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+Project Gutenberg EBook, Alice, or The Mysteries, by Lytton, Book III
+#205 in our series by Edward Bulwer Lytton
+
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+Title: Alice, or The Mysteries, Book III
+
+Author: Edward Bulwer Lytton
+
+Release Date: January 2006  [EBook #9765]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on October 15, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ALICE, BY LYTTON, BOOK III ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dagny; and by David Widger
+
+
+Corrected and updated text and HTML PG Editions of the complete
+11 volume set may be found at:
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+https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9774/9774.txt
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+https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9774/9774-h/9774-h.htm
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+
+
+
+BOOK III.
+
+  Harsh things he mitigates, and pride subdues.
+  _Ex._ SOLON: _Eleg._
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+  YOU still are what you were, sir!
+    .  .  .  .  .  .
+  .  .  .  With most quick agility could turn
+  And return; make knots and undo them,
+  Give forked counsel.--_Volpone, or the Fox_.
+
+BEFORE a large table, covered with parliamentary papers, sat Lumley Lord
+Vargrave.  His complexion, though still healthy, had faded from the
+freshness of hue which distinguished him in youth.  His features, always
+sharp, had grown yet more angular: his brows seemed to project more
+broodingly over his eyes, which, though of undiminished brightness, were
+sunk deep in their sockets, and had lost much of their quick
+restlessness.  The character of his mind had begun to stamp itself on the
+physiognomy, especially on the mouth when in repose.  It was, a face
+striking for acute intelligence, for concentrated energy; but there was a
+something written in it which said, "BEWARE!"  It would have inspired any
+one who had mixed much amongst men with a vague suspicion and distrust.
+
+Lumley had been always careful, though plain, in dress; but there was now
+a more evident attention bestowed on his person than he had ever
+manifested in youth,--while there was something of the Roman's celebrated
+foppery in the skill with which his hair was arranged on his high
+forehead, so as either to conceal or relieve a partial baldness at the
+temples.  Perhaps, too, from the possession of high station, or the habit
+of living only amongst the great, there was a certain dignity insensibly
+diffused over his whole person that was not noticeable in his earlier
+years, when a certain _ton de garnison_ was blended with his ease of
+manners.  Yet, even now, dignity was not his prevalent characteristic;
+and in ordinary occasions, or mixed society, he still found a familiar
+frankness a more useful species of simulation.  At the time we now treat
+of, Lord Vargrave was leaning his cheek on one hand, while the other
+rested idly on the papers methodically arranged before him.  He appeared
+to have suspended his labours, and to be occupied in thought.  It was, in
+truth, a critical period in the career of Lord Vargrave.
+
+From the date of his accession to the peerage, the rise of Lumley Ferrers
+had been less rapid and progressive than he himself could have foreseen.
+At first, all was sunshine before him; he had contrived to make himself
+useful to his party; he had also made himself personally popular.  To the
+ease and cordiality of his happy address, he added the seemingly careless
+candour so often mistaken for honesty; while, as there was nothing showy
+or brilliant in his abilities or oratory--nothing that aspired far above
+the pretensions of others, and aroused envy by mortifying self-love--he
+created but little jealousy even amongst the rivals before whom he
+obtained precedence.  For some time, therefore, he went smoothly on,
+continuing to rise in the estimation of his party, and commanding a
+certain respect from the neutral public, by acknowledged and eminent
+talents in the details of business; for his quickness of penetration, and
+a logical habit of mind, enabled him to grapple with and generalize the
+minutiae of official labour or of legislative enactments with a masterly
+success.  But as the road became clearer to his steps, his ambition
+became more evident and daring.  Naturally dictatorial and presumptuous,
+his early suppleness to superiors was now exchanged for a self-willed
+pertinacity, which often displeased the more haughty leaders of his
+party, and often wounded the more vain.  His pretensions were scanned
+with eyes more jealous and less tolerant than at first.  Proud
+aristocrats began to recollect that a mushroom peerage was supported but
+by a scanty fortune; the men of more dazzling genius began to sneer at
+the red-tape minister as a mere official manager of details; he lost much
+of the personal popularity which had been one secret of his power.  But
+what principally injured him in the eyes of his party and the public were
+certain ambiguous and obscure circumstances connected with a short period
+when himself and his associates were thrown out of office.  At this time,
+it was noticeable that the journals of the Government that succeeded were
+peculiarly polite to Lord Vargrave, while they covered all his coadjutors
+with obloquy: and it was more than suspected that secret negotiations
+between himself and the new ministry were going on, when suddenly the
+latter broke up, and Lord Vargrave's proper party were reinstated.  The
+vague suspicions that attached to Vargrave were somewhat strengthened in
+the opinion of the public by the fact that he was at first left out of
+the restored administration; and when subsequently, after a speech which
+showed that he could be mischievous if not propitiated, he was
+readmitted, it was precisely to the same office he had held before,--an
+office which did not admit him into the Cabinet.  Lumley, burning with
+resentment, longed to decline the offer; but, alas! he was poor, and,
+what was worse, in debt; "his poverty, but not his will, consented."  He
+was reinstated; but though prodigiously improved as a debater, he felt
+that he had not advanced as a public man.  His ambition inflamed by his
+discontent, he had, since his return to office, strained every nerve to
+strengthen his position.  He met the sarcasms on his poverty by greatly
+increasing his expenditure, and by advertising everywhere his engagement
+to an heiress whose fortune, great as it was, he easily contrived to
+magnify.  As his old house in Great George Street--well fitted for the
+bustling commoner--was no longer suited to the official and fashionable
+peer, he had, on his accession to the title, exchanged that respectable
+residence for a large mansion in Hamilton Place; and his sober dinners
+were succeeded by splendid banquets.  Naturally, he had no taste for such
+things; his mind was too nervous, and his temper too hard, to take
+pleasure in luxury or ostentation.  But now, as ever he _acted upon a
+system_.  Living in a country governed by the mightiest and wealthiest
+aristocracy in the world, which, from the first class almost to the
+lowest, ostentation pervades,--the very backbone and marrow of
+society,--he felt that to fall far short of his rivals in display was to
+give them an advantage which he could not compensate either by the power
+of his connections or the surpassing loftiness of his character and
+genius.  Playing for a great game, and with his eyes open to all the
+consequences, he cared not for involving his private fortunes in a
+lottery in which a great prize might be drawn.  To do Vargrave justice,
+money with him had never been an object, but a means; he was grasping,
+but not avaricious.  If men much richer than Lord Vargrave find State
+distinctions very expensive, and often ruinous, it is not to be supposed
+that his salary, joined to so moderate a private fortune, could support
+the style in which he lived.  His income was already deeply mortgaged,
+and debt accumulated upon debt.  Nor had this man, so eminent for the
+management of public business, any of that talent which springs from
+_justice_, and makes its possessor a skilful manager of his own affairs.
+Perpetually absorbed in intrigues and schemes, he was too much engaged in
+cheating others on a large scale to have time to prevent being himself
+cheated on a small one.  He never looked into bills till he was compelled
+to pay them; and he never calculated the amount of an expense that seemed
+the least necessary to his purposes.  But still Lord Vargrave relied upon
+his marriage with the wealthy Evelyn to relieve him from all his
+embarrassments; and if a doubt of the realization of that vision ever
+occurred to him, still public life had splendid prizes.  Nay, should he
+fail with Miss Cameron, he even thought that, by good management, he
+might ultimately make it worth while to his colleagues to purchase his
+absence with the gorgeous bribe of the Governor-Generalship of India.
+
+As oratory is an art in which practice and the dignity of station produce
+marvellous improvement, so Lumley had of late made effects in the House
+of Lords of which he had once been judged incapable.  It is true that no
+practice and no station can give men qualities in which they are wholly
+deficient; but these advantages can bring out in the best light all the
+qualities they _do_ possess.  The glow of a generous imagination, the
+grasp of a profound statesmanship, the enthusiasm of a noble
+nature,--these no practice could educe from the eloquence of Lumley Lord
+Vargrave, for he had them not; but bold wit, fluent and vigorous
+sentences, effective arrangement of parliamentary logic, readiness of
+retort, plausibility of manner, aided by a delivery peculiar for
+self-possession and ease, a clear and ringing voice (to the only fault of
+which, shrillness without passion, the ear of the audience had grown
+accustomed), and a countenance impressive from its courageous
+intelligence,--all these had raised the promising speaker into the
+matured excellence of a nervous and formidable debater.  But precisely as
+he rose in the display of his talents, did he awaken envies and enmities
+hitherto dormant.  And it must be added that, with all his craft and
+coldness, Lord Vargrave was often a very dangerous and mischievous
+speaker for the interests of his party.  His colleagues had often cause
+to tremble when he rose: nay, even when the cheers of his own faction
+shook the old tapestried walls.  A man who has no sympathy with the
+public must commit many and fatal indiscretions when the public, as well
+as his audience, is to be his judge.  Lord Vargrave's utter incapacity to
+comprehend political morality, his contempt for all the objects of social
+benevolence, frequently led him into the avowal of doctrines, which, if
+they did not startle the men of the world whom he addressed (smoothed
+away, as such doctrines were, by speciousness of manner and delivery),
+created deep disgust in those even of his own politics who read their
+naked exposition in the daily papers.  Never did Lord Vargrave utter one
+of those generous sentiments which, no matter whether propounded by
+Radical or Tory, sink deep into the heart of the people, and do lasting
+service to the cause they adorn.  But no man defended an abuse, however
+glaring, with a more vigorous championship, or hurled defiance upon a
+popular demand with a more courageous scorn.  In some times, when the
+anti-popular principle is strong; such a leader may be useful; but at the
+moment of which we treat he was a most equivocal auxiliary.  A
+considerable proportion of the ministers, headed by the premier himself,
+a man of wise views and unimpeachable honour, had learned to view Lord
+Vargrave with dislike and distrust.  They might have sought to get rid of
+him; but he was not one whom slight mortifications could induce to retire
+of his own accord, nor was the sarcastic and bold debater a person whose
+resentment and opposition could be despised.  Lord Vargrave, moreover,
+had secured a party of his own,--a party more formidable than himself.
+He went largely into society; he was the special favourite of the female
+diplomats, whose voices at that time were powerful suffrages, and with
+whom, by a thousand links of gallantry and intrigue, the agreeable and
+courteous minister formed a close alliance. All that _salons_ could do
+for him was done.  Added to this, he was personally liked by his royal
+master; and the Court gave him their golden opinions; while the poorer,
+the corrupter, and the more bigoted portion of the ministry regarded him
+with avowed admiration.
