-room. &ldquo;Now Prince Hal is married, and shares the paternal
throne, his Princess is ashamed of his brigand associates of former
days.&rdquo; She came and looked at us with a feeble little smile, as we sat
smoking, and let the daylight in on us from the open door, and hinted to Mr.
Clive that it was time to go to bed.
</p>

<p>
So Clive Newcome lay in a bed of down and tossed and tumbled there. He went to
fine dinners, and sat silent over them; rode fine horses, and black Care jumped
up behind the moody horseman. He was cut off in a great measure from the
friends of his youth, or saw them by a kind of stealth and sufferance; was a
very lonely, poor fellow, I am afraid, now that people were testimonialising
his wife, and many an old comrade growling at his haughtiness and prosperity.
</p>

<p>
In former days, when his good father recognised the difference which fate, and
time, and temper, had set between him and his son, we have seen with what a
gentle acquiescence the old man submitted to his inevitable fortune, and how
humbly he bore that stroke of separation which afflicted the boy lightly
enough, but caused the loving sire so much pain. Then there was no bitterness
between them, in spite of the fatal division; but now, it seemed as if there
was anger on Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s part, because, though come together again,
they were not united, though with every outward appliance of happiness Clive
was not happy. What young man on earth could look for more? a sweet young wife,
a handsome home, of which the only encumbrance was an old father, who would
give his last drop of blood in his son&rsquo;s behalf. And it was to bring
about this end that Thomas Newcome had toiled and had amassed a fortune. Could
not Clive, with his talents and education, go down once or twice a week to the
City and take a decent part in the business by which his wealth was secured? He
appeared at the various board-rooms and City conclaves, yawned at the meetings,
and drew figures on the blotting-paper of the Company; had no interest in its
transactions, no heart in its affairs; went away and galloped his horse alone;
or returned to his painting-room, put on his old velvet jacket, and worked with
his palettes and brushes. Palettes and brushes! Could he not give up these toys
when he was called to a much higher station in the world? Could he not go talk
with Rosey;&mdash;drive with Rosey, kind little soul, whose whole desire was to
make him happy? Such thoughts as these, no doubt, darkened the Colonel&rsquo;s
mind, and deepened the furrows round his old eyes. So it is, we judge men by
our own standards; judge our nearest and dearest often wrong.
</p>

<p>
Many and many a time did Clive try and talk with the little Rosey, who chirped
and prattled so gaily to his father. Many a time would she come and sit by his
easel, and try her little powers to charm him, bring him little tales about
their acquaintances, stories about this ball and that concert, practise artless
smiles upon him, gentle little bouderies, tears, perhaps, followed by caresses
and reconciliation. At the end of which he would return to his cigar; and she,
with a sigh and a heavy heart, to the good old man who had bidden her to go and
talk with him. He used to feel that his father had sent her; the thought came
across him in their conversations, and straightway his heart would shut up and
his face grew gloomy. They were not made to mate with one another. This was the
truth; the shoe was a very pretty little shoe, but Clive&rsquo;s foot was too
big for it.
</p>

<p>
Just before the testimonial, Mr. Clive was in constant attendance at home, and
very careful and kind and happy with his wife, and the whole family party went
very agreeably. Doctors were in constant attendance at Mrs. Clive
Newcome&rsquo;s door; prodigious care was taken by the good Colonel in wrapping
her and in putting her little feet on sofas, and in leading her to her
carriage. The Campaigner came over in immense flurry from Edinburgh (where
Uncle James was now very comfortably lodged in Picardy Place with the most
agreeable society round about him), and all this circle was in a word very
close and happy and intimate; but woe is me, Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s fondest
hopes were disappointed this time: his little grandson lived but to see the
light and leave it: and sadly, sadly, those preparations were put away, those
poor little robes and caps, those delicate muslins and cambrics over which many
a care had been forgotten, many a fond prayer thought, if not uttered. Poor
little Rosey! she felt the grief very keenly; but she rallied from it very
soon. In a very few months, her cheeks were blooming and dimpling with smiles
again, and she was telling us how her party was an <i>omnium gatherum</i>.
</p>

<p>
The Campaigner had ere this returned to the scene of her northern exploits;
not, I believe, entirely of the worthy woman&rsquo;s own free will. Assuming
the command of the household, whilst her daughter kept her sofa, Mrs. Mackenzie
had set that establishment into uproar and mutiny. She had offended the butler,
outraged the housekeeper, wounded the sensibilities of the footmen, insulted
the doctor, and trampled on the inmost corns of the nurse. It was surprising
what a change appeared in the Campaigner&rsquo;s conduct, and how little, in
former days, Colonel Newcome had known her. What the Emperor Napoleon the First
said respecting our Russian enemies, might be applied to this lady, Grattez-la,
and she appeared a Tartar. Clive and his father had a little comfort and
conversation in conspiring against her. The old man never dared to try, but was
pleased with the younger&rsquo;s spirit and gallantry in the series of final
actions which, commencing over poor little Rosey&rsquo;s prostrate body in the
dressing-room, were continued in the drawing-room, resumed with terrible vigour
on the enemy&rsquo;s part in the dining-room, and ended, to the triumph of the
whole establishment, at the outside of the hall-door.
</p>

<p>
When the routed Tartar force had fled back to its native north, Rosey made a
confession, which Clive told me afterwards, bursting with bitter laughter.
&ldquo;You and papa seem to be very much agitated,&rdquo; she said. (Rosey
called the Colonel papa in the absence of the Campaigner.) &ldquo;I do not mind
it a bit, except just at first, when it made me a little nervous. Mamma used
always to be so; she used to scold and scold all day, both me and Josey, in
Scotland, till grandmamma sent her away; and then in Fitzroy Square, and then
in Brussels, she used to box my ears, and go into such tantrums; and I
think,&rdquo; adds Rosey, with one of her sweetest smiles, &ldquo;she had
quarrelled with Uncle James before she came to us.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She used to box Rosey&rsquo;s ears,&rdquo; roars out poor Clive,
&ldquo;and go into such tantrums, in Fitzroy Square and Brussels afterwards,
and the pair would come down with their arms round each other&rsquo;s waists,
smirking and smiling as if they had done nothing but kiss each other all their
mortal lives! This is what we know about women&mdash;this is what we get, and
find years afterwards, when we think we have married a smiling, artless young
creature! Are you all such hypocrites, Mrs. Pendennis?&rdquo; and he pulled his
mustachios in his wrath.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Poor Clive!&rdquo; says Laura, very kindly. &ldquo;You would not have
had her tell tales of her mother, would you?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, of course not,&rdquo; breaks out Clive; &ldquo;that is what you all
say, and so you are hypocrites out of sheer virtue.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
It was the first time Laura had called him Clive for many a day. She was
becoming reconciled to him. We had our own opinion about the young
fellow&rsquo;s marriage.
</p>

<p>
And, to sum up all, upon a casual rencontre with the young gentleman in
question, whom we saw descending from a hansom at the steps of the Flag, Pall
Mall, I opined that dark thoughts of Hoby had entered into Clive
Newcome&rsquo;s mind. Othello-like, he scowled after that unconscious Cassio as
the other passed into the club in his lacquered boots.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0064" id="link2HCH0064"></a>
CHAPTER LXIV.<br/>
Absit Omen</h2>

<p>
At the first of the Blackwall festivals, Hobson Newcome was present, in spite
of the quarrel which had taken place between his elder brother and the chief of
the firm of Hobson Brothers and Newcome. But it was the individual Barnes and
the individual Thomas who had had a difference together; the Bundelcund Bank
was not at variance with its chief house of commission in London; no man drank
prosperity to the B. B. C., upon occasion of this festival, with greater
fervour than Hobson Newcome, and the manner in which he just slightly alluded,
in his own little speech of thanks, to the notorious differences between
Colonel Newcome and his nephew, praying that these might cease some day, and,
meanwhile, that the confidence between the great Indian establishment and its
London agents might never diminish, was appreciated and admired by
six-and-thirty gentlemen, all brimful of claret and enthusiasm, and in that
happy state of mind in which men appreciate and admire everything.
</p>

<p>
At the second dinner, when the testimonial was presented, Hobson was not
present. Nor did his name figure amongst those engraven on the trunk of Mr.
Newcome&rsquo;s allegorical silver cocoa-nut tree. As we travelled homewards in
the omnibus, Fred Bayham noticed the circumstance to me. &ldquo;I have looked
over the list of names,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;not merely that on the trunk,
sir, but the printed list; it was rolled up and placed in one of the nests on
the top of the tree. Why is Hobson&rsquo;s name not there?&mdash;Ha! it
mislikes me, Pendennis.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
F. B., who was now very great about City affairs, discoursed about stocks and
companies with immense learning, and gave me to understand that he had
transacted one or two little operations in Capel Court on his own account, with
great present, and still larger prospective, advantages to himself. It is a
fact that Mr. Ridley was paid, and that F. B.&rsquo;s costume, though still
eccentric, was comfortable, cleanly, and variegated. He occupied the apartments
once tenanted by the amiable Honeyman. He lived in ease and comfort there.
&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t suppose,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;that the wretched
stipend I draw from the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> enables me to maintain this
kind of thing? F. B., sir, has a station in the world; F. B. moves among
moneyers and City nobs, and eats cabobs with wealthy nabobs. He may marry, sir,
and settle in life.&rdquo; We cordially wished every worldly prosperity to the
brave F. B.
</p>

<p>
Happening to descry him one day in the Park, I remarked that his countenance
wore an ominous and tragic appearance, which seemed to deepen as he neared me.
I thought he had been toying affably with a nursery-maid the moment before, who
stood with some of her little charges watching the yachts upon the Serpentine.
Howbeit, espying my approach, F. B. strode away from the maiden and her
innocent companions, and advanced to greet his old acquaintance, enveloping his
face with shades of funereal gloom.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yon were the children of my good friend Colonel Huckaback of the Bombay
Marines! Alas! unconscious of their doom, the little infants play. I was
watching them at their sports. There is a pleasing young woman in attendance
upon the poor children. They were sailing their little boats upon the
Serpentine; racing and laughing, and making merry; and as I looked on, Master
Hastings Huckaback&rsquo;s boat went down! <i>Absit omen</i>, Pendennis! I was
moved by the circumstance. F. B. hopes that the child&rsquo;s father&rsquo;s
argosy may not meet with shipwreck!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You mean the little yellow-faced man whom we met at Colonel
Newcome&rsquo;s?&rdquo; says Mr. Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I do, sir,&rdquo; growled F. B. &ldquo;You know that he is a brother
director with our Colonel in the Bundelcund Bank?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Gracious Heavens!&rdquo; I cried, in sincere anxiety, &ldquo;nothin has
happened, I hope, to the Bundelcund Bank?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No,&rdquo; answers the other, &ldquo;nothing has happened, the good ship
is safe, sir, as yet. But she has narrowly escaped a great danger,
Pendennis,&rdquo; cries F. B., gripping my arm with great energy, &ldquo;there
was a traitor in her crew&mdash;she has weathered the storm nobly&mdash;who
would have sent her on the rocks, sir, who would have scuttled her at
midnight.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pray drop your nautical metaphors, and tell me what you mean,&rdquo;
cries F. B.&rsquo;s companion, and Bayham continued his narration.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Were you in the least conversant with City affairs,&rdquo; he said,
&ldquo;or did you deign to visit the spot where merchants mostly congregate,
you would have heard the story, which was over the whole City yesterday, and
spread dismay from Threadneedle Street to Leadenhall. The story is, that the
firm of Hobson Brothers and Newcome, yesterday refused acceptance of thirty
thousand pounds&rsquo; worth of bills of the Bundelcund Banking Company of
India.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The news came like a thunderclap upon the London Board of Directors, who
had received no notice of the intentions of Hobson Brothers, and caused a
dreadful panic amongst the shareholders of the concern. The board-room was
besieged by colonels and captains, widows and orphans; within an hour after
protest of bills were taken up, and you will see, in the City article of the
<i>Globe</i> this very evening, an announcement that henceforward the house of
Baines and Jolly, of Job Court, will meet engagements of the Bundelcund Banking
Company of India, being provided with ample funds to do honour to every
possible liability of that Company. But the shares fell, sir, in consequence of
the panic. I hope they will rally. I trust and believe they will rally. For our
good Colonel&rsquo;s sake and that of his friends, for the sake of the innocent
children sporting by the Serpentine yonder.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I had my suspicions when they gave that testimonial,&rdquo; said F. B.
&ldquo;In my experience of life, sir, I always feel rather shy about
testimonials, and when a party gets one, somehow look out to hear of his
smashing the next month. <i>Absit omen!</i> I will say again. I like not the
going down of yonder little yacht.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The <i>Globe</i> sure enough contained a paragraph that evening announcing the
occurrence which Mr. Bayham had described, and the temporary panic which it had
occasioned, and containing an advertisement stating that Messrs. Baines and
Jolly would henceforth act as agents of the Indian Company. Legal proceedings
were presently threatened by the solicitors of the Company against the banking
firm which had caused so much mischief. Mr. Hobson Newcome was absent abroad
when the circumstance took place, and it was known that the protest of the
bills was solely attributable to his nephew and partner. But after the break
between the two firms, there was a rupture between Hobson&rsquo;s family and
Colonel Newcome. The exasperated Colonel vowed that his brother and his nephew
were traitors alike, and would have no further dealings with one or the other.
Even poor innocent Sam Newcome, coming up to London from Oxford, where he had
been plucked, and offering a hand to Clive, was frowned away by our Colonel,
who spoke in terms of great displeasure to his son for taking the least notice
of the young traitor.
</p>

<p>
Our Colonel was changed, changed in his heart, changed in his whole demeanour
towards the world, and above all towards his son, for whom he had made so many
kind sacrifices in his old days. We have said how, ever since Clive&rsquo;s
marriage, a tacit strife had been growing up between father and son. The
boy&rsquo;s evident unhappiness was like a reproach to his father. His very
silence angered the old man. His want of confidence daily chafed and annoyed
him. At the head of a large fortune, which he rightly persisted in spending, he
felt angry with himself because he could not enjoy it, angry with his son, who
should have helped him in the administration of his new estate, and who was but
a listless, useless member of the little confederacy, a living protest against
all the schemes of the good man&rsquo;s past life. The catastrophe in the City
again brought father and son together somewhat, and the vindictiveness of both
was roused by Barnes&rsquo;s treason. Time was when the Colonel himself would
have viewed his kinsman more charitably, but fate and circumstance had angered
that originally friendly and gentle disposition; hate and suspicion had
mastered him, and if it cannot be said that his new life had changed him, at
least it had brought out faults for which there had hitherto been no occasion,
and qualities latent before. Do we know ourselves, or what good or evil
circumstance may bring from us? Did Cain know, as he and his younger brother
played round their mother&rsquo;s knee, that the little hand which caressed
Abel should one day grow larger, and seize a brand to slay him? Thrice
fortunate he, to whom circumstance is made easy: whom fate visits with gentle
trial, and kindly Heaven keeps out of temptation.
</p>

<p>
In the stage which the family feud now reached, and which the biographer of the
Newcomes is bound to describe, there is one gentle moralist who gives her
sentence decidedly against Clive&rsquo;s father; whilst on the other hand a
rough philosopher and friend of mine, whose opinions used to have some weight
with me, stoutly declares that they were right. &ldquo;War and justice are good
things,&rdquo; says George Warrington, rattling his clenched fist on the table.
&ldquo;I maintain them, and the common sense of the world maintains them,
against the preaching of all the Honeymans that ever puled from the pulpit. I
have not the least objection in life to a rogue being hung. When a scoundrel is
whipped I am pleased, and say, serve him right. If any gentleman will horsewhip
Sir Barnes Newcome, Baronet, I shall not be shocked, but, on the contrary, go
home and order an extra mutton-chop for dinner.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ah! revenge is wrong, Pen,&rdquo; pleads the other counsellor.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Let alone that the wisest and best of all Judges has condemned it. It
blackens the hearts of men. It distorts their views of right. It sets them to
devise evil. It causes them to think unjustly of others. It is not the noblest
return for injury, not even the bravest way of meeting it. The greatest courage
is to bear persecution, not to answer when you are reviled, and when wrong has
been done you to forgive. I am sorry for what you call the Colonel&rsquo;s
triumph and his enemy&rsquo;s humiliation. Let Barnes be as odious as you will,
he ought never to have humiliated Ethel&rsquo;s brother; but he is weak. Other
gentlemen as well are weak, Mr. Pen, although you are so much cleverer than
women. I have no patience with the Colonel, and I beg you to tell him, whether
he asks you or not that he has lost my good graces, and that I for one will not
huzzah at what his friends and flatterers call his triumphs, and that I
don&rsquo;t think in this instance he has acted like the dear Colonel, and the
good Colonel, and the good Christian that I once thought him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
We must now tell what the Colonel and Clive had been doing, and what caused two
such different opinions respecting their conduct from the two critics just
named. The refusal of the London Banking House to accept the bills of the Great
Indian Company of course affected very much the credit of that Company in this
country. Sedative announcements were issued by the Directors in London;
brilliant accounts of the Company&rsquo;s affairs abroad were published; proof
incontrovertible was given that the B. B. C. was never in so flourishing a
state as at that time when Hobson Brothers had refused its drafts; there could
be no question that the Company had received a severe wound and was deeply if
not vitally injured by the conduct of the London firm.
</p>

<p>
The propensity to sell out became quite epidemic amongst the shareholders.
Everybody was anxious to realise. Why, out of the thirty names inscribed on
poor Mrs. Clive&rsquo;s cocoa-nut tree no less than twenty deserters might be
mentioned, or at least who would desert could they find an opportunity of doing
so with arms and baggage. Wrathfully the good Colonel scratched the names of
those faithless ones out of his daughter&rsquo;s visiting-book: haughtily he
met them in the street; to desert the B. B. C. at the hour of peril was, in his
idea, like applying for leave of absence on the eve of an action. He would not
see that the question was not one of sentiment at all, but of chances and
arithmetic; he would not hear with patience of men quitting the ship, as he
called it. &ldquo;They may go, sir,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;but let them never
more be officers of mine.&rdquo; With scorn and indignation he paid off one or
two timid friends, who were anxious to fly, and purchased their shares out of
his own pocket. But his purse was not long enough for this kind of amusement.
What money he had was invested in the Company already, and his name further
pledged for meeting the engagements from which their late London bankers had
withdrawn.
</p>

<p>
Those gentlemen, in the meanwhile, spoke of their differences with the Indian
Bank as quite natural, and laughed at the absurd charges of personal hostility
which poor Thomas Newcome publicly preferred. &ldquo;Here is a hot-headed old
Indian dragoon,&rdquo; says Sir Barnes, &ldquo;who knows no more about business
than I do about cavalry tactics or Hindostanee; who gets into a partnership
along with other dragoons and Indian wiseacres, with some uncommonly wily old
native practitioners; and they pay great dividends, and they set up a bank. Of
course we will do these people&rsquo;s business as long as we are covered, but
I have always told their manager that we would run no risks whatever, and close
the account the very moment it did not suit us to keep it: and so we parted
company six weeks ago, since when there has been a panic in the Company, a
panic which has been increased by Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s absurd swagger and
folly. He says I am his enemy; enemy indeed! So I am in private life, but what
has that to do with business? In business, begad, there are no friends and no
enemies at all. I leave all my sentiment on the other side of Temple
Bar.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So Thomas Newcome, and Clive the son of Thomas, had wrath in their hearts
against Barnes, their kinsman, and desired to be revenged upon him, and were
eager after his undoing, and longed for an opportunity when they might meet him
and overcome him, and put him to shame.
</p>

<p>
When men are in this frame of mind, a certain personage is said always to be at
hand to help them and give them occasion for indulging in their pretty little
passion. What is sheer hate seems to the individual entertaining the sentiment
so like indignant virtue, that he often indulges in the propensity to the full,
nay, lauds himself for the exercise of it. I am sure if Thomas Newcome in his
present desire for retaliation against Barnes, had known the real nature of his
sentiments towards that worthy, his conduct would have been different, and we
should have heard of no such active hostilities as ensued.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0065" id="link2HCH0065"></a>
CHAPTER LXV.<br/>
In which Mrs. Clive comes into her Fortune</h2>

<p>
Speaking of the affairs of B. B. C., Sir Barnes Newcome always took care to
maintain his candid surprise relating to the proceedings of that Company. He
set about evil reports against it! He endeavour to do it a wrong&mdash;absurd!
If a friend were to ask him (and it was quite curious what a number did manage
to ask him) whether he thought the Company was an advantageous investment, of
course he would give an answer. He could not say conscientiously he thought
so&mdash;never once had said so&mdash;in the time of their connexion, which had
been formed solely with a view of obliging his amiable uncle. It was a
quarrelsome Company; a dragoon Company; a Company of gentlemen accustomed to
gunpowder, and fed on mulligatawny. He, forsooth, be hostile to it! There were
some Companies that required no enemies at all, and would be pretty sure to go
to the deuce their own way.
</p>

<p>
Thus, and with this amiable candour, spake Barnes, about a commercial
speculation, the merits of which he had a right to canvass as well as any other
citizen. As for Uncle Hobson, his conduct was characterised by a timidity which
one would scarcely have expected from a gentleman of his florid, jolly
countenance, active habits, and generally manly demeanour. He kept away from
the cocoa-nut feast, as we have seen: he protested privily to the Colonel that
his private goodwill continued undiminished but he was deeply grieved at the B.
B. C. affair, which took place while he was on the Continent&mdash;confound the
Continent, my wife would go&mdash;and which was entirely without his
cognisance. The Colonel received his brother&rsquo;s excuses, first with awful
bows and ceremony, and finally with laughter. &ldquo;My good Hobson,&rdquo;
said he, with the most insufferable kindness, &ldquo;of course you intended to
be friendly; of course the affair was done without your knowledge. We
understand that sort of thing. London bankers have no hearts&mdash;for these
last fifty years past that I have known you and your brother, and my amiable
nephew, the present commanding officer, has there been anything in your conduct
that has led me to suppose you had?&rdquo; and herewith Colonel Newcome burst
out into a laugh. It was not a pleasant laugh to hear. Worthy Hobson took his
hat, and walked away, brushing it round and round, and looking very confused.
The Colonel strode after him downstairs, and made him an awful bow at the hall
door. Never again did Hobson Newcome set foot in that Tyburnian mansion.
</p>

<p>
During the whole of that season of the testimonial the cocoa-nut figured in an
extraordinary number of banquets. The Colonel&rsquo;s hospitalities were more
profuse than ever, and Mrs. Clive&rsquo;s toilettes more brilliant. Clive, in
his confidential conversations with his friends, was very dismal and gloomy.
When I asked City news of our well-informed friend F. B., I am sorry to say,
his countenance became funereal. The B. B. C. shares, which had been at an
immense premium twelve months since, were now slowly falling, falling.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish,&rdquo; said Mr. Sherrick to me, &ldquo;the Colonel would
realise, even now, like that Mr. Ratray who has just come out of the ship, and
brought a hundred thousand pounds with him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Come out of the ship! You little know the Colonel, Mr. Sherrick, if you
think he will ever do that.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Ratray, though he had returned to Europe, gave the most cheering accounts
of the B. B. C. It was in the most flourishing state. Shares sure to get up
again. He had sold out entirely on account of his liver. Must come
home&mdash;the doctor said so.
</p>

<p>
Some months afterwards, another director, Mr. Hedges, came home. Both of these
gentlemen, as we know, entertained the fashionable world, got seats in
Parliament, purchased places in the country, and were greatly respected. Mr.
Hedges came out, but his wealthy partner, Mr. M&rsquo;Gaspey, entered into the
B. B. C. The entry of Mr. M&rsquo;Gaspey into the affairs of the Company did
not seem to produce very great excitement in England. The shares slowly fell.
However, there was a prodigious indigo crop. The London manager was in perfect
good-humour. In spite of this and that, of defections, of unpleasantries, of
unfavourable whispers, and doubtful friends&mdash;Thomas Newcome kept his head
high, and his face was always kind and smiling, except when certain family
enemies were mentioned, and he frowned like Jove in anger.
</p>

<p>
We have seen how very fond little Rosey was of her mamma, of her uncle, James
Binnie, and now of her papa, as she affectionately styled Thomas Newcome. This
affection, I am sure, the two gentlemen returned with all their hearts, and but
that they were much too generous and simple-minded to entertain such a feeling.
It may be wondered that the two good old boys were not a little jealous of one
another. Howbeit it does not appear that they entertained such a feeling; at
least it never interrupted the kindly friendship between them, and Clive was
regarded in the light of a son by both of them, and each contented himself with
his moiety of the smiling little girl&rsquo;s affection.
</p>

<p>
As long as they were with her, the truth is, little Mrs. Clive was very fond of
people, very docile, obedient, easily pleased, brisk, kind, and good-humoured.
She charmed her two old friends with little songs, little smiles,&mdash;little
kind offices, little caresses; and having administered Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s
cigar to him in the daintiest, prettiest way, she would trip off to drive with
James Binnie, or sit at his dinner, if he was indisposed, and be as gay,
neat-handed, watchful, and attentive a child as any old gentleman could desire.
</p>

<p>
She did not seem to be very sorry to part with mamma, a want of feeling which
that lady bitterly deplored in her subsequent conversation with her friends
about Mrs. Clive Newcome. Possibly there were reasons why Rosey should not be
very much vexed at quitting mamma; but surely she might have dropped a little
tear as she took leave of kind, good old James Binnie. Not she. The
gentleman&rsquo;s voice faltered, but hers did not in the least. She kissed him
on the face, all smiles, blushes, and happiness, and tripped into the railway
carriage with her husband and father-in-law, leaving the poor old uncle very
sad. Our women said, I know not why, that little Rosey had no heart at all.
Women are accustomed to give such opinions respecting the wives of their newly
married friends. I am bound to add (and I do so during Mr. Clive
Newcome&rsquo;s absence from England, otherwise I should not like to venture
upon the statement), that some men concur with the ladies&rsquo; opinion of
Mrs. Clive. For instance, Captains Goby and Hoby declare that her treatment of
the latter, her encouragement, and desertion of him when Clive made his
proposals, were shameful.
</p>

<p>
At this time Rosey was in a pupillary state. A good, obedient little girl, her
duty was to obey the wishes of her dear mamma. How show her sense of virtue and
obedience better than by promptly and cheerfully obeying mamma, and at the
orders of that experienced Campaigner, giving up Bobby Hoby, and going to
England to a fine house, to be presented at Court, to have all sorts of
pleasure with a handsome young husband and a kind father-in-law by her side? No
wonder Rosey was not in a very active state of grief at parting from Uncle
James. He strove to console himself with these considerations when he had
returned to the empty house, where she had danced, and smiled, and warbled; and
he looked at the chair she sat in; and at the great mirror which had so often
reflected her fresh pretty face;&mdash;the great callous mirror, which now only
framed upon its shining sheet the turban, and the ringlets, and the plump
person, and the resolute smile of the old Campaigner.
</p>

<p>
After that parting with her uncle at the Brussels railway, Rosey never again
beheld him. He passed into the Campaigner&rsquo;s keeping, from which alone he
was rescued by the summons of pallid death. He met that summons like a
philosopher; rejected rather testily all the mortuary consolations which his
nephew-in-law, Josey&rsquo;s husband, thought proper to bring to his bedside;
and uttered opinions which scandalised that divine. But as he left Mrs.
M&rsquo;Craw only 500 pounds, thrice that sum to his sister, and the remainder
of his property to his beloved niece, Rosa Mackenzie, now Rosa Newcome, let us
trust that Mr. M&rsquo;Craw, hurt and angry at the ill-favour shown to his
wife, his third young wife, his best-beloved Josey, at the impatience with
which the deceased had always received his, Mr. M&rsquo;Craw&rsquo;s, own
sermons;&mdash;let us hope, I say, that the reverend gentleman was mistaken in
his views respecting the present position of Mr. James Binnie&rsquo;s soul; and
that Heaven may have some regions yet accessible to James, which Mr.
M&rsquo;Craw&rsquo;s intellect has not yet explored. Look, gentlemen! Does a
week pass without the announcement of the discovery of a new comet in the sky,
a new star in the heaven, twinkling dimly out of a yet farther distance, and
only now becoming visible to human ken though existent for ever and ever? So
let us hope divine truths may be shining, and regions of light and love extant,
which Geneva glasses cannot yet perceive, and are beyond the focus of Roman
telescopes.
</p>

<p>
I think Clive and the Colonel were more affected by the news of James&rsquo;s
death than Rosey, concerning whose wonderful strength of mind good Thomas
Newcome discoursed to my Laura and me, when, fancying that my friend&rsquo;s
wife needed comfort and consolation, Mrs. Pendennis went to visit her.
&ldquo;Of course we shall have no more parties this year,&rdquo; sighed Rosey.
She looked very pretty in her black dress. Clive, in his hearty way, said a
hundred kind feeling things about the departed friend. Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s
recollections of him, and regret, were no less tender and sincere.
&ldquo;See,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;how that dear child&rsquo;s sense of duty
makes her hide her feelings! Her grief is most deep, but she wears a calm
countenance. I see her looking sad in private, but I no sooner speak than she
smiles.&rdquo; &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; said Laura, as we came away, &ldquo;that
Colonel Newcome performs all the courtship part in the marriage, and Clive,
poor Clive, though he spoke very nobly and generously about Mr. Binnie, I am
sure it is not his old friend&rsquo;s death merely, which makes him so
unhappy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Poor Clive, by right of his wife, was now rich Clive; the little lady having
inherited from her kind relative no inconsiderable sum of money. In a very
early part of this story, mention has been made of a small sum producing one
hundred pounds a year, which Clive&rsquo;s father had made over to the lad when
he sent him from India. This little sum Mr. Clive had settled upon his wife
before his marriage, being indeed all he had of his own; for the famous bank
shares which his father presented to him, were only made over formally when the
young man came to London after his marriage, and at the paternal request and
order appeared as a most inefficient director of the B. B. C. Now Mrs. Newcome,
of her inheritance, possessed not only B. B. C. shares, but moneys in bank, and
shares in East India Stock, so that Clive in the right of his wife had a seat
in the assembly of East India shareholders, and a voice in the election of
directors of that famous company. I promise you Mrs. Clive was a personage of
no little importance. She carried her little head with an aplomb and gravity
which amused some of us. F. B. bent his most respectfully down before her; she
sent him on messages, and deigned to ask him to dinner. He once more wore a
cheerful countenance; the clouds which gathered o&rsquo;er the sun of Newcome
were in the bosom of the ocean buried, Bayham said, by James Binnie&rsquo;s
brilliant behaviour to his niece.
</p>

<p>
Clive was a proprietor of East India Stock, and had a vote in electing the
directors of that Company; and who so fit to be a director of his affairs as
Thomas Newcome, Esq., Companion of the Bath, and so long a distinguished
officer in its army? To hold this position of director, used, up to very late
days, to be the natural ambition of many East Indian gentlemen. Colonel Newcome
had often thought of offering himself as a candidate, and now openly placed
himself on the lists, and publicly announced his intention. His interest was
rather powerful through the Indian bank, of which he was a director, and many
of the shareholders of which were proprietors of the East India Company. To
have a director of the B. B. C. also a member of the parliament in Leadenhall
Street, would naturally be beneficial to the former institution. Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s prospectuses were issued accordingly, and his canvass received
with tolerable favour.
</p>

<p>
Within a very short time another candidate appeared in the field&mdash;a
retired Bombay lawyer, of considerable repute and large means&mdash;and at the
head of this gentleman&rsquo;s committee appeared the names of Hobson Brothers
and Newcome, very formidable personages at the East India House, with which the
bank of Hobson Brothers have had dealings for half a century past, and where
the old lady, who founded or consolidated that family, had had three stars
before her own venerable name, which had descended upon her son Sir Brian, and
her grandson, Sir Barnes.
</p>

<p>
War was thus openly declared between Thomas Newcome and his nephew. The canvass
on both sides was very hot and eager. The number of promises was pretty equal.
The election was not to come off yet for a while; for aspirants to the
honourable office of director used to announce their wishes years before they
could be fulfilled, and returned again and again to the contest before they
finally won it. Howbeit, the Colonel&rsquo;s prospects were very fair, and a
prodigious indigo crop came in to favour the B. B. C., with the most brilliant
report from the board at Calcutta. The shares, still somewhat sluggish, rose
again, the Colonel&rsquo;s hopes with them, and the courage of gentlemen at
home who had invested their money in the transaction.
</p>

<p>
We were sitting one day round the Colonel&rsquo;s dinner-table; it was not one
of the cocoa-nut-tree days; that emblem was locked up in the butler&rsquo;s
pantry, and only beheld the lamps on occasions of state. It was a snug family
party in the early part of the year, When scarcely anybody was in town; only
George Warrington, and F. B., and Mr. and Mrs. Pendennis; and the ladies having
retired, We were having such a talk as we used to enjoy in quiet old days,
before marriages and cares and divisions had separated us.
</p>

<p>
F. B. led the conversation. The Colonel received his remarks with great
gravity, and thought him an instructive personage. Others considered him rather
as amusing than instructive, and so his eloquence was generally welcome. The
canvass for the directorship was talked over. The improved affairs of a certain
great Banking Company, which shall be nameless, but one which F. B. would take
the liberty to state, would, in his opinion, for ever unite the mother country
to our great Indian possessions;&mdash;the prosperity of this great Company was
enthusiastically drunk by Mr. Bayham in some of the very best claret. The
conduct of the enemies of that Company was characterised in terms of bitter,
but not undeserved, satire. F. B. rather liked to air his oratory, and
neglected few opportunities for making speeches after dinners.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel admired his voice and sentiments not the less, perhaps, because the
latter were highly laudatory of the good man. And not from interest, at least,
as far as he himself knew&mdash;not from any mean or selfish motives, did F. B.
speak. He called Colonel Newcome his friend, his benefactor: kissed the hem of
his garment: he wished fervently that he could have been the Colonel&rsquo;s
son: he expressed, repeatedly, a desire that some one would speak ill of the
Colonel, so that he, F. B., might have the opportunity of polishing that
individual off in about two seconds. He covered the Colonel with all his heart;
nor is any gentleman proof altogether against this constant regard and devotion
from another.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel used to wag his head wisely, and say Mr. Bayham&rsquo;s suggestions
were often exceedingly valuable, as indeed the fact was, though his conduct was
no more of a piece with his opinions than those of some other folks
occasionally are.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What the Colonel ought to do, sir, to help him in the direction,&rdquo;
says F. B., &ldquo;is to get into Parliament. The House of Commons would aid
him into the Court of Directors, and the Court of Directors would help him in
the House of Commons.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Most wisely said,&rdquo; says Warrington.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel declined. &ldquo;I have long had the House of Commons in my
eye,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;but not for me. I wanted my boy to go there. It
would be a proud day for me if I could see him there.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t speak,&rdquo; says Clive, from his end of the table.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand about parties, like F. B. here.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I believe I do know a thing or two,&rdquo; Mr. Bayham here interposes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And politics do not interest me in the least,&rdquo; Clive sighs out,
drawing pictures with his fork on his napkin, and not heeding the other&rsquo;s
interruption.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish I knew what would interest him,&rdquo; his father whispers to me,
who happened to be at his side. &ldquo;He never cares to be out of his
painting-room; and he doesn&rsquo;t seem to be very happy even in there. I wish
to God, Pen, I knew what had come over the boy.&rdquo; I thought I knew; but
what was the use of telling, now there was no remedy?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A dissolution is expected every day,&rdquo; continued F. B. &ldquo;The
papers are full of it. Ministers cannot go on with this majority&mdash;cannot
possibly go on, sir. I have it on the best authority; and men who are anxious
about their seats are writing to their constituents, or are subscribing at
missionary meetings, or are gone down to lecturing at Athenæums, and that sort
of thing.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Here Warrington burst out into a laughter much louder than the occasion of the
speech of F. B. seemed to warrant; and the Colonel, turning round with some
dignity, asked the cause of George&rsquo;s amusement.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What do you think your darling, Sir Barnes Newcome Newcome, has been
doing during the recess?&rdquo; cries Warrington. &ldquo;I had a letter this
morning, from my liberal and punctual employer, Thomas Potts, Esquire, of the
<i>Newcome Independent</i>, who states, in language scarcely respectful, that
Sir Barnes Newcome Newcome is trying to come the religious dodge, as Mr. Potts
calls it. He professes to be stricken down by grief on account of late family
circumstances; wears black, and puts on the most piteous aspect, and asks
ministers of various denominations to tea with him; and the last announcement
is the most stupendous of all. Stop, I have it in my greatcoat;&rdquo; and,
ringing the bell, George orders a servant to bring him a newspaper from his
great-coat pocket. &ldquo;Here it is, actually in print,&rdquo; Warrington
continues, and reads to us:&mdash;&ldquo;&lsquo;Newcome Athenæum. 1, for the
benefit of the Newcome Orphan Children&rsquo;s Home, and 2, for the benefit of
the Newcome Soup Association, without distinction of denomination. Sir Barnes
Newcome Newcome, Bart., proposes to give two lectures, on Friday the 23rd, and
Friday the 30th, instant. No. 1, The Poetry of Childhood: Doctor Watts, Mrs.
Barbauld, Jane Taylor, No. 2, The Poetry of Womanhood, and the Affections: Mrs.
Hemans, L. E. L. Threepence will be charged at the doors, which will go to the
use of the above two admirable Societies.&rsquo; Potts wants me to go down and
hear him. He has an eye to business. He has had a quarrel with Sir Barnes, and
wants me to go down and hear him, and smash him, he kindly says. Let us go
down, Clive. You shall draw your cousin as you have drawn his villainous little
mug a hundred times before; and I will do the smashing part, and we will have
some fun out of the transaction.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Besides, Florac will be in the country; going to Rosebury is a journey
worth the taking, I can tell you; and we have old Mrs. Mason to go and see, who
sighs after you, Colonel. My wife went to see her,&rdquo; remarks Mr.
Pendennis, &ldquo;and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And Miss Newcome, I know,&rdquo; says the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She is away at Brighton, with her little charges, for sea air. My wife
heard from her to-day.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, indeed. Mrs. Pendennis corresponds with her?&rdquo; says our host,
darkling under his eyebrows; and, at this moment, my neighbour, F. B., is kind
enough to scrunch my foot under the table with the weight of his heel, as much
as to warn me, by an appeal to my own corns, to avoid treading on so delicate a
subject in that house. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, in spite, perhaps in
consequence, of this interruption. &ldquo;My wife does correspond with Miss
Ethel, who is a noble creature, and whom those who know her know how to love
and admire. She is very much changed since you knew her, Colonel Newcome; since
the misfortunes in Sir Barnes&rsquo;s family, and the differences between you
and him. Very much changed and very much improved. Ask my wife about her, who
knows her most intimately, and hears from her constantly.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Very likely, very likely,&rdquo; cried the Colonel, hurriedly, &ldquo;I
hope she is improved, with all my heart. I am sure there was room for it.
Gentlemen, shall we go up to the ladies and have some coffee?&rdquo; And
herewith the colloquy ended, and the party ascended to the drawing-room.
</p>

<p>
The party ascended to the drawing-room, where no doubt both the ladies were
pleased by the invasion which ended their talk. My wife and the Colonel talked
apart, and I saw the latter looking gloomy, and the former pleading very
eagerly, and using a great deal of action, as the little hands are wont to do,
when the mistress&rsquo;s heart is very much moved. I was sure she was pleading
Ethel&rsquo;s cause with her uncle.
</p>

<p>
So indeed she was. And Mr. George, too, knew what her thoughts were.
&ldquo;Look at her!&rdquo; he said to me. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you see what she
is doing? She believes in that girl whom you all said Clive took a fancy to
before he married his present little placid wife; a nice little simple
creature, who is worth a dozen Ethels.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Simple certainly,&rdquo; says Mr. P., with a shrug of the shoulders.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A simpleton of twenty is better than a roue of twenty. It is better not
to have thought at all, than to have thought such things as must go through a
girl&rsquo;s mind whose life is passed in jilting and being jilted; whose eyes,
as soon as they are opened, are turned to the main chance, and are taught to
leer at earl, to languish at a marquis, and to grow blind before a commoner. I
don&rsquo;t know much about fashionable life. Heaven help us (you young
Brummell! I see the reproach in your face!) Why, sir, it absolutely appears to
me as if this little hop-o&rsquo;-my-thumb of a creature has begun to give
herself airs since her marriage and her carriage. Do you know, I rather thought
she patronised me? Are all women spoiled by their contact with the world, and
their bloom rubbed off in the market? I know one who seems to me to remain
pure! to be sure, I only know her, and this little person, and Mrs. Flanagan
our laundress, and my sisters at home, who don&rsquo;t count. But that Miss
Newcome to whom once you introduced me? Oh, the cockatrice! only that poison
don&rsquo;t affect your wife, the other would kill her. I hope the Colonel will
not believe a word which Laura says.&rdquo; And my wife&rsquo;s
<i>tête-à-tête</i> with our host coming to an end about this time, Mr.
Warrington in high spirits goes up to the ladies, recapitulates the news of
Barnes&rsquo;s lecture, recites &ldquo;How doth the little busy bee,&rdquo; and
gives a quasi-satirical comment upon that well-known poem, which bewilders Mrs.
Clive, until, set on by the laughter of the rest of the audience, she laughs
very freely at that odd man, and calls him &ldquo;you droll satirical creature
you!&rdquo; and says &ldquo;she never was so much amused in her life. Were you,
Mrs. Pendennis?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Meanwhile Clive, who has been sitting apart moodily biting his nails, not
listening to F. B.&rsquo;s remarks, has broken into a laugh once or twice, and
gone to a writing-book, on which, whilst George is still disserting, Clive is
drawing.
</p>

