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diff --git a/9769.txt b/9769.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..262bb7a --- /dev/null +++ b/9769.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1311 @@ +Project Gutenberg EBook, Alice, or The Mysteries, by Lytton, Book VII +#209 in our series by Edward Bulwer Lytton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + + +Title: Alice, or The Mysteries, Book VII + +Author: Edward Bulwer Lytton + +Release Date: January 2006 [EBook #9769] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 15, 2003] + + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ALICE, BY LYTTON, BOOK VII *** + + + + + +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: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9774/9774.txt + +https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9774/9774-h/9774-h.htm + + + + + +BOOK VII. + + Words of dark import gave suspicion birth.--POTTER. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + _Luce_. Is the wind there? + That makes for me. + _Isab_. Come, I forget a business. + _Wit without Money_. + +LORD VARGRAVE'S travelling-carriage was at his door, and he himself was +putting on his greatcoat in his library, when Lord Saxingham entered. + +"What! you are going into the country?" + +"Yes; I wrote you word,--to see Lisle Court." + +"Ay, true; I had forgot. Somehow or other my memory is not so good as it +was. But, let me see, Lisle Court is in -----shire. Why, you will pass +within ten miles of C-----." + +"C-----! Shall I? I am not much versed in the geography of +England,--never learned it at school. As for Poland, Kamschatka, Mexico, +Madagascar, or any other place as to which knowledge would be _useful_, I +have every inch of the way at my finger's end. But _a propos_ of C-----, +it is the town in which my late uncle made his fortune." + +"Ah, so it is. I recollect you were to have stood for C-----, but gave +it up to Staunch; very handsome in you. Have you any interest there +still?" + +"I think my ward has some tenants,--a street or two,--one called Richard +Street, and the other Templeton Place. I had intended some weeks ago to +have gone down there, and seen what interest was still left to our +family; but Staunch himself told me that C----- was a sure card." + +"So he thought; but he has been with me this morning in great alarm: he +now thinks he shall be thrown out. A Mr. Winsley, who has a great deal +of interest there, and was a supporter of his, hangs back on account of +the ----- question. This is unlucky, as Staunch is quite with _us_; and +if he were to rat now it would be most unfortunate." + +"Winsley! Winsley!--my poor uncle's right-hand man. A great +brewer,--always chairman of the Templeton Committee. I know the name, +though I never saw the man." + +"If you could take C----- in your way?" + +"To be sure. Staunch must not be lost. We cannot throw away a single +vote, much more one of such weight,--eighteen stone at the least! I'll +stop at C----- on pretence of seeing after my ward's houses, and have a +quiet conference with Mr. Winsley. Hem! Peers must not interfere in +elections, eh? Well, good-by: take care of yourself. I shall be back in +a week, I hope,--perhaps less." + +In a minute more Lord Vargrave and Mr. George Frederick Augustus Howard, +a slim young gentleman of high birth and connections, but who, having, as +a portionless cadet, his own way to make in the world, condescended to be +his lordship's private secretary, were rattling over the streets the +first stage to C-----. + +It was late at night when Lord Vargrave arrived at the head inn of that +grave and respectable cathedral city, in which once Richard Templeton, +Esq.,--saint, banker, and politician,--had exercised his dictatorial +sway. "Sic transit gloria mundi!" As he warmed his hands by the fire in +the large wainscoted apartment into which he was shown, his eye met a +full length engraving of his uncle, with a roll of papers in his +hand,--meant for a parliamentary bill for the turnpike trusts in the +neighbourhood of C-----. The sight brought back his recollections of +that pious and saturnine relation, and insensibly the minister's thoughts +flew to his death-bed, and to the strange secret which in that last hour +he had revealed to Lumley,--a secret which had done much in deepening +Lord Vargrave's contempt for the forms and conventionalities of decorous +life. And here it may be mentioned--though in the course of this volume +a penetrating reader may have guessed as much--that, whatever that +secret, it did not refer expressly or exclusively to the late lord's +singular and ill-assorted marriage. Upon that point much was still left +obscure to arouse Lumley's curiosity, had he been a man whose curiosity +was very vivacious. But on this he felt but little interest. He knew +enough to believe that no further information could benefit himself +personally; why should he trouble his head with what never would fill his +pockets? + +An audible yawn from the slim secretary roused Lord Vargrave from his +revery. + +"I envy you, my young friend," said he, good-humouredly. "It is a +pleasure we lose as we grow older,--that of being sleepy. However, 'to +bed,' as Lady Macbeth says. Faith, I don't wonder the poor devil of a +thane was slow in going to bed with such a tigress. Good-night to you." + + + +CHAPTER II. + + MA fortune va prendre une face nouvelle.* + RACINE. _Androm_., Act i. sc. 1. + + * "My fortune is about to take a turn." + +THE next morning Vargrave inquired the way to Mr. Winsley's, and walked +alone to the house of the brewer. The slim secretary went to inspect the +cathedral. + +Mr. Winsley was a little, thickset man, with a civil but blunt +electioneering manner. He started when he heard Lord Vargrave's name, +and bowed with great stiffness. Vargrave saw at a glance that there was +some cause of grudge in the mind of the worthy man; nor did Mr. Winsley +long hesitate before he cleansed his bosom of its perilous stuff. + +"This is an unexpected honour, my lord: I don't know how to account for +it." + +"Why, Mr. Winsley, your friendship with my late uncle can, perhaps, +sufficiently explain and apologize for a visit from a nephew sincerely +attached to his memory." + +"Humph! I certainly did do all in my power to promote Mr. Templeton's +interests. No man, I may say, did more; and yet I don't think it was +much thought of the moment he turned his back upon