+
+In the House of Commons, too, and in the bureaucracy, he had no
+inconsiderable strength; for Lumley never contracted the habits of
+personal abruptness and discourtesy common to men in power who wish to
+keep applicants aloof.  He was bland and conciliating to all men of
+ranks; his intellect and self-complacency raised him far above the petty
+jealousies that great men feel for rising men.  Did any tyro earn the
+smallest distinction in parliament, no man sought his acquaintance so
+eagerly as Lord Vargrave; no man complimented, encouraged, "brought on"
+the new aspirants of his party with so hearty a good will.
+
+Such a minister could not fail of having devoted followers among the
+able, the ambitious, and the vain.  It must also be confessed that Lord
+Vargrave neglected no baser and less justifiable means to cement his
+power by placing it on the sure rock of self-interest.  No jobbing was
+too gross for him.  He was shamefully corrupt in the disposition of his
+patronage; and no rebuffs, no taunts from his official brethren, could
+restrain him from urging the claims of any of his creatures upon the
+public purse.  His followers regarded this charitable selfishness as the
+stanchness and zeal of friendship; and the ambition of hundreds was wound
+up in the ambition of the unprincipled minister.
+
+But besides the notoriety of his public corruption, Lord Vargrave was
+secretly suspected by some of personal dishonesty,--suspected of selling
+his State information to stock-jobbers, of having pecuniary interests in
+some of the claims he urged with so obstinate a pertinacity.  And though
+there was not the smallest evidence of such utter abandonment of honour,
+though it was probably but a calumnious whisper, yet the mere suspicion
+of such practices served to sharpen the aversion of his enemies, and
+justify the disgust of his rivals.
+
+In this position now stood Lord Vargrave: supported by interested, but
+able and powerful partisans; hated in the country, feared by some of
+those with whom he served, despised by others, looked up to by the rest.
+It was a situation that less daunted than delighted him; for it seemed to
+render necessary and excuse the habits of scheming and manoeuvre which
+were so genial to his crafty and plotting temper.  Like an ancient Greek,
+his spirit loved intrigue for intrigue's sake.  Had it led to no end, it
+would still have been sweet to him as a means.  He rejoiced to surround
+himself with the most complicated webs and meshes; to sit in the centre
+of a million plots.  He cared not how rash and wild some of them were.
+He relied on his own ingenuity, promptitude, and habitual good fortune to
+make every spring he handled conducive to the purpose of the
+machine--SELF.
+
+His last visit to Lady Vargrave, and his conversation with Evelyn, had
+left on his mind much dissatisfaction and fear.  In the earlier years of
+his intercourse with Evelyn, his good humour, gallantry, and presents had
+not failed to attach the child to the agreeable and liberal visitor she
+had been taught to regard as a relation.  It was only as she grew up to
+womanhood, and learned to comprehend the nature of the tie between them,
+that she shrank from his familiarity; and then only had he learned to
+doubt of the fulfilment of his uncle's wish.  The last visit had
+increased this doubt to a painful apprehension.  He saw that he was not
+loved; he saw that it required great address, and the absence of happier
+rivals, to secure to him the hand of Evelyn; and he cursed the duties and
+the schemes which necessarily kept him from her side.  He had thought of
+persuading Lady Vargrave to let her come to London, where he could be
+ever at hand; and as the season was now set in, his representations on
+this head would appear sensible and just.  But then again this was to
+incur greater dangers than those he would avoid.  London!--a beauty and
+an heiress, in her first _debut_ in London!  What formidable admirers
+would flock around her!  Vargrave shuddered to think of the gay,
+handsome, well-dressed, seductive young _elegans_, who might seem, to a
+girl of seventeen, suitors far more fascinating than the middle-aged
+politician.  This was perilous; nor was this all: Lord Vargrave knew that
+in London--gaudy, babbling, and remorseless London--all that he could
+most wish to conceal from the young lady would be dragged to day.  He had
+been the lover, not of one, but of a dozen women, for whom he did not
+care three straws, but whose favour had served to strengthen him in
+society, or whose influence made up for his own want of hereditary
+political connections.  The manner in which he contrived to shake off
+these various Ariadnes, whenever it was advisable, was not the least
+striking proof of his diplomatic abilities.  He never left them enemies.
+According to his own solution of the mystery, he took care never to play
+the gallant with Dulcineas under a certain age.  "Middle-aged women," he
+was wont to say, "are very little different from middle-aged men; they
+see things sensibly, and take things coolly."  Now Evelyn could not be
+three weeks, perhaps three days, in London, without learning of one or
+the other of these _liaisons_.  What an excuse, if she sought one, to
+break with him!  Altogether, Lord Vargrave was sorely perplexed, but not
+despondent.  Evelyn's fortune was more than ever necessary to him, and
+Evelyn he was resolved to obtain since to that fortune she was an
+indispensable appendage.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+  YOU shall be Horace, and Tibullus I.--POPE.
+
+LORD VARGRAVE was disturbed from his revery by the entrance of the Earl
+of Saxingham.
+
+"You are welcome!" said Lumley, "welcome!--the very man I wished to see."
+
+Lord Saxingham, who was scarcely altered since we met with him in the
+last series of this work, except that he had grown somewhat paler and
+thinner, and that his hair had changed from iron-gray to snow-white,
+threw himself in the armchair beside Lumley, and replied,--
+
+"Vargrave, it is really unpleasant, our finding ourselves always thus
+controlled by our own partisans.  I do not understand this new-fangled
+policy, this squaring of measures to please the Opposition, and throwing
+sops to that many-headed monster called Public Opinion.  I am sure it
+will end most mischievously."
+
+"I am satisfied of it," returned Lord Vargrave.  "All vigour and union
+seem to have left us; and if they carry the ----- question against us, I
+know not what is to be done."
+
+"For my part, I shall resign," said Lord Saxingham, doggedly; "it is the
+only alternative left to men of honour."
+
+"You are wrong; I know another alternative."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Make a Cabinet of our own.  Look ye, my dear lord; you been ill-used;
+your high character, your long experience, are treated with contempt.  It
+is an affront to you--the situation you hold.  You, Privy Seal!--you
+ought to be Premier; ay, and, if you are ruled by me, Premier you shall
+be yet."
+
+Lord Saxingham coloured, and breathed hard.
+
+"You have often hinted at this before, Lumley; but you are so partial, so
+friendly."
+
+"Not at all.  You saw the leading article in the ----- to-day?  That will
+be followed up by two evening papers within five hours of this time.  We
+have strength with the Press, with the Commons, with the Court,--only let
+us hold fast together.  This ----- question, by which they hope to get
+rid of us, shall destroy them.  You shall be Prime Minister before the
+year is over--by Heaven, you shall!--and then, I suppose, I too may be
+admitted to the Cabinet!"
+
+"But how?--how, Lumley?  You are too rash, too daring."
+
+It has not been my fault hitherto,--but boldness is caution in our
+circumstances.  If they throw us out now, I see the inevitable march of
+events,--we shall be out for years, perhaps for life.  The Cabinet will
+recede more and more from our principles, our party.  Now is the time for
+a determined stand; now can we make or mar ourselves.  I will not resign;
+the king is with us; our strength shall be known.  These haughty
+imbeciles shall fall into the trap they have dug for us."
+
+Lumley spoke warmly, and with the confidence of a mind firmly assured of
+success.  Lord Saxingham was moved; bright visions flashed across
+him,--the premiership, a dukedom.  Yet he was old and childless, and his
+honours would die with the last lord of Saxingham!
+
+"See," continued Lumley, "I have calculated our resources as accurately
+as an electioneering agent would cast up the list of voters.  In the
+Press, I have secured ----- and -----, and in the Commons we have the
+subtle -----, and the vigour of -----, and the popular name of -----, and
+all the boroughs of -----; in the Cabinet we have -----, and at Court you
+know our strength.  Let us choose our moment; a sudden _coup_, an
+interview with the king, statement of our conscientious scruples to this
+atrocious measure.  I know the vain, stiff mind of the premier; _he_ will
+lose temper, he will tender his resignation; to his astonishment, it will
+be accepted.  You will be sent for; we will dissolve parliament; we will
+strain every nerve in the elections; we shall succeed, I know we shall.
+But be silent in the meanwhile, be cautious: let not a word escape you,
+let them think us beaten; lull suspicion asleep; let us lament our
+weakness, and hint, only hint at our resignation, but with assurances of
+continued support.  I know how to blind them, if you leave it to me."
+
+The weak mind of the old earl was as a puppet in the hands of his bold
+kinsman.  He feared one moment, hoped another; now his ambition was
+flattered, now his sense of honour was alarmed.  There was something in
+Lumley's intrigue to oust the government with which he served that had an
+appearance of cunning and baseness, of which Lord Saxingham, whose
+personal character was high, by no means approved.  But Vargrave talked
+him over with consummate address, and when they parted, the earl carried
+his head two inches higher,--he was preparing himself for his rise in
+life.
+
+"That is well! that is well!" said Lumley, rubbing his hands when he was
+left alone: "the old driveller will be my _locum tenens_, till years and
+renown enable me to become his successor.  Meanwhile, I shall be really
+what he will be in name."
+
+Here Lord Vargrave's well-fed servant, now advanced to the dignity of own
+gentleman and house-steward, entered the room with a letter; it had a
+portentous look; it was wafered, the paper was blue, the hand clerklike,
+there was no envelope; it bore its infernal origin on the face of it,--IT
+WAS A DUN'S.
+
+Lumley opened the epistle with an impatient pshaw!  The man, a
+silversmith (Lumley's plate was much admired!) had applied for years in
+vain; the amount was large, and execution was threatened!  An
+execution!--it is a trifle to a rich man; but no trifle to one suspected
+of being poor, one straining at that very moment at so high an object,
+one to whom public opinion was so necessary, one who knew that nothing
+but his title, and scarcely that, saved him from the reputation of an
+adventurer!  He must again have recourse to the money-lenders,--his small
+estate was long since too deeply mortgaged to afford new security.
+Usury, usury, again!--he knew its price, and he sighed--but what was to
+be done?
+
+"It is but for a few months, a few months, and Evelyn must be mine.
+Saxingham has already lent me what he can; but he is embarrassed.  This
+d-----d office, what a tax it is! and the rascals say we are too well
+paid!  I, too, who could live happy in a garret, if this purse-proud
+England would but allow one to exist within one's income.  My
+fellow-trustee, the banker, my uncle's old correspondent--all, well
+thought of!  He knows the conditions of the will; he knows that, at the
+worst, I must have thirty thousand pounds, if I live a few months longer.
+I will go to him."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+  ANIMUM nunc hoc celerem, nunc dividit illuc.*--VIRGIL.
+
+  * "Now this, now that, distracts the active mind."
+
+THE late Mr. Templeton had been a banker in a provincial town, which was
+the centre of great commercial and agricultural activity and enterprise.