<p>
At the end of the other&rsquo;s speech, F. B. goes up to the draughtsman, looks
over his shoulder, makes one or two violent efforts as of inward convulsion,
and finally explodes in an enormous guffaw. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s capital! By Jove,
it&rsquo;s capital! Sir Barnes would never dare to face his constituents with
that picture of him hung up in Newcome!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And F. B. holds up the drawing, at which we all laugh except Laura. As for the
Colonel, he paces up and down the room, holding the sketch close to his eyes,
holding it away from him, patting it, clapping his son delightedly on the
shoulder. &ldquo;Capital! capital! We&rsquo;ll have the picture printed, by
Jove, sir; show vice it&rsquo;s own image; and shame the viper in his own nest,
sir. That&rsquo;s what we will.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
Mrs. Pendennis came away with rather a heavy heart from this party. She chose
to interest herself about the right or wrong of her friends; and her mind was
disturbed by the Colonel&rsquo;s vindictive spirit. On the subsequent day we
had occasion to visit our friend J. J. (who was completing the sweetest little
picture, No. 263 in the Exhibition, &ldquo;Portrait of a Lady and
Child&rdquo;), and we found that Clive had been with the painter that morning
likewise; and that J. J. was acquainted with his scheme. That he did not
approve of it we could read in the artist&rsquo;s grave countenance. &ldquo;Nor
does Clive approve of it either!&rdquo; cried Ridley, with greater eagerness
than he usually displayed, and more openness than he was accustomed to exhibit
in judging unfavourably of his friends.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Among them they have taken him away from his art,&rdquo; Ridley said.
&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t understand him when he talks about it; they despise him
for pursuing it. Why should I wonder at that? my parents despised it too, and
my father was not a grand gentleman like the Colonel, Mrs. Pendennis. Ah! why
did the Colonel ever grow rich? Why had not Clive to work for his bread as
have? He would have done something that was worthy of him then; now his time
must be spent in dancing attendance at balls land operas, and yawning at City
board-rooms. They call that business: they think he is idling when he comes
here, poor fellow! As if life was long enough for our art; and the best labour
we can give, good enough for it! He went away groaning this morning, and quite
saddened in spirits. The Colonel wants to set up himself for Parliament, or to
set Clive up; but he says he won&rsquo;t. I hope he won&rsquo;t; do not you,
Mrs. Pendennis?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The painter turned as he spoke; and the bright northern light which fell upon
the sitter&rsquo;s head was intercepted, and lighted up his own as he addressed
us. Out of that bright light looked his pale thoughtful face, and long locks
and eager brown eyes. The palette on his arm was a great shield painted of many
colours: he carried his mall-stick and a sheaf of brushes along with the
weapons of his glorious but harmless war. With these he achieves conquests,
wherein none are wounded save the envious: with that he shelters him against
how much idleness, ambition, temptations! Occupied over that consoling work,
idle thoughts cannot gain mastery over him: selfish wishes or desires are kept
at bay. Art is truth: and truth is religion: and its study and practice a daily
work of pious duty. What are the world&rsquo;s struggles, brawls, successes, to
that calm recluse pursuing his calling? See, twinkling in the darkness round
his chamber, numberless beautiful trophies of the graceful victories which he
has won:&mdash;sweet flowers of fancy reared by him:&mdash;kind shapes of
beauty which he has devised and moulded. The world enters into the
artist&rsquo;s studio, and scornfully bids him a price for his genius, or makes
dull pretence to admire it. What know you of his art? You cannot read the
alphabet of that sacred book, good old Thomas Newcome! What can you tell of its
glories, joys, secrets, consolations? Between his two best-beloved mistresses,
poor Clive&rsquo;s luckless father somehow interposes; and with sorrowful, even
angry protests. In place of Art the Colonel brings him a ledger; and in lieu of
first love, shows him Rosey.
</p>

<p>
No wonder that Clive hangs his head; rebels sometimes, desponds always: he has
positively determined to refuse to stand for Newcome, Ridley says. Laura is
glad of his refusal, and begins to think of him once more as of the Clive of
old days.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0066" id="link2HCH0066"></a>
CHAPTER LXVI.<br/>
In which the Colonel and the Newcome Athenæum are both lectured</h2>

<p>
At breakfast with his family, on the morning after the little entertainment to
which we were bidden, in the last chapter, Colonel Newcome was full of the
projected invasion of Barnes&rsquo;s territories, and delighted to think that
there was an opportunity of at last humiliating that rascal.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive does not think he is a rascal at all, papa,&rdquo; cries Rosey,
from behind her tea-urn; &ldquo;that is, you said you thought papa judged him
too harshly; you know you did, this morning!&rdquo; And from her
husband&rsquo;s angry glances, she flies to his father&rsquo;s for protection.
Those were even fiercer than Clive&rsquo;s. Revenge flashed from beneath Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s grizzled eyebrows, and glanced in the direction where Clive
sat. Then the Colonel&rsquo;s face flushed up, and he cast his eyes down
towards his tea-cup, which he lifted with a trembling hand. The father and son
loved each other so, that each was afraid of the other. A war between two such
men is dreadful; pretty little pink-faced Rosey, in a sweet little morning cap
and ribbons, her pretty little fingers twinkling with a score of rings, sat
simpering before her silver tea-urn, which reflected her pretty little pink
baby face. Little artless creature! what did she know of the dreadful wounds
which her little words inflicted in the one generous breast and the other?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My boy&rsquo;s heart is gone from me,&rdquo; thinks poor Thomas Newcome;
&ldquo;our family is insulted, our enterprises ruined, by that traitor, and my
son is not even angry! he does not care for the success of our plans&mdash;for
the honour of our name even; I make him a position of which any young man in
England might be proud, and Clive scarcely deigns to accept it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My wife appeals to my father,&rdquo; thinks poor Clive; &ldquo;it is
from him she asks counsel, and not from me. Be it about the ribbon in her cap,
or any other transaction in our lives, she takes her colour from his opinion,
and goes to him for advice, and I have to wait till it is given, and conform
myself to it. If I differ from the dear old father, I wound him; if I yield up
my opinion, as I do always, it is with a bad grace, and I wound him still. With
the best intentions in the world, what a slave&rsquo;s life it is that he has
made for me!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;How interested you are in your papers!&rdquo; resumes the sprightly
nosey. &ldquo;What can you find in those horrid politics?&rdquo; Both gentlemen
are looking at their papers with all their might, and no doubt cannot see one
single word which those brilliant and witty leading articles contain.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive is like you, Rosey,&rdquo; says the Colonel, laying his paper
down, &ldquo;and does not care for politics.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He only cares for pictures, papa,&rdquo; says Mrs. Clive. &ldquo;He
would not drive with me yesterday in the Park, but spent hours in his room,
while you were toiling in the City, poor papa!&mdash;spent hours painting a
horrid beggar-man dressed up as a monk. And this morning, he got up quite
early, quite early, and has been out ever so long, and only came in for
breakfast just now! just before the bell rung.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I like a ride before breakfast,&rdquo; says Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A ride! I know where you have been, sir! He goes away morning after
morning, to that little Mr. Ridley&rsquo;s&mdash;his chums, papa, and he comes
back with his hands all over horrid paint. He did this morning; you know you
did, Clive.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I did not keep any one waiting, Rosa,&rdquo; says Clive. &ldquo;I like
to have two or three hours at my painting when I can spare time.&rdquo; Indeed,
the poor fellow used so to run away of summer meetings for Ridley&rsquo;s
instructions, and gallop home again, so as to be in time for the family meal.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; cries Rosey, tossing up the cap and ribbons, &ldquo;he gets
up so early in the morning, that at night he falls asleep after dinner; very
pleasant and polite, isn&rsquo;t he, papa?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am up betimes too, my dear,&rdquo; says the Colonel (many and many a
time he must have heard Clive as he left the house); &ldquo;I have a great many
letters to write, affairs of the greatest importance to examine and conduct.
Mr. Betts from the City is often with me for hours before I come down to your
breakfast-table. A man who has the affairs of such a great bank as ours to look
to, must be up with the lark. We are all early risers in India.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You dear kind papa!&rdquo; says little Rosey, with unfeigned admiration;
and she puts out one of the plump white little jewelled hands, and pats the
lean brown paw of the Colonel which is nearest to her.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is Ridley&rsquo;s picture getting on well, Clive?&rdquo; asks the
Colonel, trying to interest himself about Ridley and his picture.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Very well; it is beautiful; he has sold it for a great price; they must
make him an Academician next year,&rdquo; replies Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A most industrious and meritorious young man; he deserves every honour
that may happen to him,&rdquo; says the old soldier. &ldquo;Rosa, my dear, it
is time that you should ask Mr. Ridley to dinner, and Mr. Smee, and some of
those gentlemen. We will drive this afternoon and see your portrait.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive does not go to sleep after dinner when Mr. Ridley comes
here,&rdquo; cries Rosa.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No; I think it is my turn then,&rdquo; says the Colonel, with a glance
of kindness. The anger has disappeared from under his brows; at that moment the
menaced battle is postponed.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And yet I know that it must come,&rdquo; says poor Clive, telling me the
story as he hangs on my arm, and we pace through the Park. &ldquo;The Colonel
and I are walking on a mine, and that poor little wife of mine is perpetually
flinging little shells to fire it. I sometimes wish it were blown up, and I
were done for, Pen. I don&rsquo;t think my widow would break her heart about
me. No; I have no right to say that; it&rsquo;s a shame to say that; she tries
her very best to please me, poor little dear. It&rsquo;s the fault of my
temper, perhaps, that she can&rsquo;t. But they neither understand me,
don&rsquo;t you see? the Colonel can&rsquo;t help thinking I am a degraded
being, because I am fond of painting. Still, dear old boy, he patronises
Ridley; a man of genius, whom those sentries ought to salute, by Jove, sir,
when he passes. Ridley patronised by an old officer of Indian dragoons, a
little bit of a Rosey, and a fellow who is not fit to lay his palette for him!
I want sometimes to ask J. J.&rsquo;s pardon, after the Colonel has been
talking to him in his confounded condescending way, uttering some awful bosh
about the fine arts. Rosey follows him, and trips round J. J.&rsquo;s studio,
and pretends to admire, and says, &lsquo;How soft; how sweet!&rsquo; recalling
some of mamma-in-law&rsquo;s dreadful expressions, which make me shudder when I
hear them. If my poor old father had a confidant into whose arm he could hook
his own, and whom he could pester with his family griefs as I do you, the dear
old boy would have his dreary story to tell too. I hate banks, bankers,
Bundelcund, indigo, cotton, and the whole business. I go to that confounded
board, and never hear one syllable that the fellows are talking about. I sit
there because he wishes me to sit there; don&rsquo;t you think he sees that my
heart is out of the business; that I would rather be at home in my
painting-room? We don&rsquo;t understand each other, but we feel each other, as
it were by instinct. Each thinks in his own way, but knows what the other is
thinking. We fight mute battles, don&rsquo;t you see, and, our thoughts, though
we don&rsquo;t express them, are perceptible to one another, and come out from
our eyes, or pass out from us somehow, and meet, and fight, and strike, and
wound.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Of course Clive&rsquo;s confidant saw how sore and unhappy the poor fellow was,
and commiserated his fatal but natural condition. The little ills of life are
the hardest to bear, as we all very well know. What would the possession of a
hundred thousand a year, or fame, and the applause of one&rsquo;s countrymen,
or the loveliest and best-beloved woman,&mdash;of any glory, and happiness, or
good-fortune avail to a gentleman, for instance, who was allowed to enjoy them
only with the condition of wearing a shoe with a couple of nails or sharp
pebbles inside it? All fame and happiness would disappear, and plunge down that
shoe. All life would rankle round those little nails. I strove, by such
philosophic sedatives as confidants are wont to apply on these occasions, to
soothe my poor friend&rsquo;s anger and pain; and I dare say the little nails
hurt the patient just as much as before.
</p>

<p>
Clive pursued his lugubrious talk through the Park, and continued it as far as
the modest-furnished house which we then occupied in the Pimlico region. It so
happened that the Colonel and Mrs. Clive also called upon us that day, and
found this culprit in Laura&rsquo;s drawing-room, when they entered it,
descending out of that splendid barouche in which we have already shown Mrs.
Clive to the public.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He has not been here for months before; nor have you Rosa; nor have you,
Colonel; though we have smothered our indignation, and been to dine with you,
and to call, ever so many times!&rdquo; cries Laura.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel pleaded his business engagements; Rosa, that little woman of the
world, had a thousand calls to make, and who knows how much to do? since she
came out. She had been to fetch papa, at Bays&rsquo;s, and the porter had told
the Colonel that Mr. Clive and Mr. Pendennis had just left the club together.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Clive scarcely ever drives with me,&rdquo; says Rosa; &ldquo;papa almost
always does.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Rosey&rsquo;s is such a swell carriage, that I feel ashamed,&rdquo; says
Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand you young men. I don&rsquo;t see why you need
be ashamed to go on the Course with your wife in her carriage, Clive,&rdquo;
remarks the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Course! the Course is at Calcutta, papa!&rdquo; cries Rosey.
&ldquo;<i>We</i> drive in the Park.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We have a park at Barrackpore too, my dear,&rdquo; says papa.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And he calls his grooms saices! He said he was going to send away a
saice for being tipsy, and I did not know in the least what he could mean,
Laura!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mr. Newcome! you must go and drive on the Course with Rosa now; and the
Colonel must sit and talk with me, whom he has not been to see for such a long
time.&rdquo; Clive presently went off in state by Rosey&rsquo;s side, and then
Laura showed Colonel Newcome his beautiful white Cashmere shawl round a
successor of that little person who had first been wrapped in that web, now a
stout young gentleman whose noise could be clearly heard in the upper regions.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I wish you could come down with us, Arthur, upon our electioneering
visit.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That of which you were talking last night? Are you bent upon it?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, I am determined on it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Laura heard a child&rsquo;s cry at this moment, and left the room with a
parting glance at her husband, who in fact had talked over the matter with Mrs.
Pendennis, and agreed with her in opinion.
</p>

<p>
As the Colonel had opened the question, I ventured to make a respectful
remonstrance against the scheme. Vindictiveness on the part of a man so simple
and generous, so fair and noble in all his dealings as Thomas Newcome, appeared
in my mind unworthy of him. Surely his kinsman had sorrow and humiliation
enough already at home. Barnes&rsquo;s further punishment, we thought, might be
left to time, to remorse, to the Judge of right and wrong; Who better
understands than we can do, our causes and temptations towards evil actions,
Who reserves the sentence for His own tribunal. But when angered, the best of
us mistake our own motives, as we do those of the enemy who inflames us. What
may be private revenge, we take to be indignant virtue and just revolt against
wrong. The Colonel would not hear of counsels of moderation, such as I bore him
from a sweet Christian pleader. &ldquo;Remorse!&rdquo; he cried out with a
laugh, &ldquo;that villain will never feel it until he is tied up and whipped
at the cart&rsquo;s tail! Time change that rogue! Unless he is wholesomely
punished, he will grow a greater scoundrel every year. I am inclined to think,
sir,&rdquo; says he, his honest brows darkling as he looked towards me,
&ldquo;that you too are spoiled by this wicked world, and these heartless,
fashionable, fine people. You wish to live well with the enemy, and with us
too, Pendennis. It can&rsquo;t be. He who is not with us is against us. I very
much fear, sir, that the women, the women, you understand, have been talking
you over. Do not let us speak any more about this subject, for I don&rsquo;t
wish that my son, and my son&rsquo;s old friend, should have a quarrel.&rdquo;
His face became red, his voice quivered with agitation, and he looked with
glances which I was pained to behold in those kind old eyes: not because his
wrath and suspicion visited myself, but because an impartial witness, nay, a
friend to Thomas Newcome in that family quarrel, I grieved to think that a
generous heart was led astray, and to see a good man do wrong. So with no more
thanks for his interference than a man usually gets who meddles in domestic
strifes, the present luckless advocate ceased pleading.
</p>

<p>
To be sure, the Colonel and Clive had other advisers, who did not take the
peaceful side. George Warrington was one of these; he was for war <i>à
l&rsquo;outrance</i> with Barnes Newcome; for keeping no terms with such a
villain. He found a pleasure in hunting him, and whipping him. &ldquo;Barnes
ought to be punished,&rdquo; George said, &ldquo;for his poor wife&rsquo;s
misfortune; it was Barnes&rsquo;s infernal cruelty, wickedness, selfishness,
which had driven her into misery and wrong.&rdquo; Mr. Warrington went down to
Newcome, and was present at that lecture whereof mention has been made in a
previous chapter. I am afraid his behaviour was very indecorous; he laughed at
the pathetic allusions of the respected Member for Newcome; he sneered at the
sublime passages; he wrote an awful critique in the <i>Newcome Independent</i>
two days after, whereof the irony was so subtle, that half the readers of the
paper mistook his grave scorn for respect, and his gibes for praise.
</p>

<p>
Clive, his father, and Frederick Bayham, their faithful aide-de-camp, were at
Newcome likewise when Sir Barnes&rsquo;s oration was delivered. At first it was
given out at Newcome that the Colonel visited the place for the purpose of
seeing his dear old friend and pensioner, Mrs. Mason, who was now not long to
enjoy his bounty, and so old, as scarcely to know her benefactor. Only after
her sleep, or when the sun warmed her and the old wine with which he supplied
her, was the good old woman able to recognise her Colonel. She mingled father
and son together in her mind. A lady who now often came in to her, thought she
was wandering in her talk, when the poor old woman spoke of a visit she had had
from her boy; and then the attendant told Miss Newcome that such a visit had
actually taken place, and that but yesterday Clive and his father had been in
that room, and occupied the chair where she sat. &ldquo;The young lady was
taken quite ill, and seemed ready to faint almost,&rdquo; Mrs. Mason&rsquo;s
servant and spokeswoman told Colonel Newcome when that gentleman arrived
shortly after Ethel&rsquo;s departure, to see his old nurse. &ldquo;Indeed! he
was very sorry.&rdquo; The maid told many stories about Miss Newcome&rsquo;s
goodness and charity; how she was constantly visiting the poor now; how she was
for ever engaged in good works for the young, the sick, and the aged. She had
had a dreadful misfortune in love; she was going to be married to a young
marquis; richer even than Prince de Moncontour down at Rosebury; but it was all
broke off on account of that dreadful affair at the Hall.
</p>

<p>
Was she very good to the poor? did she come often to see her
grandfather&rsquo;s old friend? it was no more than she ought &ldquo;to
do,&rdquo; Colonel Newcome said; without, however, thinking fit to tell his
informant that he had himself met his niece Ethel, five minutes before he had
entered Mrs. Mason&rsquo;s door.
</p>

<p>
The poor thing was in discourse with Mr. Harris, the surgeon, and talking (as
best she might, for no doubt the news which she had just heard had agitated
her), talking about blankets, and arrowroot, wine, and medicaments for her
poor, when she saw her uncle coming towards her. She tottered a step or two
forwards to meet him; held both her hands out, and called his name; but he
looked her sternly in the face, took off his hat and bowed, and passed on. He
did not think fit to mention the meeting even to his son, Clive; but we may be
sure Mr. Harris, the surgeon, spoke of the circumstance that night after the
lecture, at the club, where a crowd of gentlemen were gathered together,
smoking their cigars, and enjoying themselves according to their custom, and
discussing Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s performance.
</p>

<p>
According to established usage in such cases, our esteemed representative was
received by the committee of the Newcome Athenæum, assembled in their
committee-room, and thence marshalled by the chairman and vice-chairman to his
rostrum in the lecture-hall, round about which the magnates of the institution
and the notabilities of the town were rallied on this public occasion. The
Baronet came in some state from his own house, arriving at Newcome in his
carriage with four horses, accompanied by my lady his mother, and Miss Ethel
his beautiful sister, who now was mistress at the Hall. His little girl was
brought&mdash;five years old now; she sate on her aunt&rsquo;s knee, and slept
during a greater part of the performance. A fine bustle, we may be sure, was
made on the introduction of these personages to their reserved seats on the
platform, where they sate encompassed by others of the great ladies of Newcome,
to whom they and the lecturer were especially gracious at this season. Was not
Parliament about to be dissolved, and were not the folks at Newcome Park
particularly civil at that interesting period? So Barnes Newcome mounts his
pulpit, bows round to the crowded assembly in acknowledgment of their buzz of
applause or recognition, passes his lily-white pocket-handkerchief across his
thin lips, and dashes off into his lecture about Mrs. Hemans and the poetry of
the affections. A public man, a commercial man as we well know, yet his heart
is in his home, and his joy in his affections; the presence of this immense
assembly here this evening; of the industrious capitalists; of the intelligent
middle class; of the pride and mainstay of England, the operatives of Newcome;
these, surrounded by their wives and their children (a graceful bow to the
bonnets to the right of the platform), show that they too have hearts to feel,
and homes to cherish; that they, too, feel the love of women, the innocence of
children, the love of song! Our lecturer then makes a distinction between
man&rsquo;s poetry and woman&rsquo;s poetry, charging considerably in favour of
the latter. We show that to appeal to the affections is after all the true
office of the bard; to decorate the homely threshold, to wreathe flowers round
the domestic hearth, the delightful duty of the Christian singer. We glance at
Mrs. Hemans&rsquo;s biography, and state where she was born, and under what
circumstances she must have at first, etc. etc. Is this a correct account of
Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s lecture? I was not present, and did not read the
report. Very likely the above may be a reminiscence of that mock lecture which
Warrington delivered in anticipation of the Baronet&rsquo;s oration.
</p>

<p>
After he had read for about five minutes, it was remarked the Baronet suddenly
stopped and became exceedingly confused over his manuscript: betaking himself
to his auxiliary glass of water before he resumed his discourse, which for a
long time was languid, low, and disturbed in tone. This period of disturbance,
no doubt, must have occurred when Sir Barnes saw before him F. Bayham and
Warrington seated in the amphitheatre; and, by the side of those fierce
scornful countenances, Clive Newcome&rsquo;s pale face.
</p>

<p>
Clive Newcome was not looking at Barnes. His eyes were fixed upon the lady
seated not far from the lecturer&mdash;upon Ethel, with her arm round her
little niece&rsquo;s shoulder, and her thick black ringlets drooping down over
a face paler than Clive&rsquo;s own.
</p>

<p>
Of course she knew that Clive was present. She was aware of him as she entered
the hall; saw him at the very first moment; saw nothing but him, I dare say,
though her eyes were shut and her head was turned now towards her mother, and
now bent down on the little niece&rsquo;s golden curls. And the past and its
dear histories, and youth and its hopes and passions, and tones and looks for
ever echoing in the heart, and present in the memory&mdash;these, no doubt,
poor Clive saw and heard as he looked across the great gulf of time, and
parting, and grief, and beheld the woman he had loved for many years. There she
sits; the same, but changed: as gone from him as if she were dead; departed
indeed into another sphere, and entered into a kind of death. If there is no
love more in yonder heart, it is but a corpse unburied. Strew round it the
flowers of youth. Wash it with tears of passion. Wrap it and envelop it with
fond devotion. Break heart, and fling yourself on the bier, and kiss her cold
lips and press her hand! It falls back dead on the cold breast again. The
beautiful lips have never a blush or a smile. Cover them and lay them in the
ground, and so take thy hatband off, good friend, and go to thy business. Do
you suppose you are the only man who has had to attend such a funeral? You will
find some men smiling and at work the day after. Some come to the grave now and
again out of the world, and say a brief prayer, and a &ldquo;God bless
her!&rdquo; With some men, she gone, and her viduous mansion your heart to let,
her successor, the new occupant, poking in all the drawers and corners, and
cupboards of the tenement, finds her miniature and some of her dusty old
letters hidden away somewhere, and says&mdash;Was this the face he admired so?
Why, allowing even for the painter&rsquo;s flattery, it is quite ordinary, and
the eyes certainly do not look straight. Are these the letters you thought so
charming? Well, upon my word, I never read anything more commonplace in my
life! See, here&rsquo;s a line half blotted out. Oh, I suppose she was crying
then&mdash;some of her tears, idle tears&mdash;Hark, there is Barnes
Newcome&rsquo;s eloquence still plapping on like water from a cistern&mdash;and
our thoughts, where have they wandered? far away from the lecture&mdash;as far
away as Clive&rsquo;s almost. And now the fountain ceases to trickle; the mouth
from which issued that cool and limpid flux ceases to smile; the figure is seen
to bow and retire; a buzz, a hum, a whisper, a scuffle, a meeting of bonnets
and wagging of feathers and rustling of silks ensues. &ldquo;Thank you!
delightful, I am sure!&rdquo; &ldquo;I really was quite overcome;&rdquo;
&ldquo;Excellent;&rdquo; &ldquo;So much obliged,&rdquo; are rapid phrases heard
amongst the polite on the platform. While down below, &ldquo;Yaw! quite enough
of <i>that;</i>&rdquo; &ldquo;Mary Jane, cover your throat up, and don&rsquo;t
kitch cold, and don&rsquo;t push me, please, sir;&rdquo; &ldquo;&rsquo;Arry!
coom along and &rsquo;av&rsquo; a pint a ale,&rdquo; etc., are the remarks
heard, or perhaps not heard, by Clive Newcome, as he watches at the private
entrance of the Athenæum, where Sir Barnes&rsquo;s carriage is waiting with its
flaming lamps, and domestics in state liveries. One of them comes out of the
building bearing the little girl in his arms, and lays her in the carriage.
Then Sir Barnes, and Lady Anne, and the Mayor; then Ethel issues forth, and as
she passes under the lamps, beholds Clive&rsquo;s face as pale and sad as her
own.
</p>

<p>
Shall we go visit the lodge-gates of Newcome Park the moon shining on their
carving? Is there any pleasure in walking by miles of grey paling, and endless
palisades of firs? Oh, you fool, what do you hope to see behind that curtain?
Absurd fugitive, whither would you run? Can you burst the tether of fate: and
is not poor dear little Rosey Mackenzie sitting yonder waiting for you by the
stake? Go home, sir; and don&rsquo;t catch cold. So Mr. Clive returns to the
King&rsquo;s Arms, and goes up to his bedroom, and he hears Mr. F.
Bayham&rsquo;s deep voice as he passes by the Boscawen Room, where the Jolly
Britons are as usual assembled.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0067" id="link2HCH0067"></a>
CHAPTER LXVII.<br/>
Newcome and Liberty</h2>

<p>
We have said that the Baronet&rsquo;s lecture was discussed in the midnight
senate assembled at the King&rsquo;s Arms, where Mr. Tom Potts showed the
orator no mercy. The senate of the King&rsquo;s Arms was hostile to Sir Barnes
Newcome. Many other Newcomites besides were savage and inclined to revolt
against the representative of their borough. As these patriots met over their
cups, and over the bumper of friendship uttered the sentiments of freedom, they
had often asked of one another, where should a man be found to rid Newcome of
its dictator? Generous hearts writhed under the oppression: patriotic eyes
scowled when Barnes Newcome went by: with fine satire, Tom Potts at Brown the
hatter&rsquo;s shop, who made the hats for Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s
domestics, proposed to take one of the beavers&mdash;a gold-laced one with a
cockade and a cord&mdash;and set it up in the market-place and bid all Newcome
come bow to it, as to the hat of Gessler. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think,
Potts,&rdquo; says F. Bayham, who of course was admitted into the King&rsquo;s
Arms club, and ornamented that assembly by his presence and discourse,
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think the Colonel would make a good William Tell to
combat against that Gessler?&rdquo; Ha! Proposal received with
acclamation&mdash;eagerly adopted by Charles Tucker, Esq., Attorney-at-Law, who
would not have the slightest objection to conduct Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s, or
any other gentleman&rsquo;s electioneering business in Newcome or elsewhere.
</p>

<p>
Like those three gentlemen in the plays and pictures of William Tell, who
conspire under the moon, calling upon liberty and resolving to elect Tell as
their especial champion&mdash;like Arnold, Melchthal, and Werner&mdash;Tom
Potts, Fred Bayham, and Charles Tucker, Esqs., conspired round a punch-bowl,
and determined that Thomas Newcome should be requested to free his country. A
deputation from the electors of Newcome, that is to say, these very gentlemen
waited on the Colonel in his apartment the very next morning, and set before
him the state of the borough; Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s tyranny, under which it
groaned; and the yearning of all honest men to be free from that usurpation.
Thomas Newcome received the deputation with great solemnity and politeness,
crossed his legs, folded his arms, smoked his cheroot, and listened moat
decorously, as now Potts, now Tucker, expounded to him; Bayham giving the
benefit of his emphatic &ldquo;hear, hear,&rdquo; to their statements, and
explaining dubious phrases to the Colonel in the most affable manner.
</p>

<p>
Whatever the conspirators had to say against Barnes, Colonel Newcome was only
too ready to believe. He had made up his mind that that criminal ought to be
punished and exposed. The lawyer&rsquo;s covert innuendoes, who was ready to
insinuate any amount of evil against Barnes which could safely be uttered, were
by no means strong enough for Thomas Newcome. &ldquo;&lsquo;Sharp practice!
exceedingly alive to his own interests&mdash;reported violence of temper and
tenacity of money&rsquo;&mdash;say swindling at once, sir&mdash;say falsehood
and rapacity&mdash;say cruelty and avarice,&rdquo; cries the Colonel. &ldquo;I
believe, upon my honour and conscience, that unfortunate young man to be guilty
of every one of those crimes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mr. Bayham remarks to Mr. Potts that our friend the Colonel, when he does utter
an opinion, takes care that there shall be no mistake about it.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I took care there should be no mistake before I uttered it at all,
Bayham!&rdquo; cries F. B.&rsquo;s patron. &ldquo;As long as I was in any doubt
about this young man, I gave the criminal the benefit of it, as a man who
admires our glorious constitution should do, and kept my own counsel,
sir.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;At least,&rdquo; remarks Mr. Tucker, &ldquo;enough is proven to show
that Sir Barnes Newcome Newcome, Baronet, is scarce a fit person to represent
this great borough in Parliament.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Represent Newcome in Parliament! It is a disgrace to that noble
institution the English House of Commons, that Barnes Newcome should sit in it.
A man whose word you cannot trust; a man stained with every private crime. What
right has he to sit in the assembly of the legislators of the land, sir?&rdquo;
cries the Colonel, waving his hand as if addressing a chamber of deputies.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You are for upholding the House of Commons?&rdquo; inquires the lawyer.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course, sir, of course.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And for increasing the franchise, Colonel Newcome, I should hope?&rdquo;
continues Mr. Tucker.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Every man who can read and write ought to have a vote, sir; that is my
opinion!&rdquo; cries the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a Liberal to the backbone,&rdquo; says Potts to Tucker.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;To the backbone!&rdquo; responds Tucker to Potts. &ldquo;The Colonel
will do for us, Potts.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We want such a man, Tucker; the <i>Independent</i> has been crying out
for such a man for years past. We ought to have a Liberal as second
representative of this great town&mdash;not a sneaking half-and-half
Ministerialist like Sir Barnes, a fellow with one leg in the Carlton and the
other in Brookes&rsquo;s. Old Mr. Bunce we can&rsquo;t touch. His place is
safe; he is a good man of business: we can&rsquo;t meddle with Mr.
Bunce&mdash;I know that, who know the feeling of the country pretty
well.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pretty well! Better than any man in Newcome, Potts!&rdquo; cries Mr.
Tucker.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But a good man like the Colonel,&mdash;a good Liberal like the
Colonel,&mdash;a man who goes in for household suffrage&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Certainly, gentlemen.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And the general great Liberal principles&mdash;we know, of
course&mdash;such a man would assuredly have a chance against Sir Barnes
Newcome at the coming election! could we find such a man! a real friend of the
people!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know a friend of the people if ever there was one,&rdquo; F. Bayham
interposes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A man of wealth, station, experience; a man who has fought for his
country; a man who is beloved in this place as you are, Colonel Newcome: for
your goodness is known, sir&mdash;<i>You</i> are not ashamed of your origin,
and there is not a Newcomite old or young, but knows how admirably good you
have been to your old friend, Mrs.&mdash;Mrs.
What-d&rsquo;-you-call&rsquo;-em.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mrs. Mason,&rdquo; from F. B.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mrs. Mason. If such a man as you, sir, would consent to put himself in
nomination at the next election, every true Liberal in this place would rush to
support you; and crush the oligarchy who rides over the liberties of this
borough!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Something of this sort, gentlemen, I own to you had crossed my
mind,&rdquo; Thomas Newcome remarked. &ldquo;When I saw that disgrace to my
name, and the name of my father&rsquo;s birthplace, representing the borough in
Parliament, I thought for the credit of the town and the family, the Member for
Newcome at least might be an honest man. I am an old soldier; have passed all
my life in India; and am little conversant with affairs at home&rdquo; (cries
of &ldquo;You are, you are&rdquo;). &ldquo;I hoped that my son, Mr. Clive
Newcome, might have been found qualified to contest this borough against his
unworthy cousin, and possibly to sit as your representative in Parliament. The
wealth I have had the good fortune to amass will descend to him naturally, and
at no very distant period of time, for I am nearly seventy years of age,
gentlemen.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The gentlemen are astonished at this statement.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But,&rdquo; resumed the Colonel; &ldquo;my son Clive, as my friend
Bayham knows, and to my own regret and mortification, as I don&rsquo;t care to
confess to you, declares he has no interest or desire in politics, or for
public distinction&mdash;prefers his own pursuits&mdash;and even these I fear
do not absorb him&mdash;declines the offer which I made him, to present himself
in opposition to Sir Barnes Newcome. It becomes men in a certain station, as I
think, to assert that station; and though a few years back I never should have
thought of public life at all, and proposed to end my days in quiet as a
retired dragoon officer, since&mdash;since it has pleased Heaven to increase
very greatly my pecuniary means, to place me, as a director and manager of an
important banking company, in a station of great public responsibility, I and
my brother-directors have thought it but right that one of us should sit in
Parliament, if possible, and I am not a man to shirk from that or from any
other duty.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Colonel, will you attend a meeting of electors which we will call, and
say as much to them and as well?&rdquo; cries Mr. Potts. &ldquo;Shall I put an
announcement in my paper to the effect that you are ready to come
forward?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am prepared to do so, my good sir.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And presently this solemn palaver ended.
</p>

<p>
Besides the critical article upon the Baronet&rsquo;s lecture, of which Mr.
Warrington was the author, there appeared in the leading columns of the ensuing
number of Mr. Potts&rsquo; <i>Independent</i>, some remarks of a very smashing
or hostile nature, against the Member for Newcome. &ldquo;This gentleman has
shown such talent in the lecturing business,&rdquo; the <i>Independent</i>
said, &ldquo;that it is a great pity he should not withdraw himself from
politics, and cultivate what all Newcome knows are the arts which he
understands best; namely, poetry and the domestic affections. The performance
of our talented representative last night was so pathetic as to bring tears
into the eyes of several of our fair friends. We have heard, but never believed
until now, that Sir Barnes Newcome possessed such a genius <i>for making women
cry</i>. Last week we had the talented Miss Noakes, from Slowcome, reading
Milton to us; how far superior was the eloquence of Sir Barnes Newcome Newcome,
Bart., even to that of the celebrated jestress! Bets were freely offered in the
room last night that Sir Barnes would <i>beat any woman</i>,&mdash;bets which
were not taken, as we scarcely need say, so well do our citizens appreciate the
character of our excellent, our admirable representative.&mdash;Let the Baronet
stick to his lectures, and let Newcome relieve him of his political
occupations. He is not fit for them, he is too sentimental a man for us; the
men of Newcome want a sound practical person; the Liberals of Newcome have a
desire to be represented. When we elected Sir Barnes, he talked liberally
enough, and we thought he would do, but you see the honourable Baronet is so
poetical! we ought to have known that, and not to have believed him. Let us
have a straightforward gentleman. If not a man of words, at least let us have a
practical man. If not a man of eloquence, one at any rate whose word we can
trust, and we can&rsquo;t trust Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s; we have tried him,
and we can&rsquo;t really. Last night when the ladies were crying, we could not
for the souls of us help laughing. We hope we know how to conduct ourselves as
gentlemen. We trust we did not interrupt the harmony of the evening; but Sir
Barnes Newcome, prating about children and virtue, and affection and poetry,
this is really too strong.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The <i>Independent</i>, faithful to its name, and ever actuated by
principles of honour, has been, as our thousands of readers know, disposed to
give Sir Barnes Newcome Newcome, Bart., a fair trial. When he came forward
after his father&rsquo;s death, we believed in his pledges and promises, as a
retrencher and reformer, and we stuck by him. Is there any man in Newcome,
except, perhaps, our twaddling old contemporary the <i>Sentinel</i>, who
believes in Sir B. N. any more? We say no, and we now give the readers of the
<i>Independent</i>, and the electors of this borough, fair notice, that when
the dissolution of Parliament takes place, a good man, a true man, a man of
experience, no dangerous Radical, or brawling tap orator&mdash;Mr.
Hicks&rsquo;s friends well understand whom we mean&mdash;but a gentleman of
Liberal principles, well-won wealth, and deserved station and honour, will ask
the electors of Newcome whether they are, or are not discontented with their
present unworthy Member. The <i>Independent</i> for one, says, we know good men
of your family, we know in it men who would do honour to any name; but you, Sir
Barnes Newcome Newcome, Bart., we trust no more.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
In the electioneering matter, which had occasioned my unlucky interference, and
that subsequent little coolness upon the good Colonel&rsquo;s part, Clive
Newcome had himself shown that the scheme was not to his liking; had then
submitted as his custom was: and doing so with a bad grace, as also was to be
expected, had got little thanks for his obedience. Thomas Newcome was hurt at
his son&rsquo;s faint-heartedness, and of course little Rosey was displeased at
his hanging back. He set off in his father&rsquo;s train, a silent, unwilling
partisan. Thomas Newcome had the leisure to survey Clive&rsquo;s glum face
opposite to him during the whole of their journey, and to chew his mustachios,
and brood upon his wrath and wrongs. His life had been a sacrifice for that
boy! What darling schemes had he not formed in his behalf, and how
superciliously did Clive meet his projects! The Colonel could not see the harm
of which he had himself been the author. Had he not done everything in
mortal&rsquo;s power for his son&rsquo;s happiness, and how many young men in
England were there with such advantages as this moody, discontented, spoiled
boy? As Clive backed out of the contest, of course his father urged it only the
more vehemently. Clive slunk away from committees and canvassing, and lounged
about the Newcome manufactories, whilst his father, with anger and bitterness
in his heart, remained at the post of honour, as he called it, bent upon
overcoming his enemy and carrying his point against Barnes Newcome. &ldquo;If
Paris will not fight, sir,&rdquo; the Colonel said, with a sad look following
his son, &ldquo;Priam must.&rdquo; Good old Priam believed his cause to be a
perfectly just one, and that duty and his honour called upon him to draw the
sword. So there was difference between Thomas Newcome and Clive his son. I
protest it is with pain and reluctance I have to write that the good old man
was in error&mdash;that there was a wrong-doer, and that Atticus was he.
</p>

<p>
Atticus, be it remembered, thought himself compelled by the very best motives.
Thomas Newcome, the Indian banker, was at war with Barnes, the English banker.
The latter had commenced the hostilities by a sudden and cowardly act of
treason. There were private wrongs to envenom the contest, but it was the
mercantile quarrel on which the Colonel chose to set his declaration of war.
Barnes&rsquo;s first dastardly blow had occasioned it, and his uncle was
determined to carry it through. This I have said was also George
Warrington&rsquo;s judgment, who, in the ensuing struggle between Sir Barnes
and his uncle, acted as a very warm and efficient partisan of the latter.
&ldquo;Kinsmanship!&rdquo; says George, &ldquo;what has old Tom Newcome ever
had from his kinsman but cowardice and treachery? If Barnes had held up his
finger, the young one might have been happy; if he could have effected it, the
Colonel and his bank would have been ruined. I am for war, and for seeing the
old boy in Parliament. He knows no more about politics than I do about dancing
the polka; but there are five hundred wiseacres in that assembly who know no
more than he does, and an honest man taking his seat there, in place of a
confounded little rogue, at least makes a change for the better.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I dare say Thomas Newcome, Esq. would by no means have concurred in the above
estimate of his political knowledge, and thought himself as well informed as
another. He used to speak with the greatest gravity about our constitution as
the pride and envy of the world, though he surprised you as much by the
latitudinarian reforms, which he was eager to press forward, as by the most
singular old Tory opinions which he advocated on other occasions. He was for
having every man to vote; every poor man to labour short time and get high
wages; every poor curate to be paid double or treble; every bishop to be docked
of his salary, and dismissed from the House of Lords. But he was a staunch
admirer of that assembly, and a supporter of the rights of the Crown. He was
for sweeping off taxes from the poor, and as money must be raised to carry on
government, he opined that the rich should pay. He uttered all these opinions
with the greatest gravity and emphasis, before a large assembly of electors,
and others convened in the Newcome Town Hall, amid the roars of applause of the
non-electors, and the bewilderment and consternation of Mr. Potts, of the
<i>Independent</i>, who had represented the Colonel in his paper as a safe and
steady reformer. Of course the <i>Sentinel</i> showed him up as a most
dangerous radical, a sepoy republican, and so forth, to the wrath and
indignation of Colonel Newcome. He a republican! he scorned the name! He would
die as he had bled many a time for his sovereign. He an enemy of our beloved
Church! He esteemed and honoured it, as he hated and abhorred the superstitions
of Rome. (Yells, from the Irish in the crowd.) He an enemy of the House of
Lords! He held it to be the safeguard of the constitution and the legitimate
prize of our most illustrious, naval, military, and&mdash;and&mdash;legal
heroes (ironical cheers). He repelled with scorn the dastard attacks of the
journal which had assailed him; he asked, laying his hands on his heart, if as
a gentleman, an officer bearing Her Majesty&rsquo;s commission, he could be
guilty of a desire to subvert her empire and to insult the dignity of her
crown?
</p>

<p>
After this second speech at the Town Hall, it was asserted by a considerable
party in Newcome, that Old Tom (as the mob familiarly called him) was a Tory,
while an equal number averred that he was a Radical. Mr. Potts tried to
reconcile his statements, a work in which I should think the talented editor of
the <i>Independent</i> had no little difficulty. &ldquo;He knows nothing about
it,&rdquo; poor Clive said with a sigh; &ldquo;his politics are all sentiment
and kindness; he will have the poor man paid double wages, and does not
remember that the employer would be ruined: you have heard him, Pen, talking in
this way at his own table, but when he comes out armed <i>cap-à-pied</i>, and
careers against windmills in public, don&rsquo;t you see that as Don
Quixote&rsquo;s son I had rather the dear brave old gentleman was at
home?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So this <i>fainéant</i> took but little part in the electioneering doings,
holding moodily aloof from the meetings, and councils, and public-houses, where
his father&rsquo;s partisans were assembled.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0068" id="link2HCH0068"></a>
CHAPTER LXVIII.<br/>
A Letter and a Reconciliation</h2>