the electors of +C-----. Not that I bear any malice; I am well to do, and value no man's +favour,--no man's, my lord!" + +"You amaze me! I always heard my poor uncle speak of you in the highest +terms." + +"Oh, well, it don't signify; pray say no more of it. Can I offer your +lordship a glass of wine?" + +"No, I am much obliged to you; but we really must set this little matter +right. You know that after his marriage my uncle never revisited C-----; +and that shortly before his death he sold the greater part of his +interest in this city. His young wife, I suppose, liked the +neighbourhood of London; and when elderly gentlemen _do_ marry, you know +they are no longer their own masters; but if you had ever come to +Fulham--ah! then, indeed, my uncle would have rejoiced to see his old +friend." + +"Your lordship thinks so," said Mr. Winsley with a sardonic smile. "You +are mistaken; I did call at Fulham; and though I sent in my card, Lord +Vargrave's servant (he was then My Lord) brought back word that his +lordship was not at home." + +"But that must have been true; he was out, you may depend on it." + +"I saw him at the window, my lord," said Mr. Winsley, taking a pinch of +snuff. + +"Oh, the deuce! I'm in for it," thought Lumley.--"Very strange, indeed! +but how can you account for it? Ah, perhaps the health of Lady +Vargrave--she was so very delicate then, and my poor uncle lived for +her--you know that he left all his fortune to Miss Cameron?" + +"Miss Cameron! Who is she, my lord?" + +"Why, his daughter-in-law; Lady Vargrave was a widow,--a Mrs. Cameron." + +"Mrs. Cam--I remember now,--they put Cameron in the newspapers; but I +thought it was a mistake. But, perhaps" (added Winsley, with a sneer of +peculiar malignity),--"perhaps, when your worthy uncle thought of being a +peer, he did not like to have it known that he married so much beneath +him." + +"You quite mistake, my dear sir; my uncle never denied that Mrs. Cameron +was a lady of no fortune or connections,--widow to some poor Scotch +gentleman, who died I think in India." + +"He left her very ill off, poor thing; but she had a great deal of merit, +and worked hard; she taught my girls to play--" + +"Your girls! did Mrs. Cameron ever reside in C-----?" + +"To be sure; but she was then called Mrs. Butler--just as pretty a name +to my fancy." + +"You must make a mistake: my uncle married this lady in Devonshire." + +"Very possibly," quoth the brewer, doggedly. "Mrs. Butler left the town +with her little girl some time before Mr. Templeton married." + +"Well, you are wiser than I am," said Lumley, forcing a smile. "But how +can you be sure that Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Cameron are one and the same +person? You did not go into the house, you could not have seen Lady +Vargrave" (and here Lumley shrewdly guessed--if the tale were true--at +the cause of his uncle's exclusion of his old acquaintance). + +"No! but I saw her ladyship on the lawn," said Mr. Winsley, with another +sardonic smile; "and I asked the porter at the lodge as I went out if +that was Lady Vargrave, and he said, 'yes.' However, my lord, bygones are +bygones,--I bear no malice; your uncle was a good man: and if he had but +said to me, 'Winsley, don't say a word about Mrs. Butler,' he might have +reckoned on me just as much as when in his elections he used to put five +thousand pounds in my hands, and say, 'Winsley, no bribery,--it is +wicked; let this be given in charity.' Did any one ever know how that +money went? Was your uncle ever accused of corruption? But, my lord, +surely you will take some refreshment?" + +"No, indeed; but if you will let me dine with you tomorrow, you'll oblige +me much; and, whatever my uncle's faults (and latterly, poor man, he was +hardly in his senses; what a will he made!) let not the nephew suffer for +them. Come, Mr. Winsley," and Lumley held out his hand with enchanting +frankness, "you know my motives are disinterested; I have no +parliamentary interest to serve, we have no constituents for our Hospital +of Incurables; and--oh! that's right,--we're friends, I see! Now I must +go and look after my ward's houses. Let me see, the agent's name +is--is--" + +"Perkins, I think, my lord," said Mr. Winsley, thoroughly softened by the +charm of Vargrave's words and manner. "Let me put on my hat, and show +you his house." + +"Will you? That's very kind; give me all the election news by the +way--you know I was once within an ace of being your member." + +Vargrave learned from his new friend some further particulars relative to +Mrs. Butler's humble habits and homely mode of life at C-----, which +served completely to explain to him why his proud and worldly uncle had +so carefully abstained from all intercourse with that city, and had +prevented the nephew from standing for its vacant representation. It +seemed, however, that Winsley--whose resentment was not of a very active +or violent kind--had not communicated the discovery he had made to his +fellow townspeople; but had contented himself with hints and aphorisms, +whenever he had heard the subject of Mr. Templeton's marriage discussed, +which had led the gossips of the place to imagine that he had made a much +worse selection than he really had. As to the accuracy of Winsley's +assertion, Vargrave, though surprised at first, had but little doubt on +consideration, especially when he heard that Mrs. Butler's principal +patroness had been the Mrs. Leslie, now the intimate friend of Lady +Vargrave. But what had been the career, what the earlier condition and +struggles of this simple and interesting creature? With her appearance +at C-----, commenced all that surmise could invent. Not greater was the +mystery that wrapped the apparition of Manco Capac by the lake Titiaca, +than that which shrouded the places and the trials whence the lowly +teacher of music had emerged amidst the streets of C------. + +Weary, and somewhat careless, of conjecture, Lord Vargrave, in dining +with Mr. Winsley, turned the conversation upon the business on which he +had principally undertaken his journey,--namely, the meditated purchase +of Lisle Court. + +"I myself am not a very good judge of landed property," said Vargrave; "I +wish I knew of an experienced surveyor to look over the farms and timber: +can you help me to such a one?" + +Mr. Winsley smiled, and glanced at a rosy-cheeked young lady, who +simpered and turned away. "I think my daughter could recommend one