+He had made the bulk of his fortune in the happy days of paper currency
+and war.  Besides his country bank he had a considerable share in a
+metropolitan one of some eminence.  At the time of his marriage with the
+present Lady Vargrave he retired altogether from business, and never
+returned to the place in which his wealth had been amassed.  He had still
+kept up a familiar acquaintance with the principal and senior partner of
+the metropolitan bank I have referred to; for he was a man who always
+loved to talk about money matters with those who understood them.  This
+gentleman, Mr. Gustavus Douce, had been named, with Lumley, joint trustee
+to Evelyn's fortune.  They had full powers to invest it in whatever stock
+seemed most safe or advantageous.  The trustees appeared well chosen, as
+one, being destined to share the fortune, would have the deepest interest
+in its security; and the other, from his habits and profession, would be
+a most excellent adviser.
+
+Of Mr. Douce, Lord Vargrave had seen but little; they were not thrown
+together.  But Lord Vargrave, who thought every rich man might, some time
+or other, become a desirable acquaintance, regularly asked him once every
+year to dinner; and twice in return he had dined with Mr. Douce, in one
+of the most splendid villas, and off some of the most splendid plate it
+had ever been his fortune to witness and to envy!--so that the little
+favour he was about to ask was but a slight return for Lord Vargrave's
+condescension.
+
+He found the banker in his private sanctum, his carriage at the door; for
+it was just four o'clock, an hour in which Mr. Douce regularly departed
+to Caserta, as his aforesaid villa was somewhat affectedly styled.
+
+Mr. Douce was a small man, a nervous man; he did not seem quite master of
+his own limbs: when he bowed he seemed to be making you a present of his
+legs; when he sat down, he twitched first on one side, then on the other,
+thrust his hands into his pockets, then took them out, and looked at
+them, as if in astonishment, then seized upon a pen, by which they were
+luckily provided with incessant occupation.  Meanwhile, there was what
+might fairly be called a constant play of countenance: first he smiled,
+then looked grave; now raised his eyebrows, till they rose like rainbows,
+to the horizon of his pale, straw-coloured hair; and next darted them
+down, like an avalanche, over the twinkling, restless, fluttering, little
+blue eyes, which then became almost invisible.  Mr. Douce had, in fact,
+all the appearance of a painfully shy man, which was the more strange, as
+he had the reputation of enterprise, and even audacity, in the business
+of his profession, and was fond of the society of the great.
+
+"I have called on you, my dear sir," said Lord Vargrave, after the
+preliminary salutations, "to ask a little favour, which, if the least
+inconvenient, have no hesitation in refusing.  You know how I am situated
+with regard to my ward, Miss Cameron; in a few months I hope she will be
+Lady Vargrave."
+
+Mr. Douce showed three small teeth, which were all that, in the front of
+his mouth, fate had left him; and then, as if alarmed at the indelicacy
+of a smile upon such a subject, pushed back his chair, and twitched up
+his blotting-paper-coloured trousers.
+
+"Yes, in a few months I hope she will be Lady Vargrave; and you know
+then, Mr. Douce, that I shall be in no want of money."
+
+"I hope--that is to say, I am sure,--that--I trust that never will be the
+ca-ca-case with your lordship," put in Mr. Douce, with timid hesitation.
+Mr. Douce, in addition to his other good qualities, stammered much in the
+delivery of his sentences.
+
+"You are very kind, but it is the case just at present; I have great need
+of a few thousand pounds upon my personal security.  My estate is already
+a little mortgaged, and I don't wish to encumber it more; besides, the
+loan would be merely temporary.  You know that if at the age of eighteen
+Miss Cameron refuses me (a supposition out of the question, but in
+business we must calculate on improbabilities), I claim the forfeit she
+incurs,--thirty thousand pounds; you remember."
+
+"Oh, yes--that--is--upon my word--I--I don't exactly--but--your
+lord--l-l-l-lord-lordship knows best--I have been so--so busy--I forget
+the exact--hem--hem!"
+
+"If you just turn to the will you will see it is as I say.  Now, could
+you conveniently place a few thousands to my account, just for a short
+time?  But I see you don't like it.  Never mind, I can get it elsewhere;
+only, as you were my poor uncle's friend--"
+
+"Your lord--l-l-l-lordship is quite mistaken," said Mr. Douce, with
+trembling agitation; "upon my word, yes, a few thou-thou-thousands--to be
+sure--to be sure.  Your lordship's banker is--is--"
+
+"Drummond--disagreeable people--by no means obliging.  I shall certainly
+change to your house when my accounts are better worth keeping."
+
+"You do me great--great honour; I will just--step--step--step out for a
+moment--and--and speak to Mr. Dobs;--not but what you may depend
+on.--Excuse me!  'Morning Chron-chron-Chronicle,' my lord!"
+
+Mr. Douce rose, as if by galvanism, and ran out of the room, spinning
+round as he ran, to declare, again and again, that he would not be gone a
+moment.
+
+"Good little fellow, that--very like an electrified frog!" murmured
+Vargrave, as he took up the "Morning Chronicle," so especially pointed
+out to his notice; and turning to the leading article, read a very
+eloquent attack on himself.  Lumley was thick-skinned on such matters; he
+liked to be attacked,--it showed that he was up in the world.
+
+Presently Mr. Douce returned.  To Lord Vargrave's amazement and delight,
+he was informed that 10,000 pounds would be immediately lodged with
+Messrs. Drummond.  His bill of promise to pay in three months--five per
+cent interest--was quite sufficient.  Three months was a short date; but
+the bill could be renewed on the same terms, from quarter to quarter,
+till quite convenient to his lordship to pay.  "Would Lord Vargrave do
+him the honour to dine with him at Caserta next Monday?"
+
+Lord Vargrave tried to affect apathy at his sudden accession of ready
+money, but really it almost turned his head; he griped both Mr. Douce's
+thin, little shivering hands, and was speechless with gratitude and
+ecstasy.  The sum, which doubled the utmost he expected, would relieve
+him from all his immediate embarrassments.  When he recovered his voice,
+he thanked his dear Mr. Douce with a warmth that seemed to make the
+little man shrink into a nutshell; and assured him that he would dine
+with him every Monday in the year--if he was asked!  He then longed to
+depart; but he thought, justly, that to go as soon as he had got what he
+wanted would look selfish.  Accordingly, he reseated himself, and so did
+Mr. Douce, and the conversation turned upon politics and news; but Mr.
+Douce, who seemed to regard all things with a commercial eye, contrived,
+Vargrave hardly knew how, to veer round from the change in the French
+ministry to the state of the English money-market.
+
+"It really is, indeed, my lord--I say it, I am sure, with concern, a very
+bad ti-ti-ti-ti-time for men in business,--indeed, for all men; such poor
+interest in the English fu-fun-funds, and yet speculations are so
+unsound.  I recommended my friend Sir Giles Grimsby to--to invest some
+money in the American canals; a most rare res-res-respons-reponsibility,
+I may say, for me; I am cautious in--in recommending--but Sir Giles was
+an old friend,--con-con-connection, I may say; but most providentially,
+all turned out--that is--fell out--as I was sure it would,--thirty per
+cent,--and the value of the sh-sh-sh-shares doubled.  But such things are
+very rare,--quite godsends, I may say!"
+
+"Well, Mr. Douce, whenever I have money to lay out, I must come and
+consult you."
+
+"I shall be most happy at all times to--to advise your lordship; but it
+is not a thing I'm very fond of.  There's Miss Cameron's fortune quite
+l-l-locked up,--three per cents and exchequer bills; why, it might have
+been a mil-mil-million by this ti-ti-time, if the good old gentleman--I
+beg pardon--old--old nobleman, my poor dear friend, had been now alive!"
+
+"Indeed!" said Lumley, greedily, and pricking up his ears; "he was a good
+manager, my uncle!"
+
+"None better, none better.  I may say a genius for busi--hem-hem!  Miss
+Cameron a young woman of bus-bus-business, my lord?"
+
+"Not much of that, I fear.  A million, did you say?"
+
+"At least!--indeed, at least--money so scarce, speculation so sure in
+America; great people the Americans, rising people, gi-gi-giants
+--giants!"
+
+"I am wasting your whole morning,--too bad in me," said Vargrave, as the
+clock struck five; "the Lords meet this evening,--important business;
+once more a thousand thanks to you; good day."
+
+"A very good day to you, my lord; don't mention it; glad at any time to
+ser-ser-serve you," said Mr. Douce, fidgeting, curveting, and prancing
+round Lord Vargrave, as the latter walked through the outer office to the
+carriage.
+
+"Not a step more; you will catch cold.  Good-by--on Monday, then, seven
+o'clock.  The House of Lords."
+
+And Lumley threw himself back in his carriage in high spirits.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+  OUBLIE de Tullie, et brave du Senat.*
+  VOLTAIRE: _Brutus_, Act ii. sc. 1.
+
+  * "Forgotten by Tully and bullied by the Senate."
+
+IN the Lords that evening the discussion was animated and prolonged,--it
+was the last party debate of the session.  The astute Opposition did not
+neglect to bring prominently, though incidentally, forward the question
+on which it was whispered that there existed some growing difference in
+the Cabinet.  Lord Vargrave rose late.  His temper was excited by the
+good fortune of his day's negotiation; he felt himself of more importance
+than usual, as a needy man is apt to do when he has got a large sum at
+his banker's; moreover, he was exasperated by some personal allusions to
+himself, which had been delivered by a dignified old lord who dated his
+family from the ark, and was as rich as Croesus.  Accordingly, Vargrave
+spoke with more than his usual vigour.  His first sentences were welcomed
+with loud cheers; he warmed, he grew vehement, he uttered the most
+positive and unalterable sentiments upon the question alluded to, he
+greatly transgressed the discretion which the heads of his party were
+desirous to maintain,--instead of conciliating without compromising, he
+irritated, galled, _and_ compromised.  The angry cheers of the opposite
+party were loudly re-echoed by the cheers of the more hot-headed on his
+own side.  The premier and some of his colleagues observed, however, a
+moody silence.  The premier once took a note, and then reseated himself,
+and drew his hat more closely over his brows.  It was an ominous sign for
+Lumley; but he was looking the Opposition in the face, and did not
+observe it.  He sat down in triumph; he had made a most effective and a
+most mischievous speech,--a combination extremely common.  The leader of
+the Opposition replied to him with bitter calmness; and when citing some
+of his sharp sentences, he turned to the premier, and asked, "Are these
+opinions those also of the noble lord?  I call for a reply,--I have a
+right to demand a reply," Lumley was startled to hear the tone in which
+his chief uttered the comprehensive and significant "_Hear, hear_!"
+
+At midnight the premier wound up the debate; his speech was short, and
+characterized by moderation.  He came to the question put to him.  The
+House was hushed,--you might have heard a pin drop; the Commoners behind
+the throne pressed forward with anxiety and eagerness on their
+countenances.