<p>
Miss Ethel Newcome to Mrs. Pendennis:
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Dearest Laura,&mdash;I have not written to you for many weeks past.
There have been some things too trivial, and some too sad, to write about; some
things I know I shall write of if I begin, and yet that I know I had best
leave; for of what good is looking to the past now? Why vex you or myself by
reverting to it? Does not every day bring its own duty and task, and are these
not enough to occupy one? What a fright you must have had with my little
goddaughter! Thank heaven she is well now, and restored to you. You and your
husband I know do not think it essential, but I do, <i>most essential</i>, and
am very grateful that she was taken to church before her illness.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is Mr. Pendennis proceeding with his canvass? I try and avoid a certain
subject, but it <i>will</i> come. You know who is canvassing against us here.
My poor uncle has met with very considerable success amongst the lower classes.
He makes them rambling speeches at which my brother and his friends laugh, but
which the people applaud. I saw him only yesterday, on the balcony of the
King&rsquo;s Arms, speaking to a great mob, who were cheering vociferously
below. I had met him before. He would not even stop and give his Ethel of old
days his hand. I would have given him I don&rsquo;t know what, for one kiss,
for one kind word; but he passed on and would not answer me. He thinks
me&mdash;what the world thinks me, worldly and heartless; what I <i>was</i>.
But at least, dear Laura, you know that I always truly loved <i>him</i>, and do
now, although he is our enemy, though he believes and utters the most cruel
things against Barnes, though he says that Barnes Newcome, my father&rsquo;s
son, my brother, Laura, is not an honest man. Hard, selfish, worldly, I own my
poor brother to be, and pray Heaven to amend him; but dishonest! and to be so
maligned by the person one loves best in the world! This is a hard trial. I
pray a proud heart may be bettered by it.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I have seen my cousin; once at a lecture which poor Barnes gave, and
who seemed very much disturbed on perceiving Clive; once afterwards at good old
Mrs. Mason&rsquo;s, whom I have always continued to visit for uncle&rsquo;s
sake. The poor old woman, whose wits are very nearly gone, held both our hands,
and asked when we were going to be married? and laughed, poor old thing! I
cried out to her that Mr. Clive had a wife at home, a young dear wife, I said.
He gave a dreadful sort of laugh, and turned away into the window. He looks
terribly ill, pale, and oldened.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I asked him a great deal about his wife, whom I remember a very pretty,
sweet-looking girl indeed, at my Aunt Hobson&rsquo;s, but with a not agreeable
mother as I thought then. He answered me by monosyllables, appeared as though
he would speak, and then became silent. I am pained, and yet glad that I saw
him, I said, not very distinctly, I dare say, that I hoped the difference
between Barnes and uncle would not extinguish his regard for mamma and me, who
have always loved him; when I said loved him, he give one of his bitter laughs
again; and so he did when I said I hoped his wife was well. You never would
tell me much about Mrs. Newcome; and I fear she does not make my cousin happy.
And yet this marriage was of my uncle&rsquo;s making: another of the
unfortunate marriages in our family. I am glad that I paused in time, before
the commission of that sin; I strive my best, and to amend my temper, my
inexperience, my shortcomings, and try to be the mother of my poor
brother&rsquo;s children. But Barnes has never forgiven me my refusal of Lord
Farintosh. He is of the world still, Laura. Nor must we deal too harshly with
people of his nature, who cannot perhaps comprehend a world beyond. I remember
in old days, when we were travelling on the Rhine, in the happiest days of my
whole life, I used to hear Clive and his friend Mr. Ridley, talk of art and of
nature in a way that I could not understand at first, but came to comprehend
better as my cousin taught me; and since then, I see pictures, landscapes, and
flowers, with quite different eyes, and beautiful secrets as it were, of which
I had no idea before. The secret of all secrets, the secret of the other life,
and the better world beyond ours, may not this be unrevealed to some? I pray
for them all, dearest Laura, for those nearest and dearest to me, that the
truth may lighten their darkness, and Heaven&rsquo;s great mercy defend them in
the perils and dangers of their night.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My boy at Sandhurst has done very well indeed; and Egbert, I am happy to
say, thinks of taking orders; he has been very moderate at College. Not so
Alfred; but the Guards are a sadly dangerous school for a young man; I have
promised to pay his debts, and he is to exchange into the line. Mamma is coming
to us at Christmas with Alice; my sister is very pretty indeed, I think, and I
am rejoiced she is to marry young Mr. Mumford, who has a tolerable living, and
who has been attached to her ever since he was a boy at Rugby School.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Little Barnes comes on bravely with his Latin; and Mr. Whitestock, <i>a
most excellent and valuable</i> person in this place, where there is so much
Romanism and Dissent, speaks highly of him. Little Clara is so like her unhappy
mother in a thousand ways and actions, that I am shocked often; and see my
brother starting back and turning his head away, as if suddenly wounded. I have
heard the most deplorable accounts of Lord and Lady Highgate. Oh, dearest
friend and sister!-save you, I think I scarce know any one that is happy in the
world: I trust you may continue so-you who impart your goodness and kindness to
all who come near you-you in whose sweet serene happiness I am thankful to be
allowed to repose sometimes. You are the island in the desert, Laura! and the
birds sing there, and the fountain flows; and we come and repose by you for a
little while, and to-morrow the march begins again, and the toil, and the
struggle, and the desert. Good-bye, fountain! Whisper kisses to my dearest
little ones from their affectionate Aunt Ethel.
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;A friend of his, a Mr. Warrington, has spoken against us several times
with extraordinary ability, as Barnes owns. Do you know Mr. W.? He wrote a
dreadful article in the <i>Independent</i>, about the last poor lecture, which
was indeed sad, sentimental, commonplace: and the critique is terribly comical.
I could not help laughing, remembering some passages in it, when Barnes
mentioned it: and my brother became so angry! They have put up a dreadful
caricature of B. in Newcome: and my brother says he did it, but I hope not. It
is very droll, though: he used to make them very funnily. I am glad he has
spirits for it. Good-bye again.&mdash;E. N.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
&ldquo;He says he did it!&rdquo; cries Mr. Pendennis, laying the letter down.
&ldquo;Barnes Newcome would scarcely caricature himself, my dear?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;&lsquo;He&rsquo; often means&mdash;means Clive&mdash;I think,&rdquo;
says Mrs. Pendennis, in an offhand manner.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh! he means Clive, does he, Laura?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes&mdash;and you mean goose, Mr. Pendennis!&rdquo; that saucy lady
replies.
</p>

<p class="p2">
It must have been about the very time when this letter was written, that a
critical conversation occurred between Clive and his father, of which the lad
did not inform me until much later days; as was the case&mdash;the reader has
been more than once begged to believe&mdash;with many other portions of this
biography.
</p>

<p>
One night the Colonel, having come home from a round of electioneering visits,
not half satisfied with himself; exceedingly annoyed (much more than he cared
to own) with the impudence of some rude fellows at the public-houses, who had
interrupted his fine speeches with odious hiccups and familiar jeers, was
seated brooding over his cheroot by the chimney-fire; friend F. B. (of whose
companionship his patron was occasionally tired) finding much better amusement
with the Jolly Britons in the Boscawen Room below. The Colonel, as an
electioneering business, had made his appearance in the club. But that ancient
Roman warrior had frightened those simple Britons. His manners were too awful
for them: so were Clive&rsquo;s, who visited them also under Mr. Pott&rsquo;s
introduction; but the two gentlemen, each being full of care and personal
annoyance at the time, acted like wet blankets upon the Britons&mdash;whereas
F. B. warmed them and cheered them, affably partook of their meals with them,
and graciously shared their cups. So the Colonel was alone, listening to the
far-off roar of the Britons&rsquo; choruses by an expiring fire, as he sate by
a glass of cold negus and the ashes of his cigar.
</p>

<p>
I dare say he may have been thinking that his fire was well-nigh out,&mdash;his
cup of the dregs, his pipe little more now than dust and ashes&mdash;when
Clive, candle in hand, came into their sitting-room.
</p>

<p>
As each saw the other&rsquo;s face, it was so very sad and worn and pale, that
the young man started back; and the elder, with quite the tenderness of old
days, cried, &ldquo;God bless me, my boy, how ill you look! Come and warm
yourself&mdash;look, the fire&rsquo;s out. Have something, Clivy!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
For months past they had not had a really kind word. The tender old voice smote
upon Clive, and he burst into sudden tears. They rained upon his father&rsquo;s
trembling old brown hand, and stooped down and kissed it.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You look very ill too, father,&rdquo; says Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ill? not I!&rdquo; cries the father, still keeping the boy&rsquo;s hand
under both his own on the mantelpiece. &ldquo;Such a battered old fellow as I
am has a right to look the worse for wear; but you, boy; why do you look so
pale?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have seen a ghost, father,&rdquo; Clive answered. Thomas, however,
looked alarmed and inquisitive as though the boy was wandering in his mind.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The ghost of my youth, father, the ghost of my happiness, and the best
days of my life,&rdquo; groaned out the young man. &ldquo;I saw Ethel to-day. I
went to see Sarah Mason, and she was there.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I had seen her, but I did not speak of her,&rdquo; said the father.
&ldquo;I thought it was best not to mention her to you, my poor boy. And
are&mdash;are you fond of her still, Clive?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Still! once means always in these things, father, doesn&rsquo;t it? Once
means to-day, and yesterday, and forever and ever.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Nay, my boy, you mustn&rsquo;t talk to me so, or even to yourself so.
You have the dearest little wife at home, a dear little wife and child.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You had a son, and have been kind enough to him, God knows. <i>You</i>
had a wife: but that doesn&rsquo;t prevent other&mdash;other thoughts. Do you
know you never spoke twice in your life about my mother? You didn&rsquo;t care
for her.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I&mdash;I did my duty by her; I denied her nothing. I scarcely ever had
a word with her, and I did my best to make her happy,&rdquo; interposed the
Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I know, but your heart was with the other. So is mine. It&rsquo;s fatal;
it runs in the family, father.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The boy looked so ineffably wretched that the father&rsquo;s heart melted still
more. &ldquo;I did my best, Clive,&rdquo; the Colonel gasped out. &ldquo;I went
to that villain Barnes and offered him to settle every shilling I was worth on
you&mdash;I did&mdash;you didn&rsquo;t know that&mdash;I&rsquo;d kill myself
for your sake, Clivy. What&rsquo;s an old fellow worth living for? I can live
upon a crust and a cigar. I don&rsquo;t care about a carriage, and only go in
it to please Rosey. I wanted to give up all for you, but he played me false,
that scoundrel cheated us both; he did, and so did Ethel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No, sir; I may have thought so in my rage once, but I know better now.
She was the victim and not the agent. Did Madame de Florac play <i>you</i>
false when she married her husband? It was her fate, and she underwent it. We
all bow to it, we are in the track and the car passes over us. You know it
does, father.&rdquo; The Colonel was a fatalist: he had often advanced this
Oriental creed in his simple discourses with his son and Clive&rsquo;s friends.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Besides,&rdquo; Clive went on, &ldquo;Ethel does not care for me. She
received me to-day quite coldly, and held her hand out as if we had only parted
last year. I suppose she likes that marquis who jilted her&mdash;God bless her!
How shall we know what wins the hearts of women? She has mine. There was my
Fate. Praise be to Allah! It is over.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But there&rsquo;s that villain who injured you. His isn&rsquo;t over
yet,&rdquo; cried the Colonel, clenching his trembling hand.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Ah, father! Let us leave him to Allah too! Suppose Madame de Florac had
a brother who insulted you. You know you wouldn&rsquo;t have revenged yourself.
You would have wounded her in striking him.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You called out Barnes yourself, boy,&rdquo; cried the father.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That was for another cause, and not for my quarrel. And how do you know
I intended to fire? By Jove, I was so miserable then that an ounce of lead
would have done me little harm!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The father saw the son&rsquo;s mind more clearly than he had ever done
hitherto. They had scarcely ever talked upon that subject which the Colonel
found was so deeply fixed in Clive&rsquo;s heart. He thought of his own early
days, and how he had suffered, and beheld his son before him racked with the
same cruel pangs of enduring grief. And he began to own that he had pressed him
too hastily in his marriage; and to make an allowance for an unhappiness of
which he had in part been the cause.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mashallah! Clive, my boy,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;what is done
is done.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Let us break up our camp before this place, and not go to war with
Barnes, father,&rdquo; said Clive. &ldquo;Let us have peace&mdash;and forgive
him if we can.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And retreat before this scoundrel, Clive?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What is a victory over such a fellow? One gives a chimney-sweep the
wall, father.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I say again&mdash;What is done is done. I have promised to meet him at
the hustings, and I will. I think it is best: and you are right: and you act
like a high-minded gentleman&mdash;and my dear old boy&mdash;not to meddle in
the quarrel&mdash;though I didn&rsquo;t think so&mdash;and the difference gave
me a great deal of pain&mdash;and so did what Pendennis said&mdash;and
I&rsquo;m wrong&mdash;and thank God I am wrong&mdash;and God bless you, my own
boy!&rdquo; the Colonel cried out in a burst of emotion; and the two went to
their bedrooms together, and were happier as they shook hands at the doors of
their adjoining chambers than they had been for many a long day and year.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0069" id="link2HCH0069"></a>
CHAPTER LXIX.<br/>
The Election</h2>

<p>
Having thus given his challenge, reconnoitred the enemy, and pledged himself to
do battle at the ensuing election, our Colonel took leave of the town of
Newcome, and returned to his banking affairs in London. His departure was as
that of a great public personage; the gentlemen of the Committee followed him
obsequiously down to the train. &ldquo;Quick,&rdquo; bawls out Mr. Potts to Mr.
Brown, the station-master, &ldquo;Quick, Mr. Brown, a carriage for Colonel
Newcome!&rdquo; Half a dozen hats are taken off as he enters into the carriage,
F. Bayham and his servant after him, with portfolios, umbrellas, shawls,
despatch-boxes. Clive was not there to act as his father&rsquo;s aide-de-camp.
After their conversation together the young man had returned to Mrs. Clive and
his other duties in life.
</p>

<p>
It has been said that Mr. Pendennis was in the country, engaged in a pursuit
exactly similar to that which occupied Colonel Newcome. The menaced dissolution
of Parliament did not take place so soon as we expected. The Ministry still
hung together, and by consequence, Sir Barnes Newcome kept the seat in the
House of Commons, from which his elder kinsman was eager to oust him. Away from
London, and having but few correspondents, save on affairs of business, I heard
little of Clive and the Colonel, save an occasional puff of one of Colonel
Newcome&rsquo;s entertainments in the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, to which
journal F. Bayham still condescended to contribute; and a satisfactory
announcement in a certain part of that paper, that on such a day, in Hyde Park
Gardens, Mrs. Clive Newcome had presented her husband with a son. Clive wrote
to me presently, to inform me of the circumstance, stating at the same time,
with but moderate gratification on his own part, that the Campaigner, Mrs.
Newcome&rsquo;s mamma, had upon this second occasion made a second lodgment in
her daughter&rsquo;s house and bedchamber, and showed herself affably disposed
to forget the little unpleasantries which had clouded over the sunshine of her
former visit.
</p>

<p>
Laura, with a smile of some humour, said she thought now would be the time
when, if Clive could be spared from his bank, he might pay us that visit at
Fairoaks which had been due so long, and hinted that change of air and a
temporary absence from Mrs. Mackenzie might be agreeable to my old friend.
</p>

<p>
It was, on the contrary, Mr. Pendennis&rsquo;s opinion that his wife artfully
chose that period of time when little Rosey was, perforce, kept at home and
occupied with her delightful maternal duties, to invite Clive to see us. Mrs.
Laura frankly owned that she liked our Clive better without his wife than with
her, and never ceased to regret that pretty Rosey had not bestowed her little
hand upon Captain Hoby, as she had been very well disposed at one time to do.
Against all marriages of interest this sentimental Laura never failed to utter
indignant protests; and Clive&rsquo;s had been a marriage of interest, a
marriage made up by the old people, a marriage which the young man had only
yielded out of good-nature and obedience. She would apostrophise her
unconscious young ones, and inform those innocent babies that <i>they</i>
should never be made to marry except for love, never&mdash;an announcement
which was received with perfect indifference by little Arthur on his
rocking-horse, and little Helen smiling and crowing in her mother&rsquo;s lap.
</p>

<p>
So Clive came down to us, careworn in appearance, but very pleased and happy,
he said, to stay for a while with the friends of his youth. We showed him our
modest rural lions; we got him such sport and company as our quiet
neighbourhood afforded, we gave him fishing in the Brawl, and Laura in her
pony-chaise drove him to Baymouth, and to Clavering Park and town, and visit
the famous cathedral at Chatteris, where she was pleased to recount certain
incidents of her husband&rsquo;s youth.
</p>

<p>
Clive laughed at my wife&rsquo;s stories; he pleased himself in our home; he
played with our children, with whom he had became a great favourite; he was
happier, he told me with a sigh, than he had been for many a day. His gentle
hostess echoed the sigh of the poor young fellow. She was sure that his
pleasure was only transitory, and was convinced that many deep cares weighed
upon his mind.
</p>

<p>
Ere long my old schoolfellow made me sundry confessions, which showed that
Laura&rsquo;s surmises were correct. About his domestic affairs he did not
treat much; the little boy was said to be a very fine little boy; the ladies
had taken entire possession of him. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t stand Mrs. Mackenzie
any longer, I own,&rdquo; says Clive; &ldquo;but how resist a wife at such a
moment? Rosa was sure she would die, unless her mother came to her, and of
course we invited Mrs. Mack. This time she is all smiles and politeness with
the Colonel: the last quarrel is laid upon me, and in so far I am easy, as the
old folks get on pretty well together.&rdquo; To me, considering these things,
it was clear that Mr. Clive Newcome was but a very secondary personage indeed
in his father&rsquo;s new fine house which he inhabited, and in which the poor
Colonel had hoped they were to live such a happy family.
</p>

<p>
But it was about Clive Newcome&rsquo;s pecuniary affairs that I felt the most
disquiet when he came to explain these to me. The Colonel&rsquo;s capital and
that considerable sum which Mrs. Clive had inherited from her good old uncle,
were all involved in a common stock, of which Colonel Newcome took the
management. &ldquo;The governor understands business so well, you see,&rdquo;
says Clive; &ldquo;is a most remarkable head for accounts: he must have
inherited that from my grandfather, you know, who made his own fortune: all the
Newcomes are good at accounts, except me, a poor useless devil who knows
nothing but to paint a picture, and who can&rsquo;t even do that.&rdquo; He
cuts off the head of a thistle as he speaks, bites his tawny mustachios,
plunges his hands into his pockets and his soul into reverie.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean to say,&rdquo; asks Mr. Pendennis, &ldquo;that your
wife&rsquo;s fortune has not been settled upon herself?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course it has been settled upon herself; that is, it is entirely her
own&mdash;you know the Colonel has managed all the business, he understands it
better than we do.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you say that your wife&rsquo;s money is not vested in the hands of
trustees, and for her benefit?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My father is one of the trustees. I tell you he manages the whole thing.
What is his property is mine and ever has been; and I might draw upon him as
much as I liked: and you know it&rsquo;s five times as great as my
wife&rsquo;s. What is his is ours, and what is ours is his, of course; for
instance, the India Stock, which poor Uncle James left, that now stands in the
Colonel&rsquo;s name. He wants to be a Director: he will be at the next
election&mdash;he must have a certain quantity of India Stock, don&rsquo;t you
see?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear fellow, is there then no settlement made upon your wife at
all?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t look so frightened,&rdquo; says Clive. &ldquo;I made a
settlement on her: with all my worldly goods I did her endow three thousand
three hundred and thirty-three pounds six and eightpence, which my father sent
over from India to my uncle, years ago, when I came home.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I might well indeed be aghast at this news, and had yet further intelligence
from Clive, which by no means contributed to lessen my anxiety. This worthy old
Colonel, who fancied himself to be so clever a man of business, chose to
conduct it in utter ignorance and defiance of law. If anything happened to the
Bundelcund Bank, it was clear that not only every shilling of his own property,
but every farthing bequeathed to Rosa Mackenzie would be lost; only his
retiring pension, which was luckily considerable, and the hundred pounds a year
which Clive had settled on his wife, would be saved out of the ruin.
</p>

<p>
And now Clive confided to me his own serious doubts and misgivings regarding
the prosperity of the Bank itself. He did not know why, but he could not help
fancying that things were going wrong. Those partners who had come home, having
sold out of the Bank, and living in England so splendidly, why had they quitted
it? The Colonel said it was a proof of the prosperity of the company, that so
many gentlemen were enriched who had taken shares in it. &ldquo;But when I
asked my father,&rdquo; Clive continued, &ldquo;why he did not himself
withdraw, the dear old Colonel&rsquo;s countenance fell: he told me such things
were not to be done every day; and ended, as usual, by saying that I do not
understand anything about business. No more I do: that is the truth. I hate the
whole concern, Pen! I hate that great tawdry house in which we live; and those
fearfully stupid parties:&mdash;Oh, how I wish we were back in Fitzroy Square!
But who can recall bygones, Arthur; or wrong steps in life? We must make the
best of to-day, and to-morrow must take care of itself. &lsquo;Poor little
child!&rsquo; I could not help thinking, as I took it crying in my arms the
other day, &lsquo;what has life in store for you, my poor weeping baby?&rsquo;
My mother-in-law cried out that I should drop the baby, and that only the
Colonel knew how to hold it. My wife called from her bed; the nurse dashed up
and scolded me; and they drove me out of the room amongst them. By Jove, Pen, I
laugh when some of my friends congratulate me on my good fortune! I am not
quite the father of my own child, nor the husband of my own wife, nor even the
master of my own easel. I am managed for, don&rsquo;t you see? boarded, lodged,
and done for. And here is the man they call happy. Happy! Oh!!! Why had I not
your strength of mind; and why did I ever leave my art, my mistress?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And herewith the poor lad fell to chopping thistles again; and quitted Fairoaks
shortly, leaving his friends there very much disquieted about his prospects,
actual and future.
</p>

<p>
The expected dissolution of Parliament came at length. All the country papers
in England teemed with electioneering addresses; and the country was in a
flutter with particoloured ribbons. Colonel Thomas Newcome, pursuant to his
promise, offered himself to the independent electors of Newcome in the Liberal
journal of the family town, whilst Sir Barnes Newcome, Bart., addressed himself
to his old and tried friends, and called upon the friends of the constitution
to rally round him, in the Conservative print. The addresses of our friend were
sent to us at Fairoaks by the Colonel&rsquo;s indefatigable aide-de-camp, Mr.
Frederick Bayham. During the period which had elapsed since the Colonel&rsquo;s
last canvassing visit and the issuing of the writs now daily expected for the
new Parliament, many things of great importance had occurred in Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s family&mdash;events which were kept secret from his biographer,
who was, at this period also, pretty entirely occupied with his own affairs.
These, however, are not the present subject of this history, which has Newcome
for its business, and the parties engaged in the family quarrel there.
</p>

<p>
There were four candidates in the field for the representation of that borough.
That old and tried member of Parliament, Mr. Bunce, was considered to be
secure; and the Baronet&rsquo;s seat was thought to be pretty safe on account
of his influence in the place. Nevertheless, Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s supporters
were confident for their champion, and that when the parties came to the poll,
the extreme Liberals of the borough would divide their votes between him and
the fourth candidate, the uncompromising Radical, Mr. Barker.
</p>

<p>
In due time the Colonel and his staff arrived at Newcome, and resumed the
active canvass which they had commenced some months previously. Clive was not
in his father&rsquo;s suite this time, nor Mr. Warrington, whose engagements
took him elsewhere. The lawyer, the editor of the <i>Independent</i>, and F.
B., were the Colonel&rsquo;s chief men. His headquarters (which F. B. liked
very well) were at the hotel where we last saw him, and whence issuing with his
aide-de-camp at his heels, the Colonel went round to canvass personally,
according to his promise, every free and independent elector of the borough.
Barnes too was canvassing eagerly on his side, and was most affable and active;
the two parties would often meet nose to nose in the same street, and their
retainers exchange looks of defiance. With Mr. Potts of the <i>Independent</i>,
a big man, on his left; with Mr. Frederick, a still bigger man, on his right;
his own trusty bamboo cane in his hand, before which poor Barnes had shrunk
abashed ere now, Colonel Newcome had commonly the best of these street
encounters, and frowned his nephew Barnes, and Barnes&rsquo;s staff, off the
pavement. With the non-electors the Colonel was a decided favourite; the boys
invariably hurrayed him; whereas they jeered and uttered ironical cries after
poor Barnes, asking, &ldquo;Who beat his wife? Who drove his children to the
workhouse?&rdquo; and other unkind personal questions. The man upon whom the
libertine Barnes had inflicted so cruel an injury in his early days, was now
the Baronet&rsquo;s bitterest enemy. He assailed him with curses and threats
when they met, and leagued his brother-workmen against him. The wretched Sir
Barnes owned with contrition that the sins of his youth pursued him; his enemy
scoffed at the idea of Barnes&rsquo;s repentance; he was not moved at the
grief, the punishment in his own family, the humiliation and remorse which the
repentant prodigal piteously pleaded. No man was louder in his cries of <i>mea
culpa</i> than Barnes: no man professed a more edifying repentance. He was hat
in hand to every black-coat, established or dissenting. Repentance was to his
interest, to be sure, but yet let us hope it was sincere. There is some
hypocrisy, of which one does not like even to entertain the thought; especially
that awful falsehood which trades with divine truth, and takes the name of
Heaven in vain.
</p>

<p>
The Roebuck Inn at Newcome stands in the market-place, directly facing the
King&rsquo;s Arms, where, as we know, Colonel Newcome and uncompromising
toleration held their headquarters. Immense banners of blue and yellow floated
from every window of the King&rsquo;s Arms, and decorated the balcony from
which the Colonel and the assistants were in the habit of addressing the
multitude. Fiddlers and trumpeters, arrayed in his colours, paraded the town
and enlivened it with their melodious strains. Other trumpeters and fiddlers,
bearing the true-blue cockades and colours of Sir Barnes Newcome, Bart., would
encounter the Colonel&rsquo;s musicians, on which occasions of meeting, it is
to be feared, small harmony was produced. They banged each other with their
brazen instruments. The warlike drummers thumped each other&rsquo;s heads in
lieu of the professional sheepskin. The townboys and street-blackguards
rejoiced in these combats, and exhibited their valour on one side or the other.
The Colonel had to pay a long bill for broken brass when he settled the little
accounts of the election.
</p>

<p>
In after times, F. B. was pleased to describe the circumstances of a contest in
which he bore a most distinguished part. It was F. B.&rsquo;s opinion that his
private eloquence brought over many waverers to the Colonel&rsquo;s side, and
converted numbers of the benighted followers of Sir Barnes Newcome.
Bayham&rsquo;s voice was indeed magnificent, and could be heard from the
King&rsquo;s Arm&rsquo;s balcony above the shout and roar of the multitude, the
gongs and bugles of the opposition bands. He was untiring in his
oratory&mdash;undaunted in the presence of the crowds below. He was immensely
popular, F. B. Whether he laid his hand upon his broad chest, took off his hat
and waved it, or pressed his blue and yellow ribbons to his bosom, the crowd
shouted, &ldquo;Hurra: silence! bravo! Bayham for ever!&rdquo; &ldquo;They
would have carried me in triumph,&rdquo; said F. B.; &ldquo;if I had but the
necessary qualification I might be member for Newcome this day or any other I
chose.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I am afraid in this conduct of the Colonel&rsquo;s election Mr. Bayham resorted
to acts of which his principal certainly would disapprove, and engaged
auxiliaries whose alliance was scarcely creditable. Whose was the hand which
flung the potato which struck Sir Barnes Newcome, Bart., on the nose as he was
haranguing the people from the Roebuck? How came it that whenever Sir Barnes
and his friends essayed to speak, such an awful yelling and groaning took place
in the crowd below, that the words of those feeble orators were inaudible? Who
smashed all the front windows of the Roebuck? Colonel Newcome had not words to
express his indignation at proceedings so unfair. When Sir Barnes and staff
were hustled in the market-place and most outrageously shoved, jeered, and
jolted, the Colonel from the King&rsquo;s Arms organised a rapid sally, which
he himself headed with his bamboo cane; cut out Sir Barnes and his followers
from the hands of the mob, and addressed those ruffians in a noble speech, of
which bamboo-cane&mdash;Englishman&mdash;shame&mdash;fair-play, were the most
emphatic expressions. The mob cheered Old Tom as they called him&mdash;they
made way for Sir Barnes, who shrunk pale and shuddering back into his hotel
again&mdash;who always persisted in saying that that old villain of a dragoon
had planned both the assault and the rescue.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;When the dregs of the people&mdash;the scum of the rabble, sir, banded
together by the myrmidons of Sir Barnes Newcome, attacked us at the
King&rsquo;s Arms, and smashed ninety-six pounds&rsquo; worth of glass at one
volley, besides knocking off the gold unicorn head and the tail of the British
lion; it was fine, sir,&rdquo; F. B. said, &ldquo;to see how the Colonel came
forward, and the coolness of the old boy in the midst of the action. He stood
there in front, sir, with his old hat off, never so much as once bobbing his
old head, and I think he spoke rather better under fire than he did when there
was no danger. Between ourselves, he ain&rsquo;t much of a speaker, the old
Colonel; he hems and haws, and repeats himself a good deal. He hasn&rsquo;t the
gift of natural eloquence which some men have, Pendennis. You should have heard
my speech, sir, on the Thursday in the Town Hall&mdash;that was something like
a speech. Potts was jealous of it, and always reported me most
shamefully.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
In spite of his respectful behaviour to the gentlemen in black coats, his
soup-tickets and his flannel-tickets, his own pathetic lectures and his
sedulous attendance at other folk&rsquo;s sermons, poor Barnes could not keep
up his credit with the serious interest at Newcome, and the meeting-houses and
their respective pastors and frequenters turned their backs upon him. The case
against him was too flagrant: his enemy, the factory-man, worked it with an
extraordinary skill, malice, and pertinacity. Not a single man, woman, or child
in Newcome but was made acquainted with Sir Barnes&rsquo;s early peccadillo.
Ribald ballads were howled through the streets describing his sin, and his
deserved punishment. For very shame, the reverend dissenting gentlemen were
obliged to refrain from voting for him; such as ventured, believing in the
sincerity of his repentance, to give him their voices, were yelled away from
the polling-places. A very great number who would have been his friends, were
compelled to bow to decency and public opinion, and supported the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
Hooted away from the hustings, and the public places whence the rival
candidates addressed the free and independent electors, this wretched and
persecuted Sir Barnes invited his friends and supporters to meet him at the
Athenæum Room&mdash;scene of his previous eloquent performances. But, though
this apartment was defended by tickets, the people burst into it; and Nemesis,
in the shape of the persevering factory-man, appeared before the scared Sir
Barnes and his puzzled committee. The man stood up and bearded the pale
Baronet. He had a good cause, and was in truth a far better master of debate
than our banking friend, being a great speaker amongst his brother-operatives,
by whom political questions are discussed, and the conduct of political men
examined, with a ceaseless interest and with an ardour and eloquence which are
often unknown in what is called superior society. This man and his friends
round about him fiercely silenced the clamour of &ldquo;Turn him out,&rdquo;
with which his first appearance was assailed by Sir Barnes&rsquo;s hangers-on.
He said, in the name of justice he would speak up; if they were fathers of
families and loved their wives and daughters he dared them to refuse him a
hearing. Did they love their wives and their children? it was a shame that they
should take such a man as that yonder for their representative in Parliament.
But the greatest sensation he made was when, in the middle of his speech, after
inveighing against Barnes&rsquo;s cruelty and parental ingratitude, he asked,
&ldquo;Where were Barnes&rsquo;s children?&rdquo; and actually thrust forward
two, to the amazement of the committee and the ghastly astonishment of the
guilty Baronet himself.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Look at them,&rdquo; says the man: &ldquo;they are almost in rags, they
have to put up with scanty and hard food; contrast them with his other
children, whom you see lording in gilt carriages, robed in purple and fine
linen, and scattering mud from their wheels over us humble people as we walk
the streets; ignorance and starvation is good enough for these, for those
others nothing can be too fine or too dear. What can a factory-girl expect from
such a fine, high-bred, white-handed, aristocratic gentleman as Sir Barnes
Newcome, Baronet, but to be cajoled, and seduced, and deserted, and left to
starve! When she has served my lord&rsquo;s pleasure, her natural fate is to be
turned into the street; let her go and rot there and her children beg in the
gutter.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;This is the most shameful imposture,&rdquo; gasps out Sir Barnes,
&ldquo;these children are not&mdash;are not&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The man interrupted him with a bitter laugh. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he says;
&ldquo;they are not his; that&rsquo;s true enough, friends. Its Tom
Martin&rsquo;s girl and boy, a precious pair of lazy little scamps. But, at
least he <i>thought</i> they were his children. See how much he knows about
them! He hasn&rsquo;t seen his children for years; he would have left them and
their mother to starve, and did, but for shame and fear. The old man, his
father, pensioned them, and he hasn&rsquo;t the heart to stop their wages now.
Men of Newcome, will you have this man to represent you in Parliament?&rdquo;
And the crowd roared &ldquo;No;&rdquo; and Barnes and his shamefaced committee
slunk out of the place, and no wonder the dissenting clerical gentlemen were
shy of voting for him.
</p>

<p>
A brilliant and picturesque diversion in Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s favour was due
to the inventive genius of his faithful aide-de-camp, F. B. On the polling-day,
as the carriages full of voters came up to the market-place, there appeared
nigh to the booths an open barouche, covered all over with ribbon, and
containing Frederick Bayham, Esq., profusely decorated with the Colonel&rsquo;s
colours, and a very old woman and her female attendant, who were similarly
ornamented. It was good old Mrs. Mason, who was pleased with the drive and the
sunshine, though she scarcely understood the meaning of the turmoil, with her
maid by her side, delighted to wear such ribbons, and sit in such a post of
honour. Rising up in the carriage, F. B. took off his hat, bade his men of
brass be silent, who were accustomed to bray &ldquo;See the Conquering Hero
come,&rdquo; whenever the Colonel, or Mr. Bayham, his brilliant aide-de-camp,
made their appearance;&mdash;bidding, we say, the musicians and the universe to
be silent, F. B. rose, and made the citizens of Newcome a splendid speech. Good
old unconscious Mrs. Mason was the theme of it, and the Colonel&rsquo;s virtues
and faithful gratitude in tending her. &ldquo;She was his father&rsquo;s old
friend. She was Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s grandfather&rsquo;s old friend. She
had lived for more than forty years at Sir Barnes Newcome&rsquo;s door, and how
often had he been to see her? Did he go every week? No. Every month? No. Every
year? No. Never in the whole course of his life had he set his foot into her
doors!&rdquo; (Loud yells, and cries of &lsquo;Shame!&rsquo;) &ldquo;Never had
he done her one single act of kindness. Whereas for years and years past, when
he was away in India, heroically fighting the battles of his country, when he
was distinguishing himself at Assaye, and&mdash;and&mdash;Mulligatawny, and
Seringapatam, in the hottest of the fight and the fiercest of the danger, in
the most terrible moment of the conflict, and the crowning glory of the
victory, the good, the brave, the kind old Colonel,&mdash;why should he say
Colonel? why should he not say Old Tom at once?&rdquo; (immense roars of
applause) &ldquo;always remembered his dear old nurse and friend. Look at that
shawl, boys, which she has got on! My belief is that Colonel Newcome took that
shawl in single combat, and on horseback, from the prime minister of Tippoo
Sahib.&rdquo; (Immense cheers and cries of &lsquo;Bravo, Bayham!&rsquo;)
&ldquo;Look at that brooch the dear old thing wears!&rdquo; (he kissed her hand
whilst so apostrophising her). &ldquo;Tom Newcome never brags about his
military achievements, he is the most modest as well as the bravest man in the
world. What if I were to tell you that he cut that brooch from the throat of an
Indian rajah? He&rsquo;s man enough to do it.&rdquo; (&lsquo;He is! he
is!&rsquo; from all parts of the crowd.) &ldquo;What, you want to take the
horses out, do you?&rdquo; (to the crowd, who were removing those quadrupeds).
&ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t agoing to prevent you; I expected as much of you. Men of
Newcome, I expected as much of you, for I know you! Sit still, old lady;
don&rsquo;t be frightened, ma&rsquo;am: they are only going to pull you to the
King&rsquo;s Arms, and show you to the Colonel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
This, indeed, was the direction in which the mob (whether inflamed by
spontaneous enthusiasm, or excited by cunning agents placed amongst the
populace by F. B., I cannot say), now took the barouche and its three
occupants. With a myriad roar and shout the carriage was dragged up in front of
the King&rsquo;s Arms, from the balconies of which a most satisfactory account
of the polling was already placarded. The extra noise and shouting brought out
the Colonel, who looked at first with curiosity at the advancing procession,
and then, as he caught sight of Sarah Mason, with a blush and a bow of his kind
old head.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Look at him, boys!&rdquo; cried the enraptured F. B., pointing up to the
old man. &ldquo;Look at him; the dear old boy! Isn&rsquo;t he an old trump?
which will you have for your Member, Barnes Newcome or Old Tom?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And as might be supposed, an immense shout of &ldquo;Old Tom!&rdquo; arose from
the multitude; in the midst of which, blushing and bowing still, the Colonel
went back to his committee-room: and the bands played &ldquo;See the Conquering
Hero&rdquo; louder than ever; and poor Barnes in the course of his duty having
to come out upon his balcony at the Roebuck opposite, was saluted with a yell
as vociferous as the cheer for the Colonel had been; and old Mrs. Mason asked
what the noise was about; and after making several vain efforts, in dumb show,
to the crowd, Barnes slunk back into his hole again as pale as the turnip which
was flung at his head: and the horses were brought, and Mrs. Mason driven home;
and the day of election came to an end.
</p>

<p>
Reasons of personal gratitude, as we have stated already, prevented His
Highness the Prince de Moncontour from taking a part in this family contest.
His brethren of the House of Higg, however, very much to Florac&rsquo;s
gratification, gave their second votes to Colonel Newcome, carrying with them a
very great number of electors: we know that in the present Parliament, Mr. Higg
and Mr. Bunce sit for the borough of Newcome. Having had monetary transactions
with Sir Barnes Newcome, and entered largely into railway speculations with
him, the Messrs. Higg had found reason to quarrel with the Baronet; accuse him
of sharp practices to the present day, and have long stories to tell which do
not concern us about Sir Barnes&rsquo;s stratagems, grasping, and extortion.
They their following, deserting Sir Barnes, whom they had supported in previous
elections, voted for the Colonel, although some of the opinions of that
gentleman were rather too extreme for such sober persons.
</p>

<p>
Not exactly knowing what his politics were when he commenced the canvass, I
can&rsquo;t say to what opinions the poor Colonel did not find himself
committed by the time when the election was over. The worthy gentleman felt
himself not a little humiliated by what he had to say and to unsay, by having
to answer questions, and submit to familiarities, to shake hands which, to say
truth, he did not care for grasping at all. His habits were aristocratic; his
education had been military; the kindest and simplest soul alive, he yet
disliked all familiarity, and expected from common people the sort of deference
which he had received from his men in the regiment. The contest saddened and
mortified him; he felt that he was using wrong means to obtain an end that
perhaps was not right (for so his secret conscience must have told him); he was
derogating from his own honour in tampering with political opinions, submitting
to familiarities, condescending to stand by whilst his agents solicited vulgar
suffrages or uttered claptraps about retrenchment and reform. &ldquo;I felt I
was wrong,&rdquo; he said to me, in after days, &ldquo;though <i>I</i> was too
proud to own my error in those times, and you and your good wife and my boy
were right in protesting against that mad election.&rdquo; Indeed, though we
little knew what events were speedily to happen, Laura and I felt very little
satisfaction when the result of the Newcome election was made known to us, and
we found Sir Barnes Newcome third, and Col. Thomas Newcome second upon the
poll.
</p>

<p>
Ethel was absent with her children at Brighton. She was glad, she wrote, not to
have been at home during the election. Mr. and Mrs. C. were at Brighton, too.
Ethel had seen Mrs. C. and her child once or twice. It was a very fine child.
&ldquo;My brother came down to us,&rdquo; she wrote, &ldquo;after all was over.
He is furious against M. de Moncontour, who, he says, persuaded the Whigs to
vote against him, and turned the election.&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0070" id="link2HCH0070"></a>
CHAPTER LXX.<br/>
Chiltern Hundreds</h2>

<p>
We shall say no more regarding Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s political doings; his
speeches against Barnes, and the Baronet&rsquo;s replies. The nephew was beaten
by his stout old uncle.
</p>

<p>
In due time the <i>Gazette</i> announced that Thomas Newcome, Esq., was
returned as one of the Members of Parliament for the borough of Newcome; and
after triumphant dinners, speeches, and rejoicings, the Member came back to his
family in London, and to his affairs in that city.
</p>

<p>
The good Colonel appeared to be by no means elated by his victory. He would not
allow that he was wrong in engaging in that family war, of which we have just
seen the issue; though it may be that his secret remorse on this account in
part occasioned his disquiet. But there were other reasons, which his family
not long afterwards came to understand, for the gloom and low spirits which now
oppressed the head of their home.
</p>

<p>
It was observed (that is, if simple little Rosey took the trouble to observe)
that the entertainments at the Colonel&rsquo;s mansion were more frequent and
splendid even than before; the silver cocoa-nut tree was constantly in
requisition, and around it were assembled many new guests, who had not formerly
been used to sit under those branches. Mr. Sherrick and his wife appeared at
those parties, at which the proprietor of Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel made
himself perfectly familiar. Sherrick cut jokes with the master of the house,
which the latter received with a very grave acquiescence; he ordered the
servants about, addressing the butler as &ldquo;Old Corkscrew,&rdquo; and
bidding the footman, whom he loved to call by his Christian name, to
&ldquo;look alive.&rdquo; He called the Colonel &ldquo;Newcome&rdquo;
sometimes, and facetiously speculated upon the degree of relationship
subsisting between them now that his daughter was married to Clive&rsquo;s
uncle, the Colonel&rsquo;s brother-in-law. Though I dare say Clive did not much
relish receiving news of his aunt, Sherrick was sure to bring such intelligence
when it reached him; and announced, in due time, the birth of a little cousin
at Boggley Wollah, whom the fond parents designed to name &ldquo;Thomas Newcome
Honeyman.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
A dreadful panic and ghastly terror seized poor Clive on occasion which he
described to me afterwards. Going out from home one day with his father, he
beheld a wine-merchant&rsquo;s cart, from which hampers were carried down the
area gate into the lower regions of Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s house.
&ldquo;Sherrick and Co., Wine Merchants, Walpole Street,&rdquo; was painted
upon the vehicle.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Good heavens! sir, do you get your wine from <i>him?</i>&rdquo; Clive
cried out to his father, remembering Honeyman&rsquo;s provisions in early
times. The Colonel, looking very gloomy and turning red, said, &ldquo;Yes, he
bought wine from Sherrick, who had been very good-natured and serviceable; and
who&mdash;and who, you know, is our connexion now.&rdquo; When informed of the
circumstance by Clive, I too, as I confess, thought the incident alarming.
</p>

<p>
Then Clive, with a laugh, told me of a grand battle which had taken place in
consequence of Mrs. Mackenzie&rsquo;s behaviour to the wine-merchant&rsquo;s
wife. The Campaigner had treated this very kind and harmless, but vulgar woman,
with extreme <i>hauteur</i>&mdash;had talked loud during her singing&mdash;the
beauty of which, to say truth, time had considerably impaired&mdash;had made
contemptuous observations regarding her upon more than one occasion. At length
the Colonel broke out in great wrath against Mrs. Mackenzie&mdash;bade her to
respect that lady as one of his guests&mdash;and, if she did not like the
company which assembled at his house, hinted to her that there were many
thousand other houses in London where she could find a lodging. For the sake of
her grandchild, and her adored child, the Campaigner took no notice of this
hint; and declined to remove from the quarter which she had occupied ever since
she had become a grandmamma.
</p>