to +your lordship, if she dared." + +"Oh, Pa!" + +"I see. Well, Miss Winsley, I will take no recommendation but yours." + +Miss Winsley made an effort. + +"Indeed, my lord, I have always heard Mr. Robert Hobbs considered very +clever in his profession." + +"Mr. Robert Hobbs is my man! His good health--and a fair wife to him." + +Miss Winsley glanced at Mamma, and then at a younger sister; and then +there was a titter, and then a fluttering, and then a rising, and Mr. +Winsley, Lord Vargrave, and the slim secretary were left alone. + +"Really, my lord," said the host, resettling himself, and pushing the +wine, "though you have guessed our little family arrangement, and I have +some interest in the recommendation, since Margaret will be Mrs. Robert +Hobbs in a few weeks, yet I do not know a more acute, intelligent young +man anywhere. Highly respectable, with an independent fortune; his +father is lately dead, and made at least thirty thousand pounds in trade. +His brother Edward is also dead; so he has the bulk of the property, and +he follows his profession merely for amusement. He would consider it a +great honour." + +"And where does he live?" + +"Oh, not in this county,--a long way off; close to -----; but it is all +in your lordship's road. A very nice house he has, too. I have known +his family since I was a boy; it is astonishing how his father improved +the place,--it was a poor little lath-and-plaster cottage when the late +Mr. Hobbs bought it, and it is now a very excellent family house." + +"Well, you shall give me the address and a letter of introduction, and so +much for that matter. But to return to politics;" and here Lord Vargrave +ran eloquently on, till Mr. Winsley thought him the only man in the world +who could save the country from that utter annihilation, the possibility +of which he had never even suspected before. + +It may be as well to add, that, on wishing Lord Vargrave good-night, Mr. +Winsley whispered in his ear, "Your lordship's friend, Lord Staunch, need +be under no apprehension,--we are all right!" + + + +CHAPTER III. + + THIS is the house, sir.--_Love's Pilgrimage_, Act iv, sc. 2. + + Redeunt Saturnia regna.*--VIRGIL. + + * "A former state of things returns." + +THE next morning, Lumley and his slender companion were rolling rapidly +over the same road on which, sixteen years ago, way-worn and weary, Alice +Darvil had first met with Mrs. Leslie; they were talking about a new +opera-dancer as they whirled by the very spot. + +It was about five o'clock in the afternoon, the next day, when the +carriage stopped at a cast-iron gate, on which was inscribed this +epigraph, "Hobbs' lodge--Ring the Bell." + +"A snug place enough," said Lord Vargrave, as they were waiting the +arrival of the footman to unbar the gate. + +"Yes," said Mr. Howard. "If a retired Cit could be transformed into a +house, such is the house he would be." + +Poor Dale Cottage,--the home of Poetry and Passion! But change visits +the Commonplace as well as the Romantic. Since Alice had pressed to that +cold grating her wistful eyes, time had wrought his allotted revolutions; +the old had died, the young grown up. Of the children playing on the +lawn, death had claimed some, and marriage others,--and the holiday of +youth was gone for all. + +The servant opened the gate. Mr. Robert Hobbs was at home; he had +friends with him,--he was engaged; Lord Vargrave sent in his card, and +the introductory letter from Mr. Winsley. In two seconds, these missives +brought to the gate Mr. Robert Hobbs himself, a smart young man, with a +black stock, red whiskers, and an eye-glass pendant to a hair-chain which +was possibly _a gage d'amour_ from Miss Margaret Winsley. + +A profusion of bows, compliments, apologies, etc., the carriage drove up +the sweep, and Lord Vargrave descended, and was immediately ushered into +Mr. Hobbs's private room. The slim secretary followed, and sat silent, +melancholy, and upright, while the peer affably explained his wants and +wishes to the surveyor. + +Mr. Hobbs was well acquainted with the locality of Lisle Court, which was +little more than thirty miles distant, he should be proud to accompany +Lord Vargrave thither the next morning. But, might he venture, might he +dare, might he presume--a gentleman who lived at the town of ----- was to +dine with him that day; a gentleman of the most profound knowledge of +agricultural affairs; a gentleman who knew every farm, almost every acre, +belonging to Colonel Maltravers; if his lordship could be induced to +waive ceremony, and dine with Mr. Hobbs; it might be really useful to +meet this gentleman. The slim secretary, who was very hungry, and who +thought he sniffed an uncommonly savoury smell, looked up from his boots. +Lord Vargrave smiled. + +"My young friend here is too great an admirer of Mrs. Hobbs--who is to +be--not to feel anxious to make the acquaintance of any member of the +family she is to enter." + +Mr. George Frederick Augustus Howard blushed indignant refutation of the +calumnious charge. Vargrave continued,--"As for me, I shall be delighted +to meet any friends of yours, and am greatly obliged for your +consideration. We may dismiss the postboys, Howard; and what time shall +we summon them,--ten o'clock?" + +"If your lordship would condescend to accept a bed, we can accommodate +your lordship and this gentleman, and start at any hour in the morning +that--" + +"So be it," interrupted Vargrave. "You speak like a man of business. +Howard, be so kind as to order the horses for six o'clock to-morrow. +We'll breakfast at Lisle Court." + +This matter settled, Lord Vargrave and Mr. Howard were shown into their +respective apartments. Travelling dresses were changed, the dinner put +back, and the fish over-boiled; but what mattered common fish, when Mr. +Hobbs had just caught such a big one? Of what consequence he should be +henceforth and ever! A peer, a minister, a stranger to the county,--to +come all this way to consult _him_! to be _his_ guest! to be shown off, +and patted, and trotted out before all the rest of the company! Mr. +Hobbs was a made man! Careless of all this, ever at home with any one, +and delighted, perhaps, to escape a _tete-a-tete_ with Mr. Howard in a +strange inn, Vargrave lounged into the drawing-room, and was formally +presented to the expectant family and the famishing guests. + +During the expiring bachelorship of Mr. Robert Hobbs, his sister, Mrs. +Tiddy (to whom the reader was