+
+"I am called upon," said the minister, "to declare if those sentiments,
+uttered by my noble friend, are mine also, as the chief adviser of the
+Crown.  My lords, in the heat of debate every word is not to be
+scrupulously weighed, and rigidly interpreted."  ("Hear, hear,"
+ironically from the Opposition, approvingly from the Treasury benches.)
+"My noble friend will doubtless be anxious to explain what he intended to
+say.  I hope, nay, I doubt not, that his explanation will be satisfactory
+to the noble lord, to the House, and to the country; but since I am
+called upon for a distinct reply to a distinct interrogatory, I will say
+at once, that if those sentiments be rightly interpreted by the noble
+lord who spoke last, those sentiments are not mine, and will never
+animate the conduct of any cabinet of which I am a member."
+(Long-continued cheering from the Opposition.)  "At the same time, I am
+convinced that my noble friend's meaning has not been rightly construed;
+and till I hear from himself to the contrary, I will venture to state
+what I think he designed to convey to your lordships."  Here the premier,
+with a tact that nobody could be duped by, but every one could admire,
+stripped Lord Vargrave's unlucky sentences of every syllable that could
+give offence to any one; and left the pointed epigrams and vehement
+denunciations a most harmless arrangement of commonplace.
+
+The House was much excited; there was a call for Lord Vargrave, and Lord
+Vargrave promptly rose.  It was one of those dilemmas out of which Lumley
+was just the man to extricate himself with address.  There was so much
+manly frankness in his manner, there was so much crafty subtlety in his
+mind!  He complained, with proud and honest bitterness, of the
+construction that had been forced upon his words by the Opposition.
+"If," he added (and no man knew better the rhetorical effect of the _tu
+quoque form of argument),--"if every sentence uttered by the noble lord
+opposite in his zeal for liberty had, in days now gone by, been construed
+with equal rigour, or perverted with equal ingenuity, that noble lord had
+long since been prosecuted as an incendiary, perhaps executed as a
+traitor!"  Vehement cheers from the ministerial benches; cries of
+"Order!" from the Opposition.  A military lord rose to order, and
+appealed to the Woolsack.
+
+Lumley sat down as if chafed at the interruption; he had produced the
+effect he had desired,--he had changed the public question at issue into
+a private quarrel; a new excitement was created; dust was thrown into the
+eyes of the House.  Several speakers rose to accommodate matters; and
+after half-an-hour of public time had been properly wasted, the noble
+lord on the one side and the noble lord on the other duly explained, paid
+each other the highest possible compliments, and Lumley was left to
+conclude his vindication, which now seemed a comparatively flat matter
+after the late explosion.  He completed his task so as to satisfy,
+apparently, all parties--for all parties were now tired of the thing, and
+wanted to go to bed.  But the next morning there were whispers about the
+town, articles in the different papers, evidently by authority,
+rejoicings among the Opposition, and a general feeling that though the
+Government might keep together that session, its dissensions would break
+out before the next meeting of parliament.
+
+As Lumley was wrapping himself in his cloak after this stormy debate, the
+Marquess of Raby--a peer of large possessions, and one who entirely
+agreed with Lumley's views--came up to him, and proposed that they should
+go home together in Lord Raby's carriage.  Vargrave willingly consented,
+and dismissed his own servants.
+
+"You did that admirably, my dear Vargrave!" said Lord Raby, when they
+were seated in the carriage.  "I quite coincide in all your sentiments; I
+declare my blood boiled when I heard ----- [the premier] appear half
+inclined to throw you over.  Your hit upon ----- was first-rate,--he will
+not get over it for a month; and you extricated yourself well."
+
+"I am glad you approve my conduct,--it comforts me," said Vargrave,
+feelingly; "at the same time I see all the consequences; but I can brave
+all for the sake of character and conscience."
+
+"I feel just as you do!" replied Lord Raby, with some warmth; "and if I
+thought that ----- meant to yield to this question, I should certainly
+oppose his administration."
+
+Vargrave shook his head, and held his tongue, which gave Lord Raby a high
+idea of his discretion.
+
+After a few more observations on political matters, Lord Raby invited
+Lumley to pay him a visit at his country-seat.
+
+"I am going to Knaresdean next Monday; you know we have races in the
+park, and really they are sometimes good sport; at all events, it is a
+very pretty sight.  There will be nothing in the Lords now,--the recess
+is just at hand; and if you can spare the time, Lady Raby and myself will
+be delighted to see you."
+
+"You may be sure, my dear lord, I cannot refuse your invitation; indeed,
+I intended to visit your county next week.  You know, perhaps, a Mr.
+Merton."
+
+"Charles Merton?--to be sure; most respectable man, capital fellow, the
+best parson in the county,--no cant, but thoroughly orthodox; he
+certainly keeps in his brother, who, though a very active member, is what
+I call a waverer on certain questions.  Have you known Merton long?"
+
+"I don't know him at all as yet; my acquaintance is with his wife and
+daughter,--a very fine girl, by the by.  My ward, Miss Cameron, is
+staying with them."
+
+"Miss Cameron!  Cameron--ah, I understand.  I think I have heard that--
+But gossip does not always tell the truth!"
+
+Lumley smiled significantly, and the carriage now stopped at his door.
+
+"Perhaps you will take a seat in our carriage on Monday?" said Lord Raby.
+
+"Monday?  Unhappily I am engaged; but on Tuesday your lordship may expect
+me."
+
+"Very well; the races begin on Wednesday: we shall have a full house.
+Good-night."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+  HOMUNCULI quanti sunt, cum recogito.*--PLAUTUS.
+
+  * "When I reflect, how great your little men are in their own
+    consideration!"
+
+IT is obvious that for many reasons we must be brief upon the political
+intrigue in which the scheming spirit of Lord Vargrave was employed.  It
+would, indeed, be scarcely possible to preserve the necessary medium
+between too plain a revelation and too complex a disguise.  It suffices,
+therefore, very shortly to repeat what the reader has already gathered
+from what has gone before; namely, that the question at issue was one
+which has happened often enough in all governments,--one on which the
+Cabinet was divided, and in which the weaker party was endeavouring to
+out-trick the stronger.
+
+The malcontents, foreseeing that sooner or later the head of the
+gathering must break, were again divided among themselves whether to
+resign, or to stay in and strive to force a resignation on their
+dissentient colleagues.  The richer and the more honest were for the
+former course; the poorer and the more dependent for the latter.  We have
+seen that the latter policy was that espoused and recommended by
+Vargrave, who, though not in the Cabinet, always contrived somehow or
+other to worm out its secrets.  At the same time he by no means rejected
+the other string to his bow.  If it were possible so to arrange and to
+strengthen his faction, that, by the _coup d'etat_ of a sudden
+resignation in a formidable body, the whole Government might be broken
+up, and a new one formed from among the resignees, it would obviously be
+the best plan.  But then Lord Vargrave was doubtful of his own strength,
+and fearful to play into the hands of his colleagues, who might be able
+to stand even better without himself and his allies, and by conciliating
+the Opposition take a step onward in political movement,--which might
+leave Vargrave placeless and powerless for years to come.
+
+He repented his own rashness in the recent debate, which was, indeed, a
+premature boldness that had sprung out of momentary excitement--for the
+craftiest orator must be indiscreet sometimes.  He spent the next few
+days in alternately seeking to explain away to one party, and to sound,
+unite, and consolidate the other.  His attempts in the one quarter were
+received by the premier with the cold politeness of an offended but
+careful statesman, who believed just as much as he chose, and preferred
+taking his own opportunity for a breach with a subordinate to risking any
+imprudence by the gratification of resentment.  In the last quarter, the
+penetrating adventurer saw that his ground was more insecure than he had
+anticipated.  He perceived in dismay and secret rage that many of those
+most loud in his favour while he was with the Government would desert him
+the soonest if thrown out.  Liked as a subordinate minister, he was
+viewed with very different eyes the moment it was a question whether,
+instead of cheering his sentiments, men should trust themselves to his
+guidance.  Some did not wish to displease the Government; others did not
+seek to weaken but to correct them.  One of his stanchest allies in the
+Commons was a candidate for a peerage; another suddenly remembered that
+he was second cousin to the premier.  Some laughed at the idea of a
+puppet premier in Lord Saxingham; others insinuated to Vargrave that he
+himself was not precisely of that standing in the country which would
+command respect to a new party, of which, if not the head, he would be
+the mouthpiece.  For themselves they knew, admired, and trusted him; but
+those d-----d country gentlemen--and the dull public!
+
+Alarmed, wearied, and disgusted, the schemer saw himself reduced to
+submission, for the present at least; and more than ever he felt the
+necessity of Evelyn's fortune to fall back upon, if the chance of the
+cards should rob him of his salary.  He was glad to escape for a
+breathing-while from the vexations and harassments that beset him, and
+looked forward with the eager interest of a sanguine and elastic
+mind--always escaping from one scheme to another--to his excursion into
+B-----shire.
+
+At the villa of Mr. Douce, Lord Vargrave met a young nobleman who had
+just succeeded to a property not only large and unencumbered, but of a
+nature to give him importance in the eyes of politicians.  Situated in a
+very small county, the estates of Lord Doltimore secured to his
+nomination at least one of the representatives, while a little village at
+the back of his pleasure-grounds constituted a borough, and returned two
+members to parliament.  Lord Doltimore, just returned from the Continent,
+had not even taken his seat in the Lords; and though his family
+connections, such as they were--and they were not very high, and by no
+means in the fashion--were ministerial, his own opinions were as yet
+unrevealed.
+
+To this young nobleman Lord Vargrave was singularly attentive.  He was
+well formed to attract men younger than himself, and he eminently
+succeeded in his designs upon Lord Doltimore's affection.
+
+His lordship was a small, pale man, with a very limited share of
+understanding, supercilious in manner, elaborate in dress, not
+ill-natured _au fond_, and with much of the English gentleman in his
+disposition,--that is, he was honourable in his ideas and actions,
+whenever his natural dulness and neglected education enabled him clearly
+to perceive (through the midst of prejudices, the delusions of others,
+and the false lights of the dissipated society in which he had lived)
+what was right and what wrong.  But his leading characteristics were
+vanity and conceit.  He had lived much with younger sons, cleverer than
+himself, who borrowed his money, sold him their horses, and won from him
+at cards.  In return they gave him all that species of flattery which
+young men _can_ give with so hearty an appearance of cordial admiration.
+"You certainly have the best horses in Paris.  You are really a devilish
+good fellow, Doltimore.  Oh, do you know, Doltimore, what little Desire
+says of you?  You have certainly turned the girl's head."