<p>
I myself dined once or twice with my old friends, under the shadow of the
pickle-bearing cocoa-nut tree; and could not but remark a change of personages
in the society assembled. The manager of the City branch of the B. B. C. was
always present&mdash;an ominous-looking man, whose whispers and compliments
seemed to make poor Clive, at his end of the table, very melancholy. With the
City manager came the City manager&rsquo;s friends, whose jokes passed gaily
round, and who kept the conversation to themselves. Once I had the happiness to
meet Mr. Ratray, who had returned, filled with rupees from the Indian Bank; who
told us many anecdotes of the splendour of Rummun Loll at Calcutta, who
complimented the Colonel on his fine house and grand dinners with sinister
good-humour. Those compliments did not seem to please our poor friend; that
familiarity choked him. A brisk little chattering attorney, very intimate with
Sherrick, with a wife of dubious gentility, was another constant guest. He
enlivened the table by his jokes, and recounted choice stories about the
aristocracy, with certain members of whom the little man seemed very familiar.
He knew to a shilling how much this lord owed&mdash;and how much the creditors
allowed to that marquis. He had been concerned with such and such a nobleman,
who was now in the Queen&rsquo;s Bench. He spoke of their lordships affably and
without their titles&mdash;calling upon &ldquo;Louisa, my dear,&rdquo; his
wife, to testify to the day when Viscount Tagrag dined with them, and Earl
Bareacres sent them the pheasants. F. B., as sombre and downcast as his hosts
now seemed to be, informed me demurely that the attorney was a member of one of
the most eminent firms in the City&mdash;that he had been engaged in procuring
the Colonel&rsquo;s parliamentary title for him&mdash;and in various important
matters appertaining to the B. B. C.; but my knowledge of the world and the law
was sufficient to make me aware that this gentleman belonged to a well-known
firm of money-lending solicitors, and I trembled to see such a person in the
home of our good Colonel. Where were the generals and the judges? Where were
the fogies and their respectable ladies? Stupid they were, and dull their
company; but better a stalled ox in their society, than Mr. Campion&rsquo;s
jokes over Mr. Sherrick&rsquo;s wines.
</p>

<p>
After the little rebuke administered by Colonel Newcome, Mrs. Mackenzie
abstained from overt hostilities against any guests of her daughter&rsquo;s
father-in-law; and contented herself by assuming grand and princess-like airs
in the company of the new ladies. They flattered her and poor little Rosa
intensely. The latter liked their company, no doubt. To a man of the world
looking on, who has seen the men and morals of many cities, it was curious,
almost pathetic, to watch that poor little innocent creature fresh and smiling,
attired in bright colours and a thousand gewgaws, simpering in the midst of
these darkling people&mdash;practising her little arts and coquetries, with
such a court round about her. An unconscious little maid, with rich and rare
gems sparkling on all her fingers, and bright gold rings as many as belonged to
the late Old Woman of Banbury Cross&mdash;still she smiled and prattled
innocently before these banditti&mdash;I thought of Zerlina and the Brigands,
in Fra Diavolo.
</p>

<p>
Walking away with F. B. from one of these parties of the Colonel&rsquo;s, and
seriously alarmed at what I had observed there, I demanded of Bayham whether my
conjectures were not correct, that some misfortune overhung our old
friend&rsquo;s house? At first Bayham denied stoutly or pretended ignorance;
but at length, having reached the Haunt together, which I had not visited since
I was a married man, we entered that place of entertainment, and were greeted
by its old landlady and waitress, and accommodated with a quiet parlour. And
here F. B., after groaning and sighing&mdash;after solacing himself with a
prodigious quantity of bitter beer&mdash;fairly burst out, and, with tears in
his eyes, made a full and sad confession respecting this unlucky Bundelcund
Banking Company. The shares had been going lower and lower, so that there was
no sale now for them at all. To meet the liabilities, the directors must have
undergone the greatest sacrifices. He did know&mdash;he did not like to think
what the Colonel&rsquo;s personal losses were. The respectable solicitors of
the Company had retired, long since, after having secured payment of a most
respectable bill; and had given place to the firm of dubious law-agents of whom
I had that evening seen a partner. How the retiring partners from India had
been allowed to withdraw, and to bring fortunes along with them, was a mystery
to Mr. Frederick Bayham. The great Indian millionnaire was in his, F.
B.&rsquo;s eyes, &ldquo;a confounded mahogany-coloured heathen humbug.&rdquo;
These fine parties which the Colonel was giving, and that fine carriage which
was always flaunting about the Park with poor Mrs. Clive and the Campaigner,
and the nurse and the baby, were, in F. B.&rsquo;s opinion, all decoys and
shams. He did not mean to say that the meals were not paid, and that the
Colonel had to plunder for his horses&rsquo; corn; but he knew that Sherrick,
and the attorney, and the manager, insisted upon the necessity of giving these
parties, and keeping up this state and grandeur, and opined that it was at the
special instance of these advisers that the Colonel had contested the borough
for which he was now returned. &ldquo;Do you know how much that contest
cost?&rdquo; asks F. B. &ldquo;The sum, sir, was awful! and we have ever so
much of it to pay. I came up twice myself from Newcome to Campion and Sherrick
about it. I betray no secrets&mdash;F. B., sir, would die a thousand deaths
before he would tell the secrets of his benefactor!&mdash;But, Pendennis, you
understand a thing or two. You know what o&rsquo;clock it is, and so does yours
truly, F. B., who drinks your health. <i>I</i> know the taste of
Sherrick&rsquo;s wine well enough. F. B., sir, fears the Greeks and all the
gifts they bring. Confound his Amontillado! I had rather drink this honest malt
and hops all my life than ever see a drop of his abominable sherry. Golden? F.
B. believes it <i>is</i> golden&mdash;and a precious deal dearer than gold
too&rdquo;&mdash;and herewith, ringing the bell, my friend asked for a second
pint of the just-named and cheaper fluid.
</p>

<p>
I have of late had to recount portions of my dear old friend&rsquo;s history
which must needs be told, and over which the writer does not like to dwell. If
Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s opulence was unpleasant to describe, and to contrast
with the bright goodness and simplicity I remembered in former days, how much
more painful is that part of his story to which we are now come perforce, and
which the acute reader of novels has, no doubt, long foreseen? Yes, sir or
madam, you are quite right in the opinion which you have held all along
regarding that Bundelcund Banking Company, in which our Colonel has invested
every rupee he possesses, <i>Solvuntur rupees</i>, etc. I disdain, for the most
part, the tricks and surprises of the novelist&rsquo;s art. Knowing, from the
very beginning of our story, what was the issue of this Bundelcund Banking
concern, I have scarce had patience to keep my counsel about it; and whenever I
have had occasion to mention the Company, have scarcely been able to refrain
from breaking out into fierce diatribes against that complicated, enormous,
outrageous swindle. It was one of many similar cheats which have been
successfully practised upon the simple folks, civilian and military, who toil
and struggle&mdash;who fight with sun and enemy&mdash;who pass years of long
exile and gallant endurance in the service of our empire in India. Agency
houses after agency houses have been established, and have flourished in
splendour and magnificence, and have paid fabulous dividends&mdash;and have
enormously enriched two or three wary speculators&mdash;and then have burst in
bankruptcy, involving widows, orphans, and countless simple people who trusted
their all to the keeping of these unworthy treasurers.
</p>

<p>
The failure of the Bundelcund Bank which we now have to record, was one only of
many similar schemes ending in ruin. About the time when Thomas Newcome was
chaired as Member of Parliament for the borough of which he bore the name, the
great Indian merchant who was at the head of the Bundelcund Banking
Company&rsquo;s affairs at Calcutta, suddenly died of cholera at his palace at
Barackpore. He had been giving of late a series of the most splendid banquets
with which Indian prince ever entertained a Calcutta society. The greatest and
proudest personages of that aristocratic city had attended his feasts. The
fairest Calcutta beauties had danced in his halls. Did not poor F. B. transfer
from the columns of the <i>Bengal Hurkaru</i> to the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>
the most astounding descriptions of those Asiatic Nights Entertainments, of
which the very grandest was to come off on the night when cholera seized Rummun
Loll in its grip? There was to have been a masquerade outvying all European
masquerades in splendour. The two rival queens of the Calcutta society were to
have appeared each with her court around her. Young civilians at the College,
and young ensigns fresh landed, had gone into awful expenses and borrowed money
at interest from the B. B. C. and other banking companies, in order to appear
with befitting splendour as knights and noblemen of Henrietta Maria&rsquo;s
Court (Henrietta Maria, wife of Hastings Hicks, Esq., Sudder Dewanee Adawlut),
or as princes and warriors surrounding the palanquin of Lalla Rookh (the lovely
wife of Hon. Cornwallis Bobus, Member of Council): all these splendours were
there. As carriage after carriage drove up from Calcutta, they were met at
Rummun Loll&rsquo;s gate by ghastly weeping servants, who announced their
master&rsquo;s demise.
</p>

<p>
On the next day the Bank at Calcutta was closed, and the day after, when heavy
bills were presented which must be paid, although by this time Rummun Loll was
not only dead but buried, and his widows howling over his grave, it was
announced throughout Calcutta that but 800 rupees were left in the treasury of
the B. B. C. to meet engagements to the amount of four lakhs then immediately
due, and sixty days afterwards the shutters were closed at No. 175 Lothbury,
the London offices of the B. B. C. of India, and 35,000 pounds worth of their
bills refused by their agents, Messrs. Baines, Jolly and Co., of Fog Court.
</p>

<p>
When the accounts of that ghastly bankruptcy arrived from Calcutta, it was
found, of course, that the merchant-prince Rummun Loll owed the B. B. C.
twenty-five lakhs of rupees, the value of which was scarcely even represented
by his respectable signature. It was found that one of the auditors of the
bank, the generally esteemed Charley Conder (a capital fellow, famous for his
good dinners, and for playing low-comedy characters at the Chowringhee
Theatre), was indebted to the bank in 90,000 pounds; and also it was discovered
that the revered Baptist Bellman, Chief Registrar of the Calcutta Tape and
Sealing-Wax Office (a most valuable and powerful amateur preacher who had
converted two natives, and whose serious soirées were thronged at Calcutta),
had helped himself to 73,000 pounds more, for which he settled in the
Bankruptcy Court before he resumed his duties in his own. In justice to Mr.
Bellman, it must be said that he could have had no idea of the catastrophe
impending over the B. B. C. For, only three weeks before that great bank closed
its doors, Mr. Bellman, as guardian of the children of his widowed sister Mrs.
Green, had sold the whole of the late Colonel&rsquo;s property out of
Company&rsquo;s paper and invested it in the bank, which gave a high interest,
and with bills of which, drawn upon their London correspondents, he had
accommodated Mrs. Colonel Green when she took her departure for Europe with her
numerous little family on board the Burrumpooter.
</p>

<p>
And now you have the explanation of the title of this chapter, and know
wherefore Thomas Newcome never sat in Parliament. Where are our dear old
friends now? Where are Rosey&rsquo;s chariots and horses? Where her jewels and
gewgaws? Bills are up in the fine new house. Swarms of Hebrew gentlemen with
their hats on are walking about the drawing-rooms, peering into the bedrooms,
weighing and poising the poor old silver cocoa-nut tree, eyeing the plate and
crystal, thumbing the damask of the curtains, and inspecting ottomans, mirrors,
and a hundred articles of splendid trumpery. There is Rosey&rsquo;s boudoir
which her father-in-law loved to ornament&mdash;there is Clive&rsquo;s studio
with a hundred sketches&mdash;there is the Colonel&rsquo;s bare room at the top
of the house, with his little iron bedstead and ship&rsquo;s drawers, and a
camel trunk or two which have accompanied him on many an Indian march, and his
old regulation sword, and that one which the native officers of his regiment
gave him when he bade them farewell. I can fancy the brokers&rsquo; faces as
they look over this camp wardrobe, and that the uniforms will not fetch much in
Holywell Street. There is the old one still, and that new one which he ordered
and wore when poor little Rosey was presented at court. I had not the heart to
examine their plunder, and go amongst those wreckers. F. B. used to attend the
sale regularly, and report its proceedings to us with eyes full of tears.
&ldquo;A fellow laughed at me,&rdquo; says F. B., &ldquo;because when I came
into the dear old drawing-room I took my hat off. I told him that if he dared
say another word I would knock him down.&rdquo; I think F. B. may be pardoned
in this instance for emulating the office of auctioneer. Where are you, pretty
Rosey and poor little helpless baby? Where are you, dear Clive&mdash;gallant
young friend of my youth? Ah! it is a sad story&mdash;a melancholy page to pen!
Let us pass it over quickly&mdash;I love not to think of my friend in pain.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0071" id="link2HCH0071"></a>
CHAPTER LXXI.<br/>
In which Mrs. Clive Newcome&rsquo;s Carriage is ordered</h2>

<p>
All the friends of the Newcome family, of course, knew the disaster which had
befallen the good Colonel, and I was aware, for my own part, that not only his
own, but almost the whole of Rosa Newcome&rsquo;s property was involved in the
common ruin. Some proposals of temporary relief were made to our friends from
more quarters than one, but were thankfully rejected&mdash;and we were led to
hope that the Colonel, having still his pension secured to him, which the law
could not touch, might live comfortably enough the retirement to which, of
course, he would betake himself, when the melancholy proceedings consequent on
the bankruptcy were brought to an end. It was shown that he had been
egregiously duped in the transaction&mdash;that his credulity had cost him and
his family a large fortune&mdash;that he had given up every penny which
belonged to him&mdash;that there could not be any sort of stain upon his honest
reputation. The judge before whom he appeared spoke with feeling and regard of
the unhappy gentleman&mdash;the lawyer who examined him respected the grief and
fall of that simple old man. Thomas Newcome took a little room near the court
where his affairs and the affairs of the company were adjudged&mdash;lived with
a frugality which never was difficult to him&mdash;And once when perchance I
met him in the City, avoided me, with a bow and courtesy that was quite humble,
though proud and somehow inexpressibly touching to me. Fred Bayham was the only
person whom he admitted. Fred always faithfully insisted upon attending him in
and out of court. J. J. came to me immediately after he heard of the disaster,
eager to place all his savings at the service of his friends. Laura and I came
to London, and were urgent with similar offers. Our good friend declined to see
any of us. F. B., again, with tears trickling on his rough cheeks, and a break
in his voice, told me he feared that affairs must be very bad indeed, for the
Colonel absolutely denied himself a cheroot to smoke. Laura drove to his
lodgings and took him a box, which was held up to him as he came to open the
door to my wife&rsquo;s knock by our smiling little boy, He patted the child on
his golden head and kissed him. My wife wished he would have done as much for
her&mdash;but he would not&mdash;though she owned she kissed his hand. He drew
it across his eyes and thanked her in a very calm and stately manner&mdash;but
he did not invite her within the threshold of his door, saying simply, that
such a room was not a fit place to receive a lady, &ldquo;as you ought to know
very well, Mrs. Smith,&rdquo; he said to the landlady, who had accompanied my
wife up the stairs. &ldquo;He will eat scarcely anything,&rdquo; the woman told
us, &ldquo;his meals come down untouched; his candles are burning all night,
almost, as he sits poring over his papers.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He was bent&mdash;he who used to walk so uprightly,&rdquo; Laura said.
He seemed to have grown many years older, and was, indeed, quite a decrepit old
man.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am glad they have left Clive out of the bankruptcy,&rdquo; the Colonel
said to Bayham; it was almost the only time when his voice exhibited any
emotion. &ldquo;It was very kind of them to leave out Clive, poor boy, and I
have thanked the lawyers in court.&rdquo; Those gentlemen, and the judge
himself, were very much moved at this act of gratitude. The judge made a very
feeling speech to the Colonel when he came up for his certificate. He passed
very different comments on the conduct of the Manager of the Bank, when that
person appeared for examination. He wished that the law had power to deal with
those gentlemen who had come home with large fortunes from India, realised but
a few years before the bankruptcy. Those gentlemen had known how to take care
of themselves very well; and as for the Manager, is not his wife giving elegant
balls at her elegant house at Cheltenham at this very day?
</p>

<p>
What weighed most upon the Colonel&rsquo;s mind, F. B. imagined, was the
thought that he had been the means of inducing many poor friends to embark
their money in this luckless speculation. Take J. J.&rsquo;s money after he had
persuaded old Ridley to place 200 pounds in Indian shares! Good God, he and his
family should rather perish than he would touch a farthing of it! Many fierce
words were uttered to him by Mrs. Mackenzie, for instance&mdash;by her angry
daughter at Musselburgh&mdash;Josey&rsquo;s husband, by Mr. Smee, R.A., and two
or three Indian officers, friends of his own, who had entered into the
speculation on his recommendation. These rebukes Thomas Newcome bore with an
affecting meekness, as his faithful F. B. described to me, striving with many
oaths and much loudness to carry off his own emotion. But what moved the
Colonel most of all, was a letter which came at this time from Honeyman in
India, saying that he was doing well&mdash;that of course he knew of his
benefactor&rsquo;s misfortune, and that he sent a remittance which, <i>D.
V.</i>, should be annual, in payment of his debt to the Colonel, and his good
sister at Brighton. &ldquo;On receipt of this letter,&rdquo; said F. B.,
&ldquo;the old man was fairly beaten&mdash;the letter, with the bill in it,
dropped out of his hands. He clasped them together, shaking in every limb, and
his head dropped down on his breast as he said, &lsquo;I thank my God Almighty
for this!&rsquo; and he sent the cheque off to Mrs. Honeyman by the post that
night, sir, every shilling of it; and he passed his old arm under
mine&mdash;and we went out to Tom&rsquo;s Coffee-House, and he ate some dinner
the first time for ever so long, and drank a couple of glasses of port wine,
and F. B. stood it, sir, and would stand his heart&rsquo;s blood that dear old
boy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
It was on a Monday morning that those melancholy shutters were seen over the
offices of the Bundelcund Bank in Lothbury, which were not to come down until
the rooms were handed over to some other, and, let us trust, more fortunate
speculators. The Indian bills had arrived, and been protested in the City on
the previous Saturday. The Campaigner and Mrs. Rosey had arranged a little
party to the theatre that evening, and the gallant Captain Goby had agreed to
quit the delights of the Flag Club, in order to accompany the ladies. Neither
of them knew what was happening in the City, or could account otherwise than by
the common domestic causes, for Clive&rsquo;s gloomy despondency and his
father&rsquo;s sad reserve. Clive had not been in the City on this day. He had
spent it, as usual, in his studio, <i>boudé</i> by his wife, and not disturbed
by the messroom raillery of the Campaigner. They had dined early, in order to
be in time for the theatre. Goby entertained them with the latest jokes from
the smoking-room at the Flag, and was in his turn amused by the brilliant plans
for the season which Rosey and her mamma sketched out the entertainments which
Mrs. Clive proposed to give, the ball&mdash;she was dying for a masked ball
just such a one as that was described in the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> of last
week, out of that paper with the droll title, the <i>Bengal Hurkaru</i>, which
the merchant-prince, the head of the bank, you know, in India, had given at
Calcutta. &ldquo;We must have a ball, too,&rdquo; says Mrs. Mackenzie;
&ldquo;society demands it of you.&rdquo; &ldquo;Of course it does,&rdquo;
echoes Captain Goby, and he bethought him of a brilliant circle of young
fellows from the Flag, whom he would bring in splendid uniform to dance with
the pretty Mrs. Clive Newcome.
</p>

<p>
After the dinner&mdash;they little knew it was to be their last in that fine
house&mdash;the ladies retired to give their parting kiss to baby&mdash;a
parting look to the toilettes, with which they proposed to fascinate the
inhabitants of the pit and the public boxes at the Olympic. Goby made vigorous
play with the claret-bottle during the brief interval of potation allowed to
him; he, too, little deeming that he should never drink bumper there again;
Clive looking on with the melancholy and silent acquiescence which had, of
late, been his part in the household. The carriage was announced&mdash;the
ladies came down&mdash;pretty capotes on the lovely Campaigner, Goby vowed,
looking as young and as handsome as her daughter, by Jove, and the ball door
was opened to admit the two gentlemen and ladies to their carriage, when, as
they were about to step in, a hansom cab drove up rapidly, in which was
perceived Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s anxious face. He got out of the
vehicle&mdash;his own carriage making way for him&mdash;the ladies still on the
steps. &ldquo;Oh, the play! I forgot,&rdquo; said the Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course we are going to the play, papa,&rdquo; cries little Rosey,
with a gay little tap of her hand.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think you had better not,&rdquo; Colonel Newcome said gravely.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Indeed my darling child has set her heart upon it, and I would not have
her disappointed for the world in her situation,&rdquo; cries the Campaigner,
tossing up her head.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel for reply bade his coachman drive to the stables, and come for
further orders; and, turning to his daughter&rsquo;s guest, expressed to
Captain Goby his regret that the proposed party could not take place on that
evening, as he had matter of very great importance to communicate to his
family. On hearing these news, and understanding that his further company was
not desirable, the Captain, a man of great presence of mind, arrested the
hansom cabman, who was about to take his departure, and who blithely, knowing
the Club and its inmates full well, carried off the jolly Captain to finish his
evening at the Flag.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Has it come, father?&rdquo; said Clive with a sure prescience, looking
in his father&rsquo;s face.
</p>

<p>
The father took and grasped the hand which his son held out. &ldquo;Let us go
back into the dining-room,&rdquo; he said. They entered it, and he filled
himself a glass of wine out of the bottle still standing amidst the dessert. He
bade the butler retire, who was lingering about the room and sideboard, and
only wanted to know whether his master would have dinner, that was all. And,
this gentleman having withdrawn, Colonel Newcome finished his glass of sherry
and broke a biscuit; the Campaigner assuming an attitude of surprise and
indignation, whilst Rosey had leisure to remark that papa looked very ill, and
that something must have happened.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel took both her hands and drew her towards him and kissed her, whilst
Rosey&rsquo;s mamma, flouncing down on a chair, beat a tattoo upon the
tablecloth with her fan. &ldquo;Something has happened, my love,&rdquo; the
Colonel said very sadly; &ldquo;you must show all your strength of mind, for a
great misfortune has befallen us.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Good heavens, Colonel, what is it? don&rsquo;t frighten my beloved
child,&rdquo; cries the Campaigner, rushing towards her darling, and enveloping
her in her robust arms. &ldquo;What can have happened, don&rsquo;t agitate this
darling child, sir,&rdquo; and she looked indignantly towards the poor Colonel.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;We have received the very worst news from Calcutta, a confirmation of
the news by the last mail, Clivey, my boy.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is no news to me. I have always been expecting it, father,&rdquo;
says Clive, holding down his head.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Expecting what? What have you been keeping back from us? In what have
you been deceiving us, Colonel Newcome?&rdquo; shrieks the Campaigner; and
Rosa, crying out, &ldquo;Oh, mamma, mamma!&rdquo; begins to whimper.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The chief of the bank in India is dead,&rdquo; the Colonel went on.
&ldquo;He has left its affairs in worse than disorder. We are, I fear, ruined,
Mrs. Mackenzie.&rdquo; And the Colonel went on to tell how the bank could not
open on Monday morning, and its bills to a great amount had already been
protested in the City that day.
</p>

<p>
Rosey did not understand half these news, or comprehend the calamity which was
to follow; but Mrs. Mackenzie, rustling in great wrath, made a speech, of which
the anger gathered as he proceeded; in which she vowed and protested that her
money, which the Colonel, she did not know from <i>what motives</i>, had
induced her to subscribe, should not be sacrificed, and that have it she would,
the bank shut or not, the next Monday morning&mdash;that her daughter had a
fortune of her own which her poor dear brother James should have divided and
would have divided much more fairly, had he not been wrongly
influenced&mdash;she would not say by whom, and she commanded Colonel Newcome
upon that <i>instant</i>, if he was, as he always pretended to be, an
<i>honourable</i> man, to give an account of her blessed darling&rsquo;s
property, and to pay back her own, every sixpence of it. She would not lend it
for an hour longer, and to see that that dear blessed child now sleeping
unconsciously upstairs, and his dear brothers and sisters who might follow, for
Rosey was a young woman, a poor innocent creature, too young to be married, and
never would have been married had she listened to her mamma&rsquo;s advice. She
demanded that the baby, and all succeeding babies, should have their
<i>rights</i>, and should be looked to by their grandmother, if their
father&rsquo;s father was so <i>unkind</i>, and so <i>wicked</i>, and so
<i>unnatural</i>, as to give their money to rogues, and deprive them of their
just bread.
</p>

<p>
Rosey began to cry more loudly than ever during the utterance of mamma&rsquo;s
sermon, so loudly that Clive peevishly cried out, &ldquo;Hold your
tongue,&rdquo; on which the Campaigner, clutching her daughter to her breast
again, turned on her son-in-law, and abused him as she had abused his father
before him, calling out that they were both in a conspiracy to defraud her
child, and the little darling upstairs of its bread, and she would speak, yes,
she would, and no power should prevent her, and her money she would have on
Monday, as sure as her poor dear husband, Captain Mackenzie, was dead, and she
never would have been <i>cheated</i> so, yes, <i>cheated</i>, if he had been
alive.
</p>

<p>
At the word &ldquo;cheated&rdquo; Clive broke out with an execration&mdash;the
poor Colonel with a groan of despair&mdash;the widow&rsquo;s storm continued,
and above that howling tempest of words rose Mrs. Clive&rsquo;s piping scream,
who went off into downright hysterics at last, in which she was encouraged by
her mother, and in which she gasped out frantic ejaculations regarding baby;
dear, darling, ruined baby, and so forth.
</p>

<p>
The sorrow-stricken Colonel had to quell the women&rsquo;s tongues and shrill
anger, and his son&rsquo;s wrathful replies, who could not bear the weight of
Mrs. Mackenzie upon him; and it was not until these three were allayed, that
Thomas Newcome was able to continue his sad story, to explain what had
happened, and what the actual state of the case was, and to oblige the
terror-stricken women at length to hear something like reason.
</p>

<p>
He then had to tell them, to their dismay, that he would inevitably be declared
a bankrupt in the ensuing week; that the whole of his property in that house,
as elsewhere, would be seized and sold for the creditors&rsquo; benefit; and
that his daughter had best immediately leave a home where she would be
certainly subject to humiliation and annoyance. &ldquo;I would have Clive, my
boy, take you out of the country, and&mdash;and return to me when I have need
of him, and shall send for him,&rdquo; the father said fondly in reply to a
rebellious look on his son&rsquo;s face. &ldquo;I would have you quit this
house as soon as possible. Why not to-night? The law blood-hound may be upon us
ere an hour is over&mdash;at this moment for what I know.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
At that moment the door-bell was heard to ring, and the women gave a scream
apiece, as if the bailiffs were actually coming to take possession. Rosey went
off in quite a series of screams, peevishly repressed by her husband, and
always encouraged by mamma, who called her son-in-law an unfeeling wretch. It
must be confessed that Mrs. Clive Newcome did not exhibit much strength of
mind, or comfort her husband much at a moment when he needed consolation.
</p>

<p>
From angry rebellion and fierce remonstrance, this pair of women now passed to
an extreme terror and desire for instantaneous flight. They would go that
moment&mdash;they would wrap the blessed child up in its shawls&mdash;and nurse
should take it anywhere&mdash;anywhere, poor neglected thing. &ldquo;My
trunks,&rdquo; cries Mrs. Mackenzie, &ldquo;you know are ready packed&mdash;I
am sure it is not the treatment which I have received&mdash;it is nothing but
my <i>duty</i> and my <i>religion</i>&mdash;and the protection which I owe to
this blessed unprotected&mdash;yes, <i>unprotected</i>, and <i>robbed</i>, and
<i>cheated</i>, darling child&mdash;which have made me stay a <i>single day</i>
in this house. I never thought I should have been <i>robbed</i> in it, or my
darlings with their fine fortunes flung naked on the world. If my Mac was here,
you never had dared to have done this, Colonel Newcome&mdash;no, never. He had
his faults&mdash;Mackenzie had&mdash;but he would never have robbed his own
children! Come away, Rosey, my blessed love, come let us pack your things, and
let us go and <i>hide</i> our <i>heads</i> in sorrow somewhere. Ah!
didn&rsquo;t I tell you to beware of all <i>painters</i>, and that Clarence was
a true gentleman, and loved you with all his heart, and would never have
cheated you out of your money, for which I will have justice as sure as there
is justice in England.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
During this outburst the Colonel sat utterly scared and silent, supporting his
poor head between his hands. When the harem had departed he turned sadly to his
son. Clive did not believe that his father was a cheat and a rogue. No, thank
God! The two men embraced with tender cordiality and almost happy emotion on
the one side and the other. Never for one moment could Clive think his dear old
father meant wrong&mdash;though the speculations were unfortunate in which he
had engaged&mdash;though Clive had not liked them; it was a relief to his mind
that they were now come to an end; they should all be happier now, thank God!
those clouds of distrust being removed. Clive felt not one moment&rsquo;s doubt
but that they should be able to meet fortune with a brave face; and that
happier, much happier days were in store for him than ever they had known since
the period of this confounded prosperity.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s a good end to it,&rdquo; says Clive, with flashing eyes and
a flushed face, &ldquo;and here&rsquo;s a good health till to-morrow,
father!&rdquo; and he filled into two glasses the wine still remaining in the
flask. &ldquo;Good-bye to our fortune, and bad luck go with her&mdash;I puff
the prostitute away&mdash;<i>Si celeres quatit pennas</i>, you remember what we
used to say at Grey Friars&mdash;<i>resigno quæ dedit, et mea virtute me
involvo, probamque pauperiem sine dote quæro</i>.&rdquo; And he pledged his
father, who drank his wine, his hand shaking as he raised the glass to his
lips, and his kind voice trembling as he uttered the well-known old school
words, with an emotion that was as sacred as a prayer. Once more, and with
hearts full of love, the two men embraced. Clive&rsquo;s voice would tremble
now if he told the story, as it did when he spoke it to me in happier times,
one calm summer evening when we sat together and talked of dear old days.
</p>

<p>
Thomas Newcome explained to his son the plan, which, to his mind, as he came
away from the City after the day&rsquo;s misfortunes, he thought it was best to
pursue. The women and the child were clearly best out of the way. &ldquo;And
you too, my boy, must be on duty with them until I send for you, which I will
do if your presence can be of the least service to me, or is called for
by&mdash;by&mdash;our honour,&rdquo; said the old man with a drop in his voice.
&ldquo;You must obey me in this, dear Clive, as you have done in everything,
and been a good and dear, and obedient son to me. God pardon me for having
trusted to my own simple old brains too much, and not to you who know so much
better. You will obey me this once more, my boy&mdash;you will promise me
this?&rdquo; and the old man as he spoke took Clive&rsquo;s hand in both his,
and fondly caressed it.
</p>

<p>
Then with a shaking hand he took out of his pocket his old purse with the steel
rings, which he had worn for many and many a long year. Clive remembered it,
and his father&rsquo;s face how it would beam with delight, when he used to
take that very purse out in Clive&rsquo;s boyish days and tip him just after he
left school. &ldquo;Here are some notes and some gold,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;It is Rosey&rsquo;s, honestly, Clive dear, her half-year&rsquo;s
dividend, for which you will give an order, please, to Sherrick. He has been
very kind and good, Sherrick. All the servants were providentially paid last
week&mdash;there are only the outstanding week&rsquo;s bills out&mdash;we shall
manage to meet those, I dare say. And you will see that Rosey only takes away
such clothes for herself and her baby as are actually necessary, won&rsquo;t
you, dear? the plain things, you know&mdash;none of the fineries&mdash;they may
be packed in a petara or two, and you will take them with you&mdash;but the
pomps and vanities, you know, we will leave behind&mdash;the pearls and
bracelets, and the plate, and all that rubbish&mdash;and I will make an
inventory of them to-morrow when you are gone, and give them up, every
rupee&rsquo;s worth, sir, every anna, by Jove, to the creditors.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The darkness had fallen by this time, and the obsequious butler entered to
light the dining-room lamps. &ldquo;You have been a very good and kind servant
to us, Martin,&rdquo; says the Colonel, making him a low bow. &ldquo;I should
like to shake you by the hand. We must part company now, and I have no doubt
you and your fellow servants will find good places, all of you, as you merit,
Martin&mdash;as you merit. Great losses have fallen upon our family&mdash;we
are ruined, sir&mdash;we are ruined! The great Bundelcund Banking Company has
stopped payment in India, and our branch here must stop on Monday. Thank my
friends downstairs for their kindness to me and my family.&rdquo; Martin bowed
in silence with great respect. He and his comrades in the servants&rsquo;-hall
had been expecting this catastrophe, quite as long as the Colonel himself who
thought he had kept his affairs so profoundly secret.
</p>

<p>
Clive went up into his women&rsquo;s apartments, looking with but little
regret, I dare say, round those cheerless nuptial chambers with all their gaudy
fittings; the fine looking-glasses, in which poor Rosey&rsquo;s little person
had been reflected; the silken curtains under which he had lain by the poor
child&rsquo;s side, wakeful and lonely. Here he found his child&rsquo;s nurse,
and his wife, and wife&rsquo;s mother, busily engaged with a multiplicity of
boxes; with flounces, feathers, fal-lals, and finery, which they were stowing
away in this trunk and that; while the baby lay on its little pink pillow
breathing softly, a little pearly fist placed close to its mouth. The aspect of
the tawdry vanities scattered here and there chafed and annoyed the young man.
He kicked the robes over with his foot. When Mrs. Mackenzie interposed with
loud ejaculations, he sternly bade her to be silent, and not wake the child.
His words were not to be questioned when he spoke in that manner. &ldquo;You
will take nothing with you, Rosey, but what is strictly necessary&mdash;only
two or three of your plainest dresses, and what is required for the boy. What
is in this trunk?&rdquo; Mrs. Mackenzie stepped forward and declared, and the
nurse vowed upon her honour, and the lady&rsquo;s-maid asserted really now upon
honour too, that there was nothing but what was most strictly necessary in that
trunk, to which affidavits, when Clive applied to his wife, she gave a rather
timid assent.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Where are the keys of that trunk?&rdquo; Upon Mrs. Mackenzie&rsquo;s
exclamation of &ldquo;What nonsense!&rdquo; Clive, putting his foot upon the
flimsy oil-covered box, vowed he would kick the lid off unless it was instantly
opened. Obeying this grim summons, the fluttering women produced the keys, and
the black box was opened before him.
</p>

<p>
The box was found to contain a number of objects which Clive pronounced to be
by no means necessary to his wife&rsquo;s and child&rsquo;s existence.
Trinket-boxes and favourite little gimcracks, chains, rings and pearl
necklaces, the tiara poor Rosey had worn at court&mdash;the feathers and the
gorgeous train which had decorated the little person&mdash;all these were found
packed away in this one receptacle; and in another box, I am sorry to say, were
the silver forks and spoons (the butler wisely judging that the rich and
splendid electrotype ware might as well be left behind)&mdash;all the silver
forks, spoons, and ladles, and our poor old friend the cocoa-nut tree, which
these female robbers would have carried out of the premises.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Clive Newcome burst out into fierce laughter when he saw the cocoa-nut
tree; he laughed so loud that baby woke, and his mother-in-law called him a
brute, and the nurse ran to give its accustomed quietus to the little screaming
infant. Rosey&rsquo;s eyes poured forth a torrent of little protests, and she
would have cried yet more loudly than the other baby, had not her husband,
again fiercely checking her, sworn with a dreadful oath, that unless she told
him the whole truth, &ldquo;By heavens she should leave the house with nothing
but what covered her.&rdquo; Even the Campaigner could not make head against
Clive&rsquo;s stern resolution; and the incipient insurrection of the maids and
the mistresses was quelled by his spirit. The lady&rsquo;s-maid, a flighty
creature, received her wages and took her leave: but the nurse could not find
it in her heart to quit her little nursling so suddenly, and accompanied
Clive&rsquo;s household in the journey upon which those poor folks were bound.
What stolen goods were finally discovered when the family reached foreign parts
were found in Mrs. Mackenzie&rsquo;s trunks, not in her daughter&rsquo;s: a
silver filigree basket, a few teaspoons, baby&rsquo;s gold coral, and a costly
crimson velvet-bound copy of the Hon. Miss Grimstone&rsquo;s Church Service, to
which articles, having thus appropriated them, Mrs. Mackenzie henceforward laid
claim as her own.
</p>

<p>
So when the packing was done a cab was called to receive the modest trunks of
this fugitive family&mdash;the coachman was bidden to put his horses to again,
and for the last time poor Rosey Newcome sate in her own carriage, to which the
Colonel conducted her with his courtly old bow, kissing the baby as it slept
once more unconscious in its nurse&rsquo;s embrace, and bestowing a very grave
and polite parting salute upon the Campaigner.
</p>

<p>
Then Clive and his father entered a cab on which the trunks were borne, and
they drove to the Tower Stairs, where the ship lay which was to convey them out
of England; and, during that journey, no doubt, they talked over their altered
prospects, and I am sure Clive&rsquo;s father blessed his son fondly, and
committed him and his family to a good God&rsquo;s gracious keeping, and
thought of him with sacred love when they had parted, and Thomas Newcome had
returned to his lonely house to watch and to think of his ruined fortunes, and
to pray that he might have courage under them; that he might bear his own fate
honourably; and that a gentle one might be dealt to those beloved beings for
whom his life had been sacrificed in vain.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0072" id="link2HCH0072"></a>
CHAPTER LXXII.<br/>
Belisarius</h2>

<p>
When the sale of Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s effects took place, a friend of the
family bought in for a few shillings those two swords which had hung, as we
have said, in the good man&rsquo;s chamber, and for which no single broker
present had the heart to bid. The head of Clive&rsquo;s father, painted by
himself, which had always kept its place in the young man&rsquo;s studio,
together with a lot of his oil-sketchings, easels, and painting apparatus, were
purchased by the faithful J. J., who kept them until his friend should return
to London and reclaim them, and who showed the most generous solicitude in
Clive&rsquo;s behalf. J. J. was elected of the Royal Academy this year, and
Clive, it was evident, was working hard at the profession which he had always
loved; for he sent over three pictures to the Academy, and I never knew man
more mortified than the affectionate J. J., when two of these unlucky pieces
were rejected by the committee for the year. One pretty little piece, called
&ldquo;The Stranded Boat,&rdquo; got a fair place on the Exhibition walls, and,
you may be sure, was loudly praised by a certain critic in the <i>Pall Mall
Gazette</i>. The picture was sold on the first day of the exhibition at the
price of twenty-five pounds, which the artist demanded; and when the kind J. J.
wrote to inform his friend of this satisfactory circumstance, and to say that
he held the money at Clive&rsquo;s disposal, the latter replied with many
expressions of sincere gratitude, at the same time begging him directly to
forward the money, with our old friend Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s love, to Mrs.
Sarah Mason, at Newcome. But J. J. never informed his friend that he himself
was the purchaser of the picture; nor was Clive made acquainted with the fact
until some time afterwards, when he found it hanging in Ridley&rsquo;s studio.
</p>

<p>
I have said that we none of us were aware at this time what was the real state
of Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s finances, and hoped that, after giving up every
shilling of his property which was confiscated to the creditors of the Bank, he
had still, from his retiring pension and military allowances, at least enough
reputably to maintain him. On one occasion, having business in the City, I
there met Mr. Sherrick. Affairs had been going ill with that gentleman&mdash;he
had been let in terribly, he informed me, by Lord Levant&rsquo;s
insolvency&mdash;having had large money transactions with his lordship.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s none of them so good as old Newcome,&rdquo; Mr. Sherrick
said with a sigh; &ldquo;that was a good one&mdash;that was an honest man if
ever I saw one&mdash;with no more guile, and no more idea of business than a
baby. Why didn&rsquo;t he take my advice, poor old cove?&mdash;he might be
comfortable now. Why did he sell away that annuity, Pendennis? I got it done
for him when nobody else perhaps could have got it done for him&mdash;for the
security ain&rsquo;t worth twopence if Newcome wasn&rsquo;t an honest
man;&mdash;but I know he is, and would rather starve and eat the nails off his
fingers than not keep his word, the old trump. And when he came to me, a good
two months before the smash of the Bank, which I knew it, sir, and saw that it
must come&mdash;when he came and raised three thousand pounds to meet them
d&mdash;d electioneering bills, having to pay lawyers, commission, premium,
life-insurance&mdash;you know the whole game, Mr. P.&mdash;I as good as went
down on my knees to him&mdash;I did&mdash;at the North and South American
Coffee-house, where he was to meet the party about the money, and said,
&lsquo;Colonel, don&rsquo;t raise it&mdash;I tell you, let it stand
over&mdash;let it go in along with the bankruptcy that&rsquo;s
a-coming,&rsquo;&mdash;but he wouldn&rsquo;t&mdash;he went on like an old
Bengal tiger, roaring about his honour; he paid the bills every
shilling&mdash;infernal long bills they were, and it&rsquo;s my belief that, at
this minute, he ain&rsquo;t got fifty pounds a year of his own to spend. I
would send him back my commission&mdash;I would by Jove&mdash;only times is so
bad, and that rascal Levant let me in. It went to my heart to take the old
cock&rsquo;s money&mdash;but it&rsquo;s gone&mdash;that and ever so much
more&mdash;and Lady Whittlesea&rsquo;s Chapel too, Mr. P. Hang that young
Levant.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Squeezing my hand after this speech, Sherrick ran across the street after some
other capitalist who was entering the Diddlesex Insurance Office, and left me
very much grieved and dismayed at finding that my worst fears in regard to
Thomas Newcome were confirmed. Should we confer with his wealthy family
respecting the Colonel&rsquo;s impoverished condition? Was his brother Hobson
Newcome aware of it? As for Sir Barnes, the quarrel between him and his uncle
had been too fierce to admit of hopes of relief from that quarter. Barnes had
been put to very heavy expenses in the first contested election; had come
forward again immediately on his uncle&rsquo;s resignation, but again had been
beaten by a more liberal candidate, his quondam former friend, Mr.
Higg&mdash;who formally declared against Sir Barnes, and who drove him finally
out of the representation of Newcome. From this gentleman it was vain of course
for Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s friends to expect relief.
</p>