first introduced as a bride gathering the +wisdom of economy and large joints from the frugal lips of her mamma), +officiated as lady of the house,--a comely matron, and well-preserved,-- +except that she had lost a front tooth,--in a jaundiced satinet gown, +with a fall of British blonde, and a tucker of the same, Mr. Tiddy being +a starch man, and not willing that the luxuriant charms of Mrs. T. +should be too temptingly exposed! There was also Mr. Tiddy, whom his +wife had married for love, and who was now well to do,--a fine-looking +man, with large whiskers, and a Roman nose, a little awry. Moreover, +there was a Miss Biddy or Bridget Hobbs, a young lady of four or five +and twenty, who was considering whether she might ask Lord Vargrave to +write something in her album, and who cast a bashful look of admiration +at the slim secretary, as he now sauntered into the room, in a black +coat, black waistcoat, black trousers, and a black neckcloth, with a +black pin,--looking much like an ebony cane split half-way up. Miss +Biddy was a fair young lady, a _leetle_ faded, with uncommonly thin arms +and white satin shoes, on which the slim secretary cast his eyes and-- +shuddered! + +In addition to the family group were the Rector of -----, an agreeable +man, who published sermons and poetry; also Sir William Jekyll, who was +employing Mr. Hobbs to make a map of an estate he had just purchased; +also two country squires and their two wives; moreover, the physician of +the neighbouring town,--a remarkably tall man, who wore spectacles and +told anecdotes; and, lastly, Mr. Onslow, the gentleman to whom Mr. Hobbs +had referred,--an elderly man of prepossessing exterior, of high repute +as the most efficient magistrate, the best farmer, and the most sensible +person in the neighbourhood. This made the party, to each individual of +which the great man bowed and smiled; and the great man's secretary bent, +condescendingly, three joints of his backbone. + +The bell was now rung, dinner announced. Sir William Jekyll led the way +with one of the she-squires, and Lord Vargrave offered his arm to the +portly Mrs. Tiddy. + +Vargrave, as usual, was the life of the feast. Mr. Howard, who sat next +to Miss Bridget, conversed with her between the courses, "in dumb show." +Mr. Onslow and the physician played second and third to Lord Vargrave. +When the dinner was over, and the ladies had retired, Vargrave found +himself seated next to Mr. Onslow, and discovered in his neighbour a most +agreeable companion. They talked principally about Lisle Court, and from +Colonel Maltravers the conversation turned naturally upon Ernest. +Vargrave proclaimed his early intimacy with the latter gentleman, +complained, feelingly, that politics had divided them of late, and told +two or three anecdotes of their youthful adventures in the East. Mr. +Onslow listened to him with much attention. + +"I made the acquaintance of Mr. Maltravers many years ago," said he, "and +upon a very delicate occasion. I was greatly interested in him; I never +saw one so young (for he was then but a boy) manifest feelings so deep. +By the dates you have referred to, your acquaintance with him must have +commenced very shortly after mine. Was he at that time cheerful, in good +spirits?" + +"No, indeed; hypochondriacal to the greatest degree." + +"Your lordship's intimacy with him, and the confidence that generally +exists between young men, induce me to suppose that he may have told you +a little romance connected with his early years." + +Lumley paused to consider; and this conversation, which had been carried +on apart, was suddenly broken into by the tall doctor, who wanted to know +whether his lordship had ever heard the anecdote about Lord Thurlow and +the late king. The anecdote was as long as the doctor himself; and when +it was over, the gentlemen adjourned to the drawing-room, and all +conversation was immediately drowned by "Row, brothers, row," which had +only been suspended till the arrival of Mr. Tiddy, who had a fine bass +voice. + +Alas! eighteen years ago, in that spot of earth, Alice Darvil had first +caught the soul of music from the lips of Genius and of Love! But better +as it is,--less romantic, but more proper,--as Hobbs' Lodge was less +pretty, but more safe from the winds and rains, than Dale Cottage. + +Miss Bridget ventured to ask the good-humoured Lord Vargrave if he sang. +"Not I, Miss Hobbs; but Howard, there!--ah, if you heard _him_!" The +consequence of this hint was, that the unhappy secretary, who, alone, in +a distant corner, was unconsciously refreshing his fancy with some cool +weak coffee, was instantly beset with applications from Miss Bridget, +Mrs. Tiddy, Mr. Tiddy, and the tall doctor, to favour the company with a +specimen of his talents. Mr. Howard could sing,--he could even play the +guitar. But to sing at Hobbs' Lodge, to sing to the accompaniment of +Mrs. Tiddy, to have his gentle tenor crushed to death in a glee by the +heavy splayfoot of Mr. Tiddy's manly bass--the thought was insufferable! +He faltered forth assurances of his ignorance, and hastened to bury his +resentment in the retirement of a remote sofa. Vargrave, who had +forgotten the significant question of Mr. Onslow, renewed in a whisper +his conversation with that gentleman relative to the meditated +investment, while Mr. and Mrs. Tiddy sang "Come dwell with me;" and +Onslow was so pleased with his new acquaintance, that he volunteered to +make a fourth in Lumley's carriage the next morning, and accompany him to +Lisle Court. This settled, the party soon afterwards broke up. At +midnight Lord Vargrave was fast asleep; and Mr. Howard, tossing +restlessly to and fro on his melancholy couch, was revolving all the +hardships that await a native of St. James's, who ventures forth among-- + + "The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads + Do grow beneath their shoulders!" + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + BUT how were these doubts to be changed into absolute certainty? + EDGAR HUNTLEY. + +THE next morning, while it was yet dark, Lord Vargrave's carriage picked +up Mr. Onslow at the door of a large old-fashioned house, at the entrance +of the manufacturing town of -----. The party were silent and sleepy +till they arrived at Lisle Court. The sun had then appeared, the morning +was clear, the air frosty and bracing; and as, after traversing a noble +park, a superb quadrangular pile of brick flanked