+
+This sort of adulation from one sex was not corrected by any great
+acerbity from the other.  Lord Doltimore at the age of twenty-two was a
+very good _parti_; and, whatever his other deficiencies, he had sense
+enough to perceive that he received much greater attention--whether from
+opera-dancers in search of a friend, or virtuous young ladies in search
+of a husband--than any of the companions, good-looking though many of
+them were, with whom he had habitually lived.
+
+"You will not long remain in town now the season is over?" said Vargrave,
+as after dinner he found himself, by the departure of the ladies, next to
+Lord Doltimore.
+
+"No, indeed; even in the season I don't much like London.  Paris has
+rather spoiled me for any other place."
+
+"Paris is certainly very charming; the ease of French life has a
+fascination that our formal ostentation wants.  Nevertheless, to a man
+like you, London must have many attractions."
+
+"Why, I have a good many friends here; but still, after Ascot, it rather
+bores me."
+
+"Have you any horses on the turf?"
+
+"Not yet; but Legard (you know Legard, perhaps,--a very good fellow) is
+anxious that I should try my luck.  I was very fortunate in the races at
+Paris--you know we have established racing there.  The French take to it
+quite naturally."
+
+"Ah, indeed! It is so long since I have been in Paris--most exciting
+amusement!  _A propos_ of races, I am going down to Lord Raby's
+to-morrow; I think I saw in one of the morning papers that you had very
+largely backed a horse entered at Knaresdean."
+
+"Yes, Thunderer--I think of buying Thunderer.  Legard--Colonel Legard (he
+was in the Guards, but he sold out)--is a good judge, and recommends the
+purchase.  How very odd that you too should be going to Knaresdean!"
+
+"Odd, indeed, but most lucky!  We can go together, if you are not better
+engaged."
+
+Lord Doltimore coloured and hesitated.  On the one hand he was a little
+afraid of being alone with so clever a man; on the other hand, it was an
+honour,--it was something for him to talk of to Legard.  Nevertheless,
+the shyness got the better of the vanity.  He excused himself; he feared
+he was engaged to take down Legard.
+
+Lumley smiled, and changed the conversation; and so agreeable did he make
+himself, that when the party broke up, and Lumley had just shaken hands
+with his host, Doltimore came to him, and said in a little confusion,--
+
+"I think I can put off Legard--if--if you--"
+
+"That's delightful!  What time shall we start?--need not get down much
+before dinner--one o'clock?"
+
+"Oh, yes! not too long before dinner; one o'clock will be a little too
+early."
+
+"Two then.  Where are you staying?"
+
+"At Fenton's."
+
+"I will call for you.  Good-night!  I long to see Thunderer!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+  LA sante de l'ame n'est pas plus assuree que celle du corps;
+  et quoique l'on paraisse eloigne des passions, on n'est pas
+  moins en danger de s'y laisser emporter que de tomber malade
+  quand on se porte bien.*--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.
+
+  * "The health of the soul is not more sure than that of the
+    body; and although we may appear free from passions, there
+    is not the less danger of their attack than of falling sick
+    at the moment we are well."
+
+IN spite of the efforts of Maltravers to shun all occasions of meeting
+Evelyn, they were necessarily sometimes thrown together in the round of
+provincial hospitalities; and certainly, if either Mr. Merton or Caroline
+(the shrewder observer of the two) had ever formed any suspicion that
+Evelyn had made a conquest of Maltravers, his manner at such times
+effectually removed it.
+
+Maltravers was a man to feel deeply, but no longer a boy to yield to
+every tempting impulse.  I have said that FORTITUDE was his favourite
+virtue, but fortitude is the virtue of great and rare occasions; there
+was another, equally hard-favoured and unshowy, which he took as the
+staple of active and every-day duties, and that virtue was JUSTICE.  Now,
+in earlier life, he had been enamoured of the conventional Florimel that
+we call HONOUR,--a shifting and shadowy phantom, that is but the reflex
+of the opinion of the time and clime.  But justice has in it something
+permanent and solid; and out of justice arises the real not the false
+honour.
+
+"Honour!" said Maltravers,--"honour is to justice as the flower to the
+plant,--its efflorescence, its bloom, its consummation!  But honour that
+does not spring from justice is but a piece of painted rag, an artificial
+rose, which the men-milliners of society would palm upon us as more
+natural than the true."
+
+This principle of justice Maltravers sought to carry out in all
+things--not, perhaps, with constant success; for what practice can always
+embody theory?--but still, at least his endeavour at success was
+constant.  This, perhaps, it was which had ever kept him from the
+excesses to which exuberant and liberal natures are prone, from the
+extravagances of pseudo-genius.
+
+"No man, for instance," he was wont to say, "can be embarrassed in his
+own circumstances, and not cause embarrassment to others.  Without
+economy, who can be just?  And what are charity, generosity, but the
+poetry and the beauty of justice?"
+
+No man ever asked Maltravers twice for a just debt; and no man ever once
+asked him to fulfil a promise.  You felt that, come what would, you might
+rely upon his word.  To him might have been applied the witty eulogium
+passed by Johnson upon a certain nobleman: "If he had promised you an
+acorn, and the acorn season failed in England, he would have sent to
+Norway for one!"
+
+It was not, therefore, the mere Norman and chivalrous spirit of honour,
+which he had worshipped in youth as a part of the Beautiful and the
+Becoming, but which in youth had yielded to temptation, as a _sentiment_
+ever must yield to a passion, but it was the more hard, stubborn, and
+reflective _principle_, which was the later growth of deeper and nobler
+wisdom, that regulated the conduct of Maltravers in this crisis of his
+life.  Certain it is, that he had never but once loved as he loved
+Evelyn; and yet that he never yielded so little to the passion.
+
+"If engaged to another," thought he, "that engagement it is not for a
+third person to attempt to dissolve.  I am the last to form a right
+judgment of the strength or weakness of the bonds which unite her to
+Vargrave, for my emotions would prejudice me despite myself.  I may fancy
+that her betrothed is not worthy of her,--but that is for her to decide.
+While the bond lasts, who can be justified in tempting her to break it?"
+
+Agreeably to these notions, which the world may, perhaps, consider
+overstrained, whenever Maltravers met Evelyn, he intrenched himself in a
+rigid and almost a chilling formality.  How difficult this was with one
+so simple and ingenuous!  Poor Evelyn! she thought she had offended him;
+she longed to ask him her offence,--perhaps, in her desire to rouse his
+genius into exertion, she had touched some secret sore, some latent wound
+of the memory?  She recalled all their conversations again and again.
+Ah, why could they not be renewed?  Upon her fancy and her thoughts
+Maltravers had made an impression not to be obliterated.  She wrote more
+frequently than ever to Lady Vargrave, and the name of Maltravers was
+found in every page of her correspondence.
+
+One evening, at the house of a neighbour, Miss Cameron (with the Mertons)
+entered the room almost in the same instant as Maltravers.  The party was
+small, and so few had yet arrived that it was impossible for Maltravers,
+without marked rudeness, to avoid his friends from the rectory; and Mrs.
+Merton, placing herself next to Evelyn, graciously motioned to Maltravers
+to occupy the third vacant seat on the sofa, of which she filled the
+centre.
+
+"We grudge all your improvements, Mr. Maltravers, since they cost us your
+society.  But we know that our dull circle must seem tame to one who has
+seen so much.  However, we expect to offer you an inducement soon in Lord
+Vargrave.  What a lively, agreeable person he is!"
+
+Maltravers raised his eyes to Evelyn, calmly and penetratingly, at the
+latter part of this speech.  He observed that she turned pale, and sighed
+involuntarily.
+
+"He had great spirits when I knew him," said he; "and he had then less
+cause to make him happy."
+
+Mrs. Merton smiled, and turned rather pointedly towards Evelyn.
+
+Maltravers continued, "I never met the late lord.  He had none of the
+vivacity of his nephew, I believe."
+
+"I have heard that he was very severe," said Mrs. Merton, lifting her
+glass towards a party that had just entered.
+
+"Severe!" exclaimed Evelyn.  "Ah, if you could have known him! the
+kindest, the most indulgent--no one ever loved me as he did."  She
+paused, for she felt her lip quiver.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear," said Mrs. Merton, coolly.  Mrs. Merton had
+no idea of the pain inflicted by _treading upon a feeling_.  Maltravers
+was touched, and Mrs. Merton went on.  "No wonder he was kind to you,
+Evelyn,--a brute would be that; but he was generally considered a stern
+man."
+
+"I never saw a stern look, I never heard a harsh word; nay, I do not
+remember that he ever even used the word 'command,'" said Evelyn, almost
+angrily.
+
+Mrs. Merton was about to reply, when suddenly seeing a lady whose little
+girl had been ill of the measles, her motherly thoughts flowed into a new
+channel, and she fluttered away in that sympathy which unites all the
+heads of a growing family.  Evelyn and Maltravers were left alone.
+
+"You do not remember your father, I believe?" said Maltravers.
+
+"No father but Lord Vargrave; while he lived, I never knew the loss of
+one."
+
+"Does your mother resemble you?"
+
+"Ah, I wish I could think so; it is the sweetest countenance!"
+
+"Have you no picture of her?"
+
+"None; she would never consent to sit."
+
+"Your father was a Cameron; I have known some of that name."
+
+"No relation of ours: my mother says we have none living."
+
+"And have we no chance of seeing Lady Vargrave in B-----shire?"
+
+"She never leaves home; but I hope to return soon to Brook-Green."
+
+Maltravers sighed, and the conversation took a new turn.
+
+"I have to thank you for the books you so kindly sent; I ought to have
+returned them ere this," said Evelyn.
+
+"I have no use for them.  Poetry has lost its charm for me,--especially
+that species of poetry which unites with the method and symmetry
+something of the coldness of Art.  How did you like Alfieri?"
+
+"His language is a kind of Spartan French," answered Evelyn, in one of
+those happy expressions which every now and then showed the quickness of
+her natural talent.
+
+"Yes," said Maltravers, smiling, "the criticism is acute.  Poor Alfieri!
+in his wild life and his stormy passions he threw out all the redundance
+of his genius; and his poetry is but the representative of his thoughts,
+not his emotions.  Happier the man of genius who lives upon his reason,
+and wastes feeling only on his verse!"
+
+"You do not think that we _waste_ feeling upon human beings?" said
+Evelyn, with a pretty laugh.
+
+"Ask me that question when you have reached my years, and can look upon
+fields on which you have lavished your warmest hopes, your noblest
+aspirations, your tenderest affections, and see the soil all profitless
+and barren. 'Set not your heart on the things of earth,' saith the
+Preacher."
+
+Evelyn was affected by the tone, the words, and the melancholy
+countenance of the speaker.  "You, of all men, ought not to think thus,"
+said she, with a sweet eagerness; "you who have done so much to awaken
+and to soften the heart in others; you--who--" she stopped short, and
+added, more gravely.  "Ah, Mr. Maltravers, I cannot reason with you, but
+I can hope you will refute your own philosophy."