<p>
How to aid him? He was proud&mdash;past work&mdash;nearly seventy years old.
&ldquo;Oh, why did those cruel Academicians refuse Clive&rsquo;s
pictures?&rdquo; cries Laura. &ldquo;I have no patience with them&mdash;had the
pictures been exhibited I know who might have bought them&mdash;but that is
vain now. He would suspect at once, and send her money away. Oh, Pen! why, why
didn&rsquo;t he come when I wrote that letter to Brussels?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
From persons so poorly endowed with money as ourselves, any help, but of the
merest temporary nature, was out of the question. We knew our friends too well
not to know that they would disdain to receive it. It was agreed between me and
Laura that at any rate I should go and see Clive. Our friends indeed were at a
very short distance from us, and, having exiled themselves from England, could
yet see its coasts from their windows upon any clear day. Boulogne was their
present abiding-place&mdash;refuge of how many thousands of other unfortunate
Britons&mdash;and to this friendly port I betook myself speedily, having the
address of Colonel Newcome. His quarters were in a quiet grass-grown old street
of the Old Town. None of the family were at home when I called. There was
indeed no servant to answer the bell, but the good-natured French domestic of a
neighbouring lodger told me that the young monsieur went out every day to make
his designs, and that I should probably find the elder gentleman upon the
rampart, where he was in the custom of going every day. I strolled along by
those pretty old walks and bastions, under the pleasant trees which shadow
them, and the grey old gabled houses from which you look down upon the gay new
city, and the busy port, and the piers stretching into the shining sea, dotted
with a hundred white sails or black smoking steamers, and bounded by the
friendly lines of the bright English shore. There are few prospects more
charming than the familiar view from those old French walls&mdash;few places
where young children may play, and ruminating old age repose more pleasantly
than on those peaceful rampart gardens.
</p>

<p>
I found our dear old friend seated on one of the benches, a newspaper on his
knees, and by his side a red-cheeked little French lass, upon whose lap Thomas
Newcome the younger lay sleeping. The Colonel&rsquo;s face flushed up when he
saw me. As he advanced a step or two towards me I could see that he trembled in
his walk. His hair had grown almost quite white. He looked now to be more than
his age&mdash;he whose carriage last year had been so erect, whose figure had
been so straight and manly. I was very much moved at meeting him, and at seeing
the sad traces which pain and grief had left in the countenance of the dear old
man.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;So you are come to see me, my good young friend,&rdquo; cried the
Colonel, with a trembling voice. &ldquo;It is very, very kind of you. Is not
this a pretty drawing-room to receive our friends in? We have not many of them
now; Boy and I come and sit here for hours every day. Hasn&rsquo;t he grown a
fine boy? He can say several words now, sir, and can walk surprisingly well.
Soon he will be able to walk with his grandfather, and then Marie will not have
the trouble to wait upon either of us.&rdquo; He repeated this sentiment in his
pretty old French, and turning with a bow to Marie. The girl said monsieur knew
very well that she did not desire better than to come out with baby; that it
was better than staying at home, pardieu; and, the clock striking at this
moment, she rose up with her child, crying out that it was time to return or
madame would scold.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Mrs. Mackenzie has rather a short temper,&rdquo; the Colonel said with a
gentle smile. &ldquo;Poor thing, she has had a great deal to bear in
consequence, Pen, of my imprudence. I am glad you never took shares in our
bank. I should not be so glad to see you as I am now, if I had brought losses
upon you as I have upon so many of my friends.&rdquo; I, for my part, trembled
to hear the good old man was under the domination of the Campaigner.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Bayham sends me the paper regularly; he is a very kind faithful
creature. How glad I am that he has got a snug berth in the City! His company
really prospers, I am happy to think, unlike some companies you know of, Pen. I
have read your two speeches, sir, and Clive and I liked them very much. The
poor boy works all day at his pictures. You know he has sold one at the
exhibition, which has given us a great deal of heart&mdash;and he has completed
two or three more&mdash;and I am sitting to him now for&mdash;what do you
think, sir? for Belisarius. Will you give Belisarius and the Obolus kind
word?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear, dear old friend,&rdquo; I said in great emotion, &ldquo;if you
will do me the kindness to take my Obolus or to use my services in any way, you
will give me more pleasure than ever I had from your generous bounties in old
days. Look, sir, I wear the watch which you gave me when you went to India. Did
you not tell me then to look over Clive and serve him if I could? Can&rsquo;t I
serve him now?&rdquo; and I went on further in this strain, asseverating with
great warmth and truth that my wife&rsquo;s affection and my own were most
sincere for both of them, and that our pride would be to be able to help such
dear friends.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel said I had a good heart, and my wife had,
though&mdash;though&mdash;he did not finish this sentence, but I could
interpret it without need of its completion. My wife and the two ladies of
Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s family never could be friends, however much my poor
Laura tried to be intimate with these women. Her very efforts at intimacy
caused a frigidity and hauteur which Laura could not overcome. Little Rosey and
her mother set us down as two aristocratic personages; nor for our parts were
we very much disturbed at this opinion of the Campaigner and little Rosa.
</p>

<p>
I talked with the Colonel for half an hour or more about his affairs, which
indeed were very gloomy, and Clive&rsquo;s prospects, of which he strove to
present as cheering a view as possible. He was obliged to confirm the news
which Sherrick had given me, and to own, in fact, that all his pension was
swallowed up by a payment of interest and life insurance for sums which he had
been compelled to borrow. How could he do otherwise than meet his engagements?
Thank God, he had Clive&rsquo;s full approval for what he had done&mdash;had
communicated the circumstance to his son almost immediately after it took
place, and that was a comfort to him&mdash;an immense comfort. &ldquo;For the
women are very angry,&rdquo; said the poor Colonel; &ldquo;you see they do not
understand the laws of honour, at least as we understand them: and perhaps I
was wrong in hiding the truth as I certainly did from Mrs. Mackenzie, but I
acted for the best&mdash;I hoped against hope that some chance might turn in
our favour. God knows, I had a hard task enough in wearing a cheerful face for
months, and in following my little Rosa about to her parties and balls; but
poor Mrs. Mackenzie has a right to be angry, only I wish my little girl did not
side with her mother so entirely, for the loss of her affection gives me great
pain.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
So it was as I suspected. The Campaigner ruled over this family, and added to
all their distresses by her intolerable presence and tyranny. &ldquo;Why,
sir,&rdquo; I ventured to ask, &ldquo;if, as I gather from you&mdash;and I
remember,&rdquo; I added with a laugh, &ldquo;certain battles-royal which Clive
described to me in old days&mdash;if you and the Campai&mdash;Mrs. Mackenzie do
not agree, why should she continue to live with you, when you would all be so
much happier apart?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She has a right to live in the house,&rdquo; says the Colonel; &ldquo;It
is I who have no right in it. I am a poor old pensioner, don&rsquo;t you see,
subsisting on Rosey&rsquo;s bounty? We live on the hundred a year, secured to
her at her marriage, and Mrs. Mackenzie has her forty pounds of pension which
she adds to the common stock. It is I who have made away with every shilling of
Rosey&rsquo;s 17,000 pounds, God help me, and with 1500 pounds of her
mother&rsquo;s. They put their little means together, and they keep us&mdash;me
and Clive. What can we do for a living? Great God! What can we do? Why, I am so
useless that even when my poor boy earned 25 pounds for his picture, I felt we
were bound to send it to Sarah Mason, and you may fancy when this came to Mrs.
Mackenzie&rsquo;s ears, what a life my boy and I led. I have never spoken of
these things to any mortal soul&mdash;I even don&rsquo;t speak of them with
Clive&mdash;but seeing your kind and honest face has made me talk&mdash;you
must pardon my garrulity&mdash;I am growing old, Arthur. This poverty and these
quarrels have beaten my spirit down&mdash;there, I shall talk on this subject
no more. I wish, sir, I could ask you to dine with us, but&rdquo;&mdash;and
here he smiled&mdash;&ldquo;we must get the leave of the higher powers.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I was determined, in spite of prohibitions and Campaigners, to see my old
friend Clive, and insisted on walking back with the Colonel to his lodgings, at
the door of which we met Mrs. Mackenzie and her daughter. Rosa blushed up a
little&mdash;looked at her mamma&mdash;and then greeted me with a hand and a
curtsey. The Campaigner also saluted me in a majestic but amicable manner, made
no objection even to my entering her apartments and seeing <i>the condition to
which they were reduced:</i> this phrase was uttered with particular emphasis
and a significant look towards the Colonel, who bowed his meek head and
preceded me into the lodgings, which were in truth very homely, pretty, and
comfortable. The Campaigner was an excellent manager&mdash;restless, bothering,
brushing perpetually. Such fugitive gimcracks as they had brought away with
them decorated the little salon. Mrs. Mackenzie, who took the entire command,
even pressed me to dine and partake, if so fashionable a gentleman would
<i>condescend</i> to partake, of a humble exile&rsquo;s fare. No fare was
perhaps very pleasant to me in company with that woman, but I wanted to see my
dear old Clive, and gladly accepted his voluble mother-in-law&rsquo;s not
disinterested hospitality. She beckoned the Colonel aside; whispered to him,
putting something into his hand; on which he took his hat and went away. Then
Rosey was dismissed upon some other pretext, and I had the felicity to be left
alone with Mrs. Captain Mackenzie.
</p>

<p>
She instantly improved the occasion; and with great eagerness and volubility
entered into her statement of the present affairs and position of this
unfortunate family. She described darling Rosey&rsquo;s delicate state, poor
thing&mdash;nursed with tenderness and in the lap of luxury&mdash;brought up
with every delicacy and the fondest mother&mdash;never knowing in the least how
to take care of herself, and likely to fall down and perish unless the kind
Campaigner were by to prop and protect her. She was in delicate
health&mdash;very delicate&mdash;ordered cod-liver oil by the doctor. Heaven
knows how he could be paid for those expensive medicines out of the pittance to
which the <i>imprudence</i>&mdash;the most culpable and designing
<i>imprudence</i>, and <i>extravagance</i>, and <i>folly</i> of Colonel Newcome
had reduced them! Looking out from the window as she spoke I saw&mdash;we both
saw&mdash;the dear old gentleman sadly advancing towards the house, a parcel in
his hand. Seeing his near approach, and that our interview was likely to come
to an end, Mrs. Mackenzie rapidly whispered to me that she knew I had a good
heart&mdash;that I had been blessed by Providence with a fine fortune, which I
knew how to keep better than <i>some</i> folks&mdash;and that if, as no doubt
was my intention&mdash;for with what other but a charitable view could I have
come to see them?&mdash;and most generous and noble was it of you to come, and
I always thought it of you, Mr. Pendennis, whatever <i>other</i> people said to
the contrary. If I proposed to give them relief, which was most
needful&mdash;and for which a <i>mother&rsquo;s blessings</i> would follow
me&mdash;let it be to her, the Campaigner, that my loan should be
confided&mdash;for as for the Colonel, he is not fit to be trusted with a
shilling, and has already flung away <i>immense sums</i> upon some old woman he
keeps in the country, leaving his darling Rosey without the actual necessaries
of life.
</p>

<p>
The woman&rsquo;s greed and rapacity&mdash;the flattery with which she chose to
belabour me at dinner, so choked and disgusted me, that I could hardly swallow
the meal, though my poor old friend had been sent out to purchase a pâté from
the pastrycook&rsquo;s for my especial refection. Clive was not at the dinner.
He seldom returned till late at night on sketching days. Neither his wife nor
his mother-in-law seemed much to miss him; and seeing that the Campaigner
engrossed the entire share of the conversation, and proposed not to leave me
for five minutes alone with the Colonel, I took leave rather speedily of my
entertainers, leaving a message for Clive, and a prayer that he would come and
see me at my hotel.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0073" id="link2HCH0073"></a>
CHAPTER LXXIII.<br/>
In which Belisarius returns from Exile</h2>

<p>
I was sitting in the dusk in my room at Hotel des Bains, when the visitor for
whom I hoped made his appearance in the person of Clive, with his broad
shoulders, and broad hat, and a shaggy beard, which he had thought fit in his
quality of painter to assume. Our greeting it need not be said was warm; and
our talk, which extended far into the night, very friendly and confidential. If
I make my readers confidants in Mr. Clive&rsquo;s private affairs, I ask my
friend&rsquo;s pardon for narrating his history in their behoof. The world had
gone very ill with my poor Clive, and I do not think that the pecuniary losses
which had visited him and his father afflicted him near so sorely as the state
of his home. In a pique with the woman he loved, and from that generous
weakness which formed part of his character, and which led him to acquiesce in
most wishes of his good father, the young man had gratified the darling desire
of the Colonel&rsquo;s heart, and taken the wife whom his two old friends
brought to him. Rosey, who was also, as we have shown, of a very obedient and
ductile nature, had acquiesced gladly enough in her mamma&rsquo;s opinion, that
she was in love with the rich and handsome young Clive, and accepted him for
better or worse. So undoubtedly would this good child have accepted Captain
Hoby, her previous adorer, have smilingly promised fidelity to the Captain at
church, and have made a very good, happy, and sufficient little wife for that
officer,&mdash;had not mamma commanded her to jilt him. What wonder that these
elders should wish to see their two dear young ones united? They began with
suitable age, money, good temper, and parents&rsquo; blessings. It is not the
first time that, with all these excellent helps to prosperity and happiness, a
marriage has turned out unfortunately&mdash;a pretty, tight ship gone to wreck
that set forth on its voyage with cheers from the shore, and every prospect of
fair wind and fine weather.
</p>

<p>
We have before quoted poor Clive&rsquo;s simile of the shoes with which his
good old father provided him&mdash;as pretty a little pair of shoes as need
be&mdash;only they did not fit the wearer. If they pinched him at first, how
they blistered and tortured him now! If Clive was gloomy and discontented even
when the honeymoon had scarce waned, and he and his family sat at home in state
and splendour under the boughs of the famous silver cocoa-nut tree, what was
the young man&rsquo;s condition now in poverty, when they had no love along
with a scant dinner of herbs; when his mother-in-law grudged each morsel which
his poor old father ate&mdash;when a vulgar, coarse-minded woman pursued with
brutal sarcasm and deadly rancour one of the tenderest and noblest gentlemen in
the world&mdash;when an ailing wife, always under some one&rsquo;s domination,
received him with helpless hysterical cries and reproaches&mdash;when a coarse
female tyrant, stupid, obstinate, utterly unable to comprehend the son&rsquo;s
kindly genius, or the father&rsquo;s gentle spirit, bullied over both, using
the intolerable undeniable advantage which her actual wrongs gave her to
tyrannise over these two wretched men! He had never heard the last of that
money which they had sent to Mrs. Mason, Clive said. When the knowledge of the
fact came to the Campaigner&rsquo;s ears, she raised such a storm as almost
killed the poor Colonel, and drove his son half mad. She seized the howling
infant, vowing that its unnatural father and grandfather were bent upon
starving it&mdash;she consoled and sent Rosey into hysterics&mdash;she took the
outlawed parson to whose church they went, and the choice society of bankrupt
captains, captains&rsquo; ladies, fugitive stockbrokers&rsquo; wives, and dingy
frequenters of billiard-rooms, and refugees from the Bench, into her councils;
and in her daily visits amongst these personages, and her walks on the pier,
whither she trudged with poor Rosey in her train, Mrs. Mackenzie made known her
own wrongs and her daughter&rsquo;s&mdash;showed how the Colonel, having robbed
and cheated them previously, was now living upon them; insomuch that Mrs.
Bolter, the levanting auctioneer&rsquo;s wife, would not make the poor old man
a bow when she met him&mdash;that Mrs. Captain Kitely, whose husband had lain
for seven years past in Boulogne gaol ordered her son to cut Clive; and when,
the child being sick, the poor old Colonel went for arrowroot to the
chemist&rsquo;s, young Snooks, the apothecary&rsquo;s assistant, refused to
allow him to take the powder away without previously depositing the money.
</p>

<p>
He had no money, Thomas Newcome. He gave up every farthing. After having
impoverished all around him, he had no right, he said, to touch a sixpence of
the wretched pittance remaining to them&mdash;he had even given up his cigar,
the poor old man, the companion and comforter of forty years. He was &ldquo;not
fit to be trusted with money,&rdquo; Mrs. Mackenzie said, and the good man
owned as he ate his scanty crust, and bowed his noble old head in silence under
that cowardly persecution.
</p>

<p>
And this, at the end of threescore and seven or eight years, was to be the
close of a life which had been spent in freedom and splendour, and kindness and
honour; this the reward of the noblest heart that ever beat&mdash;the tomb and
prison of a gallant warrior who had ridden in twenty battles&mdash;whose course
through life had been a bounty wherever it had passed&mdash;whose name had been
followed by blessings, and whose career was to end here&mdash;here&mdash;in a
mean room, in a mean alley of a foreign town&mdash;a low furious woman standing
over him and stabbing the kind defenceless heart with killing insult and daily
outrage!
</p>

<p>
As we sat together in the dark, Clive told me this wretched story, which was
wrung from him with a passionate emotion that I could not but keenly share. He
wondered the old man lived, Clive said. Some of the women&rsquo;s taunts and
gibes, as he could see, struck his father so that he gasped and started back as
if some one had lashed him with a whip. &ldquo;He would make away with
himself,&rdquo; said poor Clive, &ldquo;but he deems this is his punishment,
and that he must bear it as long as it pleases God. He does not care for his
own losses, as far as they concern himself: but these reproaches of Mrs.
Mackenzie, and some things which were said to him in the Bankruptcy Court, by
one or two widows of old friends, who were induced through his representations,
to take shares in that infernal bank, have affected him dreadfully. I hear him
lying awake and groaning at night, God bless him. Great God! what can I
do&mdash;what can I do?&rdquo; burst out the young man in a dreadful paroxysm
of grief. &ldquo;I have tried to get lessons&mdash;I went to London on the deck
of a steamer, and took a lot of drawings with me&mdash;tried
picture-dealers&mdash;pawnbrokers&mdash;Jews&mdash;Moss, whom you may remember
at Gandish&rsquo;s, and who gave me for forty-two drawings, eighteen pounds. I
brought the money back to Boulogne. It was enough to pay the doctor, and bury
our last poor little dead baby. <i>Tenez</i>, Pen, you must give me some
supper: I have had nothing all day but a <i>pain de deux sous;</i> I
can&rsquo;t stand it at home. My heart&rsquo;s almost broken&mdash;you must
give me some money, Pen, old boy. I know you will. I thought of writing to you,
but I wanted to support myself, you see. When I went to London with the
drawings I tried George&rsquo;s chambers, but he was in the country, I saw
Crackthorpe on the street in Oxford Street, but I could not face him, and
bolted down Hanway Yard. I tried, and I could not ask him, and I got the 18
pounds from Moss that day, and came home with it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Give him money? of course I would give him money&mdash;my dear old friend! And,
as an alternative and a wholesome shock to check that burst of passion and
grief in which the poor fellow indulged, I thought fit to break into a very
fierce and angry invective on my own part, which served to disguise the extreme
feeling of pain and pity that I did not somehow choose to exhibit. I rated
Clive soundly, and taxed him with unfriendliness and ingratitude for not having
sooner applied to friends who would think shame of themselves whilst he was in
need. Whatever he wanted was his as much as mine. I could not understand how
the necessity of the family should, in truth, be so extreme as he described it,
for after all many a poor family lived upon very much less; but I uttered none
of these objections, checking them with the thought that Clive, on his first
arrival at Boulogne, entirely ignorant of the practice of economy, might have
imprudently engaged in expenses which had reduced him to this present
destitution.*
</p>

<p class="footnote">
* I did not know at the time that Mrs. Mackenzie had taken entire
superintendence of the family treasury&mdash;and that this exemplary woman was
putting away, as she had done previously, sundry little sums to meet rainy
days.
</p>

<p>
I took the liberty of asking about debts, and of these Clive gave me to
understand there were none&mdash;at least none of his or his father&rsquo;s
contracting. &ldquo;If we were too proud to borrow, and I think we were wrong,
Pen, my dear old boy&mdash;I think we were wrong now&mdash;at least, we were
too proud to owe. My colourman takes his bill out in drawings, and I think owes
me a trifle. He got me some lessons at fifty sous a ticket&mdash;a pound the
ten&mdash;from an economical swell who has taken a château here, and has two
flunkeys in livery. He has four daughters, who take advantage of the lessons,
and screws ten per cent upon the poor colourman&rsquo;s pencils and
drawing-paper. It&rsquo;s pleasant work to give the lessons to the children;
and to be patronised by the swell; and not expensive to him, is it, Pen? But I
don&rsquo;t mind that, if I could but get lessons enough: for, you see, besides
our expenses here, we must have some more money, and the dear old governor
would die outright if poor old Sarah Mason did not get her 50 pounds a
year.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
And now there arrived a plentiful supper, and a bottle of good wine, of which
the giver was not sorry to partake after the meagre dinner at three
o&rsquo;clock, to which I had been invited by the Campaigner; and it was
midnight when I walked back with my friend to his house in the upper town; and
all the stars of heaven were shining cheerily; and my dear Clive&rsquo;s face
wore an expression of happiness, such as I remembered in old days, as we shook
hands and parted with a &ldquo;God bless you.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
To Clive&rsquo;s friend, revolving these things in his mind, as he lay in one
of those most snug and comfortable beds at the excellent Hotel des Bains, it
appeared that this town of Boulogne was a very bad market for the
artist&rsquo;s talents; and that he had to bring them to London, where a score
of old friends would assuredly be ready to help him. And if the Colonel, too,
could be got away from the domination of the Campaigner, I felt certain that
the dear old gentleman could but profit by his leave of absence. My wife and I
at this time inhabited a spacious old house in Queens Square, Westminster,
where there was plenty of room for father and son. I knew that Laura would be
delighted to welcome these guests&mdash;may the wife of every worthy gentleman
who reads these pages be as ready to receive her husband&rsquo;s friends. It
was the state of Rosa&rsquo;s health, and the Campaigner&rsquo;s authority and
permission, about which I was in doubt, and whether this lady&rsquo;s two
slaves would be allowed to go away.
</p>

<p>
These cogitations kept the present biographer long awake, and he did not
breakfast next day until an hour before noon. I had the coffee-room to myself
by chance, and my meal was not yet ended when the waiter announced a lady to
visit Mr. Pendennis, and Mrs. Mackenzie made her appearance. No signs of care
or poverty were visible in the attire or countenance of the buxom widow. A
handsome bonnet, decorated within with a profusion of poppies, bluebells; and
ears of corn; a jewel on her forehead, not costly, but splendid in appearance,
and glittering artfully over that central spot from which her wavy chestnut
hair parted to cluster in ringlets round her ample cheeks; a handsome India
shawl, smart gloves, a rich silk dress, a neat parasol of blue with pale yellow
lining, a multiplicity of glittering rinks, and a very splendid gold watch and
chain, which I remembered in former days as hanging round poor Rosey&rsquo;s
white neck;&mdash;all these adornments set off the widow&rsquo;s person, so
that you might have thought her a wealthy capitalist&rsquo;s lady, and never
could have supposed that she was a poor, cheated, ruined, robbed, unfortunate
Campaigner.
</p>

<p>
Nothing could be more gracious than the <i>accueil</i> of this lady. She paid
me many handsome compliments about my literary work&mdash;asked most
affectionately for dear Mrs. Pendennis and the dear children&mdash;and then, as
I expected, coming to business, contrasted the happiness and genteel position
of my wife and family with the misery and wrongs of her own blessed child and
grandson. She never could call that child by the odious name which he received
at his baptism. <i>I</i> knew what bitter reasons she had to dislike the name
of Thomas Newcome.
</p>

<p>
She again rapidly enumerated the wrongs she had received at the hands of that
gentleman; mentioned the vast sums of money out of which she and her
soul&rsquo;s darling had been tricked by that poor muddle-headed creature, to
say no worse of him; and described finally their present pressing need. The
doctors, the burial, Rosey&rsquo;s delicate condition, the cost of sweetbreads,
calf&rsquo;s-foot jelly, and cod-liver oil, were again passed in a rapid
calculation before me; and she ended her speech by expressing her gratification
that I had attended to her advice of the previous day, and not given Clive
Newcome a direct loan; that the family wanted it, the Campaigner called upon
Heaven to witness; that Clive and his absurd poor father would fling guineas
out of the window was a fact equally certain; the rest of the argument was
obvious, namely, that Mr. Pendennis should administer a donation to herself.
</p>

<p>
I had brought but a small sum of money in my pocket-book, though Mrs.
Mackenzie, intimate with bankers, and having, thank Heaven, in spite of all her
misfortunes, the utmost confidence of <i>all</i> her tradesmen, hinted a
perfect willingness on her part to accept an order upon her friends, Hobson
Brothers of London.
</p>

<p>
This direct thrust I gently and smilingly parried by asking Mrs. Mackenzie
whether she supposed a gentleman who had just paid an electioneering bill, and
had, at the best of times, but a very small income, might sometimes not be in a
condition to draw satisfactorily upon Messrs. Hobson or any other bankers? Her
countenance fell at this remark, nor was her cheerfulness much improved by the
tender of one of the two bank-notes which then happened to be in my possession.
I said that I had a use for the remaining note, and that it would not be more
than sufficient to pay my hotel bill, and the expenses of my party back to
London.
</p>

<p>
My party? I had here to divulge, with some little trepidation, the plan which I
had been making overnight; to explain how I thought that Clive&rsquo;s great
talents were wasted at Boulogne, and could only find a proper market in London;
how I was pretty certain, through my connection with booksellers, to find some
advantageous employment for him, and would have done so months ago had I known
the state of the case; but I had believed, until within a very few days since,
that the Colonel, in spite of his bankruptcy, was still in the enjoyment of
considerable military pensions.
</p>

<p>
This statement, of course, elicited from the widow a number of remarks not
complimentary to my dear old Colonel. He might have kept his pensions had he
not been a fool&mdash;he was a baby about money matters&mdash;misled himself
and everybody&mdash;was a log in the house, etc. etc. etc.
</p>

<p>
I suggested that his annuities might possibly be put into some more
satisfactory shape&mdash;that I had trustworthy lawyers with whom I would put
him in communication&mdash;that he had best come to London to see to these
matters&mdash;and that my wife had a large house where she would most gladly
entertain the two gentlemen.
</p>

<p>
This I said with some reasonable dread&mdash;fearing, in the first place, her
refusal; in the second, her acceptance of the invitation, with a proposal, as
our house was large, to come herself and inhabit it for a while. Had I not seen
that Campaigner arrive for a month at poor James Binnie&rsquo;s house in
Fitzroy Square, and stay there for many years? Was I not aware that when she
once set her foot in a gentleman&rsquo;s establishment, terrific battles must
ensue before she could be dislodged? Had she not once been routed by Clive? and
was she not now in command and possession? Do I not, finally, know something of
the world; and have I not a weak, easy temper? I protest it was with terror
that I awaited the widow&rsquo;s possible answer to my proposal.
</p>

<p>
To my great relief, she expressed the utmost approval of both my plans. I was
uncommonly kind, she was sure, to interest myself about the two gentlemen, and
for her blessed Rosa&rsquo;s sake, a fond mother thanked me. It was most
advisable that he should earn some money by that horrid profession which he had
chosen to adopt&mdash;<i>trade, she</i> called it. She was clearly anxious get
rid both of father and son, and agreed that the sooner they went the better.
</p>

<p>
We walked back arm-in-arm to the Colonel&rsquo;s quarters in the Old Town, Mrs.
Mackenzie, in the course of our walk, doing me the honour to introduce me by
name to several dingy acquaintances, whom we met sauntering up the street, and
imparting to me, as each moved away, the pecuniary cause of his temporary
residence in Boulogne. Spite of Rosey&rsquo;s delicate state of health, Mrs.
Mackenzie did not hesitate to break the news to her of the gentlemen&rsquo;s
probable departure, abruptly and eagerly, as if the intelligence was likely to
please her:&mdash;and it did, rather than otherwise. The young woman, being in
the habit of letting mamma judge for her, continued it in this instance; and
whether her husband stayed or went, seemed to be equally content or apathetic.
&ldquo;And is it not most kind and generous of dear Mr. and Mrs. Pendennis to
propose to receive Mr. Newcome and the Colonel?&rdquo; This opportunity for
gratitude being pointed out to Rosey, she acquiesced in it straightway&mdash;it
was very kind of me, Rosey was sure. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you ask after dear
Mrs. Pendennis and the dear children&mdash;you poor dear suffering darling
child?&rdquo; Rosey, who had neglected this inquiry, immediately hoped Mrs.
Pendennis and the children were well. The overpowering mother had taken utter
possession of this poor little thing. Rosey&rsquo;s eyes followed the
Campaigner about, and appealed to her at all moments. She sat under Mrs.
Mackenzie as a bird before a boa-constrictor,
doomed&mdash;fluttering&mdash;fascinated&mdash;scared and fawning as a whipt
spaniel before a keeper.
</p>

<p class="p2">
The Colonel was on his accustomed bench on the rampart at this sunny hour. I
repaired thither, and found the old gentleman seated by his grandson, who lay,
as yesterday, on the little bonne&rsquo;s lap, one of his little purple hands
closed round the grandfather&rsquo;s finger. &ldquo;Hush!&rdquo; says the good
man, lifting up his other finger to his moustache, as I approached,
&ldquo;Boy&rsquo;s asleep. Il est bien joli quand il dort&mdash;le Boy,
n&rsquo;est-ce pas, Marie?&rdquo; The maid believed monsieur well&mdash;the boy
was a little angel. &ldquo;This maid is a most trustworthy, valuable person,
Pendennis,&rdquo; the Colonel said, with much gravity.
</p>

<p>
The boa-constrictor had fascinated him, too&mdash;the lash of that woman at
home had cowed that helpless, gentle, noble spirit. As I looked at the head so
upright and manly, now so beautiful and resigned&mdash;the year of his past
life seemed to pass before me somehow in a flash of thought. I could fancy the
accursed tyranny&mdash;the dumb acquiescence&mdash;the brutal jeer&mdash;the
helpless remorse&mdash;the sleepless nights of pain and recollection&mdash;the
gentle heart lacerated with deadly stabs&mdash;and the impotent hope. I own I
burst into a sob at the sight, and thought of the noble suffering creature, and
hid my face, and turned away.
</p>

<p>
He sprang up, releasing his hand from the child&rsquo;s, and placing it, the
kind shaking hand, on my shoulder. &ldquo;What is it, Arthur&mdash;my dear
boy?&rdquo; he said, looking wistfully in my face. &ldquo;No bad news from
home, my dear? Laura and the children well?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The emotion was mastered in a moment, I put his arm under mine, and as we
slowly sauntered up and down the sunny walk of the old rampart, I told him how
I had come with special commands from Laura to bring him for a while to stay
with us, and to settle his business, which I was sure had been wofully
mismanaged, and to see whether we could not find the means of getting some
little out of the wreck of the property for the boy yonder.
</p>

<p class="p2">
At first Colonel Newcome would not hear of quitting Boulogne, where Rosey would
miss him&mdash;he was sure she would want him&mdash;but before the ladies of
his family, to whom we presently returned, Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s resolution
was quickly recalled. He agreed to go, and Clive coming in at this time was put
in possession of our plan and gladly acquiesced in it. On that very evening I
came with a carriage to conduct my two friends to the steamboat. Their little
packets were made and ready. There was no pretence of grief at parting on the
women&rsquo;s side, but Marie, the little maid, with Boy in her arms, cried
sadly; and Clive heartily embraced the child; and the Colonel, going back to
give it one more kiss, drew out of his neckcloth a little gold brooch which he
wore, and which, trembling, he put into Marie&rsquo;s hand, bidding her take
good care of Boy till his return.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She is a good girl&mdash;a most faithful, attached girl, Arthur, do you
see,&rdquo; the kind old gentleman said; &ldquo;and I had no money to give
her&mdash;no, not one single rupee.&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0074" id="link2HCH0074"></a>
CHAPTER LXXIV.<br/>
In which Clive begins the World</h2>

<p>
We are ending our history, and yet poor Clive is but beginning the world. He
has to earn the bread which he eats henceforth; and, as I saw his labours, his
trials, and his disappointments, I could not but compare his calling with my
own.
</p>

<p>
The drawbacks and penalties attendant upon our profession are taken into full
account, as we well know, by literary men, and their friends. Our poverty,
hardships, and disappointments are set forth with great emphasis, and often
with too great truth by those who speak of us; but there are advantages
belonging to our trade which are passed over, I think, by some of those who
exercise it and describe it, and for which, in striking the balance of our
accounts, we are not always duly thankful. We have no patron, so to
speak&mdash;we sit in ante-chambers no more, waiting the present of a few
guineas from my lord, in return for a fulsome dedication. We sell our wares to
the book-purveyor, between whom and us there is no greater obligation than
between him and his paper-maker or printer. In the great towns in our country
immense stores of books are provided for us, with librarians to class them,
kind attendants to wait upon us, and comfortable appliances for study. We
require scarce any capital wherewith to exercise our trade. What other
so-called learned profession is equally fortunate? A doctor, for example, after
carefully and expensively educating himself, must invest in house and
furniture, horses, carriage, and menservants, before the public patient will
think of calling him in. I am told that such gentlemen have to coax and wheedle
dowagers, to humour hypochondriacs, to practise a score of little subsidiary
arts in order to make that of healing profitable. How many many hundreds of
pounds has a barrister to sink upon his stock-in-trade before his returns are
available? There are the costly charges of university education&mdash;the
costly chambers in the Inn of Court&mdash;the clerk and his
maintenance&mdash;the inevitable travels on circuit&mdash;certain expenses all
to be defrayed before the possible client makes his appearance, and the chance
of fame or competency arrives. The prizes are great, to be sure, in the law,
but what a prodigious sum the lottery-ticket costs! If a man of letters cannot
win, neither does he risk so much. Let us speak of our trade as we find it, and
not be too eager in calling out for public compassion.
</p>

<p>
The artists, for the most part, do not cry out their woes as loudly as some
gentlemen of the literary fraternity, and yet I think the life of many of them
is harder; their chances even more precarious, and the conditions of their
profession less independent and agreeable than ours. I have watched Smee, Esq.,
R.A., flattering and fawning, and at the same time boasting and swaggering,
poor fellow, in order to secure a sitter. I have listened to a Manchester
magnate talking about fine arts before one of J. J.&rsquo;s pictures, assuming
the airs of a painter, and laying down the most absurd laws respecting the art.
I have seen poor Tomkins bowing a rich amateur through a private view, and
noted the eager smiles on Tomkins&rsquo; face at the amateur&rsquo;s slightest
joke, the sickly twinkle of hope in his eyes as Amateur stopped before his own
picture. I have been ushered by Chipstone&rsquo;s black servant through hall
after hall peopled with plaster gods and heroes, into Chipstone&rsquo;s own
magnificent studio, where he sat longing vainly for an order, and justly
dreading his landlord&rsquo;s call for the rent. And, seeing how severely these
gentlemen were taxed in their profession, I have been grateful for my own more
fortunate one, which necessitates cringing to no patron; which calls for no
keeping up of appearances; and which requires no stock-in-trade save the
workman&rsquo;s industry, his best ability, and a dozen sheets of paper.
</p>

<p>
Having to turn with all his might to his new profession, Clive Newcome, one of
the proudest men alive, chose to revolt and to be restive at almost every stage
of his training. He had a natural genius for his art, and had acquired in his
desultory way a very considerable skill. His drawing was better than his
painting (an opinion which, were my friend present, he of course would utterly
contradict); his designs and sketches were far superior to his finished
compositions. His friends, presuming to judge of this artist&rsquo;s
qualifications, ventured to counsel him accordingly, and were thanked for their
pains in the usual manner. We had in the first place to bully and browbeat
Clive most fiercely, before he would take fitting lodgings for the execution of
those designs which we had in view for him. &ldquo;Why should I take expensive
lodgings?&rdquo; says Clive, slapping his fist on the table. &ldquo;I am a
pauper, and can scarcely afford to live in a garret. Why should you pay me for
drawing your portrait and Laura&rsquo;s and the children? What the deuce does
Warrington want with the effigy of his old mug? You don&rsquo;t want them a
bit&mdash;you only want to give me money.&mdash;It would be much more honest of
me to take the money at once and own that I am a beggar; and I tell you what,
Pen, the only money which I feel I come honestly by, is that which is paid me
by a little printseller in Long Acre who buys my drawings, one with another, at
fourteen shillings apiece, and out of whom I can earn pretty nearly two hundred
a year. I am doing Coaches for him, sir, and Charges of Cavalry; the public
like the Mail Coaches best&mdash;on a dark paper&mdash;the horses and miles
picked out white&mdash;yellow dust&mdash;cobalt distance, and the guard and
coachman of course in vermilion. That&rsquo;s what a gentleman can get his
bread by&mdash;portraits, pooh! it&rsquo;s disguised beggary, Crackthorpe, and
a half-dozen men of his regiment came, like good fellows as they are, and sent
me five pounds apiece for their heads, but I tell you I am ashamed to take the
money.&rdquo; Such used to be the tenor of Clive Newcome&rsquo;s conversation
as he strode up and down our room after dinner, pulling his moustache, and
dashing his long yellow hair off his gaunt face.
</p>

<p>
When Clive was inducted into the new lodgings at which his friends counselled
him to hang up his ensign, the dear old Colonel accompanied his son, parting
with a sincere regret from our little ones at home, to whom he became greatly
endeared during his visit to us, and who always hailed him when he came to see
us with smiles and caresses and sweet infantile welcome. On that day when he
went away, Laura went up and kissed him with tears in her eyes. &ldquo;You know
how long I have been wanting to do it,&rdquo; this lady said to her husband.
Indeed I cannot describe the behaviour of the old man during his stay with us,
his gentle gratitude, his sweet simplicity and kindness, his thoughtful
courtesy. There was not a servant in our little household but was eager to wait
upon him. Laura&rsquo;s maid was as tender-hearted at his departure as her
mistress. He was ailing for a short time, when our cook performed prodigies of
puddings and jellies to suit his palate. The youth who held the offices of
butler and valet in our establishment&mdash;a lazy and greedy youth whom Martha
scolded in vain&mdash;would jump up and leave his supper to carry a message to
our Colonel. My heart is full as I remember the kind words which he said to me
at parting, and as I think that we were the means of giving a little comfort to
that stricken and gentle soul.
</p>

<p>
Whilst the Colonel and his son stayed with us, letters of course passed between
Clive and his family at Boulogne, but my wife remarked that the receipt of
those letters appeared to give our friend but little pleasure. They were read
in a minute, and he would toss them over to his father, or thrust them into his
pocket with a gloomy face. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you see,&rdquo; groans out Clive
to me one evening, &ldquo;that Rosa scarcely writes the letters, or if she
does, that her mother is standing over her? That woman is the Nemesis of our
life, Pen. How can I pay her off? Great God! how can I pay her off?&rdquo; And
so having spoken, his head fell between his hands, and as I watched him I saw a
ghastly domestic picture before me of helpless pain, humiliating discord,
stupid tyranny.
</p>

<p>
What, I say again, are the so-called great ills of life compared to these small
ones?
</p>

<p>
The Colonel accompanied Clive to the lodgings which we had found for the young
artist, in a quarter not far removed from the old house in Fitzroy Square,
where some happy years of his youth had been spent. When sitters came to
Clive&mdash;as at first they did in some numbers, many of his early friends
being anxious to do him a service&mdash;the old gentleman was extraordinarily
cheered and comforted. We could see by his face that affairs were going on well
at the studio. He showed us the rooms which Rosey and the boy were to occupy.
He prattled to our children and their mother, who was never tired of hearing
him, about his grandson. He filled up the future nursery with a hundred little
knick-knacks of his own contriving; and with wonderful cheap bargains, which he
bought in his walks about Tottenham Court Road. He pasted a most elaborate book
of prints and sketches for Boy. It was astonishing what notice Boy already took
of pictures. He would have all the genius of his father. Would he had had a
better grandfather than the foolish old man who had ruined all belonging to
him!
</p>

<p>
However much they like each other, men in the London world see their friends
but seldom. The place is so vast that even next door is distant; the calls of
business, society, pleasure, so multifarious that mere friendship can get or
give but an occasional shake of the hand in the hurried moments of passage. Men
must live their lives; and are perforce selfish, but not unfriendly. At a great
need you know where to look for your friend, and he that he is secure of you.
So I went very little to Howland Street, where Clive now lived; very seldom to
Lamb Court, where my dear old friend Warrington still sate in his old chambers,
though our meetings were none the less cordial when they occurred, and our
trust in one another always the same. Some folks say the world is heartless: he
who says so either prates commonplaces (the most likely and charitable
suggestion), or is heartless himself, or is most singular and unfortunate in
having made no friends. Many such a reasonable mortal cannot have: our nature,
I think, not sufficing for that sort of polygamy. How many persons would you
have to deplore your death; or whose death would you wish to deplore? Could our
hearts let in such a harem of dear friendships, the mere changes and
recurrences of grief and mourning would be intolerable, and tax our lives
beyond their value. In a word, we carry our own burthen in the world; push and
struggle along on our own affairs; are pinched by our own shoes&mdash;though
Heaven forbid we should not stop and forget ourselves sometimes, when a friend
cries out in his distress, or we can help a poor stricken wanderer in his way.
As for good women&mdash;these, my worthy reader, are different from
us&mdash;the nature of these is to love, and to do kind offices, and devise
untiring charities:&mdash;so I would have you to know, that, though Mr.
Pendennis was <i>parcus suorum cultor et infrequens</i>, Mrs. Laura found
plenty of time to go from Westminster to Bloomsbury; and to pay visits to her
Colonel and her Clive, both of whom she had got to love with all her heart
again, now misfortune was on them; and both of whom returned her kindness with
an affection blessing the bestower and the receiver; and making the husband
proud and thankful whose wife had earned such a noble regard. What is the
dearest praise of all to a man? his own&mdash;or that you should love those
whom he loves? I see Laura Pendennis ever constant and tender and pure, ever
ministering in her sacred office of kindness&mdash;bestowing love and followed
by blessings. Which would I have, think you; that priceless crown hymeneal, or
the glory of a Tenth Edition?
</p>

<p>
Clive and his father had found not only a model friend in the lady above
mentioned, but a perfect prize landlady in their happy lodgings. In her house,
besides those apartments which Mr. Newcome had originally engaged, were rooms
just sufficient to accommodate his wife, child, and servant, when they should
come to him, with a very snug little upper chamber for the Colonel, close by
Boy&rsquo;s nursery, where he liked best to be. &ldquo;And if there is not room
for the Campaigner, as you call her,&rdquo; says Mrs. Laura, with a shrug of
her shoulders, &ldquo;why, I am very sorry, but Clive must try and bear her
absence as well as possible. After all, my dear Pen, you know he is married to
Rosa and not to her mamma; and so, and so I think it will be quite best that
they shall have their <i>ménage</i> as before.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The cheapness of the lodgings which the prize landlady let, the quantity of
neat new furniture which she put in, the consultations which she had with my
wife regarding these supplies, were quite singular to me. &ldquo;Have you
pawned your diamonds, you reckless little person, in order to supply all this
upholstery?&rdquo; &ldquo;No, sir, I have not pawned my diamonds,&rdquo; Mrs.
Laura answers; and I was left to think (if I thought on the matter at all) that
the landlady&rsquo;s own benevolence had provided these good things for Clive.
For the wife of Laura&rsquo;s husband was perforce poor; and she asked me for
no more money at this time than at any other.
</p>