by huge square turrets +coped with stone broke upon the gaze of Lord Vargrave, his worldly heart +swelled within him, and the image of Evelyn became inexpressibly lovely +and seductive. + +Though the housekeeper was not prepared for Vargrave's arrival at so +early an hour, yet he had been daily expected: the logs soon burned +bright in the ample hearth of the breakfast-room; the urn hissed, the +cutlets smoked; and while the rest of the party gathered round the fire, +and unmuffled themselves of cloaks and shawl-handkerchiefs, Vargrave +seized upon the housekeeper, traversed with delighted steps the +magnificent suite of rooms, gazed on the pictures, admired the state +bed-chambers, peeped into the offices, and recognized in all a mansion +worthy of a Peer of England,--but which a more prudent man would have +thought, with a sigh, required careful management of the rent-roll raised +from the property adequately to equip and maintain. Such an idea did not +cross the mind of Vargrave; he only thought how much he should be +honoured and envied, when, as Secretary of State, he should yearly fill +those feudal chambers with the pride and rank of England! It was +characteristic of the extraordinary sanguineness and self-confidence of +Vargrave, that he entirely overlooked one slight obstacle to this +prospect, in the determined refusal of Evelyn to accept that passionate +homage which he offered to--her fortune! + +When breakfast was over the steward was called in, and the party, mounted +upon ponies, set out to reconnoitre. After spending the short day most +agreeably in looking over the gardens, pleasure-grounds, park, and +home-farm, and settling to visit the more distant parts of the property +the next day, the party were returning home to dine, when Vargrave's eye +caught the glittering _whim_ of Sir Gregory Gubbins. + +He pointed it out to Mr. Onslow, and laughed much at hearing of the +annoyance it occasioned to Colonel Maltravers. "Thus," said Lumley, "do +we all crumple the rose-leaf under us, and quarrel with couches the most +luxuriant! As for me, I will wager, that were this property mine, or my +ward's, in three weeks we should have won the heart of Sir Gregory, made +him pull down his _whim_, and coaxed him out of his interest in the city +of -----. A good seat for you, Howard, some day or other." + +"Sir Gregory has prodigiously bad taste," said Mr. Hobbs. "For my part, +I think that there ought to be a certain modest simplicity in the display +of wealth got in business,--that was my poor father's maxim." + +"Ah!" said Vargrave, "Hobbs' Lodge is a specimen. Who was your +predecessor in that charming retreat?" + +"Why, the place--then called Dale Cottage--belonged to a Mr. Berners, a +rich bachelor in business, who was rich enough not to mind what people +said of him, and kept a lady there. She ran off from him, and he then +let it to some young man--a stranger, very eccentric, I hear--a Mr.--Mr. +Butler--and he, too, gave the cottage an unlawful attraction,--a most +beautiful girl, I have heard." + +"Butler!" echoed Vargrave,--"Butler! Butler!" Lumley recollected that +such had been the real name of Mrs. Cameron. + +Onslow looked hard at Vargrave. + +"You recognize the name, my lord," said he in a whisper, as Hobbs had +turned to address himself to Mr. Howard. "I thought you very discreet +when I asked you, last night, if you remembered the early follies of your +friend." A suspicion at once flashed upon the quick mind of Vargrave: +Butler was a name on the mother's side in the family of Maltravers; the +gloom of Ernest when he first knew him, the boy's hints that the gloom +was connected with the affections, the extraordinary and single +accomplishment of Lady Vargrave in that art of which Maltravers was so +consummate a master, the similarity of name,--all taken in conjunction +with the meaning question of Mr. Onslow, were enough to suggest to +Vargrave that he might be on the verge of a family secret, the knowledge +of which could be turned to advantage. He took care not to confess his +ignorance, but artfully proceeded to draw out Mr. Onslow's +communications. + +"Why, it is true," said he, "that Maltravers and I had no secrets. Ah, +we were wild fellows then! The name of Butler is in his family, eh?" + +"It is. I see you know all." + +"Yes; he told me the story, but it is eighteen years ago. Do refresh my +memory. Howard, my good fellow, just ride on and expedite dinner: Mr. +Hobbs, will you go with Mr. What's-his-name, the steward, and look over +the maps, out-goings, etc.? Now, Mr. Onslow--so Maltravers took the +cottage, and a lady with it?--ay, I remember." + +Mr. Onslow (who was in fact that magistrate to whom Ernest had confided +his name and committed the search after Alice, and who was really anxious +to know if any tidings of the poor girl had ever been ascertained) here +related that history with which the reader is acquainted,--the robbery of +the cottage, the disappearance of Alice, the suspicions that connected +that disappearance with her ruffian father, the despair and search of +Maltravers. He added that Ernest, both before his departure from +England, and on his return, had written to him to learn if Alice had ever +been heard of; the replies of the magistrate were unsatisfactory. "And +do you think, my lord, that Mr. Maltravers has never to this day +ascertained what became of the poor young woman?" + +"Why, let me see,--what was her name?" + +The magistrate thought a moment, and replied, "Alice Darvil." + +"Alice!" exclaimed Vargrave. "Alice!"