+
+"Were your wish fulfilled," answered Maltravers, almost with sternness,
+and with an expression of great pain in his compressed lips, "I should
+have to thank you for much misery."  He rose abruptly, and turned away.
+
+"How have I offended him?" thought Evelyn, sorrowfully; "I never speak
+but to wound him.  What _have_ I done?"
+
+She could have wished, in her simple kindness, to follow him, and make
+peace; but he was now in a coterie of strangers; and shortly afterwards
+he left the room, and she did not see him again for weeks.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+  NIHIL est aliud magnum quam multa minuta.*--VETUS. AUCTOR.
+
+  * "There is nothing so great as the collection of the minute."
+
+AN anxious event disturbed the smooth current of cheerful life at Merton
+Rectory.  One morning when Evelyn came down, she missed little Sophy, who
+had contrived to establish for herself the undisputed privilege of a
+stool beside Miss Cameron at breakfast.  Mrs. Merton appeared with a
+graver face than usual.  Sophy was unwell, was feverish; the scarlet
+fever had been in the neighbourhood.  Mrs. Merton was very uneasy.
+
+"It is the more unlucky, Caroline," added the mother, turning to Miss
+Merton, "because to-morrow, you know, we were to have spent a few days at
+Knaresdean to see the races.  If poor Sophy does not get better, I fear
+you and Miss Cameron must go without me.  I can send to Mrs. Hare to be
+your chaperon; she would be delighted."
+
+"Poor Sophy!" said Caroline; "I am very sorry to hear she is unwell; but
+I think Taylor would take great care of her; you surely need not stay,
+unless she is much worse."
+
+Mrs. Merton, who, tame as she seemed, was a fond and attentive mother,
+shook her head and said nothing; but Sophy was much worse before noon.
+The doctor was sent for, and pronounced it to be the scarlet fever.
+
+It was now necessary to guard against the infection.  Caroline had had
+the complaint, and she willingly shared in her mother's watch of love for
+two or three hours.  Mrs. Merton gave up the party.  Mrs. Hare (the wife
+of a rich squire in the neighbourhood) was written to, and that lady
+willingly agreed to take charge of Caroline and her friend.
+
+Sophy had been left asleep.  When Mrs. Merton returned to her bed, she
+found Evelyn quietly stationed there.  This alarmed her, for Evelyn had
+never had the scarlet fever, and had been forbidden the sick-room.  But
+poor little Sophy had waked and querulously asked for her dear Evy; and
+Evy, who had been hovering round the room, heard the inquiry from the
+garrulous nurse, and come in she would; and the child gazed at her so
+beseechingly, when Mrs. Merton entered, and said so piteously, "Don't
+take Evy away," that Evelyn stoutly declared that she was not the least
+afraid of infection, and stay she must.  Nay, her share in the nursing
+would be the more necessary since Caroline was to go to Knaresdean the
+next day.
+
+"But you go too, my dear Miss Cameron?"
+
+"Indeed I could not.  I don't care for races, I never wished to go, I
+would much sooner have stayed; and I am sure Sophy will not get well
+without me,--will you, dear?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes; if I'm to keep you from the nice races, I should be worse
+if I thought that."
+
+"But I don't like the nice races, Sophy, as your sister Carry does; she
+must go,--they can't do without her; but nobody knows me, so I shall not
+be missed."
+
+"I can't hear of such a thing," said Mrs. Merton, with tears in her eyes;
+and Evelyn said no more then.  But the next morning Sophy was still
+worse, and the mother was too anxious and too sad to think more of
+ceremony and politeness, so Evelyn stayed.
+
+A momentary pang shot across Evelyn's breast when all was settled; but
+she suppressed the sigh which accompanied the thought that she had lost
+the only opportunity she might have for weeks of seeing Maltravers.  To
+that chance she had indeed looked forward with interest and timid
+pleasure.  The chance was lost; but why should it vex her,--what was he
+to her?
+
+Caroline's heart smote her, as she came into the room in her lilac bonnet
+and new dress; and little Sophy, turning on her eyes which, though
+languid, still expressed a child's pleasure at the sight of finery,
+exclaimed, "How nice and pretty you look, Carry!  Do take Evy with
+you,--Evy looks pretty too!"
+
+Caroline kissed the child in silence, and paused irresolute; glanced at
+her dress, and then at Evelyn, who smiled on her without a thought of
+envy; and she had half a mind to stay too, when her mother entered with a
+letter from Lord Vargrave.  It was short: he should be at the Knaresdean
+races, hoped to meet them there, and accompany them home.  This
+information re-decided Caroline, while it rewarded Evelyn.  In a few
+minutes more, Mrs. Hare arrived; and Caroline, glad to escape, perhaps,
+her own compunction, hurried into the carriage, with a hasty "God bless
+you all!  Don't fret--I'm sure she will be well to-morrow; and mind,
+Evelyn, you don't catch the fever!"  Mr. Merton looked grave and sighed,
+as he handed her into the carriage; but when, seated there, she turned
+round and kissed her hand at him, she looked so handsome and
+distinguished, that a sentiment of paternal pride smoothed down his
+vexation at her want of feeling.  He himself gave up the visit; but a
+little time after, when Sophy fell into a tranquil sleep, he thought he
+might venture to canter across the country to the race-ground, and return
+to dinner.
+
+
+
+Days--nay, a whole week passed, the races were over, but Caroline had not
+returned.  Meanwhile, Sophy's fever left her; she could quit her bed, her
+room; she could come downstairs now, and the family was happy.  It is
+astonishing how the least ailment in those little things stops the wheels
+of domestic life!  Evelyn fortunately had not caught the fever: she was
+pale, and somewhat reduced by fatigue and confinement; but she was amply
+repaid by the mother's swimming look of quiet gratitude, the father's
+pressure of the hand, Sophy's recovery, and her own good heart.  They had
+heard twice from Caroline, putting off her return: Lady Raby was so kind,
+she could not get away till the party broke up; she was so glad to hear
+such an account of Sophy.
+
+Lord Vargrave had not yet arrived at the rectory to stay; but he had
+twice ridden over, and remained there some hours.  He exerted himself to
+the utmost to please Evelyn; and she--who, deceived by his manners, and
+influenced by the recollections of long and familiar acquaintance, was
+blinded to his real character--reproached herself more bitterly than ever
+for her repugnance to his suit and her ungrateful hesitation to obey the
+wishes of her stepfather.
+
+To the Mertons, Lumley spoke with good-natured praise of Caroline; she
+was so much admired; she was the beauty at Knaresdean.  A certain young
+friend of his, Lord Doltimore, was evidently smitten.  The parents
+thought much over the ideas conjured up by that last sentence.
+
+One morning, the garrulous Mrs. Hare, the gossip of the neighbourhood,
+called at the rectory; she had returned, two days before, from
+Knaresdean; and she, too, had her tale to tell of Caroline's conquests.
+
+"I assure you, my dear Mrs. Merton, if we had not all known that his
+heart was pre-occupied, we should have thought that Lord Vargrave was her
+warmest admirer.  Most charming man, Lord Vargrave! but as for Lord
+Doltimore, it was quite a flirtation.  Excuse _me_: no scandal, you know,
+ha, ha! a fine young man, but stiff and reserved,--not the fascination of
+Lord Vargrave."
+
+"Does Lord Raby return to town, or is he now at Knaresdean for the
+autumn?"
+
+"He goes on Friday, I believe: very few of the guests are left now.  Lady
+A. and Lord B., and Lord Vargrave and your daughter, and Mr. Legard and
+Lord Doltimore, and Mrs. and the Misses Cipher; all the rest went the
+same day I did."
+
+"Indeed!" said Mrs. Merton, in some surprise.
+
+"Ah, I read your thoughts: you wonder that Miss Caroline has not come
+back,--is not that it?  But perhaps Lord Doltimore--ha, ha!--no scandal
+now--do excuse _me_!"
+
+"Was Mr. Maltravers at Knaresdean?" asked Mrs. Merton, anxious to change
+the subject, and unprepared with any other question.  Evelyn was cutting
+out a paper horse for Sophy, who--all her high spirits flown--was lying
+on the sofa, and wistfully following her fairy fingers.  "Naughty Evy,
+you have cut off the horse's head!"
+
+"Mr. Maltravers?  No, I think not; no, he was not there.  Lord Raby asked
+him pointedly to come, and was, I know, much disappointed that he did
+not.  But _a propos_ of Mr. Maltravers: I met him not a quarter of an
+hour ago, this morning, as I was coming to you.  You know we have leave
+to come through his park, and as I was in the park at the time, I stopped
+the carriage to speak to him.  I told him that I was coming here, and
+that you had had the scarlet fever in the house, which was the reason you
+had not gone to the races; and he turned quite pale, and seemed so
+alarmed.  I said we were all afraid that Miss Cameron should catch it;
+and, excuse me--ah, ah!--no scandal, I hope--but--"
+
+"Mr. Maltravers," said the butler, throwing open the door.  Maltravers
+entered with a quick and even a hurried step.  He stopped short when he
+saw Evelyn; and his whole countenance was instantly lightened up by a
+joyous expression, which as suddenly died away.
+
+"This is kind, indeed," said Mrs. Merton; "it is so long since we have
+seen you."
+
+"I have been very much occupied," muttered Maltravers, almost inaudibly,
+and seated himself next Evelyn.  "I only just heard--that--that you had
+sickness in the house.  Miss Cameron, you look pale--you--you have not
+suffered, I hope?"
+
+"No, I am quite well," said Evelyn, with a smile; and she felt happy that
+her friend was kind to her once more.
+
+"It's only me, Mr. Ernest," said Sophy; "you have forgot me."
+
+Maltravers hastened to vindicate himself from the charge, and Sophy and
+he were soon made excellent friends again.  Mrs. Hare, whom surprise at
+this sudden meeting had hitherto silenced, and who longed to shape into
+elegant periphrasis the common adage, "Talk of," etc., now once more
+opened her budget.  She tattled on, first to one, then to the other, then
+to all, till she had tattled herself out of breath; and then the orthodox
+half-hour was expired, and the bell was rung, and the carriage ordered,
+and Mrs. Hare rose to depart.
+
+"Do just come to the door, Mrs. Merton," said she, "and look at my
+pony-phaeton, it is so pretty; Lady Raby admires it so much; you ought to
+have just such another."  As she spoke, she favoured Mrs. Merton with a
+significant glance, that said, as plainly as glance could say, "I have
+something to communicate."  Mrs. Merton took the hint, and followed the
+good lady out of the room.