<p>
At first, in spite of his grumbling, Clive&rsquo;s affairs looked so
prosperous, and so many sitters came to him from amongst his old friends, that
I was half inclined to believe with the Colonel and my wife, that he was a
prodigious genius, and that his good fortune would go on increasing. Laura was
for having Rosey return to her husband. Every wife ought to be with her
husband. J. J. shook his head about the prosperity. &ldquo;Let us see whether
the Academy will have his pictures this year, and what a place they will give
him,&rdquo; said Ridley. To do him justice, Clive thought far more humbly of
his compositions than Ridley did. Not a little touching was it to us, who had
known the young men in former days, to see them in their changed positions. It
was Ridley, whose genius and industry had put him in the rank of a
patron&mdash;Ridley, the good industrious apprentice, who had won the prize of
his art&mdash;and not one of his many admirers saluted his talent and success
with such a hearty recognition as Clive, whose generous soul knew no envy, and
who always fired and kindled at the success of his friends.
</p>

<p>
When Mr. Clive used to go over to Boulogne from time to time to pay his dutiful
visits to his wife, the Colonel did not accompany his son, but, during the
latter&rsquo;s absence, would dine with Mrs. Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
Though the preparations were complete in Howland Street, and Clive dutifully
went over to Boulogne, Mrs. Pendennis remarked that he seemed still to hesitate
about bringing his wife to London.
</p>

<p>
Upon this Mr. Pendennis observed that some gentlemen were not particularly
anxious about the society of their wives, and that this pair were perhaps
better apart. Upon which Mrs. Pendennis, drubbing on the ground with a little
foot, said, &ldquo;Nonsense, for shame, Arthur! How can you speak so
flippantly? Did he not swear before Heaven to love and cherish her, never to
leave her, sir? Is not his <i>duty</i> his <i>duty</i>, sir?&rdquo; (a most
emphatic stamp of the foot). &ldquo;Is she not his for better, or for
worse?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Including the Campaigner, my dear?&rdquo; says Mr. P.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t laugh, sir! She <i>must</i> come to him. There is no room in
Howland Street for Mrs. Mackenzie.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You artful scheming creature! We have some spare rooms. Suppose we ask
Mrs. Mackenzie to come and live with us, my dear? and we could then have the
benefit of the garrison anecdotes, and mess jocularities of your favourite,
Captain Goby.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I could never bear the horrid man!&rdquo; cried Mrs. Pendennis. And how
can I tell why she disliked him?
</p>

<p>
Everything being now ready for the reception of Clive&rsquo;s little family, we
counselled our friend to go over to Boulogne, and bring back his wife and
child, and then to make some final stipulation with the Campaigner. He saw, as
well as we, that the presence and tyranny of that fatal woman destroyed his
father&rsquo;s health and spirits&mdash;that the old man knew no peace or
comfort in her neighbourhood, and was actually hastening to his grave under
that dreadful and unremitting persecution. Mrs. Mackenzie made Clive scarcely
less wretched than his father&mdash;she governed his household&mdash;took away
his weak wife&rsquo;s allegiance and affection from him&mdash;and caused the
wretchedness of every single person round about her. They ought to live apart.
If she was too poor to subsist upon her widow&rsquo;s pension, which, in truth,
was but a very small pittance, let Clive give up to her, say, the half of his
wife&rsquo;s income of one hundred pounds a year. His prospects and present
means of earning money were such that he might afford to do without that
portion of his income; at any rate, he and his father would be cheaply ransomed
at that price from their imprisonment to this intolerable person. &ldquo;Go,
Clive,&rdquo; said his counsellors, &ldquo;and bring back your wife and child,
and let us all be happy together.&rdquo; For, you see, those advisers opined
that if we had written over to Mrs. Newcome&mdash;&ldquo;Come&rdquo;&mdash;she
would have come with the Campaigner in her suite.
</p>

<p>
Vowing that he would behave like a man of courage&mdash;and we knew that Clive
had shown himself to be such in two or three previous battles&mdash;Clive
crossed the water to bring back his little Rosey. Our good Colonel agreed to
dine at our house during the days of his son&rsquo;s absence. I have said how
beloved he was by young and old there&mdash;and he was kind enough to say
afterwards, that no woman had made him so happy as Laura. We did not tell
him&mdash;I know not from what reticence&mdash;that we had advised Clive to
offer a bribe of fifty pounds a year to Mrs. Mackenzie; until about a fortnight
after Clive&rsquo;s absence, and a week after his return, when news came that
poor old Mrs. Mason was dead at Newcome, whereupon we informed the Colonel that
he had another pensioner now in the Campaigner.
</p>

<p>
Colonel Newcome was thankful that his dear old friend had gone out of the world
in comfort and without pain. She had made a will long since, leaving all her
goods and chattels to Thomas Newcome&mdash;but having no money to give, the
Colonel handed over these to the old lady&rsquo;s faithful attendant, Keziah.
</p>

<p>
Although many of the Colonel&rsquo;s old friends had parted from him or
quarrelled with him in consequence of the ill success of the B. B. C., there
were two old ladies who yet remained faithful to him&mdash;Miss Cann, namely,
and honest little Miss Honeyman of Brighton, who, when she heard of the return
to London of her nephew and brother-in-law, made a railway journey to the
metropolis (being the first time she ever engaged in that kind of travelling),
rustled into Clive&rsquo;s apartments in Howland Street in her neatest silks,
and looking not a day older than on that when we last beheld her; and after
briskly scolding the young man for permitting his father to enter into money
affairs&mdash;of which the poor dear Colonel was as ignorant as a
baby&mdash;she gave them both to understand that she had a little sum at her
banker&rsquo;s at their disposal&mdash;and besought the Colonel to remember
that her house was his, and that she should be proud and happy to receive him
as soon and as often and for as long a time as he would honour her with his
company. &ldquo;Is not my house full of your presents&rdquo;&mdash;cried the
stout little old lady&mdash;&ldquo;have I not reason to be grateful to all the
Newcomes&mdash;yes, to all the Newcomes;&mdash;for Miss Ethel and her family
have come to me every year for months, and I don&rsquo;t quarrel with them, and
I won&rsquo;t, although you do, sir? Is not this shawl&mdash;are not these
jewels that I wear,&rdquo; she continued, pointing to those well-known
ornaments, &ldquo;my dear Colonel&rsquo;s gift? Did you not relieve my brother
Charles in this country and procure for him his place in India? Yes, my dear
friend&mdash;and though you have been imprudent in money matters, my
obligations towards you, and my gratitude, and my affection are always the
same.&rdquo; Thus Miss Honeyman spoke, with somewhat of a quivering voice at
the end of her little oration, but with exceeding state and dignity&mdash;for
she believed that her investment of two hundred pounds in that unlucky B. B.
C., which failed for half a million, was a sum of considerable importance, and
gave her a right to express her opinion to the Managers.
</p>

<p>
Clive came back from Boulogne in a week, as we have said&mdash;but he came back
without his wife, much to our alarm, and looked so exceedingly fierce and glum
when we demanded the reason of his return without his family, that we saw wars
and battles had taken place, and thought that in this last continental campaign
the Campaigner had been too much for her friend.
</p>

<p>
The Colonel, to whom Clive communicated, though with us the poor lad held his
tongue, told my wife what had happened:&mdash;not all the battles; which no
doubt raged at breakfast, dinner, supper, during the week of Clive&rsquo;s
visit to Boulogne,&mdash;but the upshot of these engagements. Rosey, not
unwilling in her first private talk with her husband to come to England with
him and the boy, showed herself irresolute on the second day at breakfast, when
the fire was opened on both sides; cried at dinner when fierce assaults took
place, in which Clive had the advantage; slept soundly, but besought him to be
very firm, and met the enemy at breakfast with a quaking heart; cried all that
day during which, pretty well without cease, the engagement lasted; and when
Clive might have conquered and brought her off, but the weather was windy and
the sea was rough, and he was pronounced a brute to venture on it with a wife
in Rosey&rsquo;s situation.
</p>

<p>
Behind that &ldquo;situation&rdquo; the widow shielded herself. She clung to
her adored child, and from that bulwark discharged abuse and satire at Clive
and his father. He could not rout her out of her position. Having had the
advantage on the first two or three days, on the four last he was beaten, and
lost ground in each action. Rosey found that in her situation she could not
part from her darling mamma. The Campaigner for her part averred that she might
be reduced to beggary; that she might be robbed of her last farthing and
swindled and cheated; that she might see her daughter&rsquo;s fortune flung
away by unprincipled adventurers, and her blessed child left without even the
comforts of life; but desert her in such a situation, she never would&mdash;no,
never! Was not dear Rosa&rsquo;s health already impaired by the various shocks
which she had undergone? Did she not require every comfort, every attendance?
Monster! ask the doctor! She would stay with her darling child in spite of
insult and rudeness and vulgarity. (Rosey&rsquo;s father was a King&rsquo;s
officer, not a Company&rsquo;s officer, thank God!) She would stay as long at
least as Rosey&rsquo;s situation continued, at Boulogne, if not in London, but
with her child. They might refuse to send her money, having robbed her of all
her own, but she would pawn her gown off her back for her child. Whimpers from
Rosey&mdash;cries of &ldquo;Mamma, mamma, compose
yourself,&rdquo;&mdash;convulsive sobs&mdash;clenched knuckles&mdash;flashing
eyes&mdash;embraces rapidly
clutched&mdash;laughs&mdash;stamps&mdash;snorts&mdash;from the dishevelled
Campaigner; grinding teeth&mdash;livid fury and repeated breakages of the third
commandment by Clive&mdash;I can fancy the whole scene. He returned to London
without his wife, and when she came she brought Mrs. Mackenzie with her.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0075" id="link2HCH0075"></a>
CHAPTER LXXV.<br/>
Founder&rsquo;s Day at the Grey Friars</h2>

<p>
Rosey came, bringing discord and wretchedness with her to her husband, and the
sentence of death or exile to his dear old father, all of which we
foresaw&mdash;all of which Clive&rsquo;s friends would have longed to
prevent&mdash;all of which were inevitable under the circumstances.
Clive&rsquo;s domestic affairs were often talked over by our little set.
Warrington and F. B. knew of his unhappiness. We three had strongly opined that
the women being together at Boulogne, should stay there and live there, Clive
sending them over pecuniary aid as his means permitted. &ldquo;They must hate
each other pretty well by this time,&rdquo; growls George Warrington.
&ldquo;Why on earth should they not part?&rdquo; &ldquo;What a woman that Mrs.
Mackenzie is!&rdquo; cries F. B. &ldquo;What an infernal tartar and catamaran!
She who was so uncommonly smiling and soft-spoken, and such a fine woman, by
jingo! What puzzles all women are!&rdquo; F. B. sighed, and drowned further
reflection in beer.
</p>

<p>
On the other side, and most strongly advocating Rosey&rsquo;s return to Clive,
was Mrs. Laura Pendennis; with certain arguments for which she had chapter and
verse, and against which we of the separatist party had no appeal. &ldquo;Did
he marry her only for the days of her prosperity?&rdquo; asked Laura. &ldquo;Is
it right, is it manly, that he should leave her now she is unhappy&mdash;poor
little creature&mdash;no woman had ever more need of protection; and who should
be her natural guardian save her husband? Surely, Arthur, you forget&mdash;have
you forgotten them yourself, sir?&mdash;the solemn vows which Clive made at the
altar. Is he not bound to his wife to keep only unto her so long as they both
shall live, to love and comfort her, honour her, and keep her in sickness and
health?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;To keep her, yes&mdash;but not to keep the Campaigner,&rdquo; cries Mr.
Pendennis. &ldquo;It is a moral bigamy, Laura, which you advocate, you wicked,
immoral young woman!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
But Laura, though she smiled at this notion, would not be put off from her
first proposition. Turning to Clive, who was with us, talking over his doleful
family circumstances, she took his hand, and pleaded the cause of right and
religion with sweet artless fervour. She agreed with us that it was a hard lot
for Clive to bear. So much the nobler the task, and the fulfilment of duty in
enduring it. A few months too would put an end to his trials. When his child
was born Mrs. Mackenzie would take her departure. It would even be
Clive&rsquo;s duty to separate from her then, as it now was to humour his wife
in her delicate condition, and to soothe the poor soul who had had a great deal
of ill-health, of misfortune, of domestic calamity to wear and shatter her.
Clive acquiesced with a groan, but&mdash;with a touching and generous
resignation as we both thought. &ldquo;She is right, Pen,&rdquo; he said,
&ldquo;I think your wife is always right. I will try, Laura, and bear my part,
God help me! I will do my duty and strive my best to soothe and gratify my poor
dear little woman. They will be making caps and things, and will not interrupt
me in my studio. Of nights I can go to Clipstone Street and work at the Life.
There&rsquo;s nothing like the Life, Pen. So you see I shan&rsquo;t be much at
home except at meal-times, when by nature I shall have my mouth full, and no
opportunity of quarrelling with poor Mrs. Mac.&rdquo; So he went home, followed
and cheered by the love and pity of my dear wife, and determined stoutly to
bear this heavy yoke which fate had put on him.
</p>

<p>
To do Mrs. Mackenzie justice, that lady backed up with all her might the
statement which my wife had put forward, with a view of soothing poor Clive,
viz., that the residence of his mother-in-law in his house was only to be
temporary. &ldquo;Temporary!&rdquo; cries Mrs. Mac (who was kind enough to make
a call on Mrs. Pendennis, and treat that lady to a piece of her mind).
&ldquo;Do you suppose, madam, that it could be otherwise? Do you suppose that
worlds would induce me to stay in a house where I have received such
<i>treatment;</i> where, after I and my daughter had been robbed of every
shilling of our fortune, where we are daily insulted by Colonel Newcome and his
son? Do you suppose, ma&rsquo;am, that I do not know that Clive&rsquo;s friends
hate me, and give themselves airs and look down upon my darling child, and try
and make differences between my sweet Rosa and me&mdash;Rosa who might have
been dead, or might have been starving, but that her dear mother came to her
rescue? No, I would never stay. I loathe every day that I remain in the
house&mdash;I would rather beg my bread&mdash;I would rather sweep the streets
and starve&mdash;though, thank God, I have my pension as the widow of an
officer in Her Majesty&rsquo;s Service, and I can live upon that&mdash;and of
<i>that</i> Colonel Newcome <i>cannot</i> rob me; and when my darling love
needs a mother&rsquo;s care no longer, I will leave her. I will shake the dust
off my feet and leave that house. I will&mdash;And Mr. Newcome&rsquo;s friends
may then sneer at me and abuse me, and blacken my darling child&rsquo;s heart
towards me if they choose. And I thank you, Mrs. Pendennis, for all your
<i>kindness</i> towards my daughter&rsquo;s family, and for the furniture which
you have sent into the house, and for the <i>trouble</i> you have taken about
our family arrangements. It was for this I took the liberty of calling upon
you, and I wish you a very good morning.&rdquo; So speaking, the Campaigner
left my wife; and Mrs. Pendennis enacted the pleasing scene with great spirit
to her husband afterwards, concluding the whole with a splendid curtsey and
toss of the head, such as Mrs. Mackenzie performed as her parting salute.
</p>

<p>
Our dear Colonel had fled before. He had acquiesced humbly with the decree of
fate; and, lonely, old and beaten, marched honestly on the path of duty. It was
a great blessing, he wrote to us, to him to think that in happier days and
during many years he had been enabled to benefit his kind and excellent
relative, Miss Honeyman. He could thankfully receive her hospitality now, and
claim the kindness and shelter which this old friend gave him. No one could be
more anxious to make him comfortable. The air of Brighton did him the greatest
good; he had found some old friends, some old Bengalees there, with whom he
enjoyed himself greatly, etc. How much did we, who knew his noble spirit,
believe of this story? To us Heaven had awarded health, happiness, competence,
loving children, united hearts, and modest prosperity. To yonder good man,
whose long life shone with benefactions, and whose career was but kindness and
honour, fate decreed poverty, disappointment, separation, a lonely old age. We
bowed our heads, humiliated at the contrast of his lot and ours; and prayed
Heaven to enable us to bear our present good fortune meekly, and our evil days,
if they should come, with such a resignation as this good Christian showed.
</p>

<p>
I forgot to say that our attempts to better Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s money
affairs were quite in vain, the Colonel insisting upon paying over every
shilling of his military allowances and retiring pension to the parties from
whom he had borrowed money previous to his bankruptcy. &ldquo;Ah! what a good
man that is,&rdquo; says Mr. Sherrick with tears in his eyes, &ldquo;what a
noble fellow, sir! He would die rather than not pay every farthing over.
He&rsquo;d starve, sir, that he would. The money ain&rsquo;t mine, sir, or if
it was do you think I&rsquo;d take it from the poor old boy? No, sir; by Jove!
I honour and reverence him more now he ain&rsquo;t got a shilling in his
pocket, than ever I did when we thought he was a-rolling in money.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
My wife made one or two efforts at Samaritan visits in Howland Street, but was
received by Mrs. Clive with such a faint welcome, and by the Campaigner with so
grim a countenance, so many sneers, innuendoes, insults almost, that
Laura&rsquo;s charity was beaten back, and she ceased to press good offices
thus thanklessly received. If Clive came to visit us, as he very rarely did,
after an official question or two regarding the health of his wife and child,
no further mention was made of his family affairs. His painting, he said, was
getting on tolerably well; he had work, scantily paid it is true, but work
sufficient. He was reserved, uncommunicative, unlike the frank Clive of former
times, and oppressed by his circumstances, as it was easy to see. I did not
press the confidence which he was unwilling to offer, and thought best to
respect his silence. I had a thousand affairs of my own; who has not in London?
If you die to-morrow, your dearest friend will feel for you a hearty pang of
sorrow, and go to his business as usual. I could divine, but would not care to
describe, the life which my poor Clive was now leading; the vulgar misery, the
sordid home, the cheerless toil, and lack of friendly companionship which
darkened his kind soul. I was glad Clive&rsquo;s father was away. The Colonel
wrote to us twice or thrice; could it be three months ago?&mdash;bless me, how
time flies! He was happy, he wrote, with Miss Honeyman, who took the best care
of him.
</p>

<p>
Mention has been made once or twice in the course of this history of the Grey
Friars school,&mdash;where the Colonel and Clive and I had been brought
up,&mdash;an ancient foundation of the time of James I., still subsisting in
the heart of London city. The death-day of the founder of the place is still
kept solemnly by Cistercians. In their chapel, where assemble the boys of the
school, and the fourscore old men of the Hospital, the founder&rsquo;s tomb
stands, a huge edifice: emblazoned with heraldic decorations and clumsy carved
allegories. There is an old Hall, a beautiful specimen of the architecture of
James&rsquo;s time; an old Hall? many old halls; old staircases, passages, old
chambers decorated with old portraits, walking in the midst of which we walk as
it were in the early seventeenth century. To others than Cistercians, Grey
Friars is a dreary place possibly. Nevertheless, the pupils educated there love
to revisit it; and the oldest of us grow young again for an hour or two as we
come back into those scenes of childhood.
</p>

<p>
The custom of the school is, that on the 12th of December, the Founder&rsquo;s
Day, the head gown-boy shall recite a Latin oration, in praise of <i>Fundatoris
Nostri</i>, and upon other subjects; and a goodly company of old Cistercians is
generally brought together to attend this oration: after which we go to chapel
and hear a sermon; after which we adjourn to a great dinner, where old
condisciples meet, old toasts are given, and speeches are made. Before marching
from the oration-hall to chapel, the stewards of the day&rsquo;s dinner,
according to old-fashioned rite, have wands put into their hands, walk to
church at the head of the procession, and sit there in places of honour. The
boys are already in their seats, with smug fresh faces, and shining white
collars; the old black-gowned pensioners are on their benches; the chapel is
lighted, and Founder&rsquo;s Tomb, with its grotesque carvings, monsters,
heraldries, darkles and shines with the most wonderful shadows and lights.
There he lies, Fundator Noster, in his ruff and gown, awaiting the great
Examination Day. We oldsters, be we ever so old, become boys again as we look
at that familiar old tomb, and think how the seats are altered since we were
here, and how the doctor&mdash;not the present doctor, the doctor of our
time&mdash;used to sit yonder, and his awful eye used to frighten us shuddering
boys, on whom it lighted; and how the boy next us <i>would</i> kick our shins
during service time, and how the monitor would cane us afterwards because our
shins were kicked. Yonder sit forty cherry-cheeked boys, thinking about home
and holidays to-morrow. Yonder sit some threescore old gentlemen pensioners of
the hospital, listening to the prayers and the psalms. You hear them coughing
feebly in the twilight,&mdash;the old reverend blackgowns. Is Codd Ajax alive,
you wonder?&mdash;the Cistercian lads called these old gentlemen Codds, I know
not wherefore&mdash;I know not wherefore&mdash;but is old Codd Ajax alive, I
wonder? or Codd Soldier? or kind old Codd Gentleman, or has the grave closed
over them? A plenty of candles lights up this chapel, and this scene of age and
youth, and early memories, and pompous death. How solemn the well-remembered
prayers are, here uttered again in the place wherein childhood we used to hear
them! How beautiful and decorous the rite; how noble the ancient words of the
supplications which the priest utters, and to which generations of fresh
children and troops of bygone seniors have cried Amen! under those arches! The
service for Founder&rsquo;s Day is a special one; one of the psalms selected
being the thirty-seventh, and we hear&mdash;
</p>

<p class="poem">
23. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his
way.<br/>
24. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand.<br/>
25. I have been young, and now am old: yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.
</p>

<p>
As we came to this verse, I chanced to look up from my book towards the swarm
of black-coated pensioners: and amongst them&mdash;amongst them&mdash;sate
Thomas Newcome.
</p>

<p>
His dear old head was bent down over his prayer-book&mdash;there was no
mistaking him. He wore the black gown of the pensioners of the Hospital of Grey
Friars. His order of the Bath was on his breast. He stood there amongst the
poor brethren, uttering the responses to the psalm. The steps of this good man
had been ordered him hither by Heaven&rsquo;s decree: to this almshouse! Here
it was ordained that a life all love, and kindness, and honour, should end! I
heard no more of prayers, and psalms, and sermon, after that. How dared I to be
in a place of mark, and he, he yonder among the poor? Oh, pardon, you noble
soul! I ask forgiveness of you for being of a world that has so treated
you&mdash;you my better, you the honest, and gentle, and good! I thought the
service would never end, or the organist&rsquo;s voluntaries, or the
preacher&rsquo;s homily.
</p>

<p>
The organ played us out of chapel at length, and I waited in the ante-chapel
until the pensioners took their turn to quit it. My dear, dear old friend! I
ran to him with a warmth and eagerness of recognition which no doubt showed
themselves in my face and accents, as my heart was moved at the sight of him.
His own face flushed up when he saw me, and his hand shook in mine. &ldquo;I
have found a home, Arthur,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you remember
before I went to India, when we came to see the old Grey Friars, and visited
Captain Scarsdale in his room?&mdash;a poor brother like me&mdash;an old
Peninsular man. Scarsdale is gone now, sir, and is where the wicked cease from
troubling and the weary are at rest; and I thought then, when we saw
him,&mdash;here would be a place for an old fellow when his career was over, to
hang his sword up; to humble his soul, and to wait thankfully for the end.
Arthur. My good friend, Lord H., who is a Cistercian like ourselves, and has
just been appointed a governor, gave me his first nomination. Don&rsquo;t be
agitated, Arthur my boy, I am very happy. I have good quarters, good food, good
light and fire, and good friends; blessed be God! my dear kind young
friend&mdash;my boy&rsquo;s friend; you have always been so, sir; and I take it
uncommonly kind of you, and I thank God for you, sir. Why, sir, I am as happy
as the day is long.&rdquo; He uttered words to this effect as he walked through
the courts of the building towards his room, which in truth I found neat and
comfortable, with a brisk fire crackling on the hearth; a little tea-table laid
out, a Bible and spectacles by the side of it, and over the mantelpiece a
drawing of his grandson by Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You may come and see me here, sir, whenever you like, and so may your
dear wife and little ones, tell Laura, with my love;&mdash;but you must not
stay now. You must go back to your dinner.&rdquo; In vain I pleaded that I had
no stomach for it. He gave me a look, which seemed to say he desired to be
alone, and I had to respect that order and leave him.
</p>

<p>
Of course I came to him on the very next day; though not with my wife and
children, who were in truth absent in the country at Rosebury, where they were
to pass the Christmas holidays; and where, this school-dinner over, I was to
join them. On my second visit to Grey Friars my good friend entered more at
length into the reasons why he had assumed the Poor Brother&rsquo;s gown; and I
cannot say but that I acquiesced in his reasons, and admired that noble
humility and contentedness of which he gave me an example.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That which had caused him most grief and pain,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;in
the issue of that unfortunate bank, was the thought that poor friends of his
had been induced by his representations to invest their little capital in that
speculation. Good Miss Honeyman, for instance, meaning no harm, and in all
respects a most honest and kindly-disposed old lady, had nevertheless alluded
more than once to the fact that her money had been thrown away; and these
allusions, sir, made her hospitality somewhat hard to bear,&rdquo; said the
Colonel. &ldquo;At home&mdash;at poor Clivey&rsquo;s, I mean&mdash;it was even
worse,&rdquo; he continued; &ldquo;Mrs. Mackenzie for months past, by her
complaints, and&mdash;and her conduct, has made my son and me so
miserable&mdash;that flight before her, and into any refuge, was the best
course. She too does not mean ill, Pen. Do not waste any of your oaths upon
that poor woman,&rdquo; he added, holding up his finger, and smiling sadly.
&ldquo;She thinks I deceived her, though Heaven knows it was myself I deceived.
She has great influence over Rosa. Very few persons can resist that violent and
headstrong woman, sir. I could not bear her reproaches, or my poor sick
daughter, whom her mother leads almost entirely now, and it was with all this
grief on my mind, that, as I was walking one day upon Brighton cliff, I met my
schoolfellow, my Lord H&mdash;&mdash;, who has ever been a good friend of
mine&mdash;and who told me how he had just been appointed a governor of Grey
Friars. He asked me to dine with him on the next day, and would take no
refusal. He knew of my pecuniary misfortunes, of course&mdash;and showed
himself most noble and liberal in his offers of help. I was very much touched
by his goodness, Pen,&mdash;and made a clean breast of it to his lordship; who
at first would not hear of my coming to this place&mdash;and offered me out of
the purse of an old brother-schoolfellow and an old brother soldier as
much&mdash;as much as should last me my time. Wasn&rsquo;t it noble of him,
Arthur? God bless him! There are good men in the world, sir, there are true
friends, as I have found in these later days. Do you know,
sir&rdquo;&mdash;here the old man&rsquo;s eyes twinkled,&mdash;&ldquo;that Fred
Bayham fixed up that bookcase yonder&mdash;and brought me my little boy&rsquo;s
picture to hang up? Boy and Clive will come and see me soon.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you mean they do not come?&rdquo; I cried.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t know I am here, sir,&rdquo; said the Colonel, with a
sweet, kind smile. &ldquo;They think I am visiting his lordship in Scotland.
Ah! they are good people! When we had had a talk downstairs over our bottle of
claret&mdash;where my old commander-in-chief would not hear of my plan&mdash;we
went upstairs to her ladyship, who saw that her husband was disturbed, and
asked the reason. I dare say it was the good claret that made me speak, sir;
for I told her that I and her husband had had a dispute and that I would take
her ladyship for umpire. And then I told her the story over, that I had paid
away every rupee to the creditors, and mortgaged my pensions and retiring
allowances for the same end, that I was a burden upon Clivey, who had enough,
poor boy, to keep his own family, and his wife&rsquo;s mother, whom my
imprudence had impoverished,&mdash;that here was an honourable asylum which my
friend could procure for me, and was not that better than to drain his purse?
She was very much moved, sir&mdash;she is a very kind lady, though she passed
for being very proud and haughty in India&mdash;so wrongly are people judged.
And Lord H. said, in his rough way, &lsquo;that, by Jove, if Tom Newcome took a
thing into his obstinate old head no one could drive it out.&rsquo; And
so,&rdquo; said the Colonel, with his sad smile, &ldquo;I <i>had</i> my own
way. Lady H. was good enough to come and see me the very next day&mdash;and do
you know, Pen, she invited me to go and live with them for the rest of my
life&mdash;made me the most generous, the most delicate offers. But I knew I
was right, and held my own. I am too old to work, Arthur: and better here
whilst I am to stay, than elsewhere. Look! all this furniture came from H.
House&mdash;and that wardrobe is full of linen, which she sent me. She has been
twice to see me, and every officer in this hospital is as courteous to me as if
I had my fine house.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I thought of the psalm we had heard on the previous evening, and turned to it
in the opened Bible, and pointed to the verse, &ldquo;Though he fall, he shall
not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him.&rdquo; Thomas Newcome
seeing my occupation, laid a kind, trembling hand on my shoulder; and then,
putting on his glasses, with a smile bent over the volume. And who that saw him
then, and knew him and loved him as I did&mdash;who would not have humbled his
own heart, and breathed his inward prayer, confessing and adoring the Divine
Will, which ordains these trials, these triumphs, these humiliations, these
blest griefs, this crowning Love?
</p>

<p>
I had the happiness of bringing Clive and his little boy to Thomas Newcome that
evening; and heard the child&rsquo;s cry of recognition and surprise, and the
old man calling the boy&rsquo;s name, as I closed the door upon that meeting;
and by the night&rsquo;s mail I went down to Newcome, to the friends with whom
my own family was already staying.
</p>

<p class="p2">
Of course, my conscience-keeper at Rosebury was anxious to know about the
school-dinner, and all the speeches made, and the guests assembled there; but
she soot ceased to inquire about these when I came to give her the news of the
discovery of our dear old friend in the habit of a Poor Brother of Grey Friars.
She was very glad to hear that Clive and his little son had been reunited to
the Colonel; and appeared to imagine at first, that there was some wonderful
merit upon my part in bringing the three together.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well&mdash;no great merit, Pen, as you <i>will</i> put it,&rdquo; says
the Confessor; &ldquo;but it was kindly thought, sir&mdash;and I like my
husband when he is kind best; and don&rsquo;t wonder at your having made a
stupid speech at the dinner, as you say you did, when you had this other
subject to think of. That is a beautiful psalm, Pen, and those verses which you
were reading when you saw him, especially beautiful.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But in the presence of eighty old gentlemen, who have all come to decay,
and have all had to beg their bread in a manner, don&rsquo;t you think the
clergyman might choose some other psalm?&rdquo; asks Mr. Pendennis.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;They were not forsaken <i>utterly</i>, Arthur,&rdquo; says Mrs. Laura,
gravely: but rather declines to argue the point raised by me; namely, that the
selection of that especial thirty-seventh psalm was not complimentary to those
decayed old gentlemen.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>All</i> the psalms are good, sir,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;and this
one, of course, is included,&rdquo; and thus the discussion closed.
</p>

<p>
I then fell to a description of Howland Street, and poor Clive, whom I had
found there over his work. A dubious maid scanned my appearance rather eagerly
when I asked to see him. I found a picture-dealer chaffering with him over a
bundle of sketches, and his little boy, already pencil in hand, lying in one
corner of the room, the sun playing about his yellow hair. The child looked
languid and pale, the father worn and ill. When the dealer at length took his
bargains away, I gradually broke my errand to Clive, and told him from whence I
had just come.
</p>

<p>
He had thought his father in Scotland with Lord H.: and was immensely moved
with the news which I brought.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t written to him for a month. It&rsquo;s not pleasant the
letters I have to write, Pen, and I can&rsquo;t make them pleasant. Up,
Tommykin, and put on your cap.&rdquo; Tommykin jumps up. &ldquo;Put on your
cap, and tell them to take off your pinafore, tell
grandmamma&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
At that name Tommykin begins to cry.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Look at that!&rdquo; says Clive, commencing to speak in the French
language, which the child interrupts by calling out in that tongue. &ldquo;I
speak also French, papa.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Well, my child! You will like to come out with papa, and Betsy can dress
you.&rdquo; He flings off his own paint-stained shooting-jacket as he talks,
takes a frock-coat out of a carved wardrobe, and a hat from a helmet on the
shelf. He is no longer the handsome splendid boy of old times. Can that be
Clive, with that haggard face and slouched handkerchief? &ldquo;I am not the
dandy I was, Pen,&rdquo; he says bitterly.
</p>

<p>
A little voice is heard crying overhead&mdash;and giving a kind of gasp the
wretched father stops in some indifferent speech he was trying to make.
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t help myself,&rdquo; he groans out; &ldquo;my wife is so
ill, she can&rsquo;t attend to the child. Mrs. Mackenzie manages the house for
me&mdash;and&mdash;here! Tommy, Tommy! papa is coming!&rdquo; Tommy has been
crying again; and flinging open the studio door, Clive calls out, and dashes
upstairs.
</p>

<p>
I hear scuffling, stamping, loud voices, poor Tommy&rsquo;s scared little
pipe&mdash;Clive&rsquo;s fierce objurgations, and the Campaigner&rsquo;s voice
barking out&mdash;&ldquo;Do, sir, do! with my child suffering in the next room.
Behave like a brute to me, do. He shall not go! He shall not have the
hat&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;He shall&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;Ah&mdash;ah!&rdquo; A
scream is heard. It is Clive tearing a child&rsquo;s hat out of the
Campaigner&rsquo;s hands, with which, and a flushed face, he presently rushes
downstairs, bearing little Tommy on his shoulder.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You see what I am come to, Pen,&rdquo; he says with a heartbroken voice,
trying, with hands all of a tremble, to tie the hat on the boy&rsquo;s head. He
laughs bitterly at the ill success of his endeavours. &ldquo;Oh, you silly
papa!&rdquo; laughs Tommy, too.
</p>

<p>
The door is flung open, and the red-faced Campaigner appears. Her face is
mottled with wrath, her bandeaux of hair are disarranged upon her forehead, the
ornaments of her cap, cheap, and dirty, and numerous, only give her a wilder
appearance. She is in a large and dingy wrapper, very different from the lady
who had presented herself a few months back to my wife&mdash;how different from
the smiling Mrs. Mackenzie of old days!
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He shall not go out of a winter day, sir,&rdquo; she breaks out.
&ldquo;I have his mother&rsquo;s orders, whom you are <i>killing</i>. Mr.
Pendennis!&rdquo; She starts, perceiving me for the first time, and her breast
heaves, and she prepares for combat, and looks at me over her shoulder.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You and his father are the best judges upon this point,
ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; said Mr. Pendennis, with a bow.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The child is delicate, sir,&rdquo; cries Mrs. Mackenzie; &ldquo;and this
winter&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Enough of this,&rdquo; says Clive with a stamp, and passes through her
guard with Tommy, and we descend the stairs, and at length are in the free
street. Was it not best not to describe at full length this portion of poor
Clive&rsquo;s history?
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0076" id="link2HCH0076"></a>
CHAPTER LXXVI.<br/>
Christmas at Rosebury</h2>

<p>
We have known our friend Florac under two aristocratic names, and might now
salute him by a third, to which he was entitled, although neither he nor his
wife ever chose to assume it. His father was lately dead, and M. Paul de Florac
might sign himself Duc d&rsquo;Ivry if he chose, but he was indifferent as to
the matter, and his wife&rsquo;s friends indignant at the idea that their
kinswoman, after having been a Princess, should descend to the rank of a mere
Duchess. So Prince and Princess these good folks remained, being exceptions to
that order, inasmuch as their friends could certainly put their trust in them.
</p>

<p>
On his father&rsquo;s death Florac went to Paris, to settle the affairs of the
paternal succession; and, having been for some time absent in his native
country, returned to Rosebury for the winter, to resume that sport of which he
was a distinguished amateur. He hunted in black during the ensuing season; and,
indeed, henceforth laid aside his splendid attire and his <i>allures</i> as a
young man. His waist expanded, or was no longer confined by the cestus which
had given it a shape. When he laid aside his black, his whiskers, too, went
into a sort of half-mourning, and appeared in grey. &ldquo;I make myself old,
my friend,&rdquo; he said, pathetically; &ldquo;I have no more neither twenty
years nor forty.&rdquo; He went to Rosebury Church no more; but, with great
order and sobriety, drove every Sunday to the neighbouring Catholic chapel at
C&mdash;&mdash; Castle. We had an ecclesiastic or two to dine with us at
Rosebury, one of whom I inclined to think was Florac&rsquo;s director.
</p>

<p>
A reason, perhaps, for Paul&rsquo;s altered demeanour, was the presence of his
mother at Rosebury. No politeness or respect could be greater than Paul&rsquo;s
towards the Countess. Had she been a sovereign princess, Madame de Florac could
not have been treated with more profound courtesy than she now received from
her son. I think the humble-minded lady could have dispensed with some of his
attentions; but Paul was a personage who demonstrated all his sentiments, and
performed his various parts in life with the greatest vigour. As a man of
pleasure, for instance, what more active roué than he? As a <i>jeune homme</i>,
who could be younger, and for a longer time? As a country gentleman, or an
<i>homme d&rsquo;affaires</i>, he insisted upon dressing each character with
the most rigid accuracy, and an exactitude that reminded one somewhat of
Bouffé, or Ferville, at the play. I wonder whether, when is he quite old, he
will think proper to wear a pigtail, like his old father? At any rate, that was
a good part which the kind fellow was now acting, of reverence towards his
widowed mother, and affectionate respect for her declining days. He not only
felt these amiable sentiments, but he imparted them to his friends most freely,
as his wont was. He used to weep freely,&mdash;quite unrestrained by the
presence of the domestics, as English sentiment would be:&mdash;and when Madame
de Florac quitted the room after dinner, would squeeze my hand and tell me with
streaming eyes, that his mother was an angel. &ldquo;Her life has been but a
long trial, my friend,&rdquo; he would say. &ldquo;Shall not I, who have caused
her to shed so many tears, endeavour to dry some?&rdquo; Of course the friends
who liked him best encouraged him in an intention so pious.
</p>

<p>
The reader has already been made acquainted with this lady by the letters of
hers, which came into my possession some time after the events which I am at
present narrating: my wife, through our kind friend, Colonel Newcome, had also
had the honour of an introduction to Madame de Florac at Paris; and, on coming
to Rosebury for the Christmas holidays, I found Laura and the children greatly
in favour with the good Countess. She treated her son&rsquo;s wife with a
perfect though distant courtesy. She was thankful to Madame de Moncontour for
the latter&rsquo;s great goodness to her son. Familiar with but very few
persons, she could scarcely be intimate with her homely daughter-in-law. Madame
de Moncontour stood in the greatest awe of her; and, to do that good lady
justice, admired and reverenced Paul&rsquo;s mother with all her simple heart.
In truth, I think almost every one had a certain awe of Madame de Florac,
except children, who came to her trustingly, and, as it were, by instinct. The
habitual melancholy of her eyes vanished as they lighted upon young faces and
infantile smiles. A sweet love beamed out of her countenance: an angelic smile
shone over her face, as she bent towards them and caressed them. Her demeanour
then, nay, her looks and ways at other times;&mdash;a certain gracious sadness,
a sympathy with all grief, and pity for all pain; a gentle heart, yearning
towards all children; and, for her own especially, feeling a love that was
almost an anguish: in the affairs of the common world only a dignified
acquiescence, as if her place was not in it, and her thoughts were in her Home
elsewhere;&mdash;these qualities, which we had seen exemplified in another
life, Laura and her husband watched in Madame de Florac, and we loved her
because she was like our mother. I see in such women, the good and pure, the
patient and faithful, the tried and meek, the followers of Him whose earthly
life was divinely sad and tender.
</p>

<p>
But, good as she was to us and to all, Ethel Newcome was the French
lady&rsquo;s greatest favourite. A bond of extreme tenderness and affection
united these two. The elder friend made constant visits to the younger at
Newcome; and when Miss Newcome, as she frequently did, came to Rosebury, we
used to see that they preferred to be alone; divining and respecting the
sympathy which brought those two faithful hearts together. I can imagine now
the two tall forms slowly pacing the garden walks, or turning, as they lighted
on the young ones in their play. What was their talk! I never asked it. Perhaps
Ethel never said what was in her heart, though, be sure, the other knew it.
Though the grief of those they love is untold, women hear it; as they soothe it
with unspoken consolations. To see the elder lady embrace her friend as they
parted was something holy&mdash;a sort of saintlike salutation.
</p>

<p class="p2">
Consulting the person from whom I had no secrets, we had thought best at first
not to mention to our friends the place and position in which we had found our
dear Colonel; at least to wait for a fitting opportunity on which we might
break the news to those who held him in such affection. I told how Clive was
hard at work, and hoped the best for him. Good-natured Madame de Moncontour was
easily satisfied with my replies to her questions concerning our friend. Ethel
only asked if he and her uncle were well, and once or twice made inquiries
respecting Rosa and her child. And now it was that my wife told me, what I need
no longer keep secret, of Ethel&rsquo;s extreme anxiety to serve her distressed
relatives, and how she, Laura, had already acted as Miss Newcome&rsquo;s
almoner in furnishing and hiring those apartments, which Ethel believed were
occupied by Clive and his father, and wife and child. And my wife further
informed me with what deep grief Ethel had heard of her uncle&rsquo;s
misfortune, and how, but that she feared to offend his pride, she longed to
give him assistance. She had even ventured to offer to send him pecuniary help;
but the Colonel (who never mentioned the circumstance to me any other of his
friends), in a kind but very cold letter, had declined to be beholden to his
niece for help.
</p>

<p>
So I may have remained some days at Rosebury, and the real position of the two
Newcomes was unknown to our friends there. Christmas Eve was come, and,
according to a long-standing promise, Ethel Newcome and her two children had
arrived from the Park, which dreary mansion, since his double defeat, Sir
Barnes scarcely ever visited. Christmas was come, and Rosebury hall was
decorated with holly. Florac did his best to welcome his friends, and strove to
make the meeting gay, though in truth it was rather melancholy. The children,
however, were happy: and they had pleasure enough, in the school festival, in
the distribution of cloaks and blankets to the poor, and in Madame de
Moncontour&rsquo;s gardens, delightful and beautiful though the winter was
there.
</p>

<p>
It was only a family meeting, Madame de Florac&rsquo;s widowhood not permitting
her presence in large companies. Paul sate at his table between his mother and
Mrs. Pendennis; Mr. Pendennis opposite to him, with Ethel and Madame de
Moncontour on each side. The four children were placed between these
personages, on whom Madame de Florac looked with her tender glances, and to
whose little wants the kindest of hosts ministered with uncommon good-nature
and affection. He was very soft-hearted about children. &ldquo;Pourquoi
n&rsquo;en avons-nous pas, Jeanne? He! quoi n&rsquo;en avons-nous pas?&rdquo;
he said, addressing his wife by her Christian name. The poor little lady looked
kindly at her husband, and then gave a sigh, and turned and heaped cake upon
the plate of the child next to her. No mamma or Aunt Ethel could interpose. It
was a very light wholesome cake. Brown made it on purpose for the children,
&ldquo;the little darlings!&rdquo; cries the Princess.
</p>