--aware that such was the +Christian name of his uncle's wife, and now almost convinced of the truth +of his first vague suspicion. + +"You seem to know the name?" + +"Of Alice; yes--but not Darvil. No, no; I believe he has never heard of +the girl to this hour. Nor you either?" + +"I have not. One little circumstance related to me by Mr. Hobbs, your +surveyor's father, gave me some uneasiness. About two years after the +young woman disappeared, a girl, of very humble dress and appearance, +stopped at the gate of Hobbs' Lodge, and asked earnestly for Mr. Butler. +On hearing he was gone, she turned away, and was seen no more. It seems +that this girl had an infant in her arms--which rather shocked the +propriety of Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs. The old gentleman told me the +circumstance a few days after it happened, and I caused inquiry to be +made for the stranger; but she could not be discovered. I thought at +first this possibly might be the lost Alice; but I learned that, during +his stay at the cottage, your friend--despite his error, which we will +not stop to excuse--had exercised so generous and wide a charity amongst +the poor in the town and neighbourhood, that it was a more probable +supposition of the two that the girl belonged to some family he had +formerly relieved, and her visit was that of a mendicant, not a mistress. +Accordingly, after much consideration, I resolved not to mention the +circumstances to Mr. Maltravers, when he wrote to me on his return from +the Continent. A considerable time had then elapsed since the girl had +applied to Mr. Hobbs; all trace of her was lost; the incident might open +wounds that time must have nearly healed, might give false hopes--or, +what was worse, occasion a fresh and unfounded remorse at the idea of +Alice's destitution; it would, in fact, do no good, and might occasion +unnecessary pain. I therefore suppressed all mention of it." + +"You did right: and so the poor girl had an infant in her arms?--humph! +What sort of looking person was this Alice Darvil,--pretty, of course?" + +"I never saw her; and none but the persons employed in the premises knew +her by sight; they described her as remarkably lovely." + +"Fair and slight, with blue eyes, I suppose?--those are the orthodox +requisites of a heroine." + +"Upon my word I forget; indeed I should never have remembered as much as +I do, if the celebrity of Mr. Maltravers, and the consequence of his +family in these parts, together with the sight of his own agony--the most +painful I ever witnessed--had not served to impress the whole affair very +deeply on my mind." + +"Was the girl who appeared at the gate of Hobbs' Lodge described to you?" + +"No; they scarcely observed her countenance, except that her complexion +was too fair for a gypsy's; yet, now I think of it, Mrs. Tiddy, who was +with her father when he told me the adventure, dwelt particularly on her +having (as you so pleasantly conjecture) fair hair and blue eyes. Mrs. +Tiddy, being just married, was romantic at that day." + +"Well, it is an odd tale; but life is full of odd tales. Here we are at +the house; it really is a splendid old place!" + + + +CHAPTER V. + + PENDENT opera interrupta.*--VIRGIL. + + * "The things begun are interrupted and suspended." + +THE history Vargrave had heard he revolved much when he retired to rest. +He could not but allow that there was still little ground for more than +conjecture that Alice Darvil and Alice Lady Vargrave were one and the +same person. It might, however, be of great importance to him to trace +this conjecture to certainty. The knowledge of a secret of early sin and +degradation in one so pure, so spotless, as Lady Vargrave, might be of +immense service in giving him a power over her, which he could turn to +account with Evelyn. How could he best prosecute further inquiry,--by +repairing at once to Brook-Green, or--the thought struck him--by visiting +and "pumping" Mrs. Leslie, the patroness of Mrs. Butler, of C-----, the +friend of Lady Vargrave? It was worth trying the latter,--it was little +out of his way back to London. His success in picking the brains of Mr. +Onslow of a secret encouraged him in the hope of equal success with Mrs. +Leslie. He decided accordingly, and fell asleep to dream of Christmas +_battues_, royal visitors, the Cabinet, the premiership! Well, no +possession equals the dream of it! Sleep on, my lord! you would be +restless enough if you were to get all you want. + +For the next three days, Lord Vargrave was employed in examining the +general outlines of the estate; and the result of this survey satisfied +him as to the expediency of the purchase. On the third day, he was +several miles from the house when a heavy rain came on. Lord Vargrave +was constitutionally hardy, and not having been much exposed to +visitations of the weather of late years, was not practically aware that +when a man is past forty, he cannot endure with impunity all that falls +innocuously on the elasticity of twenty-six. He did not, therefore, heed +the rain that drenched him to the skin, and neglected to change his dress +till he had finished reading some letters and newspapers which awaited +his return at Lisle Court. The consequence of this imprudence was, that +the next morning when he woke, Lord Vargrave found himself, for almost +the first time in his life, seriously ill. His head ached violently, +cold shiverings shook his frame like an ague; the very strength of the +constitution on which the fever had begun to fasten itself augmented its +danger. Lumley--the last man in the world to think of the possibility of +dying--fought up against his own sensations, ordered his post-horses, as +his visit of survey was now over, and scarcely even alluded to his +indisposition. About an hour before he set off, his letters arrived; one +of these informed him that Caroline, accompanied by Evelyn, had already +arrived in Paris; the other was from Colonel Legard, respectfully +resigning his office, on the ground of an accession of fortune by the +sudden death of the admiral, and his intention to spend the ensuing year +in a Continental excursion. This last letter occasioned Vargrave +considerable alarm; he had always felt a deep jealousy of the handsome +ex-guardsman, and he at once suspected that Legard was about to repair to +Paris as his rival. He sighed, and looked round the spacious apartment, +and gazed on the wide prospects of grove and turf that extended from the +window, and said to himself, "Is another to snatch these from my grasp?" +His impatience to visit Mrs. Leslie, to gain ascendency over Lady +Vargrave, to repair to Paris, to scheme, to manoeuvre, to triumph, +accelerated the progress of the disease that was now burning in his +veins; and the hand that he held out to Mr. Hobbs, as he stepped into his +carriage, almost scorched the cold, plump, moist fingers of the surveyor. +Before six o'clock in the evening Lord Vargrave confessed reluctantly to +himself that he was too ill to proceed much farther. "Howard," said he +then, breaking a silence that had lasted some hours, "don't be alarmed; I +feel that I am about to have a severe attack; I shall stop at M----- +(naming a large town they were approaching); I shall send for the best +physician the place affords; if I am delirious to-morrow, or unable to +give my own orders, have the kindness to send express for Dr. +Holland,--but don't leave me yourself, my good fellow. At my age, it is +a hard thing to have no one in the world to care for me in illness; +d-----n affection when I am well!" + +After this strange burst, which very much frightened Mr. Howard, Lumley +relapsed into silence, not broken till he reached M-----. The best +physician was sent for; and the next morning, as he had half foreseen and +foretold, Lord Vargrave _was_ delirious! + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + NOUGHT under Heaven so strongly doth allure + The sense of man, and all his mind possess, + As Beauty's love-bait.