+
+"Do you know, my dear Mrs. Merton," said Mrs. Hare, in a whisper, when
+they were safe in the billiard-room, that interposed between the
+apartment they had left and the hall; "do you know whether Lord Vargrave
+and Mr. Maltravers are very good friends?"
+
+"No, indeed; why do you ask?"
+
+"Oh, because when I was speaking to Lord Vargrave about him, he shook his
+head; and really I don't remember what his lordship said, but he seemed
+to speak as if there was a little soreness.  And then he inquired very
+anxiously if Mr. Maltravers was much at the rectory; and looked
+discomposed when he found you were such near neighbours.  You'll excuse
+me, you know--ha, ha! but we're such old friends!--and if Lord Vargrave
+is coming to stay here, it might be unpleasant to meet--you'll excuse
+_me_.  I took the liberty to tell him he need not be jealous of Mr.
+Maltravers--ha, ha!--not a marrying man at all.  But I did think Miss
+Caroline was the attraction--you'll excuse me--no scandal--ha, ha!  But,
+after all, Lord Doltimore must be the man.  Well, good morning, I thought
+I'd just give you this hint.  Is not the phaeton pretty?  Kind
+compliments to Mr. Merton."
+
+And the lady drove off.
+
+During this confabulation, Maltravers and Evelyn were left alone with
+Sophy.  Maltravers had continued to lean over the child, and appeared
+listening to her prattle; while Evelyn, having risen to shake hands with
+Mrs. Hare, did not reseat herself, but went to the window, and busied
+herself with a flower-stand in the recess.
+
+"Oh, very fine, Mr. Ernest," said Sophy (always pronouncing that proper
+name as if it ended in _th_), "you care very much for us to stay away so
+long,--don't he, Evy?  I've a great mind not to speak to you, sir, that I
+have!"
+
+"That would be too heavy a punishment, Miss Sophy, only, luckily, it
+would punish yourself; you could not live without talking--talk--talk
+--talk!"
+
+"But I might never have talked more, Mr. Ernest, if Mamma and pretty Evy
+had not been so kind to me;" and the child shook her head mournfully, as
+if she had _pitie de soi-meme_.  "But you won't stay away so long again,
+will you?  Sophy play to-morrow; come to-morrow, and swing Sophy; no nice
+swinging since you've been gone."
+
+While Sophy spoke Evelyn turned half round, as if to hear Maltravers
+answer; he hesitated, and Evelyn spoke.
+
+"You must not tease Mr. Maltravers so; Mr. Maltravers has too much to do
+to come to us."
+
+Now this was a very pettish speech in Evelyn, and her cheek glowed while
+she spoke; but an arch, provoking smile was on her lips.
+
+"It can be a privation only to me, Miss Cameron," said Maltravers,
+rising, and attempting in vain to resist the impulse that drew him
+towards the window.  The reproach in her tone and words at once pained
+and delighted him; and then this scene, the suffering child, brought back
+to him his first interview with Evelyn herself.  He forgot, for the
+moment, the lapse of time, the new ties she had formed, his own
+resolutions.
+
+"That is a bad compliment to us," answered Evelyn, ingenuously; "do you
+think we are so little worthy your society as not to value it?  But,
+perhaps" (she added, sinking her voice) "perhaps you have been
+offended--perhaps I--I--said--something that--that hurt you!"
+
+"You!" repeated Maltravers, with emotion.
+
+Sophy, who had been attentively listening, here put in, "Shake hands and
+make it up with Evy--you've been quarrelling, naughty Ernest!"
+
+Evelyn laughed, and tossed back her sunny ringlets.  "I think Sophy is
+right," said she, with enchanting simplicity; "let us make it up," and
+she held out her hand to Maltravers.
+
+Maltravers pressed the fair hand to his lips.  "Alas!" said he, affected
+with various feelings which gave a tremor to his deep voice, "your only
+fault is that your society makes me discontented with my solitary home;
+and as solitude must be my fate in life, I seek to inure myself to it
+betimes."
+
+Here--whether opportunely or not, it is for the reader to decide--Mrs.
+Merton returned to the room.
+
+She apologized for her absence, talked of Mrs. Hare and the little Master
+Hares,--fine boys, but noisy; and then she asked Maltravers if he had
+seen Lord Vargrave since his lordship had been in the county.  Maltravers
+replied, with coldness, that he had not had that honour: that Vargrave
+had called on him in his way from the rectory the other day, but that he
+was from home, and that he had not seen him for some years.
+
+"He is a person of most prepossessing manners," said Mrs. Merton.
+
+"Certainly,--most prepossessing."
+
+"And very clever."
+
+"He has great talents."
+
+"He seems most amiable."
+
+Maltravers bowed, and glanced towards Evelyn, whose face, however, was
+turned from him.
+
+The turn the conversation had taken was painful to the visitor, and he
+rose to depart.
+
+"Perhaps," said Mrs. Merton, "you will meet Lord Vargrave at dinner
+to-morrow; he will stay with us a few days,--as long as he can be
+spared."
+
+Maltravers meet Lord Vargrave! the happy Vargrave, the betrothed to
+Evelyn!  Maltravers witness the familiar rights, the enchanting
+privileges, accorded to another! and that other one whom he could not
+believe worthy of Evelyn!  He writhed at the picture the invitation
+conjured up.
+
+"You are very kind, my dear Mrs. Merton, but I expect a visitor at
+Burleigh,--an old and dear friend, Mr. Cleveland."
+
+"Mr. Cleveland!--we shall be delighted to see him too.  We knew him many
+years ago, during your minority, when he used to visit Burleigh two or
+three times a year."
+
+"He is changed since then; he is often an invalid.  I fear I cannot
+answer for him; but he will call as soon as he arrives, and apologize for
+himself."
+
+Maltravers then hastily took his departure.  He would not trust himself
+to do more than bow distantly to Evelyn; she looked at him reproachfully.
+So, then, it was really premeditated and resolved upon--his absence from
+the rectory; and why?  She was grieved, she was offended--but more
+grieved than offended,--perhaps because esteem, interest, admiration, are
+more tolerant and charitable than love.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  _Arethusa_.  'Tis well, my lord, your courting of ladies.
+
+    .  .  .  .  .  .
+
+  _Claremont_.  Sure this lady has a good turn done her against
+   her will.
+
+  PHILASTER.
+
+In the breakfast-room at Knaresdean, the same day, and almost at the same
+hour, in which occurred the scene and conversation at the rectory
+recorded in our last chapter, sat Lord Vargrave and Caroline alone.  The
+party had dispersed, as was usual, at noon.  They heard at a distance the
+sounds of the billiard-balls.  Lord Doltimore was playing with Colonel
+Legard, one of the best players in Europe, but who, fortunately for
+Doltimore, had of late made it a rule never to play for money.  Mrs. and
+the Misses Cipher, and most of the guests, were in the billiard-room
+looking on.  Lady Raby was writing letters, and Lord Raby riding over his
+home farm.  Caroline and Lumley had been for some time in close and
+earnest conversation.  Miss Merton was seated in a large armchair, much
+moved, with her handkerchief to her eyes.  Lord Vargrave, with his back
+to the chimney-piece, was bending down and speaking in a very low voice,
+while his quick eye glanced, ever and anon, from the lady's countenance
+to the windows, to the doors, to be prepared against any interruption.
+
+"No, my dear friend," said he, "believe me that I am sincere.  My
+feelings for you are, indeed, such as no words can paint."
+
+"Then why--"
+
+"Why wish you wedded to another; why wed another myself?  Caroline, I
+have often before explained to you that we are in this the victims of an
+inevitable fate.  It is absolutely necessary that I should wed Miss
+Cameron.  I never deceived you from the first.  I should have loved
+her,--my heart would have accompanied my hand, but for your too seductive
+beauty, your superior mind!--yes, Caroline, your mind attracted me more
+than your beauty.  Your mind seemed kindred to my own,--inspired with the
+proper and wise ambition which regards the fools of the world as puppets,
+as counters, as chessmen.  For myself, a very angel from heaven could not
+make me give up the great game of life, yield to my enemies, slip from
+the ladder, unravel the web I have woven!  Share my heart, my friendship,
+my schemes! this is the true and dignified affection that should exist
+between minds like ours; all the rest is the prejudice of children."
+
+"Vargrave, I am ambitious, worldly: I own it; but I could give up all for
+you!"
+
+"You think so, for you do not know the sacrifice.  You see me now
+apparently rich, in power, courted; and this fate you are willing to
+share; and this fate you _should_ share, were it the real one I could
+bestow on you.  But reverse the medal.  Deprived of office, fortune gone,
+debts pressing, destitution notorious, the ridicule of embarrassments,
+the disrepute attached to poverty and defeated ambition, an exile in some
+foreign town on the poor pension to which alone I should be entitled, a
+mendicant on the public purse; and that, too, so eaten into by demands
+and debts, that there is not a grocer in the next market-town who would
+envy the income of the retired minister!  Retire, fallen, despised, in
+the prime of life, in the zenith of my hopes!  Suppose that I could bear
+this for myself, could I bear it for you?  _You_, born to be the ornament
+of courts!  And you could you see me thus--life embittered, career
+lost--and feel, generous as you are, that your love had entailed on me,
+on us both, on our children, this miserable lot! Impossible, Caroline! we
+are too wise for such romance.  It is not because we love too little, but
+because our love is worthy of each other, that we disdain to make love a
+curse!  We cannot wrestle against the world, but we may shake hands with
+it, and worm the miser out of its treasures.  My heart must be ever
+yours; my hand must be Miss Cameron's.  Money I must have,--my whole
+career depends on it.  It is literally with me the highwayman's
+choice,--money or life."  Vargrave paused, and took Caroline's hand.
+
+"I cannot reason with you," said she; "you know the strange empire you
+have obtained over me, and, certainly, in spite of all that has passed
+(and Caroline turned pale) I could bear anything rather than that you
+should hereafter reproach me for selfish disregard of your
+interests,--your just ambition."
+
+"My noble friend!  I do not say that I shall not feel a deep and sharp
+pang at seeing you wed another; but I shall be consoled by the thought
+that I have assisted to procure for you a station worthier of your merits
+than that which I can offer.  Lord Doltimore is rich,--you will teach him
+to employ his riches well; he is weak,--your intellect will govern him;
+he is in love,--your beauty will suffice to preserve his regard.  Ah, we
+shall be dear friends to the last!"