<p>
The children were very happy at being allowed to sit up so late to dinner, at
all the kindly amusements of the day, at the holly and mistletoe clustering
round the lamps&mdash;the mistletoe, under which the gallant Florac, skilled in
all British usages, vowed he would have his privilege. But the mistletoe was
clustered round the lamp, the lamp was over the centre of the great round
table&mdash;the innocent gratification which he proposed to himself was denied
to M. Paul.
</p>

<p>
In the greatest excitement and good-humour, our host at the dessert made us
<i>des speech</i>. He carried a toast to the charming Ethel, another to the
charming Mistriss Laura, another to his good fren&rsquo;, his brave
frren&rsquo;, his &rsquo;appy fren&rsquo;, Pendennis&mdash;&rsquo;appy as
possessor of such a wife, &rsquo;appy as writer of works destined to the
immortality, etc. etc. The little children round about clapped their happy
little hands, and laughed and crowed in chorus. And now the nursery and its
guardians were about to retreat, when Florac said he had yet a speech, yet a
toast&mdash;and he bade the butler pour wine into every one&rsquo;s
glass&mdash;yet a toast&mdash;and he carried it to the health of our dear
friends, of Clive and his father,&mdash;the good, the brave Colonel! &ldquo;We
who are happy,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;shall we not think of those who are good?
We who love each other, shall we not remember those whom we all love?&rdquo; He
spoke with very great tenderness and feeling. &ldquo;Ma bonne mere, thou too
shalt drink this toast!&rdquo; he said, taking his mother&rsquo;s hand, and
kissing it. She returned his caress gently, and tasted the wine with her pale
lips. Ethel&rsquo;s head bent in silence over her glass; and, as for Laura,
need I say what happened to her! When the ladies went away my heart was opened
to my friend Florac, and I told him where and how I had left my dear
Clive&rsquo;s father.
</p>

<p>
The Frenchman&rsquo;s emotion on hearing this tale was such that I have loved
him ever since. Clive in want! Why had he not sent to his friend? Grands Dieux!
Clive who had helped him in his greatest distress! Clive&rsquo;s father, ce
<i>preux chevalier, ce parfait gentilhomme!</i> In a hundred rapid exclamations
Florac exhibited his sympathy, asking of Fate, why such men as he and I were
sitting surrounded by splendours&mdash;before golden vases crowned with
flowers&mdash;with valets to kiss our feet&mdash;(those were merely figures of
speech in which Paul expressed his prosperity)&mdash;whilst our friend the
Colonel, so much better than we, spent his last days in poverty, and alone.
</p>

<p>
I liked Florac none the less, I own, because that one of the conditions of the
Colonel&rsquo;s present life, which appeared the hardest to most people,
affected Florac but little. To be a Pensioner of an Ancient Institution? Why
not? Might not a man retire without shame to the Invalides at the close of his
campaigns, and, had not Fortune conquered our old friend, and age and disaster
overcome him? It never once entered Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s head; nor
Clive&rsquo;s, nor Florac&rsquo;s, nor his mother&rsquo;s, that the Colonel
demeaned himself at all by accepting that bounty; and I recollect Warrington
sharing our sentiment and trowling out those noble lines of the old
poet:&mdash;
</p>

<p class="poem">
&ldquo;His golden locks time hath to silver turned;<br/>
    O time too swift, O swiftness never ceasing!<br/>
His youth &rsquo;gainst time and age hath ever spurned,<br/>
    But spurned in vain; youth waneth by encreasing.<br/>
Beauty, strength, youth, are flowers but fading seen.<br/>
Duty, faith, love, are roots, and ever green.<br/>
<br/>
&ldquo;His helmet now shall make a hive for bees,<br/>
    And lovers&rsquo; songs be turned to holy psalms;<br/>
A man at arms must now serve on his knees,<br/>
    And feed on prayers, which are old age&rsquo;s alms.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
These, I say, respected our friend, whatever was the coat he wore; whereas,
among the Colonel&rsquo;s own kinsfolk, dire was the dismay, and indignation
even, which they expressed when they came to hear of this, what they were
pleased to call degradation to their family. Clive&rsquo;s dear mother-in-law
made outcries over the good old man as over a pauper, and inquired of Heaven,
what she had done that her blessed child should have a mendicant for a father?
And Mrs. Hobson, in subsequent confidential communication with the writer of
these memoirs, improved the occasion religiously as her wont was; referred the
matter to Heaven too, and thought fit to assume that the celestial powers had
decreed this <i>humiliation</i>, this <i>dreadful trial</i> for the Newcome
family, as a warning to them all that they should not be too much puffed up
with prosperity, nor set their affections too much upon things of this earth.
Had they not already received <i>one</i> chastisement in Barnes&rsquo;s
punishment, and Lady Clara&rsquo;s awful falling away? They had taught her a
lesson, which the Colonel&rsquo;s <i>lamentable errors</i> had
<i>confirmed</i>,&mdash;the vanity of trusting in all earthly grandeurs! Thus
it was this worthy woman plumed herself, as it were, on her relative&rsquo;s
misfortunes; and was pleased to think the latter were designed for the special
warning and advantage of her private family. But Mrs. Hobson&rsquo;s philosophy
is only mentioned by the way. Our story, which is drawing to its close, has to
busy itself with other members of the house of The Newcomes.
</p>

<p>
My talk with Florac lasted for some time: at its close, when we went to join
the ladies in the drawing-room, we found Ethel cloaked and shawled, and
prepared for her departure with her young ones, who were already asleep. The
little festival was over, and had ended in melancholy&mdash;even in weeping.
Our hostess sate in her accustomed seat by her lamp and her worktable; but,
neglecting her needle, she was having perpetual recourse to her
pocket-handkerchief, and uttering ejaculations of pity between the intervals of
her gushes of tears. Madame de Florac was in her usual place, her head cast
downwards, and her hands folded. My wife was at her side, a grave commiseration
showing itself in Laura&rsquo;s countenance, whilst I read a yet deeper sadness
in Ethel&rsquo;s pale face. Miss Newcome&rsquo;s carriage had been announced;
the attendants had already carried the young ones asleep to the vehicle; and
she was in the act of taking leave. We looked round at this disturbed party,
guessing very likely what the subject of their talk had been, to which,
however, Miss Ethel did not allude: but, announcing that she had intended to
depart without disturbing the two gentlemen, she bade us farewell and good
night. &ldquo;I wish I could say a merry Christmas,&rdquo; she added gravely,
&ldquo;but none of us, I fear, can hope for that.&rdquo; It was evident that
Laura had told the last chapter of the Colonel&rsquo;s story.
</p>

<p>
Madame de Floras rose up and embraced Miss Newcome, and, that farewell over,
she sank back on the sofa exhausted, and with such an expression of affliction
in her countenance, that my wife ran eagerly towards her. &ldquo;It is nothing,
my dear,&rdquo; she said, giving a cold hand to the younger lady, and sate
silent for a few moments, during which we heard Florac&rsquo;s voice without
crying Adieu! and the wheels of Miss Newcome&rsquo;s carriage when it drove
away.
</p>

<p>
Our host entered a moment afterwards; and remarking, as Laura had done, his
mother&rsquo;s pallor and look of anguish, went up and spoke to her with the
utmost tenderness and anxiety.
</p>

<p>
She gave her hand to her son, and a faint blush rose up out of the past as it
were, and trembled upon her wan cheek. &ldquo;He was the first friend I ever
had in the world, Paul,&rdquo; she said &ldquo;the first and the best. He shall
not want, shall he, my son?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
No signs of that emotion in which her daughter-in-law had been indulging were
as yet visible in Madame de Florac&rsquo;s eyes, but, as she spoke, holding her
son&rsquo;s hand in hers, the tears at length overflowed, and with a sob, her
head fell forwards. The impetuous Frenchman flung himself on his knees before
his mother, uttered a hundred words of love and respect for her, and with tears
and sobs of his own called God to witness that their friend should never want.
And so this mother and son embraced each other, and clung together in a sacred
union of love, before which we who had been admitted as spectators of that
scene, stood hushed and respectful.
</p>

<p>
That night Laura told me, how, when the ladies left us, the talk had been
entirely about the Colonel and Clive. Madame de Florac had spoken especially,
and much more freely than was her wont. She had told many reminiscences of
Thomas Newcome, and his early days; how her father taught him mathematics when
they were quite poor, and living in their dear little cottage at Blackheath;
how handsome he was then, with bright eyes, and long black hair flowing over
his shoulders; how military glory was his boyish passion, and he was for ever
talking of India, and the famous deeds of Clive and Lawrence. His favourite
book was a history of India&mdash;the history of Orme. &ldquo;He read it, and I
read it also, my daughter,&rdquo; the French lady said, turning to Ethel;
&ldquo;ah! I may say so after so many years.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Ethel remembered the book as belonging to her grandmother, and now in the
library at Newcome. Doubtless the same sympathy which caused me to speak about
Thomas Newcome that evening, impelled my wife likewise. She told her friends,
as I had told Florac, all the Colonel&rsquo;s story; and it was while these
good women were under the impression of the melancholy history, that Florac and
his guest found them.
</p>

<p>
Retired to our rooms, Laura and I talked on the same subject until the clock
tolled Christmas, and the neighbouring church bells rang out a jubilation. And,
looking out into the quiet night, where the stars were keenly shining, we
committed ourselves to rest with humbled hearts; praying, for all those we
loved, a blessing of peace and goodwill.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0077" id="link2HCH0077"></a>
CHAPTER LXXVII.<br/>
The Shortest and Happiest in the Whole History</h2>

<p>
In the ensuing Christmas morning I chanced to rise betimes, and entering my
dressing-room, opened the windows and looked out on the soft landscape, over
which mists were still lying; whilst the serene sky above, and the lawns and
leafless woods in the foreground near, were still pink with sunrise. The grey
had not even left the west yet, and I could see a star or two twinkling there,
to vanish with that twilight.
</p>

<p>
As I looked out, I saw the not very distant lodge-gate open after a brief
parley, and a lady on horseback, followed by a servant, rode rapidly up to the
house. This early visitor was no other than Miss Ethel Newcome. The young lady
espied me immediately. &ldquo;Come down; come down to me this moment, Mr.
Pendennis,&rdquo; she cried out. I hastened down to her, supposing rightly that
news of importance had brought her to Rosebury so early.
</p>

<p>
The news were of importance indeed. &ldquo;Look here!&rdquo; she said,
&ldquo;read this;&rdquo; and she took a paper from the pocket of her habit.
&ldquo;When I went home last night, after Madame de Florac had been talking to
us about Orme&rsquo;s India, I took the volumes from the bookcase and found
this paper. It is in my grandmother&rsquo;s&mdash;Mrs.
Newcome&rsquo;s&mdash;handwriting; I know it quite well, it is dated on the
very day of her death. She had been writing and reading in her study on that
very night; I have often heard papa speak of the circumstance. Look and read.
You are a lawyer, Mr. Pendennis; tell me about this paper.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I seized it eagerly, and cast my eyes over it; but having read it, my
countenance fell.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear Miss Newcome, it is not worth a penny,&rdquo; I was obliged to
own.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Yes, it is, sir, to honest people!&rdquo; she cried out. &ldquo;My
brother and uncle will respect it as Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s dying wish. They
<i>must</i> respect it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
The paper in question was a letter in ink that had grown yellow from time, and
was addressed by the late Mrs. Newcome, to &ldquo;my dear Mr. Luce.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;That was her solicitor, my solicitor still,&rdquo; interposes Miss
Ethel.
</p>

<p class="right">
&ldquo;T<small>HE</small> H<small>ERMITAGE</small>, March 14, 182-.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My Dear Mr. Luce&rdquo; (the defunct lady wrote)&mdash;&ldquo;My late
husband&rsquo;s grandson has been staying with me lately, and is a most
pleasing, handsome, and engaging little boy. He bears a strong likeness to his
grandfather, I think; and though he has no claims upon me, and I know is
sufficiently provided for by his father Lieutenant-Colonel Newcome, C.B., of
the East India Company&rsquo;s Service, I am sure my late dear husband will be
pleased that I should leave his grandson, Clive Newcome, a token of <i>peace
and goodwill;</i> and I can do so with the more readiness, as it has pleased
Heaven greatly to increase my means since my husband was called away hence.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I desire to bequeath a sum equal to that which Mr Newcome willed to my
eldest son, Brian Newcome, Esq., to Mr. Newcome&rsquo;s grandson, Clive
Newcome; and furthermore, that a token of my esteem and affection, a ring, or a
piece of plate, of the value of one £100, be given to Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas
Newcome, my stepson, whose excellent conduct <i>for many years</i>, and whose
repeated acts of gallantry in the <i>service of his sovereign</i>, have long
obliterated the just feelings of displeasure with which I could not but view
his early <i>disobedience and misbehaviour</i>, before he quitted England
against my will, and entered the military service.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I beg you to prepare immediately a codicil to my will providing for the
above bequests; and desire that the amount of these legacies should be taken
from the property bequeathed to my eldest son. You will be so good as to
prepare the necessary document, and bring it with you when you come on
Saturday, to
</p>

<p class="right">
yours very truly,<br/>
&ldquo;Sophia Alethea Newcome.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Tuesday night.&rdquo;
</p>

<p class="p2">
I gave back the paper with a sigh to the finder. &ldquo;It is but a wish of
Mrs. Newcome, my dear Miss Ethel,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Pardon me, if I say, I
think I know your elder brother too well to supposes that he will fulfil
it.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He <i>will</i> fulfil it, sir, I am sure he will,&rdquo; Miss Newcome
said, in a haughty manner. &ldquo;He would do as much without being asked, I am
certain he would, did he know the depth of my dear uncle&rsquo;s misfortune.
Barnes is in London now, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And you will write to him? I know what the answer will be.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I will go to him this very day, Mr. Pendennis! I will go to my dear,
dear uncle. I cannot bear to think of him in that place,&rdquo; cried the young
lady, the tears starting into her honest eyes. &ldquo;It was the will of
Heaven. Oh, God be thanked for it! Had we found my grandmamma&rsquo;s letter
earlier, Barnes would have paid the legacy immediately, and the money would
have gone in that dreadful bankruptcy. I will go to Barnes to-day. Will you
come with me? Won&rsquo;t you come to your old friends? We may be at
his&mdash;at Clive&rsquo;s house this evening; and oh, praise be to God! there
need be no more want in his family.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear friend, I will go with you round the world on such an
errand,&rdquo; I said, kissing her hand. How beautiful she looked; the generous
colour rose in her face, her voice thrilled with happiness. The music of
Christmas church bells leaped up at this moment with joyful gratulations; the
face of the old house, before which we stood talking, shone out in the morning
sun.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You will come I thank you! I must run and tell Madame de Florac,&rdquo;
cried the happy young lady, and we entered the house together. &ldquo;How came
you to be kissing Ethel&rsquo;s hand, sir; and what is the meaning of this
early visit?&rdquo; asks Mrs. Laura, as soon as I had returned to my own
apartments.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Martha, get me a carpet-bag! I am going to London in an hour,&rdquo;
cries Mr. Pendennis. If I had kissed Ethel&rsquo;s hand jus now, delighted at
the news which she brought to me, was not one a thousand times dearer to me, as
happy as her friend? I know who prayed with a thankful heart that day as we
sped, in the almost solitary train, towards London.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0078" id="link2HCH0078"></a>
CHAPTER LXXVIII.<br/>
In which the Author goes on a Pleasant Errand</h2>

<p>
Before I parted with Miss Newcome at the station, she made me promise to see
her on the morrow at an early hour at her brother&rsquo;s house; and having
bidden her farewell and repaired to my own solitary residence, which presented
but a dreary aspect on that festive day, I thought I would pay Howland Street a
visit; and, if invited, eat my Christmas dinner with Clive.
</p>

<p>
I found my friend at home, and at work still, in spite of the day. He had
promised a pair of pictures to a dealer for the morrow. &ldquo;He pays me
pretty well, and I want all the money he will give me, Pen,&rdquo; the painter
said, rubbing on at his canvas. &ldquo;I am pretty easy in my mind since I have
become acquainted with a virtuous dealer. I sell myself to him, body and soul,
for some half-dozen pounds a week. I know I can get my money, and he is
regularly supplied with his pictures. But for Rosey&rsquo;s illness we might
carry on well enough.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Rosey&rsquo;s illness? I was sorry to hear of that: and poor Clive, entering
into particulars, told me how he had spent upon doctors rather more than a
fourth of his year&rsquo;s earnings. &ldquo;There is a solemn fellow, to whom
the women have taken a fancy, who lives but a few doors off in Gower Street;
and who, for his last sixteen visits, has taken sixteen pounds sixteen
shillings out of my pocket, and as if guineas grew there, with the most
admirable gravity. He talks the fashions to my mother-in-law. My poor wife
hangs on every word he says. Look! There is his carriage coming up now! and
there is his fee, confound him!&rdquo; says Clive, casting a rueful look
towards a little packet lying upon the mantelpiece, by the side of that skinned
figure in plaster of Paris which we have seen in most studios.
</p>

<p>
I looked out of window and saw a certain Fashionable Doctor tripping out of his
chariot; that Ladies&rsquo; Delight, who has subsequently migrated from
Bloomsbury to Belgravia; and who has his polite foot now in a thousand
nurseries and boudoirs. What Confessors were in old times, Quackenboss and his
like are in our Protestant country. What secrets they know! into what mystic
chambers do they not enter! I suppose the Campaigner made a special toilette to
receive her fashionable friend, for that lady attired in considerable
splendour, and with the precious jewel on her head, which I remembered at
Boulogne, came into the studio two minutes after the Doctor&rsquo;s visit was
announced, and made him a low curtsey. I cannot describe the overpowering
civilities of that woman.
</p>

<p>
Clive was very gracious and humble to her. He adopted a lively air in
addressing her&mdash;&ldquo;Must work, you know, Christmas Day and
all&mdash;for the owner of the pictures will call for them in the morning.
Bring me a good report about Rosey, Mrs. Mackenzie, please&mdash;and if you
will have the kindness to look by the <i>écorché</i> there, you will see that
little packet which I have left for you.&rdquo; Mrs. Mack, advancing, took the
money. &ldquo;I thought that plaster of Paris figure was not the only
<i>écorché</i> in the room.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I want you to stay to dinner. You must stay, Pen, please,&rdquo; cried
Clive; &ldquo;and be civil to her, will you? My dear old father is coming to
dine here. They fancy that he has lodgings at the other end of the town, and
that his brothers do something for him. Not a word about Grey Friars. It might
agitate Rosa, you know. Ah! isn&rsquo;t he noble, the dear old boy! and
isn&rsquo;t it fine to see him in that place?&rdquo; Clive worked on as he
talked, using up the last remnant of the light of Christmas Day, and was
cleaning his palette and brushes, when Mrs. Mackenzie returned to us.
</p>

<p>
Darling Rosey was very delicate, but Doctor Quackenboss was going to give her
the very same medicine which had done the charming young Duchess of
Clackmannanshire so much good, and he was not in the least disquiet.
</p>

<p>
On this I cut into the conversation with anecdotes concerning the family of the
Duchess of Clackmannanshire, remembering early days, when it used to be my
sport to entertain the Campaigner with anecdotes of the aristocracy, about
whose proceedings she still maintained a laudable curiosity. Indeed, one of few
the books escaped out of the wreck of Tyburn Gardens was a Peerage, now a
well-worn volume, much read by Rosa and her mother.
</p>

<p>
The anecdotes were very politely received&mdash;perhaps it was the season which
made Mrs. Mack and her son-in-law on more than ordinarily good terms. When,
turning to the Campaigner, Clive said he wished that she could persuade me to
stay to dinner, she acquiesced graciously and at once in that proposal, and
vowed that her daughter would be delighted if I could condescend to eat their
<i>humble</i> fare. &ldquo;It is not such a dinner as you <i>have</i> seen at
her house, with six side-dishes, two flanks, that splendid epergne, and the
silver dishes top and bottom; but such as my Rosey <i>has</i> she offers with a
willing <i>heart</i>,&rdquo; cries the Campaigner.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And Tom may sit to dinner, mayn&rsquo;t he, grandmamma?&rdquo; asks
Clive, in a humble voice.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, if you wish it, sir.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;His grandfather will like to sit by him,&rdquo; said Clive. &ldquo;I
will go out and meet him; he comes through Guildford Street and Russell
Square,&rdquo; says Clive. &ldquo;Will you walk, Pen?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, pray don&rsquo;t let us detain you,&rdquo; says Mrs. Mackenzie, with
a toss of her head: and when she retreated Clive whispered that she would not
want me; for she looked to the roasting of the beef and the making of the
pudding and the mince-pie.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I thought she might have a finger in it,&rdquo; I said; and we set forth
to meet the dear old father, who presently came, walking very slowly, along the
line by which we expected him. His stick trembled as it fell on the pavement:
so did his voice, as he called out Clive&rsquo;s name: so did his hand, as he
stretched it to me. His body was bent, and feeble. Twenty years had not
weakened him so much as the last score of months. I walked by the side of my
two friends as they went onwards, linked lovingly together. How I longed for
the morrow, and hoped they might be united once more! Thomas Newcome&rsquo;s
voice, once so grave, went up to a treble, and became almost childish, as he
asked after Boy. His white hair hung over his collar. I could see it by the gas
under which we walked&mdash;and Clive&rsquo;s great back and arm, as his father
leaned on it, and his brave face turned towards the old man. Oh, Barnes
Newcome, Barnes Newcome! Be an honest man for once, and help your kinsfolk!
thought I.
</p>

<p>
The Christmas meal went off in a friendly manner enough. The Campaigner&rsquo;s
eyes were everywhere: it was evident that the little maid who served the
dinner, and had cooked a portion of it under their keen supervision, cowered
under them, as well as other folks. Mrs. Mack did not make more than ten
allusions to former splendours during the entertainment, or half as many
apologies to me for sitting down to a table very different from that to which I
was <i>accustomed</i>. Good, faithful F. Bayham was the only other guest. He
complimented the mince-pies, so that Mrs. Mackenzie owned she had made them.
The Colonel was very silent, but he tried to feed Boy, and was only once or
twice sternly corrected by the Campaigner. Boy, in the best little words he
could muster, asked why grandpapa wore a black cloak? Clive nudged my foot
under the table. The secret of the Poor Brothership was very nearly out. The
Colonel blushed, and with great presence of mind said he wore a cloak to keep
him warm in winter.
</p>

<p>
Rosey did not say much. She had grown lean and languid: the light of her eyes
had gone out: all her pretty freshness had faded. She ate scarce anything,
though her mother pressed her eagerly, and whispered loudly that a woman in her
situation ought to strengthen herself. Poor Rosey was always in a situation.
</p>

<p>
When the cloth was withdrawn, the Colonel bending his head said, &ldquo;Thank
God for what we have received,&rdquo; so reverently, and with an accent so
touching, that Fred Bayham&rsquo;s big eyes as he turned towards the old man
filled up with tears. When his mother and grandmother rose to go away, poor
little Boy cried to stay longer, and the Colonel would have meekly interposed,
but the domineering Campaigner cried, &ldquo;Nonsense, let him go to
bed!&rdquo; and flounced him out of the room: and nobody appealed against that
sentence. Then we three remained, and strove to talk as cheerfully as we might,
speaking now of old times, and presently of new. Without the slightest
affectation, Thomas Newcome told us that his life was comfortable, and that he
was happy in it. He wished that many others of the old gentlemen, he said, were
as contented as himself, but some of them grumbled sadly, he owned and
quarrelled with their bread-and-butter. He, for his part, had everything he
could desire: all the officers of the Establishment were most kind to him; an
excellent physician came to him when wanted; a most attentive woman waited on
him. &ldquo;And if I wear a black gown,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is not that
uniform as good as another, and if we have to go to church every day, at which
some of the Poor Brothers grumble, I think an old fellow can&rsquo;t do better;
and I can say my prayers with a thankful heart, Clivey my boy, and should be
quite happy but for my&mdash;for my past imprudence, God forgive me. Think of
Bayham here coming to our chapel to-day!&mdash;he often comes&mdash;that was
very right, sir&mdash;very right.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive, filling a glass of wine, looked at F. B. with eyes that said God bless
you. F. B. gulped down another bumper. &ldquo;It is almost a merry
Christmas,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;and oh, I hope it will be a happy New
Year!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Shortly after nine o&rsquo;clock the Colonel rose to depart, saying he must be
&ldquo;in barracks&rdquo; by ten; and Clive and F. B. went a part of the way
with him. I would have followed them, but he whispered me to stay and talk to
Mrs. Mack, for Heaven&rsquo;s sake, and that he would be back ere long. So I
went and took tea with the two ladies; and as we drank it, Mrs. Mackenzie took
occasion to tell me she did not know what amount of income the Colonel had from
his <i>wealthy brother</i>, but that <i>they</i> never received any benefit
from it; and again she computed to me all the sums, principal and interest,
which ought at that moment to belong to her darling Rosey. Rosey now and again
made a feeble remark. She did not seem pleased or sorry when her husband came
in; and presently, dropping me a little curtsey, went to bed under charge of
the Campaigner. So Bayham and I and Clive retired to the studio, where smoking
was allowed, and where we brought that Christmas day to an end.
</p>

<p>
At the appointed time on the next forenoon I called upon Miss Newcome at her
brother&rsquo;s house. Sir Barnes Newcome was quitting his own door as I
entered it, and he eyed me with such a severe countenance, as made me augur but
ill of the business upon which I came. The expression of Ethel&rsquo;s face was
scarcely more cheering: she was standing at the window, sternly looking at Sir
Barnes, who yet lingered at his own threshold, having some altercation with his
cab-boy ere he mounted his vehicle to drive into the City.
</p>

<p>
Miss Newcome was very pale when she advanced and gave me her hand. I looked
with some alarm into her face, and inquired what news?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is as you expected, Mr. Pendennis,&rdquo; she said&mdash;&ldquo;not
as I did. My brother is averse to making restitution. He just now parted from
me in some anger. But it does not matter; the restitution must be made, if not
by Barnes, by one of our family&mdash;must it not?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;God bless you for a noble creature, my dear, dear Miss Newcome!&rdquo;
was all I could say.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;For doing what is right? Ought I not to do it? I am the eldest of our
family after Barnes: I am the richest after him. Our father left all his
younger children the very sum of money which Mrs. Newcome here devises to
Clive; and you know, besides, I have all my grandmother&rsquo;s, Lady
Kew&rsquo;s, property. Why, I don&rsquo;t think I could sleep if this act of
justice were not done. Will you come with me to my lawyer&rsquo;s? He and my
brother Barnes are trustees of my property; and I have been thinking, dear Mr.
Pendennis&mdash;and you are very good to be so kind, and to express so kind an
opinion of me, and you and Laura have always, always been the best friends to
me&rdquo;&mdash;(she says this, taking one of my hands and placing her other
hand over it)&mdash;&ldquo;I have been thinking, you know, that this transfer
had better be made through Mr. Luce, you understand, and as coming from the
<i>family</i>, and then I need not appear in it at all, you see; and&mdash;and
my dear good uncle&rsquo;s pride need not be wounded.&rdquo; She fairly gave
way to tears as she spoke&mdash;and for me, I longed to kiss the hem of her
robe, or anything else she would let me embrace, I was so happy, and so touched
by the simple demeanour and affection of the noble young lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Dear Ethel,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;did I not say I would go to the end of
the world with you&mdash;and won&rsquo;t I go to Lincoln&rsquo;s Inn?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
A cab was straightway sent for, and in another half-hour we were in the
presence of the courtly little old Mr. Luce in his chambers in Lincoln&rsquo;s
Inn Fields.
</p>

<p>
He knew the late Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s handwriting at once. He remembered having
seen the little boy at the Hermitage, had talked with Mr. Newcome regarding his
son in India, and had even encouraged Mrs. Newcome in her idea of leaving some
token of goodwill to the latter. &ldquo;I was to have dined with your
grandmamma on the Saturday, with my poor wife. Why, bless my soul! I remember
the circumstance perfectly well, my dear young lady. There can&rsquo;t be a
doubt about the letter, but of course the bequest is no bequest at all, and
Colonel Newcome has behaved so ill to your brother that I suppose Sir Barnes
will not go out of his way to benefit the Colonel.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;What would you do, Mr. Luce?&rdquo; asks the young lady.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;H&rsquo;m! And pray why should I tell you what I should do under the
circumstances?&rdquo; replied the little lawyer. &ldquo;Upon my word, Miss
Newcome, I think I should leave matters as they stand. Sir Barnes and I, you
are aware, are not the very best of friends&mdash;as your father&rsquo;s, your
grandmother&rsquo;s old friend and adviser, your own too, my dear young lady, I
and Sir Barnes Newcome remain on civil terms. But neither is over much pleased
with the other, to say the truth; and, at any rate, I cannot be
accused&mdash;nor can any one else that I know of&mdash;of being a very warm
partisan of your brother&rsquo;s. But candidly, were his case mine&mdash;had I
a relation who had called me unpleasant names, and threatened me I don&rsquo;t
know with what, with sword and pistol&mdash;who had put me to five or six
thousand pounds&rsquo; expense in contesting an election which I had
lost,&mdash;I should give him, I think, no more than the law obliged me to give
him; and that, my dear Miss Newcome, is not one farthing.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am very glad you say so,&rdquo; said Miss Newcome, rather to my
astonishment.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Of course, my dear young lady; and so you need not be alarmed at showing
your brother this document. Is not that the point about which you came to
consult me? You wished that I should prepare him for the awful disclosure, did
you not? You know, perhaps, that he does not like to part with his money, and
thought the appearance of this note might agitate him? It has been a long time
coming to its address, but nothing can be done, don&rsquo;t you see? and be
sure Sir Barnes Newcome will not be the least agitated when I tell him its
contents.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I mean I am very glad you think my brother is not called upon to obey
Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s wishes, because I need not think so hardly of him as I was
disposed to do,&rdquo; Miss Newcome said. &ldquo;I showed him the paper this
morning, and he repelled it with scorn; and not kind words passed between us,
Mr. Luce, and unkind thoughts remained in my mind. But if he, you think, is
justified, it is I who have been in the wrong for saying that he was
self&mdash;for upbraiding him as I own I did.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You called him selfish!&mdash;You had words with him! Such things have
happened before, my dear Miss Newcome, in the best-regulated families.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;But if he is not wrong, sir, holding his opinions, surely I should be
wrong, sir, with mine, not to do as my conscience tells me; and having found
this paper only yesterday at Newcome, in the library there, in one of my
grandmother&rsquo;s books, I consulted with this gentleman, the husband of my
dearest friend, Mrs. Pendennis&mdash;the most intimate friend of my uncle and
cousin Clive; and I wish, and I desire and insist, that my share of what my
poor father left us girls should be given to my cousin, Mr. Clive Newcome, in
accordance with my grandmother&rsquo;s dying wishes.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear, you gave away your portion to your brothers and sisters ever so
long ago!&rdquo; cried the lawyer.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I desire, sir, that six thousand pounds may be given to my
cousin,&rdquo; Miss Newcome said, blushing deeply. &ldquo;My dear uncle, the
best man in the world, whom I love with all my heart, sir, is in the most
dreadful poverty. Do you know where he is, sir? My dear, kind, generous
uncle!&rdquo;&mdash;and, kindling as she spoke, and with eyes beaming a bright
kindness, and flushing cheeks, and a voice that thrilled to the heart of those
two who heard her, Miss Newcome went on to tell of her uncle&rsquo;s and
cousin&rsquo;s misfortunes, and of her wish, under God, to relieve them. I see
before me now the figure of the noble girl as she speaks; the pleased little
old lawyer, bobbing his white head, looking up at her with his twinkling
eyes&mdash;patting his knees, patting his snuff-box&mdash;as he sits before his
tapes and his deeds, surrounded by a great background of tin boxes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I understand you want this money paid as coming from the family, and
not from Miss Newcome?&rdquo; says Mr. Luce.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Coming from the family&mdash;exactly,&rdquo; answers Miss Newcome.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Luce rose up from his old chair&mdash;his worn-out old horsehair
chair&mdash;where he had sat for half a century and listened to many a speaker,
very different from this one. &ldquo;Mr. Pendennis,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I
envy you your journey along with this young lady. I envy you the good news you
are going to carry to your friends&mdash;and, Miss Newcome, as I am an
old&mdash;old gentleman who have known your family these sixty years, and saw
your father in his long-clothes, may I tell you how heartily and sincerely
I&mdash;I love and respect you, my dear? When should you wish Mr. Clive Newcome
to have his legacy?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I think I should like Mr. Pendennis to have it this instant, Mr. Luce,
please,&rdquo; said the young lady&mdash;and her veil dropped over her face as
she bent her head down, and clasped her hands together for a moment, as if she
was praying.
</p>

<p>
Mr. Luce laughed at her impetuosity; but said that if she was bent upon having
the money, it was at her instant service; and before we left the room, Mr. Luce
prepared a letter, addressed to Clive Newcome, Esquire, in which he stated,
that amongst the books of the late Mrs. Newcome a paper had only just been
found, of which a copy was enclosed, and that the family of the late Sir Brian
Newcome, desirous to do honour to the wishes of the late Mrs. Newcome, had
placed the sum of 6000 pounds at the bank of Messrs. H. W&mdash;&mdash;, at the
disposal of Mr. Clive Newcome, of whom Mr. Luce had the honour to sign himself
the most obedient servant, etc. And, the letter approved and copied, Mr. Luce
said Mr. Pendennis might be the postman thereof; if Miss Newcome so willed it;
and, with this document in my pocket, I quitted the lawyer&rsquo;s chambers,
with my good and beautiful young companion.
</p>

<p>
Our cab had been waiting several hours in Lincoln&rsquo;s Inn Fields, and I
asked Miss Ethel whither I now should conduct her?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Where is Grey Friars?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Mayn&rsquo;t I go to see
my uncle?&rdquo;
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0079" id="link2HCH0079"></a>
CHAPTER LXXIX.<br/>
In which Old Friends come together</h2>

<p>
We made the descent of Snowhill, we passed by the miry pens of Smithfield; we
travel through the street of St. John, and presently reach the ancient gateway,
in Cistercian Square, where lies the old Hospital of Grey Friars. I passed
through the gate, my fair young companion on my arm, and made my way to the
rooms occupied by brother Newcome.
</p>

<p>
As we traversed the court the Poor Brothers were coming from dinner. A couple
of score, or more, of old gentlemen in black gowns, issued from the door of
their refectory, and separated over the court, betaking themselves to their
chambers. Ethel&rsquo;s arm trembled under mine as she looked at one and
another, expecting to behold her dear uncle&rsquo;s familiar features. But he
was not among the brethren. We went to his chamber, of which the door was open:
a female attendant was arranging the room; she told us Colonel Newcome was out
for the day, and thus our journey had been made in vain.
</p>

<p>
Ethel went round the apartment and surveyed its simple decorations; she looked
at the pictures of Clive and his boy; the two sabres crossed over the
mantelpiece, the Bible laid on the table, by the old latticed window. She
walked slowly up to the humble bed, and sat down on a chair near it. No doubt
her heart prayed for him who slept there; she turned round where his black
pensioner&rsquo;s cloak was hanging on the wall, and lifted up the homely
garment, and kissed it. The servant looked on admiring, I should think, her
melancholy and her gracious beauty. I whispered to the woman that the young
lady was the Colonel&rsquo;s niece. &ldquo;He has a son who comes here, and is
very handsome, too,&rdquo; said the attendant.
</p>

<p>
The two women spoke together for a while. &ldquo;Oh, miss!&rdquo; cried the
elder and humbler, evidently astonished at some gratuity which Miss Newcome
bestowed upon her, &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want this to be good to him. Everybody
here loves him for himself; and I would sit up for him for weeks&mdash;that I
would.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
My companion took a pencil from her bag, and wrote &ldquo;Ethel&rdquo; on a
piece of paper, and laid the paper on the Bible. Darkness had again fallen by
this time, feeble lights were twinkling in the chamber windows of the Poor
Brethren as we issued into the courts;&mdash;feeble lights illumining a dim,
grey, melancholy old scene. Many a career, once bright, was flickering out here
in the darkness; many a night was closing in. We went away silently from that
quiet place; and in another minute were in the flare and din and tumult of
London.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Colonel is most likely gone to Clive&rsquo;s,&rdquo; I said. Would
not Miss Newcome follow him thither? We consulted whether she should go. She
took heart and said yes. &ldquo;Drive, cabman, to Howland Street!&rdquo; The
horse was, no doubt, tired, for the journey seemed extraordinarily long; I
think neither of us spoke a word on the way.
</p>

<p>
I ran upstairs to prepare our friends for the visit. Clive, his wife, his
father, and his mother-in-law were seated by a dim light in Mrs. Clive&rsquo;s
sitting-room. Rosey on the sofa, as usual; the little boy on his
grandfather&rsquo;s knees.
</p>

<p>
I hardly made a bow to the ladies, so eager was I to communicate with Colonel
Newcome. &ldquo;I have just been to your quarters at Grey Friars, sir,&rdquo;
said I. &ldquo;That is&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You have been to the Hospital, sir! You need not be ashamed to mention
it, as Colonel Newcome is not ashamed <i>to go there</i>,&rdquo; cried out the
Campaigner. &ldquo;Pray speak in your own language, Clive, unless there is
something <i>not fit</i> for ladies to hear.&rdquo; Clive was growling out to
me in German that there had just been a terrible scene, his father having, a
quarter of an hour previously, let slip the secret about Grey Friars.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Say at once, Clive!&rdquo; the Campaigner cried, rising in her might,
and extending a great strong arm over her helpless child, &ldquo;that Colonel
Newcome owns that he has gone to live as a pauper in a hospital! He who has
squandered his own money. He who has squandered my money. He who has squandered
the money of that darling helpless child&mdash;compose yourself, Rosey my
love!&mdash;has completed the disgrace of the family, by his present mean and
unworthy&mdash;yes, I say, mean and <i>unworthy</i> and <i>degraded</i>
conduct. Oh, my child, my blessed child! to think that your husband&rsquo;s
father should have come to a <i>workhouse!</i>&rdquo; Whilst this maternal
agony bursts over her, Rosa, on the sofa, bleats and whimpers amongst the faded
chintz cushions.
</p>

<p>
I took Clive&rsquo;s hand, which was cast up to his head striking his forehead
with mad impotent rage, whilst this fiend of a woman lashed his good father.
The veins of his great fist were swollen, his whole body was throbbing and
trembling with the helpless pain under which he writhed. &ldquo;Colonel
Newcome&rsquo;s friends, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo;, I said, &ldquo;think very
differently from you; and that he is a better judge than you, or any one else,
of his own honour. We all, who loved him in his prosperity, love and respect
him more than ever for the manner in which he bears his misfortune. Do you
suppose that his noble friend, the Earl of H&mdash;&mdash;, would have
counselled him to a step unworthy of a gentleman; that the Prince de Moncontour
would applaud his conduct as he does, if he did not think it admirable?&rdquo;
I can hardly say with what scorn I used this argument, or what depth of
contempt I felt for the woman whom I knew it would influence. &ldquo;And at
this minute,&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;I have come from visiting the Gray Friars
with one of the Colonel&rsquo;s relatives, whose love and respect for him is
boundless; who longs to be reconciled to him, and who is waiting below, eager
to shake his hand, and embrace Clive&rsquo;s wife.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Who is that?&rdquo; says the Colonel, looking gently up, as he pats
Boy&rsquo;s head.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Who is it, Pen?&rdquo; says Clive. I said in a low voice,
&ldquo;Ethel;&rdquo; and starting up and crying &ldquo;Ethel! Ethel!&rdquo; he
ran from the room.
</p>

<p>
Little Mrs. Rosa started up too on her sofa, clutching hold of the table-cover
with her lean hand, and the two red spots on her cheeks burning more fiercely
than ever. I could see what passion was beating in that poor little heart.
&ldquo;Heaven help us! what a resting-place had friends and parents prepared
for it! for shame!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Miss Newcome, is it? My darling Rosa, get on your shawl!&rdquo; cried
the Campaigner, a grim smile lighting her face.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is Ethel; Ethel is my niece. I used to love her when she was quite a
little girl,&rdquo; says the Colonel, patting Boy on the head; &ldquo;and she
is a very good, beautiful little child&mdash;a very good child.&rdquo; The
torture had been too much for that kind old heart: there were times when Thomas
Newcome passed beyond it. What still maddened Clive, excited his father no
more; the pain yonder woman inflicted, only felled and stupefied him.
</p>

<p>
As the door opened, the little white-headed child trotted forward towards the
visitor, and Ethel entered on Clive&rsquo;s arm, who was as haggard and pale as
death. Little Boy, looking up at the stately lady, still followed beside her,
as she approached her uncle, who remained sitting, his head bent to the ground.
His thoughts were elsewhere. Indeed he was following the child, and about to
caress it again.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Here is a friend, father!&rdquo; says Clive, laying a hand on the old
man&rsquo;s shoulder. &ldquo;It is I, Ethel, uncle!&rdquo; the young lady said,
taking his hand; and kneeling down between his knees, she flung her arms round
him, and kissed him, and wept on his shoulder.
</p>

<p>
His consciousness had quite returned ere an instant was over. He embraced her
with the warmth of his old affection, uttering many brief words of love,
kindness, and tenderness, such as men speak when strongly moved.
</p>

<p>
The little boy had come wondering up to the chair whilst this embrace took
place, and Clive&rsquo;s tall figure bent over the three. Rosa&rsquo;s eyes
were not good to look at, as she stared at the group with a ghastly smile. Mrs.
Mackenzie surveyed the scene in haughty state, from behind the sofa cushions.
She tried to take one of Rosa&rsquo;s lean hot hands. The poor child tore it
away, leaving her rings behind her; lifted her hands to her face: and cried,
cried as if her little heart would break. Ah me! what a story was there! what
an outburst of pent-up feeling! what a passion of pain! The ring had fallen to
the ground; the little boy crept towards it, and picked it up, and came towards
his mother, fixing on her his large wondering eyes. &ldquo;Mamma crying.
Mamma&rsquo;s ring!&rdquo; he said, holding up the circle of gold. With more
feeling than I had ever seen her exhibit, she clasped the boy in her wasted
arms. Great Heaven! what passion, jealousy, grief, despair, were tearing and
trying all these hearts, that but for fate might have been happy?
</p>