--SPENSER. + +LEGARD was, as I have before intimated, a young man of generous and +excellent dispositions, though somewhat spoiled by the tenor of his +education, and the gay and reckless society which had administered tonics +to his vanity and opiates to his intellect. The effect which the beauty, +the grace, the innocence of Evelyn had produced upon him had been most +deep and most salutary. It had rendered dissipation tasteless and +insipid; it had made him look more deeply into his own heart, and into +the rules of life. Though, partly from irksomeness of dependence upon an +uncle at once generous and ungracious, partly from a diffident and +feeling sense of his own inadequate pretensions to the hand of Miss +Cameron, and partly from the prior and acknowledged claims of Lord +Vargrave, he had accepted, half in despair, the appointment offered to +him, he still found it impossible to banish that image which had been the +first to engrave upon ardent and fresh affections an indelible +impression. He secretly chafed at the thought that it was to a fortunate +rival that he owed the independence and the station he had acquired, and +resolved to seize an early opportunity to free himself from obligations +that he deeply regretted he had incurred. At length he learned that Lord +Vargrave had been refused,--that Evelyn was free; and within a few days +from that intelligence, the admiral was seized with apoplexy; and Legard +suddenly found himself possessed, if not of wealth, at least of a +competence sufficient to redeem his character as a suitor from the +suspicion attached to a fortune-hunter and adventurer. Despite the new +prospects opened to him by the death of his uncle, and despite the surly +caprice which had mingled with and alloyed the old admiral's kindness, +Legard was greatly shocked by his death; and his grateful and gentle +nature was at first only sensible to grief for the loss he had sustained. +But when, at last, recovering from his sorrow, he saw Evelyn disengaged +and free, and himself in a position honourably to contest her hand, he +could not resist the sweet and passionate hopes that broke upon him. He +resigned, as we have seen, his official appointment, and set out for +Paris. He reached that city a day or two after the arrival of Lord and +Lady Doltimore. He found the former, who had not forgotten the cautions +of Vargrave, at first cold and distant; but partly from the indolent +habit of submitting to Legard's dictates on matters of taste, partly from +a liking to his society, and principally from the popular suffrages of +fashion, which had always been accorded to Legard, and which were +nowadays diminished by the news of his accession of fortune, Lord +Doltimore, weak and vain, speedily yielded to the influences of his old +associate, and Legard became quietly installed as the _enfant de la +maison_. Caroline was not in this instance a very faithful ally to +Vargrave's views and policy. In his singular _liaison_ with Lady +Doltimore, the crafty manoeuvrer had committed the vulgar fault of +intriguers: he had over-refined and had overreached himself. At the +commencement of their strange and unprincipled intimacy, Vargrave had +had, perhaps, no other thought than that of piquing Evelyn, consoling his +vanity, amusing his _ennui_, and indulging rather his propensities as a +gallant than promoting his more serious objects as a man of the world. +By degrees, and especially at Knaresdean, Vargrave himself became deeply +entangled by an affair that he had never before contemplated as more +important than a passing diversion; instead of securing a friend to +assist him in his designs on Evelyn, he suddenly found that he had +obtained a mistress anxious for his love and jealous of his homage. With +his usual promptitude and self-confidence, he was led at once to deliver +himself of all the ill-consequences of his rashness,--to get rid of +Caroline as a mistress, and to retain her as a tool, by marrying her to +Lord Doltimore. By the great ascendancy which his character acquired +over her, and by her own worldly ambition, he succeeded in inducing her +to sacrifice all romance to a union that gave her rank and fortune; and +Vargrave then rested satisfied that the clever wife would not only secure +him a permanent power over the political influence and private fortune of +the weak husband, but also abet his designs in securing an alliance +equally desirable for himself. Here it was that Vargrave's incapacity to +understand the refinements and scruples of a woman's affection and +nature, however guilty the one, and however worldly the other, foiled and +deceived him. Caroline, though the wife of another, could not +contemplate without anguish a similar bondage for her lover; and having +something of the better qualities of her sex still left to her, she +recoiled from being an accomplice in arts that were to drive the young, +inexperienced, and guileless creature who called her "friend" into the +arms of a man who openly avowed the most mercenary motives, and who took +gods and men to witness that his heart was sacred to another. Only in +Vargrave's presence were these scruples overmastered; but the moment he +was gone they returned in full force. She had yielded, from positive +fear, to his commands that she should convey Evelyn to Paris; but she +trembled to think of the vague hints and dark menaces that Vargrave had +let fall as to ulterior proceedings, and was distracted at the thought of +being implicated in some villanous or rash design. When, therefore, the +man whose rivalry Vargrave most feared was almost established at her +house, she made but a feeble resistance; she thought that, if Legard +should become a welcome and accepted suitor before Lumley arrived, the +latter would be forced to forego whatever hopes he yet