+
+More--but to the same effect--did this able and crafty villain continue
+to address to Caroline, whom he alternately soothed, irritated,
+flattered, and revolted.  Love him she certainly did, as far as love in
+her could extend; but perhaps his rank, his reputation, had served to win
+her affection; and; not knowing his embarrassments, she had encouraged a
+worldly hope that if Evelyn should reject his hand it might be offered to
+her.  Under this impression she had trifled, she had coquetted, she had
+played with the serpent till it had coiled around her; and she could not
+escape its fascination and its folds.  She was sincere,--she could have
+resigned much for Lord Vargrave; but his picture startled and appalled
+her.  For difficulties in a palace she might be prepared; perhaps even
+for some privations in a _cottage ornee_,--but certainly not for penury
+in a lodging-house!  She listened by degrees with more attention to
+Vargrave's description of the power and homage that would be hers if she
+could secure Lord Doltimore; she listened, and was in part consoled.  But
+the thought of Evelyn again crossed her; and perhaps with natural
+jealousy was mingled some compunction at the fate to which Lord Vargrave
+thus coldly appeared to condemn one so lovely and so innocent.
+
+"But do not, Vargrave," she said, "do not be too sanguine; Evelyn may
+reject you.  She does not see you with my eyes; it is only a sense of
+honour that, as yet, forbids her openly to refuse the fulfilment of an
+engagement from which I know that she shrinks; and if she does refuse,
+and you be free,--and I another's--"
+
+"Even in that case," interrupted Vargrave, "I must turn to the Golden
+Idol; my rank and name must buy me an heiress, if not so endowed as
+Evelyn, wealthy enough, at least, to take from my wheels the drag-chain
+of disreputable debt.  But Evelyn--I will not doubt of her! her heart is
+still unoccupied!"
+
+"True; as yet her affections are not engaged."
+
+"And this Maltravers--she is romantic, I fancy--did he seem captivated by
+her beauty or her fortune?"
+
+"No, indeed, I think not; he has been very little with us of late.  He
+talked to her more as to a child,--there is a disparity of years."
+
+"I am many years older than Maltravers," muttered Vargrave, moodily.
+
+"You--but your _manner_ is livelier, and, therefore, younger!"
+
+"Fair flatterer!  Maltravers does not love me: I fear his report of my
+character--"
+
+"I never heard him speak of you, Vargrave; and I will do Evelyn the
+justice to say, that precisely as she does not love she esteems and
+respects you."
+
+"Esteems! respects! these are the feelings for a prudent Hymen," said
+Vargrave, with a smile.  "But, hark! I don't hear the billiard-balls;
+they may find us here,--we had better separate."
+
+
+
+Lord Vargrave lounged into the billiard-room.  The young men had just
+finished playing, and were about to visit Thunderer, who had won the
+race, and was now the property of Lord Doltimore.
+
+Vargrave accompanied them to the stables; and after concealing his
+ignorance of horseflesh as well as he could, beneath a profusion of
+compliments on fore-hand, hind-quarters, breeding, bone, substance, and
+famous points, he contrived to draw Doltimore into the courtyard, while
+Colonel Legard remained in converse high with the head groom.
+
+"Doltimore, I leave Knaresdean to-morrow; you go to London, I suppose?
+Will you take a little packet for me to the Home Office?"
+
+"Certainly, when I go; but I think of staying a few days with Legard's
+uncle--the old admiral; he has a hunting-box in the neighbourhood, and
+has asked us both over."
+
+"Oh, I can detect the attraction; but certainly it is a fair one, the
+handsomest girl in the county; pity she has no money."
+
+"I don't care for money," said Lord Doltimore, colouring, and settling
+his chin in his neckcloth; "but you are mistaken; I have no thoughts that
+way.  Miss Merton is a very fine girl, but I doubt much if she cares for
+me.  I would never marry any woman who was not very much in love with
+me."  And Lord Doltimore laughed rather foolishly.
+
+"You are more modest than clear-sighted," said Vargrave, smiling; "but
+mark my words,--I predict that the beauty of next season will be a
+certain Caroline Lady Doltimore."
+
+The conversation dropped.
+
+
+
+"I think that will be settled well," said Vargrave to himself, as he was
+dressing for dinner.  "Caroline will manage Doltimore, and I shall manage
+one vote in the Lords and three in the Commons.  I have already talked
+him into proper politics; a trifle all this, to be sure: but I had
+nothing else to amuse me, and one must never lose an occasion.  Besides,
+Doltimore is rich, and rich friends are always useful.  I have Caroline,
+too, in my power, and she may be of service with respect to this Evelyn,
+who, instead of loving, I half hate: she has crossed my path, robbed me
+of wealth; and now, if she does refuse me--but no, I will not think of
+_that_!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+  OUT of our reach the gods have laid
+    Of time to come the event;
+  And laugh to see the fools afraid
+    Of what the knaves invent.--SEDLEY, _from Lycophron_.
+
+THE next day Caroline returned to the rectory in Lady Raby's carriage;
+and two hours after her arrival came Lord Vargrave.  Mr. Merton had
+secured the principal persons in the neighbourhood to meet a guest so
+distinguished, and Lord Vargrave, bent on shining in the eyes of Evelyn,
+charmed all with his affability and wit.  Evelyn, he thought, seemed pale
+and dispirited.  He pertinaciously devoted himself to her all the
+evening.  Her ripening understanding was better able than heretofore to
+appreciate his abilities; yet, inwardly, she drew comparisons between his
+conversation and that of Maltravers, not to the advantage of the former.
+There was much that amused but nothing that interested in Lord Vargrave's
+fluent ease.  When he attempted sentiment, the vein was hard and hollow;
+he was only at home on worldly topics.  Caroline's spirits were, as usual
+in society, high, but her laugh seemed forced, and her eye absent.
+
+The next day, after breakfast, Lord Vargrave walked alone to Burleigh.
+As he crossed the copse that bordered the park, a large Persian greyhound
+sprang towards him, barking loudly; and, lifting his eyes, he perceived
+the form of a man walking slowly along one of the paths that intersected
+the wood.  He recognized Maltravers.  They had not till then encountered
+since their meeting a few weeks before Florence's death; and a pang of
+conscience came across the schemer's cold heart.  Years rolled away from
+the past; he recalled the young, generous, ardent man, whom, ere the
+character or career of either had been developed, he had called his
+friend.  He remembered their wild adventures and gay follies, in climes
+where they had been all in all to each other; and the beardless boy,
+whose heart and purse were ever open to him, and to whose very errors of
+youth and inexperienced passion he, the elder and the wiser, had led and
+tempted, rose before him in contrast to the grave and melancholy air of
+the battled and solitary man, who now slowly approached him,--the man
+whose proud career he had served to thwart, whose heart his schemes had
+prematurely soured, whose best years had been consumed in exile,--a
+sacrifice to the grave which a selfish and dishonourable villany had
+prepared!  Cesarini, the inmate of a mad-house, Florence in her
+shroud,--such were the visions the sight of Maltravers conjured up.  And
+to the soul which the unwonted and momentary remorse awakened, a boding
+voice whispered, "And thinkest thou that thy schemes shall prosper, and
+thy aspirations succeed?"  For the first time in his life, perhaps, the
+unimaginative Vargrave felt the mystery of a presentiment of warning and
+of evil.
+
+The two men met, and with an emotion which seemed that of honest and real
+feeling, Lumley silently held out his hand, and half turned away his
+head.
+
+"Lord Vargrave!" said Maltravers, with an equal agitation, "it is long
+since we have encountered."
+
+"Long,--very long," answered Lumley, striving hard to regain his
+self-possession; "years have changed us both; but I trust it has still
+left in you, as it has in me, the remembrance of our old friendship."
+
+Maltravers was silent, and Lord Vargrave continued,--
+
+"You do not answer me, Maltravers.  Can political differences, opposite
+pursuits, or the mere lapse of time, have sufficed to create an
+irrevocable gulf between us?  Why may we not be friends again?"
+
+"Friends!" echoed Maltravers; "at our age that word is not so lightly
+spoken, that tie is not so unthinkingly formed, as when we were younger
+men."
+
+"But may not the old tie be renewed?"
+
+"Our ways in life are different; and were I to scan your motives and
+career with the scrutinizing eyes of friendship, it might only serve to
+separate us yet more.  I am sick of the great juggle of ambition, and I
+have no sympathy left for those who creep into the pint-bottle, or
+swallow the naked sword."
+
+"If you despise the exhibition, why, then, let us laugh at it together,
+for I am as cynical as yourself."
+
+"Ah," said Maltravers with a smile, half mournful, half bitter, "but are
+you not one of the Impostors?"
+
+"Who ought better to judge of the Eleusiniana than one of the Initiated?
+But seriously, why on earth should political differences part private
+friendship?  Thank Heaven! such has never been my maxim."
+
+"If the differences be the result of honest convictions on either
+side,--no; but are you honest, Lumley?"
+
+"Faith, I have got into the habit of thinking so; and habit's a second
+nature.  However, I dare say we shall yet meet in the arena, so I must
+not betray my weak points.  How is it, Maltravers, that they see so
+little of you at the rectory?  You are a great favourite there.  Have you
+any living that Charley Merton could hold with his own?  You shake your
+head.  And what think you of Miss Cameron, my intended?"
+
+"You speak lightly.  Perhaps you--"
+
+"Feel deeply,--you were going to say.  I do.  In the hand of my ward,
+Evelyn Cameron, I trust to obtain at once the domestic happiness to which
+I have as yet been a stranger, and the wealth necessary to my career."
+
+Lord Vargrave continued, after a short pause, "Though my avocations have
+separated us so much, I have no doubt of her steady affection,--and, I
+may add, of her sense of honour.  She alone can repair to me what else
+had been injustice in my uncle."  He then proceeded to repeat the moral
+obligations which the late lord had imposed on Evelyn,--obligations that
+he greatly magnified.  Maltravers listened attentively, and said little.
+
+"And these obligations being fairly considered," added Vargrave, with a
+smile, "I think, even had I rivals, that they could scarcely in honour
+attempt to break an existing engagement."
+
+"Not while the engagement lasted," answered Maltravers; "not till one or
+the other had declined to fulfil it, and therefore left both free: but I
+trust it will be an alliance in which all but affection will be
+forgotten; that of honour alone would be but a harsh tie."
+
+"Assuredly," said Vargrave; and, as if satisfied with what had passed, he
+turned the conversation,--praised Burleigh, spoke of county matters,
+resumed his habitual gayety, though it was somewhat subdued, and
+promising to call again soon, he at last took his leave.
+
+Maltravers pursued his solitary rambles, and his commune with himself was
+stern and searching.
+
+"And so," thought he, "this prize is reserved for Vargrave!  Why should I
+deem him unworthy of the treasure?  May he not be worthier, at all
+events, than this soured temper and erring heart?  And he is assured too
+of her affection!  Why this jealous pang?  Why can the fountain within
+never be exhausted?  Why, through so many scenes and sufferings, have I
+still retained the vain madness of my youth,--the haunting susceptibility
+to love?  This is my latest folly."
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ALICE BY LYTTON, BOOK III ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #9765 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9765)