<p>
Clive went round, and with the utmost sweetness and tenderness hanging round
his child and wife, soothed her with words of consolation, that in truth I
scarce heard, being ashamed almost of being present at this sudden scene. No
one, however, took notice of the witnesses; and even Mrs. Mackenzie&rsquo;s
voice was silent for the moment. I dare say Clive&rsquo;s words were
incoherent; but women have more presence of mind; and now Ethel, with a noble
grace which I cannot attempt to describe, going up to Rosa, seated herself by
her, spoke of her long grief at the differences between her dearest uncle and
herself; of her early days, when he had been as a father to her; of her wish,
her hope that Rosa should love her as a sister; and of her belief that better
days and happiness were in store for them all. And she spoke to the mother
about her boy so beautiful and intelligent, and told her how she had brought up
her brother&rsquo;s children, and hoped that this one too would call her Aunt
Ethel. She would not stay now, might she come again? Would Rosa come to her
with her little boy? Would he kiss her? He did so with a very good grace; but
when Ethel at parting embraced the child&rsquo;s mother, Rosa&rsquo;s face wore
a smile ghastly to look at, and the lips that touched Ethel&rsquo;s cheeks,
were quite white.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I shall come and see you again to-morrow, uncle, may I not? I saw your
room to-day, sir, and your housekeeper; such a nice old lady, and your black
gown. And you shall put it on to-morrow, and walk with me, and show me the
beautiful old buildings of that old hospital. And I shall come and make tea for
you, the housekeeper says I may. Will you come down with me to my carriage? No,
Mr. Pendennis must come;&rdquo; and she quitted the room, beckoning me after
her. &ldquo;You will speak to Clive now, won&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; she said,
&ldquo;and come to me this evening, and tell me all before you go to
bed?&rdquo; I went back, anxious in truth to the messenger of good tidings to
my dear old friends.
</p>

<p>
Brief as my absence had been, Mrs. Mackenzie had taken advantage of that moment
again to outrage Clive and his father, and to announce that Rosa might go to
see this Miss Newcome, whom people respected because she was rich, but whom
<i>she</i> would never visit; no, never! &ldquo;An insolent, proud, impertinent
thing! Does she take me for a housemaid?&rdquo; Mrs. Mackenzie had inquired.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Am I dust to be trampled beneath her feet? Am I a dog that she
can&rsquo;t throw me a word?&rdquo; Her arms were stretched out, and she was
making this inquiry as to her own canine qualities as I re-entered the room,
and remembered that Ethel had never once addressed a single word to Mrs.
Mackenzie in the course of her visit.
</p>

<p>
I affected not to perceive the incident, and presently said that I wanted to
speak to Clive in his studio. Knowing that I had brought my friend one or two
commissions for drawings, Mrs. Mackenzie was civil to me, and did not object to
our colloquies.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Will you come too, and smoke a pipe, father?&rdquo; says Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;<i>Of course</i> your father intends to stay to <i>dinner?</i>&rdquo;
says the Campaigner, with a scornful toss of her head. Clive groaned out as we
were on the stair, &ldquo;that he could not bear this much longer, by heavens
he could not.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Give the Colonel his pipe, Clive,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Now, sir, down
with you in the sitter&rsquo;s chair, and smoke the sweetest cheroot you ever
smoked in your life! My dear, dear old Clive! you need not bear with the
Campaigner any longer; you may go to bed without this nightmare to-night if you
like; you may have your father back under your roof again.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;My dear Arthur! I must be back at ten, sir, back at ten, military time;
drum beats; no&mdash;bell tolls at ten, and gates close;&rdquo; and he laughed
and shook his old head. &ldquo;Besides, I am to see a young lady, sir; and she
is coming to make tea for me, and I must speak to Mrs. Jones to have all things
ready&mdash;all things ready;&rdquo; and again the old man laughed as he spoke.
</p>

<p>
His son looked at him and then at me with eyes full of sad meaning. &ldquo;How
do you mean, Arthur,&rdquo; Clive said, &ldquo;that he can come and stay with
me, and that that woman can go?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Then feeling in my pocket for Mr. Luce&rsquo;s letter, I grasped my dear Clive
by the hand and bade him prepare for good news. I told him how providentially,
two days since, Ethel, in the library at Newcome, looking into Orme&rsquo;s
History of India, a book which old Mrs. Newcome had been reading on the night
of her death, had discovered a paper, of which the accompanying letter enclosed
a copy, and I gave my friend the letter.
</p>

<p>
He opened it, and read it through. I cannot say that I saw any particular
expression of wonder in his countenance, for somehow, all the while Clive
perused this document, I was looking at the Colonel&rsquo;s sweet kind face.
&ldquo;It&mdash;it is Ethel&rsquo;s doing,&rdquo; said Clive, in a hurried
voice. &ldquo;There was no such letter.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Upon my honour,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;there was. We came up to
London with it last night, a few hours after she had found it. We showed it to
Sir Barnes Newcome, who&mdash;who could not disown it. We took it to Mr. Luce,
who recognised it at once, who was old Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s man of business,
and continues to be the family lawyer, and the family recognises the legacy and
has paid it, and you may draw for it to-morrow, as you see. What a piece of
good luck it is that it did not come before the B. B. C. time! That confounded
Bundelcund Bank would have swallowed up this like all the rest.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Father! father! do you remember Orme&rsquo;s History of India?&rdquo;
cries Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Orme&rsquo;s History! of course I do, I could repeat whole pages of it
when I was a boy,&rdquo; says the old man, and began forthwith.
&ldquo;&lsquo;The two battalions advanced against each other cannonading, until
the French, coming to a hollow way, imagined that the English would not venture
to pass it. But Major Lawrence ordered the sepoys and artillery&mdash;the
sepoys and artillery to halt and defend the convoy against the
Morattoes&rsquo;&mdash;Morattoes Orme calls &rsquo;em. Ho! ho! I could repeat
whole pages, sir.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It is the best book that ever was written,&rdquo; calls out Clive. The
Colonel said he had not read it, but he was informed Mr. Mill&rsquo;s was a
very learned history; he intended to read it. &ldquo;Eh! there is plenty of
time now,&rdquo; said the good Colonel. &ldquo;I have all day long at Grey
Friars,&mdash;after chapel, you know. Do you know, sir, when I was a boy I used
what they call to tib out and run down to a public-house in Cistercian
Lane&mdash;the Red Cowl sir,&mdash;and buy rum there? I was a terrible wild
boy, Clivy. You weren&rsquo;t so, sir, thank Heaven! A terrible wild boy, and
my poor father flogged me, though I think it was very hard on me. It
wasn&rsquo;t the pain, you know: it wasn&rsquo;t the pain,
but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; Here tears came into his eyes and he dropped his head
on his hand, and the cigar from it fell on to the floor, burnt almost out, and
scattering white ashes.
</p>

<p>
Clive looked sadly at me. &ldquo;He was often so at Boulogne, Arthur,&rdquo; he
whispered; &ldquo;after a scene with that&mdash;that woman yonder, his head
would go: he never replied to her taunts; he bore her infernal cruelty without
an unkind word&mdash;Oh! I pay her back, thank God I can pay her! But who shall
pay her,&rdquo; he said, trembling in every limb, &ldquo;for what she has made
that good man suffer?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
He turned to his father, who still sate lost in his meditations. &ldquo;You
need never go back to Grey Friars, father!&rdquo; he cried out.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not go back, Clivy? Must go back, boy, to say Adsum, when my name is
called. Newcome! Adsum! Hey! that is what we used to say&mdash;we used to
say!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You need not go back, except to pack your things, and return and live
with me and Boy,&rdquo; Clive continued, and he told Colonel Newcome rapidly
the story of the legacy. The old man seemed hardly to comprehend it. When he
did, the news scarcely elated him; when Clive said &ldquo;they could now pay
Mrs. Mackenzie,&rdquo; the Colonel replied, &ldquo;Quite right, quite
right,&rdquo; and added up the sum, principal and interest, in which they were
indebted to her&mdash;he knew it well enough, the good old man. &ldquo;Of
course we shall pay her, Clivy, when we can!&rdquo; But in spite of what Clive
had said he did not appear to understand the fact that the debt to Mrs.
Mackenzie was now actually to be paid.
</p>

<p>
As we were talking, a knock came to the studio door, and that summons was
followed by the entrance of the maid, who said to Clive, &ldquo;If you please,
sir, Mrs. Mackenzie says, how long are you a-going to keep the dinner
waiting?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Come, father, come to dinner!&rdquo; cries Clive; &ldquo;and, Pen, you
will come too, won&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; he added; &ldquo;it may be the last time
you dine in such pleasant company. Come along,&rdquo; he whispered hurriedly.
&ldquo;I should like you to be there, it will keep her tongue quiet.&rdquo; As
we proceeded to the dining-room, I gave the Colonel my arm; and the good man
prattled to me something about Mrs. Mackenzie having taken shares in the
Bundelcund Banking Company, and about her not being a woman of business, and
fancying we had spent her money. &ldquo;And I have always felt a wish that
Clivy should pay her, and he will pay her, I know he will,&rdquo; says the
Colonel; &ldquo;and then we shall lead a quiet life, Arthur; for, between
ourselves, some women are the deuce when they are angry, sir.&rdquo; And again
he laughed, as he told me this sly news, and he bowed meekly his gentle old
head as we entered the dining-room.
</p>

<p>
That apartment was occupied by little Boy already seated in his high chair, and
by the Campaigner only, who stood at the mantelpiece in a majestic attitude. On
parting with her, before we adjourned to Clive&rsquo;s studio, I had made my
bow and taken my leave in form, not supposing that I was about to enjoy her
hospitality yet once again. My return did not seem to please her. &ldquo;Does
Mr. Pendennis favour us with his company to dinner again, Clive?&rdquo; she
said, turning to her son-in-law. Clive curtly said, Yes, he had asked Mr.
Pendennis to stay.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;You might at least have been <i>so kind</i> as to give me notice,&rdquo;
says the Campaigner, still majestic, but ironical. &ldquo;You will have but a
poor meal, Mr. Pendennis; and one such as I&rsquo;m not accustomed to give my
guests.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Cold beef! what the deuce does it matter;&rdquo; says Clive, beginning
to carve the joint, which, hot, had served our yesterday&rsquo;s Christmas
table.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;It does matter, sir! I am not accustomed to treat my guests in this way
Maria! who had been cutting that beef? Three pounds of that beef have been cut
away since one o&rsquo;clock to-day,&rdquo; and with flashing eyes, and a
finger twinkling all over with rings, she pointed towards the guilty joint.
</p>

<p>
Whether Maria had been dispensing secret charities, or kept company with an
occult policeman partial to roast-beef, I do not know; but she looked very much
alarmed, and said, Indeed, and indeed, mum, she had not touched a morsel of
it!&mdash;not she.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Confound the beef!&rdquo; says Clive, carving on.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;She <i>has</i> been cutting it!&rdquo; cries the Campaigner, bringing
her fist down with a thump upon the table. &ldquo;Mr. Pendennis! you saw the
beef yesterday; eighteen pounds it weighed, and this is what comes up of it! As
if there was not already ruin enough in the house!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;D&mdash;n the beef!&rdquo; cries out Clive.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;No! no! Thank God for our good dinner! Benedicti benedicamus, Clivy my
boy,&rdquo; says the Colonel, in a tremulous voice.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Swear on, sir! let the child hear your oaths! Let my blessed child, who
is too ill to sit at table and picks her bite! sweetbread on her
sofa,&mdash;which her poor mother prepares for her, Mr. Pendennis,&mdash;which
I cooked it, and gave it to her with <i>these hands</i>,&mdash;let <i>her</i>
hear your curses and blasphemies, Clive Newcome! They are loud enough.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do let us have a quiet life,&rdquo; groans out Clive; and for me, I must
confess, I kept my eyes steadily down upon my plate, nor dared to lift them
until my portion of cold beef had vanished.
</p>

<p>
No further outbreak took place until the appearance of the second course, which
consisted, as the ingenious reader may suppose, of the plum-pudding, now in a
grilled state, and the remanent of mince-pies from yesterday&rsquo;s meal.
Maria, I thought, looked particularly guilty as these delicacies were placed on
the table: she set them down hastily, and was for operating an instant retreat.
</p>

<p>
But the Campaigner shrieked after her, &ldquo;Who has eaten that pudding? I
insist upon knowing who has eaten it. I saw it at two o&rsquo;clock when I went
down to the kitchen and fried a bit for my darling child, and there&rsquo;s
pounds of it gone since then! There were five mince-pies! Mr. Pendennis! you
saw yourself there were five that went away from table
yesterday&mdash;where&rsquo;s the other two Maria? You leave the house this
night, you thieving, wicked wretch&mdash;and I&rsquo;ll thank you to come back
to me afterwards for a character. Thirteen servants have we had in nine months,
Mr. Pendennis, and this girl is the worst of them all, and the greatest liar
and the greatest thief.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
At this charge the outraged Maria stood up in arms, and as the phrase is, gave
the Campaigner as good as she got. Go! wouldn&rsquo;t she go? Pay her her
wages, and let her go out of that ell upon hearth, was Maria&rsquo;s prayer.
&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t you, sir,&rdquo; she said, turning to Clive.
&ldquo;<i>You</i> are good enough, and works hard enough to git the guineas
which you give out to pay that doctor; and she don&rsquo;t pay him&mdash;and I
see five of them in her purse wrapped up in paper, myself I did, and she abuses
you to him&mdash;and I heard her, and Jane Black, who was here before, told me
she heard her. Go! won&rsquo;t I just go, I dispises your puddens and
pies!&rdquo; and with a laugh of scorn this rude Maria snapped her black
fingers in the immediate vicinity of the Campaigner&rsquo;s nose.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I will pay her her wages, and she shall go this instant!&rdquo; says
Mrs. Mackenzie, taking her purse out.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Pay me with them suvverings that you have got in it, wrapped up in
paper. See if she haven&rsquo;t, Mr. Newcome,&rdquo; the refractory
waiting-woman cried out, and again she laughed a strident laugh.
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Mackenzie briskly shut her portemonnaie, and rose up from table, quivering
with indignant virtue. &ldquo;Go!&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;go and pack your
trunks this instant! you quit the house this night, and a policeman shall see
to your boxes before you leave it!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Whilst uttering this sentence against the guilty Maria, the Campaigner had
intended, no doubt, to replace her purse in her pocket,&mdash;a handsome
filagree gimcrack of poor Ross&rsquo;s, one of the relics of former
splendours,&mdash;but, agitated by Maria&rsquo;s insolence, the trembling hand
missed the mark, and the purse fell to the ground.
</p>

<p>
Maria dashed at the purse in a moment, with a scream of laughter shook its
contents upon the table, and sure enough, five little packets wrapped in paper
rolled out upon the cloth, besides bank-notes and silver and golden coin.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m to go, am I? I&rsquo;m a thief, am I?&rdquo; screamed the
girl, clapping her hands. &ldquo;<i>I</i> sor &rsquo;em yesterday when I was
a-lacing of her; and thought of that pore young man working night and day to
get the money;&mdash;me a thief, indeed!&mdash;I despise you, and <i>I</i> give
you warning.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Do you wish to see me any longer insulted by this woman, Clive? Mr.
Pendennis, I am shocked that you should witness such horrible vulgarity,&rdquo;
cries the Campaigner, turning to her guest. &ldquo;Does the wretched creature
suppose that I, I who have given <i>thousands</i>, I who have denied myself
<i>everything</i>, I who have spent my <i>all</i> in support of this house; and
Colonel Newcome <i>knows</i> whether I have given thousands or not, and
<i>who</i> has spent them, and <i>who</i> has been robbed, I say,
and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Here! you! Maria! go about your business,&rdquo; shouted out Clive
Newcome, starting up; &ldquo;go and pack your trunks if you like, and pack this
woman&rsquo;s trunks too. Mrs. Mackenzie, I can bear you no more; go in peace,
and if you wish to see your daughter she shall come to you; but I will never,
so help me God! sleep under the same roof with you; or break the same crust
with you; or bear your infernal cruelty; or sit to hear my father insulted; or
listen to your wicked pride and folly more. There has not been a day since you
thrust your cursed foot into our wretched house, but you have tortured one and
all of us. Look here, at the best gentleman, and the kindest heart in all the
world, you fiend! and see to what a condition you have brought him! Dearest
father! she is going, do you hear? She leaves us, and you will come back to me,
won&rsquo;t you? Great God, woman,&rdquo; he gasped out, &ldquo;do you know
what you have made me suffer&mdash;what you have done to this good man? Pardon,
father, pardon!&rdquo;&mdash;and he sank down by his father&rsquo;s side,
sobbing with passionate emotion. The old man even now did not seem to
comprehend the scene. When he heard that woman&rsquo;s voice in anger, a sort
of stupor came over him.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am a <i>fiend</i>, am I?&rdquo; cries the lady. &ldquo;You hear, Mr.
Pendennis, this is the language to which I am accustomed; I am a widow, and I
trusted my child and my all to that old man; he robbed me and my darling of
almost every farthing we had; and what has been my return for such baseness? I
have lived in this house and toiled like a <i>slave;</i> I have acted as
servant to my blessed child; night after night I have sat with her; and month
after month, when <i>her husband</i> has been away, I have nursed that poor
innocent; and the father having robbed me, the son turns me out of
doors!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
A sad thing it was to witness, and a painful proof how frequent were these
battles, that, as this one raged, the poor little boy sat almost careless,
whilst his bewildered grandfather stroked his golden head. &ldquo;It is quite
clear to me, madam,&rdquo; I said, turning to Mrs. Mackenzie, &ldquo;that you
and your son-in-law are better apart; and I came to tell him to-day of a most
fortunate legacy, which has been left to him, and which will enable him to pay
you to-morrow morning every shilling, every shilling which he does NOT owe
you?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I will not leave this house until I am paid every shilling of which I
have been robbed,&rdquo; hissed out Mrs. Mackenzie; and she sat down, folding
her arms across her chest.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; groaned out Clive, wiping the sweat off his brow,
&ldquo;I used a harsh word; I will never sleep under the same roof with you.
To-morrow I will pay you what you claim; and the best chance I have of
forgiving you the evil which you have done me, is that we never should meet
again. Will you give me a bed at your house, Arthur? Father, will you come out
and walk? Good night, Mrs. Mackenzie; Pendennis will settle with you in the
morning. You will not be here, if you please, when I return; and so God forgive
you, and farewell.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Mrs. Mackenzie in a tragic manner dashed aside the hand which poor Clive held
out to her, and disappeared from the scene of this dismal dinner. Boy presently
fell a-crying; in spite of all the battle and fury, there was sleep in his
eyes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Maria is too busy, I suppose, to put him to bed,&rdquo; said Clive, with
a sad smile; &ldquo;shall we do it, father? Come, Tommy, my son!&rdquo; and he
folded his arms round the child, and walked with him to the upper regions. The
old man&rsquo;s eyes lighted up; his seared thoughts returned to him; he
followed his two children up the stairs, and saw his grandson in his little
bed; and, as we walked home with him, he told me how sweetly Boy said
&ldquo;Our Father,&rdquo; and prayed God bless all those who loved him, as they
laid him to rest.
</p>

<p>
So these three generations had joined in that supplication: the strong man,
humbled by trial and grief, whose loyal heart was yet full of love;&mdash;the
child, of the sweet age of those little ones whom the Blessed Speaker of the
prayer first bade to come unto Him;&mdash;and the old man, whose heart was
well-nigh as tender and as innocent; and whose day was approaching, when he
should be drawn to the bosom of the Eternal Pity.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2><a name="link2HCH0080" id="link2HCH0080"></a>
CHAPTER LXXX.<br/>
In which the Colonel says &ldquo;Adsum&rdquo; when his Name is called</h2>

<p>
The vow which Clive had uttered, never to share bread with his mother-in-law,
or sleep under the same roof with her, was broken on the very next day. A
stronger will than the young man&rsquo;s intervened, and he had to confess the
impotence of his wrath before that superior power. In the forenoon of the day
following that unlucky dinner, I went with my friend to the banking-house
whither Mr. Luce&rsquo;s letter directed us, and carried away with me the
principal sum, in which the Campaigner said Colonel Newcome was indebted to
her, with the interest accurately computed and reimbursed. Clive went off with
a pocketful of money to the dear old Poor Brother of Grey Friars; and he
promised to return with his father, and dine with my wife in Queen Square. I
had received a letter from Laura by the morning&rsquo;s post, announcing her
return by the express train from Newcome, and desiring that a spare bedroom
should be got ready for a friend who accompanied her.
</p>

<p>
On reaching Howland Street, Clive&rsquo;s door was opened, rather to my
surprise, by the rebellious maid-servant who had received her dismissal on the
previous night; and the doctor&rsquo;s carriage drove up as she was still
speaking to me. The polite practitioner sped upstairs to Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s
apartment. Mrs. Mackenzie, in a robe-de-chambre and cap very different from
yesterday&rsquo;s, came out eagerly to meet the physician on the landing. Ere
they had been a quarter of an hour together, arrived a cab, which discharged an
elderly person with her bandbox and bundles; I had no difficulty in recognising
a professional nurse in the new-comer. She too disappeared into the sick-room,
and left me sitting in the neighbouring chamber, the scene of the last
night&rsquo;s quarrel.
</p>

<p>
Hither presently came to me Maria, the maid. She said she had not the heart to
go away now she was wanted; that they had passed a sad night, and that no one
had been to bed. Master Tommy was below, and the landlady taking care of him:
the landlord had gone out for the nurse. Mrs. Clive had been taken bad after
Mr. Clive went away the night before. Mrs. Mackenzie had gone to the poor young
thing, and there she went on, crying, and screaming, and stamping, as she used
to do in her tantrums, which was most cruel of her, and made Mrs. Clive so ill.
And presently the young lady began: my informant told me. She came screaming
into the sitting-room, her hair over her shoulders, calling out she was
deserted, deserted, and would like to die. She was like a mad woman for some
time. She had fit after fit of hysterics: and there was her mother, kneeling,
and crying, and calling out to her darling child to calm herself;&mdash;which
it was all her own doing, and she had much better have held her own tongue,
remarked the resolute Maria. I understood only too well from the girl&rsquo;s
account what had happened, and that Clive, if resolved to part with his
mother-in-law, should not have left her, even for twelve hours, in possession
of his house. The wretched woman, whose Self was always predominant, and who,
though she loved her daughter after her own fashion, never forgot her own
vanity or passion, had improved the occasion of Clive&rsquo;s absence: worked
upon her child&rsquo;s weakness, jealousy, ill-health, and driven her, no
doubt, into the fever which yonder physician was called to quell.
</p>

<p>
The doctor presently enters to write a prescription, followed by Clive&rsquo;s
mother-in-law, who had cast Rosa&rsquo;s fine Cashmere shawl over her
shoulders, to hide her disarray. &ldquo;You here still, Mr. Pendennis!&rdquo;
she exclaims. She knew I was there. Had not she changed her dress in order to
receive me?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I have to speak to you for two minutes on important business, and then I
shall go,&rdquo; I replied gravely.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Oh, sir! to what a scene you have come! To what a state has
Clive&rsquo;s conduct last night driven my darling child!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
As the odious woman spoke so, the doctor&rsquo;s keen eyes, looking up from the
prescription, caught mine. &ldquo;I declare before Heaven, madam,&rdquo; I said
hotly, &ldquo;I believe you yourself are the cause of your daughter&rsquo;s
present illness, as you have been of the misery of my friends.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Is this, sir,&rdquo; she was breaking out, &ldquo;is this language to be
used to&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Madam, will you be silent?&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I am come to bid you
farewell on the part of those whom your temper has driven into infernal
torture. I am come to pay you every halfpenny of the sum which my friends do
not owe you, but which they restore. Here is the account, and here is the money
to settle it. And I take this gentleman to witness, to whom, no doubt, you have
imparted what you call your wrongs&rdquo; (the doctor smiled, and shrugged his
shoulders) &ldquo;that now you are paid.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;A widow&mdash;a poor, lonely, insulted widow!&rdquo; cries the
Campaigner, with trembling hands taking possession of the notes.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;And I wish to know,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;when my friend&rsquo;s
house will be free to him, and he can return in peace.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Here Rosa&rsquo;s voice was heard from the inner apartment, screaming,
&ldquo;Mamma, mamma!&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;I go to my child, sir,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;If Captain Mackenzie had
been alive, you would not have <i>dared</i> to insult me so.&rdquo; And
carrying off her money, she left us.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Cannot she be got out of the house?&rdquo; I said to the doctor.
&ldquo;My friend will never return until she leaves it. It is my belief she is
the cause of her daughter&rsquo;s present illness.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Not altogether, my dear sir. Mrs. Newcome was in a very, very delicate
state of health. Her mother is a lady of impetuous temper, who expresses
herself very strongly&mdash;too strongly, I own. In consequence of unpleasant
family discussions, which no physician can prevent, Mrs. Newcome has been
wrought up to a state of&mdash;of agitation. Her fever is, in fact, at present
very high. You know her condition. I am apprehensive of ulterior consequences.
I have recommended an excellent and experienced nurse to her. Mr. Smith, the
medical man at the corner, is a most able practitioner. I shall myself call
again in a few hours, and I trust that, after the event which I apprehend,
everything will go well.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Cannot Mrs. Mackenzie leave the house, sir?&rdquo; I asked.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;Her daughter cries out for her at every moment. Mrs. Mackenzie is
certainly not a judicious nurse, but in Mrs. Newcome&rsquo;s present state I
cannot take upon myself to separate them. Mr. Newcome may return, and I do
think and believe that his presence may tend to impose silence and restore
tranquillity.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
I had to go back to Clive with these gloomy tidings. The poor fellow must put
up a bed in his studio, and there await the issue of his wife&rsquo;s illness.
I saw Thomas Newcome could not sleep under his son&rsquo;s roof that night.
That dear meeting, which both so desired, was delayed, who could say for how
long?
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;The Colonel may come to us,&rdquo; I thought; &ldquo;our old house is
big enough.&rdquo; I guessed who was the friend coming in my wife&rsquo;s
company; and pleased myself by thinking that two friends so dear should meet in
our home. Bent upon these plans, I repaired to Grey Friars, and to Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s chamber there.
</p>

<p>
Bayham opened the door when I knocked, and came towards me with a finger on his
lip, and a sad, sad countenance. He closed the door gently behind him, and led
me into the court. &ldquo;Clive is with him, and Miss Newcome. He is very ill.
He does not know them,&rdquo; said Bayham with a sob. &ldquo;He calls out for
both of them: they are sitting there and he does not know them.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
In a brief narrative, broken by more honest tears, Fred Bayham, as we paced up
and down the court, told me what had happened. The old man must have passed a
sleepless night, for on going to his chamber in the morning, his attendant
found him dressed in his chair, and his bed undisturbed. He must have sat all
through the bitter night without a fire: but his hands were burning hot, and he
rambled in his talk. He spoke of some one coming to drink tea with him, pointed
to the fire, and asked why it was not made; he would not go to bed, though the
nurse pressed him. The bell began to ring for morning chapel; he got up and
went towards his gown, groping towards it as though he could hardly see, and
put it over his shoulders, and would go out, but he would have fallen in the
court if the good nurse had not given him her arm; and the physician of the
hospital, passing fortunately at this moment, who had always been a great
friend of Colonel Newcome&rsquo;s, insisted upon leading him back to his room
again, and got him to bed. &ldquo;When the bell stopped, he wanted to rise once
more; he fancied he was a boy at school again,&rdquo; said the nurse,
&ldquo;and that he was going in to Dr. Raine, who was schoolmaster here ever so
many years ago.&rdquo; So it was, that when happier days seemed to be dawning
for the good man, that reprieve came too late. Grief, and years, and
humiliation, and care, and cruelty had been too strong for him, and Thomas
Newcome was stricken down.
</p>

<p>
Bayham&rsquo;s story told, I entered the room, over which the twilight was
falling, and saw the figures of Clive and Ethel seated at each end of the bed.
The poor old man within it was calling incoherent sentences. I had to call
Clive from the present grief before him, with intelligence of further sickness
awaiting him at home. Our poor patient did not heed what I said to his son.
&ldquo;You must go home to Rosa,&rdquo; Ethel said. &ldquo;She will be sure to
ask for her husband, and forgiveness is best, dear Clive. I will stay with
uncle. I will never leave him. Please God, he will be better in the morning
when you come back.&rdquo; So Clive&rsquo;s duty called him to his own sad
home; and, the bearer of dismal tidings, I returned to mine. The fires were lit
there and the table spread; and kind hearts were waiting to welcome the friend
who never more was to enter my door.
</p>

<p>
It may be imagined that the intelligence which I brought alarmed and afflicted
my wife and Madame de Florac, our guest. Laura immediately went away to
Rosa&rsquo;s house to offer her services if needed. The accounts which she
brought thence were very bad: Clive came to her for a minute or two, but Mr.
Mackenzie could not see her. Should she not bring the little boy home to her
children? Laura asked; and Clive thankfully accepted that offer. The little man
slept in our nursery that night, and was at play with our young ones on the
morrow&mdash;happy and unconscious of the fate impending over his home.
</p>

<p>
Yet two more days passed, and I had to take two advertisements to <i>The
Times</i> newspaper on the part of poor Clive. Among the announcements of
Births was printed, &ldquo;On the 28th, in Howland Street, Mrs. Clive Newcome
of a son, still-born.&rdquo; And a little lower, in the third division of the
same column, appeared the words, &ldquo;On the 29th, in Howland Street, aged
26, Rosa, wife of Clive Newcome, Esq.&rdquo; So, one day, shall the names of
all of us be written there; to be deplored by how many?&mdash;to be remembered
how long?&mdash;to occasion what tears, praises, sympathy, censure?&mdash;yet
for a day or two, while the busy world has time to recollect us who have passed
beyond it. So this poor little flower had bloomed for its little day, and
pined, and withered, and perished. There was only one friend by Clive&rsquo;s
side following the humble procession which laid poor Rosa and her child out of
sight of a world that had been but unkind to her. Not many tears were there to
water her lonely little grave. A grief that was akin to shame and remorse
humbled him as he knelt over her. Poor little harmless lady! no more childish
triumphs and vanities, no more hidden griefs are you to enjoy or suffer; and
earth closes over your simple pleasures and tears! The snow was falling and
whitening the coffin as they lowered it into the ground. It was at the same
cemetery in which Lady Kew was buried. I dare say the same clergyman read the
same service over the two graves, as he will read it for you or any of us
to-morrow, and until his own turn comes. Come away from the place, poor Clive!
Come sit with your orphan little boy; and bear him on your knee, and hug him to
your heart. He seems yours now, and all a father&rsquo;s love may pour out upon
him. Until this hour, Fate uncontrollable and homely tyranny had separated him
from you.
</p>

<p>
It was touching to see the eagerness and tenderness with which the great strong
man now assumed the guardianship of the child, and endowed him with his entire
wealth of affection. The little boy now ran to Clive whenever he came in, and
sat for hours prattling to him. He would take the boy out to walk, and from our
windows we could see Clive&rsquo;s black figure striding over the snow in St.
James&rsquo;s Park, the little man trotting beside him, or perched on his
father&rsquo;s shoulder. My wife and I looked at them one morning as they were
making their way towards the City.
</p>

<p>
&ldquo;He has inherited that loving heart from his father,&rdquo; Laura said;
&ldquo;and he is paying over the whole property to his son.&rdquo;
</p>

<p>
Clive, and the boy sometimes with him, used to go daily to Grey Friars, where
the Colonel still lay ill. After some days the fever which had attacked him
left him, but left him so weak and enfeebled that he could only go from his bed
to the chair by his fireside. The season was exceedingly bitter, the chamber
which he inhabited was warm and spacious; it was considered unadvisable to move
him until he had attained greater strength, and till warmer weather. The
medical men of the House hoped he might rally in spring. My friend, Dr.
Goodenough, came to him; he hoped too: but not with a hopeful face. A chamber,
luckily vacant, hard by the Colonel&rsquo;s, was assigned to his friends, where
we sate when we were too many for him. Besides his customary attendant, he had
two dear and watchful nurses, who were almost always with him&mdash;Ethel and
Madame de Florac, who had passed many a faithful year by an old man&rsquo;s
bedside; who would have come, as to a work of religion, to any sick couch, much
more to this one, where he lay for whose life she would once gladly have given
her own.
</p>

<p>
But our Colonel, we all were obliged to acknowledge, was no more our friend of
old days. He knew us again, and was good to every one round him, as his wont
was; especially when Boy came, his old eyes lighted up with simple happiness,
and, with eager trembling hands, he would seek under his bedclothes, or the
pockets of his dressing-gown, for toys or cakes, which he had caused to be
purchased for his grandson. There was a little laughing, red-cheeked,
white-headed gown-boy of the school, to whom the old man had taken a great
fancy. One of the symptoms of his returning consciousness and recovery, as we
hoped, was his calling for this child, who pleased our friend by his archness
and merry ways; and who, to the old gentleman&rsquo;s unfailing delight, used
to call him, &ldquo;Codd Colonel.&rdquo; &ldquo;Tell little F&mdash;&mdash;,
that Codd Colonel wants to see him;&rdquo; and the little gown-boy was brought
to him; and the Colonel would listen to him for hours; and hear all about his
lessons and his play; and prattle almost as childishly about Dr. Raine, and his
own early school-days. The boys of the school, it must be said, had heard the
noble old gentleman&rsquo;s touching history, and had all got to know and love
him. They came every day to hear news of him; sent him in books and papers to
amuse him; and some benevolent young souls,&mdash;God&rsquo;s blessing on all
honest boys, say I,&mdash;painted theatrical characters, and sent them in to
Codd Colonel&rsquo;s grandson. The little fellow was made free of gown-boys,
and once came thence to his grandfather in a little gown, which delighted the
old man hugely. Boy said he would like to be a little gown-boy; and I make no
doubt, when he is old enough, his father will get him that post, and put him
under the tuition of my friend Dr. Senior.
</p>

<p>
So, weeks passed away, during which our dear old friend still remained with us.
His mind was gone at intervals, but would rally feebly; and with his
consciousness returned his love, his simplicity, his sweetness. He would talk
French with Madame de Florac, at which time, his memory appeared to awaken with
surprising vividness, his cheek flushed, and he was a youth again,&mdash;a
youth all love and hope,&mdash;a stricken old man, with a beard as white as
snow covering the noble careworn face. At such times he called her by her
Christian name of Léonore; he addressed courtly old words of regard and
kindness to the aged lady; anon he wandered in his talk, and spoke to her as if
they still were young. Now, as in those early days, his heart was pure; no
anger remained in it; no guile tainted it; only peace and goodwill dwelt in it.
</p>

<p>
Rosa&rsquo;s death had seemed to shock him for a while when the unconscious
little boy spoke of it. Before that circumstance, Clive had even forbore to
wear mourning, lest the news should agitate his father. The Colonel remained
silent and was very much disturbed all that day, but he never appeared to
comprehend the fact quite; and, once or twice afterwards, asked, why she did
not come to see him? She was prevented, he supposed&mdash;she was prevented, he
said, with a look of terror: he never once otherwise alluded to that unlucky
tyrant of his household, who had made his last years so unhappy.
</p>

<p>
The circumstance of Clive&rsquo;s legacy he never understood: but more than
once spoke of Barnes to Ethel, and sent his compliments to him, and said he
should like to shake him by the hand. Barnes Newcome never once offered to
touch that honoured hand, though his sister bore her uncle&rsquo;s message to
him. They came often from Bryanstone Square; Mrs. Hobson even offered to sit
with the Colonel, and read to him, and brought him books for his improvement.
But her presence disturbed him; he cared not for her books; the two nurses whom
he loved faithfully watched him; and my wife and I were admitted to him
sometimes, both of whom he honoured with regard and recognition. As for F. B.,
in order to be near his Colonel, did not that good fellow take up his lodging
in Cistercian Lane, at the Red Cow? He is one whose errors, let us hope, shall
be pardoned, <i>quia multum amavit</i>. I am sure he felt ten times more joy at
hearing of Clive&rsquo;s legacy, than if thousands had been bequeathed to
himself. May good health and good fortune speed him!
</p>

<p>
The days went on, and our hopes, raised sometimes, began to flicker and fail.
One evening the Colonel left his chair for his bed in pretty good spirits, but
passed a disturbed night, and the next morning was too weak to rise. Then he
remained in his bed, and his friends visited him there. One afternoon he asked
for his little gown-boy, and the child was brought to him, and sate by the bed
with a very awestricken face; and then gathered courage, and tried to amuse him
by telling him how it was a half-holiday, and they were having a cricket-match
with the St. Peter&rsquo;s boys in the green, and Grey Friars was in and
winning. The Colonel quite understood about it; he would like to see the game;
he had played many a game on that green when he was a boy. He grew excited;
Clive dismissed his father&rsquo;s little friend, and put a sovereign into his
hand; and away he ran to say that Codd Colonel had come into a fortune, and to
buy tarts, and to see the match out. <i>I, curre</i>, little white-haired
gown-boy! Heaven speed you, little friend!
</p>

<p>
After the child had gone, Thomas Newcome began to wander more and more. He
talked louder; he gave the word of command, spoke Hindustanee as if to his men.
Then he spoke words in French rapidly, seizing a hand that was near him and
crying, &ldquo;Toujours, toujours!&rdquo; But it was Ethel&rsquo;s hand which
he took.
</p>

<p>
Ethel and Clive and the nurse were in the room with him; the latter came to us,
who were sitting in the adjoining apartment; Madame de Florac was there, with
my wife and Bayham.
</p>

<p>
At the look in the woman&rsquo;s countenance Madame de Florac started up.
&ldquo;He is very bad, he wanders a great deal,&rdquo; the nurse whispered. The
French lady fell instantly on her knees, and remained rigid in prayer.
</p>

<p>
Some time afterwards Ethel came in with a scared face to our pale group.
&ldquo;He is calling for you again, dear lady,&rdquo; she said, going up to
Madame de Florac, who was still kneeling; &ldquo;and just now he said he wanted
Pendennis to take care of his boy. He will not know you.&rdquo; She hid her
tears as she spoke.
</p>

<p>
She went into the room, where Clive was at the bed&rsquo;s foot; the old man
within it talked on rapidly for a while: then again he would sigh and be still:
once more I heard him say hurriedly, &ldquo;Take care of him while I&rsquo;m in
India;&rdquo; and then with a heart-rending voice he called out,
&ldquo;Léonore, Léonore!&rdquo; She was kneeling by his side now. The
patient&rsquo;s voice sank into faint murmurs; only a moan now and then
announced that he was not asleep.
</p>

<p>
At the usual evening hour the chapel bell began to toll, and Thomas
Newcome&rsquo;s hands outside the bed feebly beat a time. And just as the last
bell struck, a peculiar sweet smile shone over his face, and he lifted up his
head a little, and quickly said, &ldquo;Adsum!&rdquo; and fell back. It was the
word we used at school, when names were called; and lo, he, whose heart was as
that of a little child, had answered to his name, and stood in the presence of
The Master.
</p>

<hr />

<p>
Two years ago, walking with my children in some pleasant fields, near to Berne
in Switzerland, I strayed from them into a little wood; and, coming out of it
presently, told them how the story had been revealed to me somehow, which for
three-and-twenty months the reader has been pleased to follow. As I write the
last line with a rather sad heart, Pendennis and Laura, and Ethel and Clive,
fade away into Fable-land. I hardly know whether they are not true: whether
they do not live near us somewhere. They were alive, and I heard their voices,
but five minutes since was touched by their grief. And have we parted with them
here on a sudden, and without so much as a shake of the hand? Is yonder line
(&mdash;&mdash;), which I drew with my own pen, a barrier between me and Hades
as it were, across which I can see those figures retreating and only dimly
glimmering? Before taking leave of Mr. Arthur Pendennis, might he not have told
us whether Miss Ethel married anybody finally? It was provoking that he should
retire to the shades without answering that sentimental question.
</p>

<p>
But though he has disappeared as irrevocably as Eurydice, these minor questions
may settle the major one above mentioned. How could Pendennis have got all that
information about Ethel&rsquo;s goings-on at Baden, and with Lord Kew, unless
she had told somebody&mdash;her husband, for instance, who, having made
Pendennis an early confidant in his amour, gave him the whole story? Clive,
Pendennis writes expressly, is travelling abroad with his wife. Who is that
wife? By a most monstrous blunder, Mr. Pendennis killed Lord Farintosh&rsquo;s
mother at one page and brought her to life again at another; but Rosey, who is
so lately consigned to Kensal Green, it is not surely with <i>her</i> that
Clive is travelling, for then Mrs. Mackenzie would probably be with them to a
live certainty, and the tour would be by no means pleasant. How could Pendennis
have got all those private letters, etc., but that the Colonel kept them in a
teak box, which Clive inherited and made over to his friend? My belief then is,
that in Fable-land somewhere Ethel and Clive are living most comfortably
together: that she is immensely fond of his little boy, and a great deal
happier now than they would have been had they married at first, when they took
a liking to each other as young people. That picture of J. J.&rsquo;s of Mrs.
Clive Newcome (in the Crystal Palace Exhibition in Fable-land), is certainly
not in the least like Rosey, who we read was fair; but it represents a tall,
handsome, dark lady, who must be Mrs. Ethel.
</p>

<p>
Again, why did Pendennis introduce J. J. with such a flourish, giving us, as it
were, an overture, and no piece to follow it? J. J.&rsquo;s history, let me
confidentially state, has been revealed to me too, and may be told some of
these fine summer months, or Christmas evenings, when the kind reader has
leisure to hear.
</p>

<p>
What about Sir Barnes Newcome ultimately? My impression is that he is married
again, and it is my fervent hope that his present wife bullies him. Mrs.
Mackenzie cannot have the face to keep that money which Clive paid over to her,
beyond her lifetime; and will certainly leave it and her savings to little
Tommy. I should not be surprised if Madame de Moncontour left a smart legacy to
the Pendennis children; and Lord Kew stood godfather in case&mdash;in case Mr.
and Mrs. Clive wanted such an article. But have they any children? I, for my
part, should like her best without, and entirely devoted to little Tommy. But
for you, dear friend, it is as you like. You may settle your Fable-land in your
own fashion. Anything you like happens in Fable-land. Wicked folks die apropos
(for instance, that death of Lady Kew was most artful, for if she had not died,
don&rsquo;t you see that Ethel would have married Lord Farintosh the next
week?)&mdash;annoying folks are got out of the way; the poor are
rewarded&mdash;the upstarts are set down in Fable-land,&mdash;the frog bursts
with wicked rage, the fox is caught in his trap, the lamb is rescued from the
wolf, and so forth, just in the nick of time. And the poet of Fable-land
rewards and punishes absolutely. He splendidly deals out bags of sovereigns,
which won&rsquo;t buy anything; belabours wicked backs with awful blows, which
do not hurt; endows heroines with preternatural beauty, and creates heroes,
who, if ugly sometimes, yet possess a thousand good qualities, and usually end
by being immensely rich; makes the hero and heroine happy at last, and happy
ever after. Ah, happy, harmless Fable-land, where these things are! Friendly
reader! may you and the author meet there on some future day. He hopes so; as
he yet keeps a lingering hold of your hand, and bids you farewell with a kind
heart.
</p>

<p class="letter">
P<small>ARIS</small>, 28th June 1855.
</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

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