cherished, and +that she should be delivered from a dilemma, the prospect of which +daunted and appalled her. Added to this, Caroline was now, alas! +sensible that a fool is not so easily governed; her resistance to an +intimacy with Legard would have been of little avail: Doltimore, in these +matters, had an obstinate will of his own; and, whatever might once have +been Caroline's influence over her liege, certain it is that such +influence had been greatly impaired of late by the indulgence of a +temper, always irritable, and now daily more soured by regret, remorse, +contempt for her husband,--and the melancholy discovery that fortune, +youth, beauty, and station are no talismans against misery. + +It was the gayest season of Paris; and to escape from herself, Caroline +plunged eagerly into the vortex of its dissipations. If Doltimore's +heart was disappointed, his vanity was pleased at the admiration Caroline +excited; and he himself was of an age and temper to share in the pursuits +and amusements of his wife. Into these gayeties, new to their +fascination, dazzled by their splendour, the young Evelyn entered with +her hostess; and ever by her side was the unequalled form of Legard. +Each of them in the bloom of youth, each of them at once formed to +please, and to be pleased by that fair Armida which we call the World, +there was, necessarily, a certain congeniality in their views and +sentiments, their occupations and their objects; nor was there, in all +that brilliant city, one more calculated to captivate the eye and fancy +than George Legard. But still, to a certain degree diffident and +fearful, Legard never yet spoke of love; nor did their intimacy at this +time ripen to that point in which Evelyn could have asked herself if +there were danger in the society of Legard, or serious meaning in his +obvious admiration. Whether that melancholy, to which Lady Vargrave had +alluded in her correspondence with Lumley, were occasioned by thoughts +connected with Maltravers, or unacknowledged recollections of Legard, it +remains for the acute reader himself to ascertain. + +The Doltimores had been about three weeks in Paris; and for a fortnight +of that time Legard had been their constant guest, and half the inmate of +their hotel, when, on that night which has been commemorated in our last +book, Maltravers suddenly once more beheld the face of Evelyn, and in the +same hour learned that she was free. He quitted Valerie's box; with a +burning pulse and a beating heart, joy and surprise and hope sparkling in +his eyes and brightening his whole aspect, he hastened to Evelyn's side. + +It was at this time Legard, who sat behind Miss Cameron, unconscious of +the approach of a rival, happened by one of those chances which occur in +conversation to mention the name of Maltravers. He asked Evelyn if she +had yet met him. + +"What! is he, then, in Paris?" asked Evelyn, quickly. "I heard, indeed," +she continued, "that he left Burleigh for Paris, but imagined he had gone +on to Italy." + +"No, he is still here; but he goes, I believe, little into the society +Lady Doltimore chiefly visits. Is he one of your favourites, Miss +Cameron?" + +There was a slight increase of colour in Evelyn's beautiful cheek, as she +answered,-- + +"Is it possible not to admire and be interested in one so gifted?" + +"He has certainly noble and fine qualities," returned Legard; "but I +cannot feel at ease with him: a coldness, a _hauteur_, a measured +distance of manner, seem to forbid even esteem. Yet _I_ ought not to say +so," he added, with a pang of self-reproach. + +"No, indeed, you ought not to say so," said Evelyn, shaking her head with +a pretty affectation of anger; "for I know that you pretend to like what +I like, and admire what I admire; and I am an enthusiast in all that +relates to Mr. Maltravers!" + +"I know that I would wish to see all things in life through Miss +Cameron's eyes," whispered Legard, softly; and this was the most meaning +speech he had ever yet made. + +Evelyn turned away, and seemed absorbed in the opera; and at that instant +the door of the box opened, and Maltravers entered. + +In her open, undisguised, youthful delight at seeing him again, +Maltravers felt, indeed, "as if Paradise were opened in her face." In +his own agitated emotions, he scarcely noticed that Legard had risen and +resigned his seat to him; he availed himself of the civility, greeted his +old acquaintance with a smile and a bow, and in a few minutes he was in +deep converse with Evelyn. + +Never had he so successfully exerted the singular, the master-fascination +that he could command at will,--the more powerful from its contrast to +his ordinary coldness. In the very expression of his eyes, the very tone +of his voice, there was that in Maltravers, seen at his happier moments, +which irresistibly interested and absorbed your attention: he could make +you forget everything but himself, and the rich, easy, yet earnest +eloquence, which gave colour to his language and melody to his voice. In +that hour of renewed intercourse with one who had at first awakened, if +not her heart, at least her imagination and her deeper thoughts, certain +it is that even Legard was not missed. As she smiled and listened, +Evelyn dreamed not of the anguish she inflicted. Leaning against the +box, Legard surveyed the absorbed attention of Evelyn, the adoring eyes +of Maltravers, with that utter and crushing wretchedness which no passion +but jealousy, and that only while it is yet a virgin agony, can bestow! +He had never before even dreamed of rivalry in such a quarter; but there +was that ineffable instinct, which lovers have, and which so seldom errs, +that told him at once that in Maltravers was the greatest obstacle his +passion could encounter. He waited in hopes that Evelyn would take the +occasion to turn to him at least--when the fourth act closed. She did +not; and, unable to constrain his emotions, and reply to the small-talk +of Lord Doltimore, he abruptly quitted the box. + +When the opera was over, Maltravers offered his arm to Evelyn; she +accepted it, and then she looked round for Legard. He was gone. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ALICE BY LYTTON, BOOK VII *** +By Edward Bulwer Lytton + +******* This file should be named 9769.txt or 9769.zip ******** + +Produced by Dagny; and by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. 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